Back-to-School Lunch Box Ideas

Back to school means back to packing lunches. For many parents, it's a struggle to create a meal that's relatively healthy and won’t get traded for Twinkies.

Angela Ardolino, publisher of Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine, said the best approach is to give kids a bunch of healthy choices, and let them pack their own lunch.

"You could do pick one vegetable, pick one fruit, pick a sandwich, pick your main course," Ardolino said. "And even when they're at the grocery store, to let them pick out those things and think about the lunch week ahead of time.

Ardolino said colorful containers also make healthy food more appealing to kids. And it's okay to throw in a treat, like trail mix with a few M&Ms.