Don't forget

safety when packing your child's lunch . Scrub up before you prepare

and pack lunches. That means washing your hands, washing your fruits and

vegetables under running water, and washing your containers after each

use. Don't use the same cutting board for meats and poultry as for breads

and vegetables. And don't prepare raw and cooked foods with the same utensils.

If your child carries a lunch sack or uncooled lunch box, the following

are safe items to pack:

Bread.

Lettuce.

Commercial

mayonnaise, salad dressing.

Hard cheese

such as cheddar.

Applesauce.

Dried fruit,

raisins, dried vegetables and jerky.

Crackers,

granola bars, candy, cookies, cake without perishable fillings or frostings.

Pie, except

cream pie.

Juice, soda.

Raw vegetables.

Raw whole

fruits (cut up fruits need refrigeration).

Peanut butter.

Nuts.

Jelly, catsup,

mustard, pickles.

Do not

pack cured meats such a bologna, ham or smoked turkey in uncooled lunchboxes.

These foods used to contain large amounts of salt and nitrate so that

microorganisms that cause human illness could not grow in them. They are

now made using different recipes and must be refrigerated for safety.

For safety

as well as variety in your child's lunches, make the lunch box a mini-refrigerator.

Pack a frozen solution container (such as Blue Ice) that will hold the

temperature below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but keep in mind that this temperature

can only be held for about 3 hours until lunch time, and won't keep foods

cold enough for your child to eat leftovers on the way home 7 hours later.

To keep the box safely cool in most room temperature situations you will

need a frozen solution container of 1-1/2 inches by 6 inches, so make

sure there is enough room left to hold the food. Not all of the soft-sided

insulated lunch boxes hold the cold temperature as well as the hard sided

ones (a thin layer of foam doesn't do well).

Try one of

the following recipes to add a healthy touch to your child's lunch.

Apple Dip

You can add

peanut butter, nuts or chocolate sauce, or try using strawberry flavored

cream cheese.

1/2 (8 ounce)

package cream cheese

1/4 cup brown

sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons

vanilla extract

In a medium-sized

mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla. Mix well

until all of the brown sugar has been blended into the cream cheese and

vanilla. If the mixture is too runny for your taste, add a small amount

of brown sugar to the mixture. If the mixture is too thick, add a small

amount of vanilla extract.

Ants on a Log

5 stalks celery

1/2 cup peanut

butter

1/4 cup raisins

Cut the celery

stalks in half. Spread with peanut butter. Sprinkle with raisins.

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