Perhaps because I am not working this year, I have time to fuss over lunch preparation. Jason would say I am fixating on it, and he might be right. Namely, I'm focused on fixing healthy, interesting and eco-friendly lunches. I think I have the eco-friendly down. We pack reusable containers instead of Ziploc bags. I am even trying some little washable fabric bags (with velcro closures) for non-messy things like grapes and cookies. I pack cloth napkins and fill Nalgene water bottles.
I'm looking for ideas on the healthy and interesting part. There are plenty of books and lists of possible foods, but they are not always practical. I'm looking for things that kids would actually eat without spending $20 a lunch on ingredients and spending hours to prepare. I can pack Thermoses for hot foods and use ice packs for cold foods.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated -- Zac, Noah and Miles thank you in advance!
7 comments:
Janice, I am impressed with your dedication to healthy eating for your boys! I too would love to know of good ideas for Preston's lunch. He pretty much eats the same thing (yogurt, grapes, etc.) day after day. Love, Aunt Carol
Hi Janice - glad to see you on the blog.
With all the individually packaged items in the stores, it should be pretty easy to pack a lunch. But maybe not too much healthy stuff, huh? My idea of a lunch would be a plain old pbj or ham sandwich, small bag of chips and some fruit. And maybe once in a while, a mini-candy bar. By today's standards, that's not very healthy, I guess.
C'mon, young mothers, what are your suggestions?
One thing we like is humus on a tortilla. We sometimes just eat it with humus, or we add meat and cheese and veggies. Reagan loves it.
King-size PayDay bar and a 20 oz Coke?
I would love to give you some good ideas, Janice, but admit that I was not very good at this when my kids were young. Andrew in particular hated anything "healthy." Mary Lee now is a much healthier eater and has taught me a lot.
Do the boys have any access to heat things up or does everything have to be cold?
My kids have never had the convenience of me packing their lunch. I strongly encourage them to eat "hot lunch." If they don't like what's being served, they have to pack their own lunch. Since they're too lazy to pack their own lunch, they end up eating whatever is in the cafeteria that day.
Along those same "green" lines, I just implemented a recycling program in our home. We now have containers for glass, aluminum, and paper.
I bought some stainless steel wide-mouth thermoses (thermi? that plural looks weird). I boil water in a teakettle and fill them up and leave them for a few minutes while I heat the food. Then I dump the water and add the food - seems to work to keep the food warm until 11:30 when they eat. They don't have access to the microwaves to heat up any other way.
I might start to cook a second helping of whatever we have for dinner and start sending that in their lunches. That way, I can do one set of recipes and meal planning and nutrition checking and get two meals out of it.
I'll try the hummus...I know at least Miles will like it. He is fairly adventurous.
The boys do have the option of hot lunch once a week. So at least that's one day of respite from packing lunch (somewhat forsaking proper nutrition, though).
I was pretty reluctant about the waste free lunch thing - all the containers and lids made me buggy! But I'm used to it now and it's not such a chore. I hardly ever use Ziploc bags any more.
Again, all of this needs to be balanced with time and money and effort. I have the tendency to go off the deep end with any new idea, so I have to make sure I'm still being practical in my lunch providing efforts. That's what Jason says, anyway.
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