School lunches 2012

Better late than never, right? I can't believe school is starting tomorrow! My youngest one will start and  I'm sure the house will seem very empty. At first :)

Anyway, I promised to give you some ideas on school lunches and I shall but before I do that, I wanted to tell you that I bought lunch containers called Bento Buddies at the Container Store for the little one to take to school. They look like this:

 I had to take them back because my little one couldn't open them and I had to really work to close them. I forgot to mention this in my previous post in case someone is still looking for containers. Instead, I went with Sistema Klip it sandwich and snack containers. And by the way, they are much cheaper at the Container Store vs. Amazon.

Now on to the menus. Here are some suggestions:

• Whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter sprinkled with dried cherries or raisins rolled up and cut in 2
• Whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter with a sliced banana and sprinkled with low sugar granola
• Pizza quesadilla
• Tomato cheddar soup, tortilla soup, pea soup, potato soup, chicken noodle soup, etc. Options are endless
• Hummus and spinach wrap
• Baked corn chips with black beans
• Oriental: whole wheat or buck wheat noodles with peanut sauce
• Tuna salad served on crackers, whole wheat tortilla, pita or sandwich
• Mini sandwiches (cut out of slices of bread with cookies cutter) with non-nitrate containing deli meats 
• Oriental: vegetarian brown rice sushi rolls
• Smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumbers on a mini bagel or flat round bread
• Oriental: pot stickers 
• Oriental: vegetable fried rice
• Homemade pizza or mini calzone
• Ham or turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread
• Homemade lunchable type of lunch
• Omelette
• Breakfast burritos with egg, cheese, ham/turkey and salsa
• Pancakes or waffles
• Leftovers from dinner (yes, totally acceptable!)
• Pigs in a blanket with homemade dough and nitrite free dogs

Sides and snacks:

• Fruit cabobs
• Fresh veggies cut bite size with or without dip (dip should be very small amount like 1 TBSP or so)
• Chocolate almond butter with crackers
• Finger fruits: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapples, grapes, cherries, grape tomatoes
• Fruit: apple, banana, clementine/mandarin (can be already peeled in a snack container), orange, pear, plum, pluot etc.
• String cheese, cheese cubes, slices of cheese and hopefully not the processed kind!
• Yogurt
• Hard boiled eggs or deviled eggs made with greek yogurt instead of mayo
• Nuts, seeds, trail mix
• Cereal, granola
• Granola or cereal bars -- Organic!
• Popcorn
• Whole wheat crackers
• Baked chips 
• Pita chips 
• Apple sauce or pureed fruit
• Fruit leather
• Dark chocolate (only about 1 oz)
• Celery with peanut butter and raisins
• Baby carrots
• Homemade muffins or rolls
• Hummus and whole wheat crackers
• Greek yogurt dip with either veggies or fruit
• Fruit pizza occasionally
• Apple with peanut or almond butter
• Jicama sticks with pico de gallo
• Fortune cookies (check for trans fats!)
• Wonton wrappers with peanut, almond, sun flower etc. butter, folded and baked
• Melons
• Fig newtons
  

Drinks

• Water
• Milk
• Juice occasionally
• Almond milk
• Chocolate milk occasionally
• Home made green juice or smoothie

*I don't recommend soy milk but some people prefer it. I also never ever recommend soda. It's super unhealthy!

I have decided to stick to a very basic menu since all the "fancy" stuff seems to come home untouched. This is my menu:

Monday: PB&J with fresh fruit, crackers and a granola bar

Tuesday: Ham sandwich, strawberry banana smoothie, crackers and apple

Wednesday: Chicken quesadilla, fruit salad (home made), and trail mix

Thursday: Pancakes, baby carrots, hard boiled egg and apple sauce

Friday: Pb&J whole wheat wrap (hugely popular at my house), yogurt, and a home made cinnamon roll to celebrate first week of school being over

The kids will drink water with their lunches.

I only have the first week figured out but it may be, that I just stick with it for the rest of the year. The sides may change. 

I hope all of you have a wonderful first day and week of school! Remember to enjoy life and not stress over little things that in the long run don't matter. Till next time!

Lunchbox 101

As school starts tomorrow in my area (YAY!) I thought I'd post some more things on school lunches. Originally this was a food and entertaining article in Review It (The Woodlands) magazine. This will help you create balanced meals for brown bag or lunch bag.

For fruit consider these:
sliced apples * grapes * raisins * pears * blueberries * melon chunks * bananas * kiwi * mandarin oranges * strawberries * cherries * pineapple * peaches/nectarines * plums * watermelon chunks * dried fruit

For veggies:
sliced cucumbers - zucchini - bell pepper slices - broccoli - carrots - green salad - baked sweet potato - celery with peanut butter and raisins - green beans - edamame - sugar snap peas - 3 bean salad - black beans and rice - cherry tomatoes

For grains:
whole grain bread * English muffins * thin/mini bagels * baguettes * rolls * muffins * mini muffins * waffles/pancakes * crackers * rice cakes * pita * tortillas * croissants * bread sticks * whole wheat pasta * granola (if low fat, check that there isn't too much sugar. I usually try to stay around 5-6g per serving) * homemade mac & cheese

For sandwich stuffers:
peanut butter - almond butter - deli meat (ONLY occasionally! Remember the bad guys nitrates and nitrites that turn carcinogenic in the body!) - tuna salad - chicken salad - egg salad or hard boiled eggs - grilled chicken - hamburger made with ground turkey - hummus

For dairy:
cheese sticks (but check the sodium, some of them have a lot!) * yogurt (watch the sugar) * drinkable yogurt (again, watch the sugar) * single serve reduced low fat milk or chocolate milk * spreadable cheese (skip processed and go to the deli counter for healthier options)

For snacks:
graham crackers - granola bar - whole grain crackers - applesauce - baked chips with salsa - honey wheat pretzels with a dip - organic cookies - dry cereal - fruit leather - whole wheat fig cookies - nuts - popcorn - trail mix - homemade cookies

For drinks:
Water (always the best option) * 100% juice (occasionally) * almond milk (40 calories per serving, even milk can't beat that) * green or fruit smoothie with water

Here are 3 recipes for dips:

Fruit dip
1 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
2 tbsp brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
Sprinkle with cinnamon

Peanut dip
1.5 cups plain Greek yogurt
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp dark brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
Combine everything and blend in a food processor or blender.

Honey mustard:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp orange juice
Use the orange juice to thin the dip to your liking.

Remember that organic is always better than natural or regular food. It may seem like a big deal to have to make lunches from scratch vs buying lunchables for example but remember this: it is worth the effort to get your children the better nutrition their growing bodies need. Besides, if you prepare ahead of time, it won't be such a big deal in the morning.

In the next day or two I'll repost a recipe of the "no knead" bread. The good thing about this bread is of course the "no knead" part but also that the dough will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks. All you have to do to have fresh bread, tortillas or English muffins for example, is to pull some dough out and bake. I use it a lot for English muffins, which by the way can be prepared on a frying pan with just a bit of olive oil. HUGE time saver!

Enjoy the first day of school tomorrow!