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Pack a Safe Lunch 101
Quick Tips to Packing a Safe School Lunch
- Always keep it clean. Make sure your hands, food preparation surfaces and utensils
are clean. Use hot, soapy water to effectively get rid of bacteria. Teach your children
to wash their hands before they eat. Also wash fruits and vegetables before packing
them in your child's lunch.
- Be sure to keep hot foods such as soup, chili or stew hot by using an insulated
bottle. Fill the bottle with boiling water and let it stand for a few minutes. Empty
the bottle and then fill it with piping hot food. Keep the bottle closed until lunchtime.
- Cold foods should stay cold, so invest in a freezer gel pack and an insulated lunch
box. Freezer gel packs will keep foods cold until lunchtime, but are not recommended
for all-day storage. Any perishable food (i.e. meat, chicken, or egg sandwiches)
not eaten at lunch should be discarded. A frozen 100% juice box will work like a
gel pack, and avoids having children remember to bring something home from school.
- If your child chooses a brown paper bag to carry lunch, it's especially important
to include a cold source. A freezer gel pack or a frozen sandwich works well. Because
brown paper bags tend to become soggy or leak as cold foods thaw, be sure to use
an extra paper bag to create a double layer. Double-bagging will also help insulate
the food better.
- Tell your child to make sure they keep their lunch out of direct sunlight and away
from radiators, baseboards and other heat sources found in the classroom.
- Every parent should have a supply of shelf-stable foods for easy packing. These
include fresh fruits and vegetables, crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, packaged
pudding and canned fruits or meats.
- If you make sandwiches the night before, keep them in the refrigerator until packing
up to go in the morning. Better yet, pack the lunch the night before and keep in
the refrigerator.
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Recipe
Oven Crispy Chicken
What You'll Need
1 ½ lbs. Chicken leg quarters (cut and separate leg from thigh)
¼ c milk
½ c flour
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp pepper
1 c ready-to-eat flake cereal, slightly crushed
4 T vegetable oil
Directions
1. Remove skin and all visible fat from chicken. Place milk in large bowl. Add chicken
pieces; turn to coat.
2. Combine flour, paprika, and pepper on a plate.
3. Lift chicken pieces from milk and reserve milk.
4. Coat chicken thoroughly with seasoned flour and place on a wire rack until all
pieces have been coated. Re-dip chicken pieces in reserved milk.
5. Place crushed cereal on plate. Place chicken pieces on crushed cereal. Using
2 forks, turn chicken pieces in crushed cereal to coat.
6. Place chicken on foil-lined baking tray; drizzle oil over chicken.
7. Bake at 400°F, for 15 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over; continue to bake
until chicken is thoroughly cooked (using a meat thermometer, the internal temperature
will be 185°) and crust is crisp, about 15 more minutes.
Makes 4 servings.
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