Every morning I pack four lunches. Yes I do. I tell you, it's a glamorous life I lead. But here's the thing. After making approximately 1,000 lunches in the last year and a half (yes really), surprisingly enough, it's getting a little old. And not just for me. At first the kids liked PB&Js, and they liked chicken nuggets, and really, they'd eat pretty much anything. I'd slip little notes in there, draw pictures on their lunch bags, yada yada. But now they're surly, jaded 5- and 3-year-olds and they won't eat just any (well-rounded, nutritionally complete, homemade daily) meal. Nuggets, formerly the haute of cuisine, now are gross. Yogurt gives the little one a rash. Perfectly good fruit comes home uneaten.
Here's what I made the last two days, just to make PB&J more attractive:
Yes, these are numerous teeny tiny heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. All part of the scheme to convince my 5-year-old to eat her lunch.
The scheme worked. But here's perhaps a more accurate picture:
Heart-shaped PB&J project aided by Fat Tire; note messy kitchen in background. Not pictured: Unread Torts 2 casebook.
In short, I need ideas. Anybody have sack lunch suggestions? What do you pack in your kids' lunches? Even if you don't pack lunches, got any ideas?
4 comments:
Hummus with pita triangles, scliced cucumbers, carrots and grape tomatoes.
Cold cheese pizza (my kids love this).
Layer refried beans, grated cheese, and guacamole in a plastic container, accompany with corn chips for dipping.
Pasta salad- leftover pasta with viniagrette, grated cheese, salami chunks, etc.
Oh, these are great, thank you! More ideas, please!
I should add a couple of things I've had work well, for a while, at least:
* sliced apples with a container of peanut butter for dipping
* pretzels with cheese sauce for dipping
* hard boiled eggs (but only if there's a teacher around who can help with the peeling)(i drop food coloring into the water while they're cooking)
* White Castle Cheeseburgers (totally unhealthy but really quick and they love them)
* Strawberry cream cheese sandwiches
The problem is they like something for a few weeks at most and then we need something new.
Wraps made with flour tortillas, hummus, roasted veggies, and cheese.
You could also use cream cheese and luncheon meat* for a filling and then cut them into little pinwheels.
*By the way, am I the only one who is a little paranoid about giving my kid luncheon meat? Pregnant women are discouraged from eating luncheon meat because of the fear that it could be contaminated with listeria. I figure that the same must be true for toddlers. I've tried giving Nate the vegetarian alternative meat, but he won't eat it.
NOW I'm concerned about the lunch meat. I hadn't thought about that before.
Molly will eat veggie corndogs. Those aren't terrible.
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