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ENLARGE
Busler
It's September, and that means the beginning of another school year. School safety is a lot more than just looking both ways before crossing the street. It's also a time for thinking about food safety when it comes time to pack school lunches.
Remember your temperatures — hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Perishable foods should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours. To save time, school lunches can be safely made ahead of time. Pack lunches the night before, and keep them cold in the refrigerator or freezer.
Have your kids help in the kitchen packing their own lunches. That way they have more ownership and responsibility in the process. They learn safe food handling practices and have the opportunity to make nutritious choices about what to pack. Take time over the weekend to cut up fruits and vegetables, repackage snack foods into single-serving pastic bags or bake cookies and snack bars for the week ahead.
Some things to remember when handling foods:
• Keep it clean — wash hands, food preparation surfaces and utensils. 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.
• Keep hot foods hot (soups, chili, stew). Use 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. Then 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. Perishable foods (i.e., meat, poultry or egg sandwiches) not eaten at lunch should be discarded. Sack lunches do not make good leftovers.
• Make sure to provide lots of shelf-stable foods for easy packing. Examples are fresh fruits and vegetables, crackers, pretzels, raisins, snack bars, cookies, packaged pudding and canned fruits or meats.
• Freeze single-sized juice packs overnight and place the frozen drinks in your child's lunch. The juice will thaw by lunchtime, but it will still be cold. The frozen drink will also keep the rest of the lunch cold.
• If you make sandwiches the night before, keep them in the refrigerator until packing up to go in the morning. Or many times you can freeze the bread, meat and cheese and add the lettuce and tomato in the morning.
Susan Busler is the Family Community Development Extension agent for OSU Extension Service of Douglas County. She can be reached by e-mail at susan.busler@oregonstate.edu or by phone at 672-4461.
Remember your temperatures — hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Perishable foods should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours. To save time, school lunches can be safely made ahead of time. Pack lunches the night before, and keep them cold in the refrigerator or freezer.
Have your kids help in the kitchen packing their own lunches. That way they have more ownership and responsibility in the process. They learn safe food handling practices and have the opportunity to make nutritious choices about what to pack. Take time over the weekend to cut up fruits and vegetables, repackage snack foods into single-serving pastic bags or bake cookies and snack bars for the week ahead.
Some things to remember when handling foods:
• Keep it clean — wash hands, food preparation surfaces and utensils. 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.
• Keep hot foods hot (soups, chili, stew). Use 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. Then 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. Perishable foods (i.e., meat, poultry or egg sandwiches) not eaten at lunch should be discarded. Sack lunches do not make good leftovers.
• Make sure to provide lots of shelf-stable foods for easy packing. Examples are fresh fruits and vegetables, crackers, pretzels, raisins, snack bars, cookies, packaged pudding and canned fruits or meats.
• Freeze single-sized juice packs overnight and place the frozen drinks in your child's lunch. The juice will thaw by lunchtime, but it will still be cold. The frozen drink will also keep the rest of the lunch cold.
• If you make sandwiches the night before, keep them in the refrigerator until packing up to go in the morning. Or many times you can freeze the bread, meat and cheese and add the lettuce and tomato in the morning.
Susan Busler is the Family Community Development Extension agent for OSU Extension Service of Douglas County. She can be reached by e-mail at susan.busler@oregonstate.edu or by phone at 672-4461.
