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Packed lunches with pizzazz

To liven up lunches for either work or school, a good rule of thumb is to include three to four of the food groups from Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide.

The following list of suggestions does just that, thanks to the registered dietitians at EatRight Ontario. This new telephone and online service offers credible nutrition information free-of-charge to all Ontarians.

The perfect warm up -- Try homemade chili or vegetable stew in a thermos, small whole wheat dinner roll with a thin slice of cheddar cheese, baby carrots and 2 plain cookies. Hearty and nutritious.

South of the border quesadillas -- Place leftover shredded dinner meat or beans on a whole wheat tortilla. Add a little shredded cheese. Cover with another tortilla. Heat in frying pan until cheese melts. Cut into wedges. Pack salsa for dipping.

Campfire favourite -- Baked beans, mini multi-grain pitas, washed grapes, low-fat graham crackers and chocolate milk. Fast to prepare and very high in fibre.

Crisper cleanout -- Make fried rice using leftover brown rice from last night's dinner and toss in a variety of vegetables from your fridge's crisper. Now that's a smart use of leftovers!

You can access more nutrition information and EatRight Ontario's Registered Dietitians through HealthyOntario.com, a trusted online resource for a variety of health, wellness, disease prevention and advice for healthier living.

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