A Week in Packed Lunches

Bag or bought- the great question in school lunches.  Right now, I'm making packed lunches for Sky and Fire every day and while I don't enjoy the time and mental energy it takes to do it, I do like that I know what the kids are eating.
  I've made Sky's before (and blogged about it here and here ) but the big challenge for me right now is pack food that the kids will eat with packing a whole bag of processed food.  Although both kids would love to eat peanut butter and jelly for lunch every day as long as it was made on white bread, I do to try to send something different every day so that they're getting a good variety of food in their diet.
  Here's what a week in packed lunches looks like at our house:







Friday
A weeks worth of lovingly packed lunches and what was their favorite meal of the week: the (special-treat, every-once-in-a-while) Lunchable.  Figures!

How do you handle lunches in your house?  Do you send packed lunches or do your children buy them at school?  Or somewhere in between?  If your kids eat packed lunches, do you make them or is that their job?

See where I"m linking up here

Comments

  1. Love this topic! :) Our school allows but strongly discourages lunches brought from home. The first term my oldest was in school, he was in a different school, and he took the same thing in his lunch box every day: peanut butter and honey sandwich, grapes, and pretzels. It took him several weeks to get used to school lunch at the current school, but the fact that they repeat the same menu each week really helped.

    Morning snack is porridge MW, milk and bread TTh, and hot cocoa F. Afternoon snack is fruit, usually bananas. Lunches are yellow lentils with rice, steamed kale with ugali (made from corn meal), pilau (beef fried rice), green lentils with spaghetti (weird but they eat it!), and beans and chapati (flat bread). They used to have French fries on Fridays - just French fries. The kids loved it, but then the price of potatoes went up for some reason and they switched to beans&chapati. It's still the favorite lunch.

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    Replies
    1. My kids could eat the same thing every day in their packed lunches, as long as it was a PB&J and chips!
      If I knew that the school lunches my kids were getting were as healthy as the ones at your sons' school (lentils, kale, beans- yes please!), I would sign them up in a heart beat but the lunches our district offers are the same processed food I got. Do your boys eat their school lunches or do they complain about them?

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  2. Packing lunches is so good and so hard at the same time! I've shifted to have my kids (ages 8, 10, & 11) pack their lunches with a few rules: you need a good protein, a fruit & a vegetable, you can have one granola bar type snack, and the rest is up to you. So far so good!

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    1. I'm definitely looking forward to getting to where you are, Becky, and letting my kids pack their own lunches. Do you double-check their lunch bags or can you trust them not to fill it with junk? Do they pack them before bed time or in the morning before school? What sort of veggies do your kids take? Mine like cherry tomatoes or carrots and dressing and I'd love any other veggie suggestions.

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  3. Wonderful lunches. I know I would definitely prefer packing lunches.

    When my girls were in summer camp this year, I packed their lunches daily and I had fun coming up with a variety of lunch ideas.

    Thanks for sharing!
    xoxo

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Jennifer! It is fun to come up with something different for the kids and I do like to surprise them sometimes.

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  4. I started packing this year for my 14 and 9 year olds. The 14 year old went through his lunch money too quickly on things like $2.00 sweet tea and ice cream. The 9 year old - I had no idea what of the school lunch she was eating. I like packing for them so I know they are eating a decent lunch but do get tired of thinking of different things for them to eat. Big hits are Tuna salad, chef salad(14 year old) and bagels with cream cheese and jelly or turkey pinwheels for the 9 year old. They each also get a bag of pretzels or crackers and either veggies with dip or fruit as well as a cheese stick or yogurt. Occasionally I will make a bar cookie to add in as a treat. Much more economical than school lunches as well as more nutritious, especially in our district which classifies a funnel cake as "breakfast for lunch".

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  5. Hot or Nots cakes. In bowl, smash one ripe banana,add one egg. Mix 2 T wheat flour, dash cinnamon. Add walnuts or another nut, choc, pb, butterscotch or any flavor chip, raisin, coconut. Mix several or single flavor. Cookie Doughs: smash or process ripe bananas, add mini choc chips. Freeze in Popsicle trays (taste like cookie dough)

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  6. Fruus Bars: process 1 banana, 150g strawb,100g blueb,75g rasp,300g yogurt. Blend. Then add all again and don't blend. Pour into bread pan. Place Popsicle Stix, freeze. Lift out. Cut into bars.

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  7. Fruus Bars: process 1 banana, 150g strawb,100g blueb,75g rasp,300g yogurt. Blend. Then add all again and don't blend. Pour into bread pan. Place Popsicle Stix, freeze. Lift out. Cut into bars.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hot or Nots cakes. In bowl, smash one ripe banana,add one egg. Mix 2 T wheat flour, dash cinnamon. Add walnuts or another nut, choc, pb, butterscotch or any flavor chip, raisin, coconut. Mix several or single flavor. Cookie Doughs: smash or process ripe bananas, add mini choc chips. Freeze in Popsicle trays (taste like cookie dough)

    ReplyDelete

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