Wordless Wednesday: Kids Making Lunches

Summer: Making Lunch for Camp

That's All Folks!!

No more lunches! Even though they only take minutes to pack, it'll be a nice break. And, I'm going to have the kids pack any lunches they need for day camps or outings. Ease  them in to packing their own lunches for school next year. 

Lunch: Final Monday!

Almost Summer...

Eight more lunch days...

Wordless Wednesday: Looking forward to summer...

Lunch for the boy...

Baked teriyaki tofu cubes, carrots, apple, and mini chocolate chip cookies. Basically, a Trader Joe's lunch.

10 weeks

Final lunch pre-Spring Break. April already, and only 10 weeks of school left. Crazy fast.

Day O' Green Lunch

Some green, some rainbow, and some real Irish brown bread for a sammie. Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Wordless Wednesday: Lunchtime

Unlunchables

Kidney beans for the win. Plus gluten-free chocolate chip cookies - made with only almond meal, honey, vanilla, butter and chocolate chips.

Birthday Cake Bento

Halloween Lunch

Not fancy, but she'll love it. Pumpkin-shaped cheese sammy with an extra slice on top, honeycrisp apple, carrot "chips" (purchased cut like that), and the Green Goddess dressing I make that is currently M's fave. I tucked in one pouch of "Fruit Snacks" in Halloween shapes, which is our hand-out this year. Those things are just glorified gummies. Happy Halloween!!

Fast Food: 3 mins. flat

Rocket, tomato, avocado, mahi mahi (leftovers from earlier this week), a splash of apple cider vinegar, a dash of sesame oil, and a grind of sea salt and pepper. Done. 

Ready!

Let the lunch-making begin! We're ready for September 2nd. We love our Easy Lunchboxes (http://www.easylunchboxes.com/) that I learned about five years ago from my friend Erin, and they are available on Amazon right here. I use my silicone heart-shaped cupcake molds (too fussy otherwise) for separating items like cheese, meat, crackers, and veggies in the large section of the boxes sometimes.

Erik likes his as "Lunchable-type" meals, where Madeline is pretty happy with a PB&J or a salad. We like the Mini Dippers containers for sauces and dressing in the lunchbox containers since they are not leakproof. One of my favorite dipping containers are simply reused dressing containers from Starbucks salads (also used to nuts and dried fruit in their Protein Boxes). 

We always use reusable snack containers of various types too, are trying the Fuel brand this year. And, we've got some Wrap-N-Mat wraps for sandwiches that were a gift... we'll see if those work for us. I might pare down a bit more, but I'm looking forward to taking baby steps to involve the kids in making their own lunches on a more regular basis this year! Here we go!! 

And, that's a wrap...

... final lunch of the school year! 

Avocado & cream cheese sammies on Dave's Killer Bread, fresh local strawberries, carrots with sesame-miso dressing, and Jungle Animal cookies... she loved it all.

Creative Lunches... For The Win!!

Back when M was in preschool, I packed her glorious bento-box lunches three days a week, filled with fun, funky, amazing things. Fast-forward a few years (filled with preschool lunches for brother too), and a full year of 1st- and 2nd-grade lunches (minus the three times she bought lunch), and I'm pretty tired of making lunch every single day. 

And, while sometimes I wish that the girl would just buy lunch, I've visited her cafeteria during lunch a few times this year and tried to eat a healthy, semi-appealing lunch from the lunch line and it's very challenging. So, I understand why she doesn't want to buy lunch. I wouldn't want to eat it either.

While I was away for a week in Hawaii earlier this year, M packed her own lunch every evening, for the next day, and she did gain a real appreciation for the lunches I send with her daily. She's also developed a taste for the simple - PB&J or bagel with cream cheese, fruit, a small treat, and veggies with ranch. Pretty easy. 

But, as we neared the final two weeks of school, and everything seemed to pile up (as it always does at the end), and I was so tired of lunch-packing, and we all just wanted summer, I decided to buck the system because this is the finish line! So many parents just seemed to be celebrating "giving up" on caring about school, and stopped packing lunches, volunteering, or making sure kiddos get homework done. Even one of the kids' teachers shared that she was "done" with the year, and it didn't matter anymore... everyone was doing it (or so it seemed, since so many were paying lip-service to it), and I just had to step away from the crowd and get away from the negativity. 

You don't peter out when you're about to cross the finish! That's a terrible lesson for kids. We're all excited for summer fun, but endurance is the name of the game when it comes to kiddos, life, and a healthy attitude. And, so I got really creative with lunches for the final two weeks of school to pump a little fun into the final miles... here are a few of M's favorites, and you know what? It totally worked - flipped all our attitudes around and we've had a fantastic final two weeks full of in-class fun, field-trip and field-day and party chaperoning, lots of reading and art-lesson teaching, Girl Scout fun, and Thank-You gift coordinating! Attitude makes a world of difference. 

Rainbow Lunch with M's favorites, including fresh pineapple and fresh English Peas. What? No protein you say? She bought white milk, and took cheese & crackers for her snack. 

Flat Stanley party lunch today... flat Stanley PB&J on Dave's Killer Bread, flat-sliced apple with cinnamon cream cheese, flat-sliced strawberries, Stanley cheddar slices, Big Cheezits, and Flat scottie-dog shortbread cookies. Fun!

M's faves lunch... salami, carrots & homemade ranch, roasted Yukon Golds and ketchup, Brussels cookies and fresh Bing Cherries.

And, another rainbow lunch with carrots, orange supremes, and canned pineapple.

First Bentos...

Fairly uninspired for me, but I'm short on time, and it's what they like at the moment, so...

Super-star Bento!