WFMW - School Lunches

Works for Me Wednesday

School Lunches

Because it's the beginning of a new month, this week's Works for Me Wednesday is a themed one - Back to School tips and ideas. As a mother, I've completed 60 years of the school experience, and am down to 5 years left. This week I thought about some of the things that have worked, and some that haven't, and decided to focus on the "school lunch" part of the school year. (Hmm, that's what I did last year - I guess it's a big deal here!) Maybe another time I'll share ideas on routines or homework.

It didn't take very long to realize that sometimes kids don't want to eat what's put in their lunch. We solved that problem a couple of ways. One, they knew that if they didn't eat what Mom gave them, they'd have to fix their own lunch. Who wants to do something when someone else will do it for them?? Two, if they did fix their own lunch, they still had to follow the family guidelines - it couldn't be filled with fruit snacks, Twinkies, and soda pop. Lunches are all about choices, and I learned that it's best if the child feels like he's making the choice himself. One option they did have was to buy lunch 2 or 3 times a month. That way they didn't have to feel ostracized from their friends who bought lunch every day, and they could look at the menu and pick what day they wanted.

Once they graduated from lunch boxes to paper sacks, the kids didn't particularly like remembering to bring Tupperware home. That presented a problem for taking things that didn't work in baggies. However, one year I discovered these disposable 2-ounce containers at Costco. As I recall, they came in a box of 1,000 (or maybe it was even 5,000), but I got them anyway, and the box lasted for several years. (I was actually very disappointed when we ran out and I discovered that Costco no longer carried them!) They're perfect for salsa to go with tortilla chips or ranch dressing to go with carrot sticks.Here are some of the lunch items that have worked:

Sandwiches: my kids don't like "smushed" bread so we usually make sandwiches out of whole grain bread, dinner rolls or bagels

Quesadillas: before school, melt cheese on a tortilla in the microwave, add a slice of ham if desired, roll up and stick in a baggie for lunch

Wraps: same thing, but don't melt the cheese, add lettuce and tomatoes, drizzle with dressing and roll up - wrap in plastic wrap - particularly yummy with avocado!

Breadless: wrap ham around a cheese stick, jerky, cups of tuna or chicken salad, hard-boiled eggs, cooked chicken chunks, etc.

Fruits: cut up apples and sprinkle with lemon juice (which I keep in a recycled soy sauce container) to prevent browning, make a small slice in the banana to make it easier to peel at lunch, slice oranges into "rounds" not wedges (they're easier to eat),

yogurt: freeze the containers, in the morning wrap in a paper towel before putting in a baggie, it keeps the condensation from making everything else soggy "treats": at times I would buy a month's supply of these (pudding cups, fruit roll-ups, snack cakes, etc.) and divide them evenly among the children - they could choose how fast to add them to their lunches, but when their bag was empty, they had to wait until I restocked it the next month.

At this site, I found a picture of a creative lunch that would have been eaten. Note the fruit and chicken chunks and the mini bagels. The smoothie drink would have been really appreciated, because I've never bought them for lunches!As we were shopping yesterday, and realizing that school starts in just a couple of weeks, Michelle mentioned that she thinks sushi would make a great lunch item. So, that's something new we'll try this year!