Healthy Kids Lunches

I'm always trying to balance what the kids want to eat, with what they will eat with the nutrition they need.  My girls are finally getting reliable for taking their vitamins daily but the little man is still refusing.  Since the girls go to school all day, they do like to buy their lunches, but I try to limit that to no more than 2 times a week.  While I think that there is an attempt to serve nutritionally balanced meals in the schools, I think the majority of the choices are lacking, plus, I can't guarantee they will actually eat everything that comes on their tray.

One thing we have found to be beneficial for packing is using divided containers, plus I have enough of these to pack a few days worth for each girl and they can just grab and go.  If I had my choice, they would eat all raw, fresh fruits and veggies with nuts or other healthy proteins, but alas, it's a constant balance.  Here's what we packed this week:

JuneBug's lunch is on top, she is the easiest to get to eat healthy.  She wants to and likes a lot more than her siblings.  She loves salami, so I give into a few specific brands and let her have a few slices, especially when she gladly eats her fruits and veggies. 

Tasha's lunch is the bottom one.  She lives on peanut butter and Nutella!   She's not supposed to eat the crackers until the rest of the lunch is gone... not sure that always happens, but the advantage of sending my kids with reusable lunch containers is they always bring home what they don't eat.  I've only ever used reusable containers and it seems it's never occurred to them to empty them out before coming home... I'm good with that since it enables me to know what they did or didn't eat.  As for juice, I'd so much rather them drink water or milk, but again, it's a compromise.  The milk at school isn't organic, so I'd rather them drink milk at home where I can control that.  I let them have a total of  2 glasses of juice (or glass and box) as long as it's 100% juice.  I'd love to juice all fresh, organic fruits and veggies... but alas, that isn't happening any time soon either.

How do you encourage your kids to eat healthy in a world of processed and pre-packaged foods? 

Peace be with you,