What To Pack In Your Kid’s Lunch Box
My youngest daughter, Maddie, gave me the idea for this post and even helped write it. For many years, one of my stay-at-home responsibilities was making lunch for the kids. Sounds easy enough, but for those of you who prepare your child’s lunch every day, five days a week, you know this task can be daunting, especially if your kids are picky eaters.
Years ago, my girls loved Smucker’s “Uncrustables” – crust-less peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I used to buy them by the case at Costco and serve them in their lunch boxes just about every day for weeks on end. One day, they rebelled and said, “NO MORE,” and both have refused to eat another one since. Now, it’s gotten a little more complicated, so with Maddie’s help, we came up with some suggestions that may help fellow lunchmakers.
For the record, a couple of years ago, my wife agreed to relieve me of lunch-packing duties, but last week, she was out of town for work, so the baton was passed back to me. It reminded me how important lunch is for your kids and why you want to get it right. Fortunately, my oldest daughter is now in high school and likes the food served at the cafeteria, so we are down to one packed lunch per day.
Now, packing your kid’s lunch is a cost-effective way of ensuring they have enough nutrition for the day. However, packing “the right” lunch is a balancing act since the kids can choose what to eat and not eat. Here are a few tips I’ve developed over the years.
Main Meal aka “entrée”
It has to be something they like that is cold or can still be eaten cold since there is no place to heat it up at most schools. Pasta or sandwiches are good choices, but if you are making a sandwich, leave the tomatoes off to the side so the sandwich doesn’t get soggy – let your kids put the tomatoes in themselves.
Don’t pack the same sandwich two days a row; your kids will get sick of it (see “Uncrustables” above!).
Another option is leftovers, but make sure they like them cold. I once tried sending some leftover beef stew in Maddie’s lunch, and at first, she thought it was chocolate pudding………..until that first bite.
My girls occasionally enjoy leftover chicken, steak, pork, and even leftover fish like salmon. But give some thought to the smell – NO HARD-BOILED EGGS!
Snacks
I think snacks (or “sides”) are very important and the hardest to get right. I recommend 2-3 snacks because if they don’t eat their main meal, at least they’ll have enough to fill up. Also, if they have an after-school activity, they have something to eat.
My first snack is usually a piece of fruit, such as apple slices, grapes, or strawberries—anything your kid likes.
The next snack is a vegetable that can be in addition to or instead of fruit. A great choice for my girls is edamame; it is easy to make, delicious, and high in protein. But it’s the same as fruit – whatever your kid likes. Some other suggestions include baby carrots, celery sticks, snap peas, cucumber, and broccoli (I slice the stem into “broccoli chips”).
After that, I usually put in something dairy-related, like cheese or yogurt. String or cubed cheese is good, and for the yogurt, anything portable is good. Remember the spoon!
Lastly, offer them something that qualifies as dessert but is still somewhat healthy. A good choice is trail mix (or as my daughter calls it “m&ms and disappointment”) or a granola bar.
Now, there is only one more thing left: water. Since there’s only a limited amount of time for them to get to the lunchroom, find a seat, and eat their lunch, packing a small amount of water helps so they don’t have to worry about getting some before class.
There you have lunch!
Beware
The final tip food-wise is to pay attention to whether the same food items return untouched. They obviously don’t want it, and it doesn’t matter how many times you pack it; they won’t eat it. I know right now it seems like a lot of extra work, but soon, it will just become a pattern.
Lunch Boxes
When buying a lunchbox, there are several things to consider. If there are going to be fresh ingredients, you’ll want one that either comes with a cold pack or at least has a place to hold one that won’t get in the way. You can see from the photo that my daughter’s current lunch box has netting to hold a cold pack at the top, so there’s more room in the main compartment.
Insulation is obviously one of the more important factors when choosing a good lunch box. I want to think the more you pay, the better the insulation, but I’m not sure that’s true. I feel the cost of a lunchbox has a lot to do with whose photo is on the box. I remember paying up for lunch boxes with my girls’ favorite cartoon or Disney characters on them. One year, she had a lunchbox with Ricky Martin on it. I wonder how much we paid up for that one?
When I was a kid, my mother packed our lunches in brown paper bags. I know some of my friends had fancy metal lunchboxes with Superman or The Lone Ranger on them, but we went with the economy disposable bags. When I sat down for lunch, my sliced banana sandwich on Wonder Bread was so smashed that I didn’t know whether to eat it or have a catch with it.
No matter how much you pay or don’t pay for your kid’s lunch box, the most important response you’ll want to hear from your kids when they come home from school is, “Out of everyone at the lunch table, I had the best meal!”
