Tag Archive for: valentines day meal

How to Pack a Valentine’s Day Lunch Your Kids Will Love

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The countdown to Valentine’s Day is on — and it’s a holiday that your kids can enjoy just as much as the adults. Fortunately, you can help make it special for your young ones by shaking up how you do school lunches. Here are several ideas to help you pack a Valentine’s Day lunch your kids will love. 

1. Mini Shape Cutters

Use mini shape cutters to create some fun, edible snacks for your kids. These come in heart, letter, arrow, and other shapes that you can use on things like cheese, bread, fruit, salami, and a ton of other food items. For example, you can use the letter cutters to make “XOXO” or “LOVE” cheese snacks. You can even spell out your child’s name. 

2. Cupcake Liners and Baking Cups

Use cupcake liners or heart-shaped baking cups as dividers to create extra sections in your child’s bento lunch box and to add some Valentine’s Day color. These are a great way to separate different food items, which also works well if you plan to pack your child’s lunches well in advance. There are many options for these liners and cups, but you can certainly find holiday-themed ones as the date gets closer. 

3. Heart-Shaped Food

You can turn just about any food into a heart to make it fun for your kids. Heart-shaped pizzas are a fun choice for Valentine’s Day. You can also cut their favorite sandwich into the shape of a heart. Other options include cutting fruit, like apple slices, pineapple, strawberries, and melons into heart-shaped pieces. 

4. Chocolate Covered-Fruit

Even if you don’t normally send chocolate in your child’s lunch, you might make an exception every now and then for holidays like Valentine’s Day. You can add a healthy spin to the gesture by creating some chocolate-covered fruit snacks. And it’s amazingly easy to do. Just choose the type of chocolate and fruit you want as well as any toppings like nuts or coconut. 

5. Valentine’s Fruit Kabobs

In staying with the fruit theme, you can put together some fun and colorful Valentine’s fruit kabobs for your kids. Get an assortment of blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, pineapple pieces, and grapes. You can pre-cut the fruit pieces into heart shapes or stars. Then, create festive rainbow fruit skewers. 

6. Healthy Banana Pops

Another healthy snack/dessert you can make for your kids in the Valentine’s Day spirit is frozen banana pops. These are delicious banana halves on a stick dipped in Greek vanilla yogurt and rolled in sprinkles. You’ll want to package this snack in a cool bag so the yogurt doesn’t melt. 

7. Homemade Fortune Cookies

What could be more fun and personal for your child than getting to crack open some homemade fortune cookies on Valentine’s day? You can spend some time thinking of funny or inspirational messages to put on the “fortunes.” Then follow the recipe and send them off with your child’s lunch. You can even add a bit of red food coloring to the cookie dough to turn the cookies pink. 

8. Include Color Accents

Anything red or pink can add a dash of color to your child’s special Valentine’s Day lunch. This might involve placing some bright napkins in their lunch box or including things like heart-shaped cutouts, a placemat, or some berries. 

9. Grilled Cheese Hearts and Tomato Soup

If your child is a bit older or you live in a colder climate, you might want to send them a cup (or thermos) of warm soup and a sandwich for lunch. You can dolly it up for Valentine’s Day by choosing tomato soup because it’s red. And then top it off with a heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwich. 

10. Old Fashioned Love Notes

Finally, your kids have probably spent some time filling out those cute Valentine’s cards for their friends and classmates. They’d probably like nothing more than to receive a nice Valentine from you. Take the time to include a handwritten, printed, or fun note with your child’s lunch to add some extra Valentine’s love to their day. 

Do Your School Lunch Shopping at Nick’s of Clinton

When you’re preparing these fun and delicious lunches for your kids, you want the highest-quality and most affordable ingredients. For over 50 years, Nick’s of Clinton has been providing a full-service experience to customers with its superior quality products and top-level customer service. Nick’s offers one-stop shopping for all your grocery needs, including a full-service meat and deli department and Nick’s signature line of products. Stop by or give us a call today at (301) 843-4825 with any questions.

New Year’s Resolutions – Keeping Up With Your Diet in the New Year

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New Year’s Resolutions – Keeping Up With Your Diet in the New Year

If you’re like many Americans, resolving to eat healthily made your list of 2022 resolutions. But as you power through the new year, eating healthy can be challenging when faced with budget concerns, a growing family, a heavy workload, or various other priorities. At Nick’s of Clinton, we are here to help you meet your New Year’s resolution to keep up with your diet throughout 2022. Here are some tips for keeping up with your diet in the New Year.

Know the Basics of a Healthy Diet 

The first thing you should familiarize yourself with when working to improve your diet is knowing what constitutes a good diet. While how food will impact you depends on many things, including your tolerance for certain foods, any underlying health conditions, and your exercise level, most experts agree about the following: 

  • Most nutritionists agree that vegetables are integral to a healthy diet, and some even advocate for a fully plant-based diet or believe that a significant portion of a person’s calories should come from vegetables. Vegetables are important because they contain vitamins and minerals that are essential for health.
  • While some people have trouble digesting grains or have an inflammatory reaction, for others, grains can be a great source of nutrients. Choose whole grains whenever possible. White flour, for example, is virtually devoid of nutrients as it’s made only from the endosperm. 
  • When it comes to protein, it is very important to get enough protein daily for optimal health. Most experts recommend that lean protein sources are best, and that oily fish is one of the best sources of protein out there. Some experts also say that eating red meat in moderation is good for you, as red meat has vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients that your body needs. If you are a vegetarian, there are numerous sources of non-animal protein available. 
  • While many people who are dieting think that fat should be avoided altogether, the real culprit when it comes to weight gain and poor health is sugar. Fat is actually essential to providing energy and supporting cell function, but some fats are better than others.

By eating a combination of the above and avoiding high-sugar foods or foods with lots of additives, you’ll be taking the first steps towards a better diet. 

Prepare Your Own Food or Choose Consciously Prepared Food 

Another thing to consider when keeping up with your diet is whether you’re making your own food or buying pre-packaged or pre-made food. Nine out of 10 times, making your own food from scratch using fresh ingredients will be better for you. Not only is food more nutritious when it’s prepared fresh, but it also is much less likely to have additives, preservatives, or other artificial ingredients that can be bad for health. If you are buying prepared food, choose prepared foods that are made fresh and that aren’t pre-packaged or boxed. 

Don’t Forget About Other Elements of Good Health 

While a healthy diet is arguably one of the most important parts of maintaining good health, it isn’t the only one. It’s important that you support your health in other ways too, such as by exercising and prioritizing self-care and stress management. When you are feeling healthy in other areas of your life, this may motivate you to continue eating healthy and it may also lead to faster results. If you’re struggling to motivate yourself, find a friend or family member who can serve as an accountability buddy—you can pursue good health as a team.

Get Support in Your Journey to Eat Healthy at Nick’s of Clinton 

At Nick’s of Clinton, we have the produce, meat, dairy, and other foods that you’re looking for. If you’re ready to take up healthy shopping and eating, we have everything you need to be supported along the journey. Not only do we have a full-service meat counter and deli, but we also have numerous delicious and healthy prepared food options for those days when you don’t have time to cook.

To learn more about Nick’s of Clinton, call us at (301) 843-4825 or email us today. We look forward to seeing you!