I pack my kids lunch… every day. Is it always amazing? Yeah no. Is it pretty? not that either. I couldn’t care less if it’s pretty but I do care if my kids eat healthy food. Besides they will likely play hockey with the lunch boxes/bags anyways. Here’s my theory, I love that we offer free lunches to many kids but the food that we are feeding the kids in schools is terrifyingly low quality. It’s not that expensive for me to make a bit extra dinner so I can send them with brain food. I pack them some carbs, lots of protein, veggies and some fruit. It varies per kid because they’re sometimes picky but it’s a routine at this point so it’s easier to plan. Here are my thoughts below. I’ll cover, how to pack the lunch, when to pack it and what to pack in it. Or at least I’ll tell you what I think about how to do it… you do what is right for you and yours.
How to pack it…
You need a container to fill with goodness…. I invested in a couple of fun lunch boxes/bags. I tried to stay away from things that are dated… aka I don’t buy frozen lunch bags… because I want these kids to use the crap out of them for years to come. I tried the bento boxes but as my kid aged up I couldn’t stuff enough food into it. My favorite container so far is either the Costco lunch box or a neoprene bag. I then pack the lunch in tupperwares so that the energetic whiz kids can sit on the bag and not squish the food (you know they will) …. I also found these super cool car ice packs. You may ask why I love them and I can tell you it’s not the car shape. It’s because they’re thin. You can slide those puppies into a fully stuffed bag and it’ll do the job but not take up much space. Now for hot foods there’s a trick. Get a soup thermos, preheat it with hot water. Now you just have to heat the food up in your microwave or stovetop if you don’t have a microwave and the food will stay warm for hours.
When to pack the food stuffs
The short answer is… whenever works for you! I pack the kids lunches in the morning. I pull out all the stuffs I need and assembly line that food. My husband often packs his lunch at night, I’m just not that good. It’s doable though… if you have access to a microwave or time to compile the food. Mayonnaise sitting on bread overnight in the fridge makes for a nasty soggy mess… That being said you could definitely plan and pack the fruit or veggies at night. My kids can’t get access to a microwave and let’s face it they wouldn’t have time to use it anyways. I pre-peel and pre-cut food to make it faster and they still can’t finish sometimes.
What do you pack for lunch?
I’m pretty low carb but kids are growing and they need carbs right? Well mostly sorta yeah kinda. Hard to know what that means? Of course it is hard to know because the answer is complicated and is its own series of blog posts by people who have degrees in this kind of thing. Here’s the my take after reading a bunch of those articles. The kids need way more protein than people think and way less sugar than we often give them. Sugar crashes are painful for everyone involved. I swear my kids cry and it’s physically painful for me sometimes… sugar crashes are guaranteed crying jags at my house. Higher protein and low sugar can really set them up for success. I absolutely have sent my kids with mac and cheese from a box, partially microwaved lentils (too much and they turn to lentil mush) and pb&js. I’m aiming for doing well overall not constant perfection. I do add sugary sauces to the food sometimes because let’s face it barbecue sauce is tasty and the kids love it. I do however, try to pick bbq sauces without high fructose corn syrup, with recognizable ingredients and I add less sauce than many people… cause sugar. For example today I cut up some leftover chicken breast heated it up and added bbq sauce. He will eat all of the food and be happy. Win! In summary, pack a protein, vegetables and fruit. If your kids (like mine) are in public school precut the proteins, veggies and peel the fruits if needed. The kids simply don’t have time to do that and still get the necessary calories into the little bodies.
Have fun! Eat well and let me know what you think!
