Healthy, tasty school lunches--your ideas, please!

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My school-teacher sister has 5 children, including one who goes to daycare. The others are ages 16, 14, 10, 6. Everybody (including my sister and her librarian husband) carries their lunch. She has normally been hurriedly packing all the lunches in the morning, before going out the door. I suggested packing lunches the night before, and getting the children involved in the process.

The question is, what goes in the bag? Remember that time for cooking is limited and weekends are basically taken up with housework, laundry, etc.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), December 19, 2001

Answers

I'm wondering why the 16,14 and 10 year old aren't packing the lunchs while Mom does other things in the morning?? My children packed their own lunches from at least second grade!

-- Ardie /WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), December 19, 2001.

Well the obvious choice is sandwiches: peanut butter, chicken, turkey, ham, cheese, could put it in a pita pocket for variety, but I would use wheat bread. Cheese and crackers, raisins, granola bars, home-made trail mix, apples, bananas, oranges, grapes,strawberries, pudding, jello, applesauce,dried fruit, fruit and grain bars, canned fruit like peaches, fruit cocktail, home-made muffins: banana, pumpkin, blueberry, apple-cinnamon,chex mix, dry cereal, cookies, pretzels, carrots, celery, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, juice, yogurt,mini pies, salad in a bowl, hot soup in a thermos. I'm sure I am missing something!!!

A fun sanwich: use a bun, some shredded mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, a few slices of pepperoni, make a pizza hoagie. Everything is cold, but it is good! My kids love this...

Kids don't always mind taking the same thing day in and day out. She doesn't need to buy the expensive individual portions. Just get some of those containers with tight-fitting lids, they can be reused over and over. She could make up muffins and cookies ahead of time and freeze in baggies. I would surely have the kids each pack their own the night before. I'm sure it must be hard to get everyone going in the morning, plus packing lunches on top of everything else.

Hope this helps!!!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 19, 2001.


I pack 2 lunches (son's & mine) and a teacher, too. Mine is usually good left over. When I cook soups & other dishes, I freeze them in lunch portions so I just grab them out of the freezer & microwave at lunch. My son & I usually discuss his lunch the night before. I only make sandwich in the morning as it is better fresh that morning. He likes canned fruit esp. my own. I have small tupperware dishes that probably has antique value it is so old. He takes a lg. juice box, homemade cookie or bar, sometimes something salty.

-- DW (djwallace@sotc.net), December 19, 2001.

Ardie, I asked the same question. It seemed as though the idea never really occurred to my sister. She has spent most of her marriage as a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. She has been working now for only a year and a half, and the whole family is still trying to adjust to a new way of doing things. There are other stressful things going on in their lives that account for some of the confusion, as well.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), December 23, 2001.

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