The lunchbox, during this back-to-school season for kids, can take a back seat when the main task early in the morning is to wake up, get ready, and take the kids to the bus stop. Under these circumstances, the easiest alternative is to give them money to buy their lunch in the school cafeteria. However, it is truly worth reconsidering this situation. Lunchboxes are usually much more nutritious and contain fewer artificial ingredients compared to the food found at school. Of course, preparing the lunchbox is not the only activity to be undertaken the night before or early in the morning. It should also be considered that the foods included in the lunchbox should be to your children's liking so that they come home with an empty lunchbox. We recommend: Lunchbox Cooking Recipes The most nutritious lunchboxes are those that include at least 3 foods from the five groups that make up the Food Pyramid. What are the 5 groups? These groups are: 1) Grains and Cereals 2) Vegetables 3) Fruits 4) Milk and Dairy Products 5) Meats and Beans But this does not mean that lunchboxes should be limited to the same three foods from any of these 5 groups: read a sandwich with beans, an apple, and a box of milk. Remember that nutrition should be varied, which means including a wide variety of foods from the same group. This is because some foods from the same group contain more of certain nutrients and less of others, as is the case with vegetables. Therefore, by eating different varieties of foods from the same group, you can obtain the necessary amounts of the nutrients they contain. For example, in the case of vegetables, it is important to include different colored vegetables throughout the week to get all the benefits of these plant products. To achieve this, try to include carrots, spinach, cauliflower, bell peppers, squash, broccoli, and eggplant, among others. In the case of the Milk and Dairy group, something interesting happens. Milk and cheese are excellent sources of protein, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium, among other nutrients. The variations in concentrations are not really significant. The key to making lunchboxes highly enjoyable for your children is to respect their food preferences. Some children find comfort in eating the same foods every other day, while for others, it can be totally boring. So, work with your child on what they like to have in their lunchbox day by day. After that, it’s a matter of using creativity to ensure that the lunchbox fits the preferences of each of your children while being as nutritious as possible.