School for most Illinois kids gets back underway next week and a University of Illinois Extension nutrition educator has a few tips on how to go back to school with a good nutrition plan for our kids.

Caitlin Mellendorf is the Nutrition Educator at the University of Illinois Extension in DeWitt, Macon, and Piatt Counties and explains when parents send kids to school with a lunch, kids bring that lunch box home and parents discover just a little bit of the meal was eaten.

Mellendorf recommends within the guidelines of the schools, sending foods your kid enjoys and will eat. She explains a kid's appetite is going to vary depending on if they've eaten breakfast or had a snack.

When it comes to nutrition in the lunch we send kids to school with, Mellendorf says we want to keep the 'my plate' model in mind. She says some of these foods will provide good protein and hold off hunger a bit longer.

When it comes to keeping foods hot or cold, Mellendorf says there are lunchboxes and materials to allow to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.