BigBoy starts kindergarten in just over a week.I'm feeling a lot of pressure. PTA membership? Classroom volunteer sign-ups? Stress about the bus route times? Nope. Not so much. Not yet anyway. The big unknown: what the heck am I going to make for his lunch every. single. day??
BB has full day kindergarten, everyday. So now I need to actually plan every lunch out for him. Make it healthy, appetizing enough that he won't trade it away or throw it out, and have it all fit in a box, stay fresh and be intact when he digs it out hours later. phew! Now THAT's pressure. I already ordered his lunch cooler which matches his backpack. But now I'm thinking I want to get something like this laptop lunchbox to put inside (pictured above.) I love the compartments and like how it's more eco-friendly.
I'm searching for lunch ideas (with photos) and so far found these:
From parents.com (they actually had a decent article this month, but I can't find it online only in the mag- Sept. 09, page 198).
Laptop lunch idea photos
Very cool flickr pool of laptop lunches
5 ways to pack a healthy lunch
We're doing dry runs this next week, testing out what will be winners and losers in the lunch contest. BB and I have started discussing what is okay and what is "definitely, definitely not" okay
good ol peanut butter and honey on wheat- I think my kids will turn into PB pretty soon.
salami on anything, or just plain
pinwheels - flour tortilla with cream cheese and lunch meat, rolled up and sliced
clementines- peeled
apples- whole, NOT sliced
carrots
grapes
baby spinach- with blue cheese dressing to dip in
cheery tomatoes- only the orange from our garden. sigh.
nuts- almonds, peanuts, cashews
flat banana- from trader joes
hummus
milk
water
Annie's snacks
so that gets me to what, day three?? Maybe I can convince him that pasta salad rocks in the next week. or cut up chicken breast is super cool. or maybe he will just have peanut butter and honey sandwiches 5 days in a row. Think he'd notice?
Thanks Pirate Johnny for the photo!
10 comments:
OMG can we go to Wally World when I come out so I can buy the Laptop Lunch kit? That would be so great for me for work...I am not joking. Haha.
Also I can't believe he's going to Kindergarten. Take lots of pics on his first day. Did you get him some back to school supplies yet? Soooo exciting, I loved back to school when I was little.
Ok, if he won't take the lunch you make.. you can make it for me! It all sounds good -- well except I don't know if I could do pb sandwiches every day, but if we turned that into a protein shake, then I'm all over it!
I was actually out this past weekend and did see the laptop lunch kits and am just trying to remember where I saw them -- maybe at Target, or was it JC Penny's, or was it just plain old Ralph's? I had it in my hand and that it was a neat idea.
Just a suggestion...buy some fun cookie cutters and cut the "same ol" sandwich into a shape. That seems to make them taste better and be more appealing for my daughter!
my daughter wants to buy lunch! I talked to her principal and the meals are pretty healthy...we will see!
BG- They aren't at WallyWorld sorry, not even Target. I've only seen them online. I wish I could find some knock offs
Claudia- I'll ship you a care package with all lunches! ;) Where did you see something like the laptop lunch box?? think, think...
I have only seen them online, but I love the little sections. I think involving him in the process helps, he pretty agreeable so far.
anoy.-We finally got him eating the crust again, so not sure if I want to go there. ;)
Rox- He picked out his backpack with the lunchbox to match, so he's pretty excited to take lunch. I told him yesterday if he wants lunch maybe he could pick a day once in a while. Most of the lunches here look like they could be healthy, but are really crap. And they give them choices, so not sure I want him to pick whatever. once in a while, not a big deal, but not everyday.
Hope his kindergarten isn't nut free like my grand kids' schools. They are used to not having PB unless at home or restaurant.
I would rather see you make the lunch in reusable little containers which he brings home and you wash out every night and repack like tupperware or rubbermade or some good plastic container. Otherwise you are wasting a lot of the eco friendly product because it is still is one use only.
I went back and see these are in fact not single use so I say buy, buy, buy.
I just order 4 for my grand kids. Thanks for the link.
Madge- they are reusable, as you saw, and BPA-free (a lot at the stores aren't). Not sure if it's nut free (I doubt), but we call everything "PB"- currently I have soy butter, sun butter, and almond butter in addition to organic peanut butter. :) We had friends in our homeschool group that were allergic. The kids don't mind.
Lis-
I just got Whole Foods email newsletter, and they had awesome ideas for lunches. Even if there isn't a WF near you, use can use the ideas...I'll forward to you.
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