Keep Back to school Lunches neat and nutritious with these Dehydrated Treats

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Back-to-school was buying new clothes, new "school shoes," and a new lunchbox. It was catching up with your old friends and making new ones. It was mothers packing nutritious meals for their children to eat at school. It was hungry youngsters eagerly opening new lunchboxes to find...

... that the apple had squashed the sandwich; the pear had pulverized the potato chips; the peach had turned into puree.

Sound familiar?

You've packed a good lunch: a healthy sandwich made with whole grain bread; carrot sticks; fruit; a couple of cookies; a package of chips. Add a carton of milk from the cafeteria and your child has a fairly balanced meal.

But then there's the problem of keeping everything intact. There's not really enough room for the whole fruit, but it'll turn brown if you cut it. And you're not sure that cookies and potato chips qualify as "nutritious" foods. Short of leaving out half of the lunch, what do you do?

Say it with me, class: "Dehydrate!"

Dehydration is a great way to reduce the size of fruit and prevent damage to it. Dehydrated foods are easy to pack, light-weight, and not at all messy to eat. A little bit goes a long way, too: each bite is so packed with concentrated flavor and nutrients, that one large fruit is enough for two or three days. It's simple to make: just slice the fruit, pretreat as needed, load the trays, and start the dehydrator. In a few hours, you'll have tasty, convenient snacks for your young folks to enjoy!

Instead of the regular sweets you'd put in the lunchbox:

Make healthier cookies with dried fruit and fruit powder.

Puree the fruit and pour it on a lined tray to dry for fruit leather or roll-ups. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, or other spices for a variety of flavors.

Pour yogurt onto a lined tray, dehydrate, then roll it up and cut it into bite-sized pieces for yogurt taffy.

As for those greasy potato chips, substitute with veggie chips! Zucchini, squash, and kale are some of the vegetables that taste great when seasoned and dried. Give a new meaning to the term "potato chips" by dehydrating your own.

Lunchboxes, pails, bags, or buckets don't have to be disaster areas. You can keep them nutritious and neat with dehydrated treats.

Sonia D. Poehlein is an experienced dehydration enthusiast. Her on-line store, DryItAll.com, offers the best in dehydrating equipment, accessories, books, and gadgets. For excellence in products and service, affordable prices and enjoyable shopping, visit http://www.dryitall.com today.

Article Source: • Sonia_D._Poehlein / EzineArticles.com

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