Kid's School Lunches - Snacks and Mains
BACK TO SCHOOL LUNCHES - AHHHHHH!!!
Well, it’s that time again. As parents maybe we are celebrating our return to a quiet house, uninterrupted phone calls, and maybe even less guilt as we try to navigate working and parenting at the same time. Or on the flip side, maybe we are sad to enter the land of routine, early morning alarms, busier evenings, and the ever so dreaded.....SCHOOL LUNCHES!
As a working mom of 4 kids, I made it very clear to my kids early on (around Grade 1) that I would assist them with preparing their lunches, but they would be taking charge. What did this look like? Well, behind the scenes I prepared a large vegetable bin each week, I washed and cut up fruit daily before they came downstairs, and I prepared a weekly grab-n-go bin with snacks such as crackers, granola bars etc. I made a chart showing them which items they should pack each day and how much of each. To us adults, this might seem like an incredibly easy task for them to achieve since all of the hard work had already been done, but to a 7-year-old, this was an incredible feat to complete each day. As my kids got older and their knife skills became more reliable, they were in charge of washing and cutting their own fruit (the apple cutter is an amazing tool for kids too) and preparing their main dishes as well. The main dishes have proven to be more difficult to make since gluten free bread tastes like cardboard (unfortunately my kids are all gluten sensitive) and rice cakes can only be prepared so many ways before you just want to toss them out the window. Now, at the ages of 14 and 11 (triplets), they have the skills and confidence to prepare their own healthy breakfasts and lunches throughout the week (including cutting up a vegetable bin), but they are screaming for more variety of food ideas to make throughout the week.
So, what about taking leftovers for lunch? Eat a healthy dinner and voila, healthy lunch for the next day. Yes! You’re absolutely right and I love leftovers. The only problem is that our family of 6 loves to eat, and trying to prepare enough food for 12 meals would require a team of chefs and an industrial size kitchen. Will leftovers work for you? If so, equip yourself with some great thermoses and containers to keep your food hot or cold throughout their school day.
If you’re like me and leftovers isn’t an option, put your kids to work so they can prepare and enjoy these delicious, easy and fresh new options. All of these food ideas take less than 10 minutes to prepare and have a max of 5 ingredients. Doable? Absolutely! As long as the ingredients are in the house.
Click here to link through to the full PDF with recipes and instructions — Good luck and enjoy!