For some reason I feel the need to capitalize the "K" in Kindergarten. I don't think it's grammatically necessary...just necessary for my psyche, I guess.
Anyway. It's all-day Kindergarten so that means the cave-girl takes her lunch! I've found that my kids are a lot more likely to eat what is in front of them when no other options exist. At home they have a habit of declining lunch or dinner options because they know we can walk to the fridge and get something else -- although, I don't often indulge their need for additional options. When we go somewhere, they might complain but, in the end, they eat what I packed because there aren't other options. Hunger usually wins!
Enter school lunches. You get what you get and you don't get upset. Over the summer, we made of list of things that the cave-girl thought she would like in her lunch. She made a pretty good list! My friend Erin {also Erin-my-hair-gal} blogs over at Pushups and Carrots. She posted some good school lunch ideas over on her Facebook page. Like her while you're there. It's the right thing to do.
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| Erin's photo from Pushups and Carrots FB page. Hope she doesn't mind :-) |
Packing real-food lunches can be a little more time consuming but I AM GAME. BRING IT.
But HONESTLY. It only takes me 10 minutes to pull her lunch together. No. Big. Deal.
Here's what our first week looked like:
MON: l/o* chicken thigh meat with bbq sauce, veg & hummus, banana muffin, cheese*
TUES: l/o tortellini*, veg & hummus, cheese*, applesauce, banana & pb --> which she didn't eat because the banana got mushy in her lunch bag --> SAD.
WED: l/o pulled pork, olives, pineapple, almond/raisin trail mix, 2 hard-boiled eggs
THURS: l/o chicken thigh meat, squeezie-applesauce, grapes, carrots, almonds, 2 hard-boiled eggs and {special treat} chocolate chip cookies
FRI: Bacon, 2 hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, grapes, carrots, and squeezie-applesauce
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| l/o chicken, pickle, mango, applesauce, mozz cheese, veg and hummus (in the carrot) and 2 hard-boiled eggs (not shown) |
I have to include an afternoon snack, too. The list above includes the snack but we are realizing she needs MORE FOOD. You can see there was more food by Wednesday than Monday...Kindergarten is hard work!
*l/o = leftovers
*finishing off the LAST bag before phasing it out of the kids' diet
*my kids eat some dairy which I sort of explained here
I am working on keeping a lunch-friendly-pantry stocked with real-food-goodness. These things take time but here are some of my strategies:
1. Prep ahead: I made and froze banana muffins and chocolate chip cookies {I think they've updated this recipe because I don't normally put coconut flour in, although I am pro-coconut flour so I'll have to give this a try!}. I am also going to make some fruit bars or snacks...something like this or maybe this.
3. It's ok to pack non-lunch-box foods: Sandwiches are SO LAST SEASON. Olives and hardboiled eggs aren't traditional lunch box fare but I don't care. She likes them and they are nutrient dense. Boom. Up next week --> SARDINES!
4. Include a treat: On gym days she'll get a sweet-treat. Other days I toss in a squeezie-applesauce or olives because they are among her FAVES.
5. Prowl the inter-webs for ideas: Here's one I cyber-stumbled upon today:
http://thepaleomama.com/2013/08/40daysofglutenfreelunche/
Here's another from Nom Nom Paleo: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/59118514268/forky-friday-paleo-lunchbox-round-up-2013
How do you manage school lunches?
What are your kids' faves?
Any great ideas you want to share?
In TOTALLY unrelated news:
1. My bangs are entering the shaggy phase. I might need to visit Erin-my-hair-gal for a mid-grow-out-intervention.
2. Yesterday I had the WORST food day {in a long while} since going Paleo. It involved diet soda, an ENTIRE candy bar, bad hot dogs, and mass-produced cookies. Ugh. What was I thinking??? BUT TODAY IS A NEW DAY! Thankfully, a consistently clean diet makes EPIC slip-ups such as yesterday a little easier to recover from.
3. I am ready for Fall. I am sick of shorts.
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