So this marks the last day of our first week of school. With the holiday and one day of orientation I only had to come up with two lunches to send in the stegosaurus lunch box. The stegosaurus lunchbox that Chase accessorized with a football ice pack. That girl has style.
I’m still on the fence about whether being allowed to send peanut butter is good news or bad news. It’s good news because Chase loooves to eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. The bad news is I know Chase would be happy to eat pbj four days a week and could go all year without every branching out. When Chase was at Hoppin Tots peanut butter was forbidden so I had to be a little creative but she was only there twice a week so my old standby of leftover pizza isn’t going to be enough. Definitely a keeper but not enough for four days a week.
Chase plays hard so my primary criteria is that lunch have at least a little bit of protein. I also really like using leftovers. I feel like I get more bang for my buck that way. This week I test drove a rif on melon and prosciutto and sent cantaloupe and cubed ham. She happily ate the ham for dinner but didn’t eat it at lunch because I didn’t send a fork. I really thought she’d just use her fingers. So I still really don’t know if it’s a viable lunch or not. Of course, all of the cantaloupe was gobbled up. Luckily I also sent guacamole and chips which she ate.
The point of all this is to pull together a few ideas for lunch. I’ll tell you what I’ve been thinking about and then you tell me. If everyone pitches in two ideas we’ll have lunch ideas for weeks and weeks. Are you in? So here’s what I’ve been thinking about… I’ve been perusing cookbooks for ideas.
Hardboiled eggs. I hesitate to send them because they’re kind of stinky but I was thinking about deviled eggs. Maybe after the yolks are deviled they smell less like fart?? Chase really like hardboiled eggs and it’s easy protein.
Tuna. A nice smooth tuna dip. She seems to like dips so I was thinking about this with a few pita chips. But again, another stinky lunch.
Chicken. I was thinking about leftover chicken cutlet cut into fingers and brocoli or carrot sticks with some dip. I’m pretty sure she’d like to find that in her lunch box.
More poultry. I’m going to test drive this one tomorrow. I made turkey meatballs for dinner. I’m going to skewer the leftovers with some pineapple chunks and see how that goes over.
There’s only one thing I know doesn’t work. Cheese. She will not eat cheese, in any form, that I put in her lunch box. So… tell me. What are you packing? If you don’t give me any ideas it will be hay, just hay, two times a day. I mean, peanut butter.
Unfortunately Skyler’s specially chosen pink and purple butterfly lunchbox, thermos and water bottle hasn’t come yet and it has been nearly 2 weeks since we ordered it. What is up with that?!
Anyway, I am new to this also so I don’t have a ton of ideas yet, but here are a couple vegetarian options (protein included):
Hummus tortilla wraps (maybe I’ll get some lettuce or veggies in there as well.
Bean and cheese mini burritos (Marita said she cut these in half and managed to get them into the thermos and they were still warm by lunch.
Baby carrots to dip into hummus, or dressing (but I know that is not provide a protein idea).
Yogurt. I bought a big container of yogurt and put some into a small container so that Skyler would be throwing away less plastic. My little container didn’t come home that first day. Not a good start to this reusable container idea. I am not willing to give up on reusable containers yet and will have to ask the teacher about it and try to get Skyler to put away his own containers in his lunch bag when he is finished.
I just had another idea! Bean dip with some tortilla chips to dip.
Will Chase eat tofu cubes? Skyler loves them and I could prepare them a lot of different ways with different sauces.
Thanks for reminding me about the hard boiled egg idea. I don’t think I will be deviling them though. Just sticking them in a container with a little container of mayonnaise since Skyler loves to dip it. I don’t have to deal with the clean up!
Hummus and bean dip are great ideas. I don’t think she’ll eat a burrito but I think she’d probably like to have a quesadilla. I wonder what would happen if I put grilled cheese fingers inside the thermos? If I tofu that was pressed and/or fried I think she’d eat that. Otherwise she’s pretty sensitive to soft textures. Did you buy flavored yogurt or plain? I usually buy plain and add in some jam but I bought a few small flavored cartons to try and they are super sweet!
I hope that lunchbox shows up soon!
What tiny containers are you using for dips? I have some small ones but I feel like they’re still too big for dips.
ok, i have to chime in on the deviled eggs idea. i think they smell MORE like farts. if you remember from M’s last 2 birthday parties, my mother in law makes them and takes them to every party. a few times i thought my kids had pooped their pants, but it was the deviled eggs!
whole foods has a few kid friendly lunch recipes on their website- i love their idea of apple sandwhiches w/ peanut butter in between w/granola and some raisins or choc chips. I’m not sure if this is healthy but according to the fine makers of nutella, it is :) — but i occasionally make M nutella sandwhiches on whole wheat w/some bananas slices in btwn. heck, i love it as well :) string cheese is also a favorite in our house.
school is starting late for us because of some renovations. we don’t start until the 20th! looking forward to send M off w/a lunch!
I saw those apple sandwiches too! I thought they were so cute. M’s party is where I got the idea for deviled eggs. She’s never tried them before but seemed to really like them there. Shall I tell your MIL that the next time I see her? :)
How do you make your falafel? Do you use a mix or a recipe?
sorry, i missed your cheese aversion comment so nix the string cheese idea. my other recommendation is beans. my kids eat them cold and also love chickpeas, and they are full of protein. i guess the chickpeas are hummus in another form :) — which makes me think of another idea for protein- falafel!
Pieces of cheese, some fruit (grapes, mellons, orange slices) and a few crackers.
Apple slices and some peanut butter to dip.
Some plain yogurt add blueberries and/or granola.
I’ve been wanting to try some homemade granola. This sounds like a good way to use it!
I agree on the deviled eggs smelling like farts. And I would wonder how to package them so the filling wouldn’t be a giant mess. However, that’s not an issue this year because Johnny will not eat eggs.
Johnny has snack in the AM, and lunch isn’t too long after that, so I’m trying to find a balance between the right amount of food. I have been packing a water and some sort of easy snack (Kashi cereal bars, string cheese or pretzels) and then half a sandwich, some fruit, and another snack (tube yogurt or similar). He took PB twice, a ham sandwich twice and today I made him jam, but cut the bread into shapes with my Creative Cutters set from Pampered Chef. I wondered about tuna fish too, because he’ll eat it happily, but it does smell.
One of the recent issues of Food Network Magazine had a ton of ideas for lunches, I’ll have to dig it out and see what it says.
I’m trying to figure out the snack lunch balance too. They get fruit and a dry snack like pretzels and then eat lunch not too long after. She’s only there from 9-12:45, after all. So I would ordinarily put pretzels and fruit in her lunch but I kind of feel like it’s overkill with snack and lunch so close together. Maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m trying to put a veggie that she’ll eat in her lunch instead of another fruit but I’m pretty much limited to carrots and broccoli.
So i wont pretend to know anything but i was going to suggest looking through everyday food. They always have a kid lunch and snack recipe. I have a ton of okd issues that i was going to toss when we move (did i tell you we’re moving?!?) I can give them to you if u want.
Uh, hello? No, you didn’t mention it! When, where? Details, please. I forgot about everyday food. I need to check it. You can ditch yours, I have more than my share of back issues!
Thanks to Sara for the recommendation to check out the Whole Foods website for recipes. Did you see the Oat-Date Bars recipe?
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2748
They look great and I am definitely going to try them. I have been wanting to try making my own healthy snack bars.
BTW, for my dressing dip for carrots, etc, I am re-purposing the little baby food containers (“Baby Cubes”) I had used for Aria…at least the ones that haven’t broken or cracked in places. ;( Probably any baby food containers would work well though.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=15154047&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping
For bean dips and hummus dips I will use a little bigger plastic storage container that we have that has a wider opening.
An article with good tips on the Whole Foods website: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/nutrition/nutrition-kids-lunch.php