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Monday, September 15, 2008

Planning Interesting Lunches

Making lunches was never my favorite thing in the world to do. But when I did some planning, it made it a lot more interesting for me and for my girls!

I made a list of different options (so I would only have to think once!) and would try to provide variety and nutrition, so lunch would not be boring and would be eaten. Here are some of the things I came up with:

- peanut butter and banana sandwiches (the bananas would usually stay nice until lunch)

- peanut butter (in a container) with an apple or banana

- fluffy nutter sandwich (yes - I even did this occasionally - peanut butter with marshmallow creme)

- a bagel with cream cheese or peanut butter

- yogurt

- string cheese and crackers

- sliced cheddar, monterrey jack, or colby and crackers

- deli meat sandwiches on bagels, english muffins or bread

- cream cheese and olive sandwiches

- boiled eggs

- pistacchio nuts

- trail mix

- fresh fruit

- fresh veggies

I tried to be creative and put unusual things in their lunches that they liked - mangoes, kiwis, etc. Making interesting lunches was a little work, but it told my girls I loved them. And I wrote notes on their napkins, even through high school! (They said they liked it and all their friends wished they had similar lunches. If they had been embarrassed, I would have stopped!)

These days, green experts are saying to use foil and reusable containers for food and drinks - another thing to consider.

What do you put in your lunch or your kids' lunches?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This made me think of the fun containers they have in Japan to carry lunches in. I even bought a cute lunch bag at the Yen store. I will use it for other things as I don't pack a lunch and it is a nice souvenir without the clutter.

Andy said...

One other thing of concern is there seems to be a rising number of severe allergies to peanuts. Both my daughter and son's school have a nut-free policy (which makes it tough on me because not only do I like peanut butter but also it's quick and easy to make something delicious).

Even if there isn't a nut-free policy, it's a good idea to discuss with kids about nut-allergies.

While I'm not into packaged and processed foods, whole foods has some good reasonably healthy looking snacks that are easy to pack in the school lunches.

Anonymous said...

I, too, thought of the peanut allergies running rampant these days. (I wonder why it is so prevalent these days but not in past years?) It certainly eliminates a lot of options if your school has a nut-free policy, but I can certainly understand the danger to those who are highly allergic!