Making my kids' school lunches.

Posted by Ethne~

Shaun and I decided to pack school lunches for the girls, rather than have them eat hot lunch when they started kindergarten this fall.  When we examined the school menu, it wasn’t that the food choices were as terrible as I’d envisioned – the opposite – there are whole grains, seafood choices, and good fruits and vegetables. 

But, I was worried that our girls would just pick the starchiest of the a la carte options and wouldn’t actually eat the better-for-you options.  So I told Shaun I wanted to pack their lunches and be in control of what options we were giving them.  He thought that was a great plan.

We went on a big PB&J stint already (even though that's starchy, I buy natural peanut butter and make my own jam, so I'm still in control of the ingredients), but I knew I would have to switch it up or it would be a long 6+ years.  I did ham and turkey roll-ups with cream cheese or mozzarella cheese.  They loved those.

My latest try has been a picnic lunch theme.  Turkey pepperoni, fancy wheat crackers, Laughing Cow spreadable cheese or mozzarella stick, nut-free trail mix (we don’t have a nut allergy, it was just a good looking mix), hummus and carrots.  They also get a piece of fruit leather and kid-size granola bar for snack in the afternoon.  I totally want to eat it when I pack it up.

Shaun’s comment:

“School lunches sure have changed since I was a kid.  My mom packed me a peanut butter & jelly, a bag of Cheetos or Doritos and a Ho-Ho.”*

Do you guys pack lunches for your kids?  What do you pack?  Please share.  (We let them pick once or twice a month from the hot lunch menu that they can eat from that – so far their favorite are the shrimp poppers – as one other way to switch things up).

*Note: Shaun’s mom is awesome.  That was a kick-a$$ lunch for the ‘80’s.  I mostly loved his comment because of the Ho-Ho reference.