Lunch Box Menus

As requested, here is the list of school lunch items that I typed up and posted on the inside of a kitchen cabinet. I only selected things that I think my kids would be willing to try or that I know they already like. On the "iffy" items, I will make sure Isaac helps me prepare it. This may help him have a willingness to try it. This list assumes you can have nut products at school. Vivi cannot, so she won't get sent anything with nuts.

Main Entree'/Protein/Carb

*Wraps with cream cheese, turkey, sliced cucumber, and spinach leaves on a whole wheat tortilla

*Salads w/meat chunks or sliced almonds, diced vegetables, shredded cheese, and light Italian dressing (sent in a separate container).

*Hummus or bean dip with a variety of crackers, tortilla chips, or veggie sticks to dip

*Kabobs made with ham chunks or meatballs, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes

*Soup

*Deli Platter of whole grain crackers, meat, cheese, and a fruit

*Egg salad made w/chopped celery and shredded carrot

*Meat sandwiches on whole wheat bread (my new thing is to buy bagged leaf spinach and sneak it in everything... omelets for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches, torn into pieces and hidden amongst romaine lettuce in a salad, and smashed into the light mayo or thousand island dressing of a meat sandwich...the kids do not notice and all 3 eat it up...getting about 3 servings of spinach a week!!)

*Apple slices, peanut butter, and a drizzle of honey on whole wheat bread

*Chicken salad stuffed in a half of an avocado

*Cold Pasta salad w/pesto sauce

*Bean and cheese burrito

*Spinach and cheese Quiche or tart (look up recipe online, can be served cold)

*Cottage Cheese

*Grilled chicken strips w/Honey mustard dip

*Chili and a corn bread muffin

*Tuna pasta salad (canned tuna mixed w/cooked and cooled macaroni noodles, peas, and light mayo...we LOVE this salad)

*Ravioli tossed in olive oil and served in a thermos with steamed mixed vegetables

*Banana or Zucchini bread spread with almond or apple butter and sliced almonds

*Whole grain rice in a thermos w/turkey Kielbasa sausage and kidney beans

*Tortilla rolls cut into pinwheels

Side Dishes ( Choose Two)

*Veggie sticks w/ ranch dressing (carrots, celery, zucchini strips,cucumber wheels, cherry tomatoes, black olives, edamame, small broccoli florets)

*String cheese

*Sugar free pudding/jello

*Yogurt parfait

*Trail mix

*Baked lays, Sun Chips, or whole grain tortilla chips w/mild salsa and guacamole

*Rice Krispie Treat

*Yogurt parfait

*Dried fruit

*Kashi TLC cookie

*Popcorn sprinkled w/parmesan cheese

*Unsweetened applesauce cup

*Fresh fruit

*Steamed apples w/cinnamon

*Honey Nut Balls (in a food processor combine graham crackers until fine crumbs, add peanut butter and honey. Form into balls and roll in coconut. Refrigerate overnight before putting in lunch box)

Drinks

*Water

*White Milk

*Unsweetened and caffeine free iced green tea

*Water with a splash of cranberry or grape juice

*Water w/half a (bottle sized) packet Crystal light lemonade

*Milk with a dash of Hershey's syrup

What to Pack Your Child for Lunch

Okay, now that we have the right containers, we need to know what to pack in them. I am sure many moms have picky eaters and resort to the staple packed lunch: a sandwich, crusts cut off; chips, cookie, Capri Sun or some other juice wanna be. Out of that menu, the only healthy thing is the meat/PB and the wheat bread. The rest is junk and it cannot sustain your kids for the next 3-4 hours of school, which explains why so many kids come home and want to devour the kitchen. It ain't school that made them hungry, it was their nutrient deficient lunch. And if you need convincing as to why the cafeteria is a bad deal, check out Jamie Oliver's website. He has lots of great information. So now I will get off my soap (lunch) box and head into what you could pack...

Kraftfoods has some ideas which is where I got this photo of my favorite thing to pack, the tortilla wrap. So check out their link. This is another great link of food packing ideas.

The main things I try to get into every lunch box are 1) A whole grain 2) A calcium source 3) Fruit and/or vegetable 4)Protein. I structure the lunches by making sure I hit those areas and limit sugar and unnecessary calories. Some of my favorite protein sources are lean lunchmeat, hard boiled egg, cheese sticks, sliced almonds on a salad, diced chicken and ham chunks, and yogurt. Were you aware that Target's deli section (with the pre-made sandwiches) sells lunch and snack boxes of whole grain crackers, cheese and meat, and grapes. It is a much healthier version of a Lunchable and about the same price, sometimes less. I like to have that be my easy lunch of the week, add a water bottle and you are ready to go! As an every once in awhile treat, I will put in a rice krispie treat or one of these cookies:

These babies pack whole grains, protein, AND fiber in just one cookie. If your school allows peanut products, give these a try!
I like to put these in as drinks, (non flavored!) but they are pricey...so that is why I will be using the water bottles this year to send milk in. I will not list a whole bunch of things you could send in your kids lunch, as you can google that for yourselves! But I will give you some of Isaac's favs:

*Salads- I put spinach and romaine together with shredded carrots, almonds, and sometimes celery

*Tortilla wraps, I have put all kinds of things in these

* Sandwiches of all kinds

*crackers with hummus and sliced veggies

*Ham and cheese kabobs on toothpicks

*Cold pasta salad

*Morningstar Farms mini corn dogs in a thermos

*granola bars

*apples

*banana bread

Hope this post and the links inspire you to pack a good lunch for your kids! Make a list of their favorites and put it on an inside cabinet in the kitchen so you will know what to get at the store.

Picking the Right Containers...GO green!

Per the request of Brandi whose daughter also starts kindergarten in the fall, I will begin my annual Back 2 School posts. This first series will be about packing a healthy lunch for your child.

To avoid this:
(what is the sugar packet for? Is that tea?!!)

Or this:

(can I get a collective, "ewwww"?)

I will be doing this:

Minus the white bread, I will be packing my kids lunches.

This is called a "bento box". We don't have this, but I love it! I may be watching the sales at our local Pottery Barn Kids where these beauties are sold for $14 each, along with this genius way to avoid gobs of plastic cutlery:

They call these their Spencer Utensils.
I especially love the containers they come in.

Shipping is currently free on these two, just for your information...or you know, grandparents or aunts that might want to purchase these for their adorable just-about-to start kindergarten grandson/nephew...not that I know anyone like that. ;)

Moving on...

Here are our current containers we used last year. I love the idea of going green with our lunches this year, not because I am a huge environmentalist...but because my 5 year old son is. He is constantly telling me to recycle stuff and he even wanted us to find a way to "reuse" my broken flip flop yesterday. What? I had to gently turn down his offer. He is known to pick up trash at the park and promptly walk it to the nearest trash receptacle mumbling about littering and treating the earth with respect. I am not kidding you, he does this. And he was enraptured with the back of our Sun Chips bag where it showed how the bag is compostable. So to appease his little green heart, I eliminate plastic sandwich bags and snack bags by using containers. But I love how some really talented Momma's on Etsy hand make reusable cloth baggies that velcro. Click on that link to see what I am talking about. Those things are SO cool. They are on my mental list of things I want.

Today I purchased the following:

This is a cute little salad container. It has an icepack and a container that opens to pour dressing on.

I had the worst time packing him salads last year as none of my containers worked right or fit right in his lunchbox. So this was a gem to find.

And what I am most excited about is this found at Kroger for $12.

It is a plastic tray of BPA free reusable bottles. You fill them up and stick them in the fridge then just pop them in the lunch box each day and wash them all together at the end of the week. They are little and decorated attractively. Isaac drinks OJ for breakfast and milk for dinner, so I don't want him having juice boxes every day in his lunch. This allows me to water down his juice, send just water, or milk. They also come in girl colors. I love how they have to convice you to buy these. :)

It worked.

So stay tuned for my post on "What to Pack".