Back to school means back to fixing lunch
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- August
- 29
Labor Day is around the corner. That means last minute Back to School shopping, arguing with my 7th grader that he has more than enough clothes and shoes to start the school year, and buying soccer paraphernalia now that he has FINALLY decided he wants to do team sports. And of course the dreaded morning chore: packing lunch for school.
Since Billi started complaining a couple of years ago that school lunches were a cross between nuclear waste and roadkill — yes, he has a flair for the dramatic — I’ve started making lunch for him. My husband, of course, thinks Billi is old enough to make his own lunch, but I’ve managed to guilt-trip myself enough to feel I should do it.
I don’t really enjoy it, mainly because I can’t come up with interesting ideas for lunch. I make cold meat sandwiches two days in a row and then I worry about all the nitrites. I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then think I wouldn’t want to be eat that more than once a week. When I give him bagel and cream cheese, I think of dough and fat. Then I wish he was back in elementary school when he was happy enough to eat school lunches and didn’t complain.
So all you moms out there who fix your kids’ lunches, what do you do? What is good for the kids, quick to fix and tasty? I know that’s a tall order, but hey ….
This entry was posted
on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 11:06 am by Hema Easley.
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Hi! I have the exact situation with my son starting middle school this year.
He specially enjoys a sandwich, (ham, cheese or tuna), hotdogs, toasted winnies with ketchup… this kind of thing. I introduce also some unsalted crackers with string cheese, sliced apples with a chilly powder (he likes “tajin”, which is mild and lemony)... I once even made some taquitos and put in his bag a little container with sour cream.
Now, my kid does not like veggies, but the kids in my carpool do, so sometimes I give them sugar snap peas w/ a tiny container with dressing, or the typical carrots. They are happy if I give them some fruits like orange, jicama, cucumber with lemon, salt and chilly powder (again, tajin). I do this not because it is my duty as carpool driver, but to see if my son gets excited and starts liking fruit or veggies…
Not useful yet… will keep trying.
I think our sons are dopplegangers! Especially the school lunch bit. If you can find nitrite free lunch meats, try stacking them on a leaf of romaine, drizzle with mustard, and wrap. I often just put in chunks of meat, cheese, and crackers and a fruit. There really isn’t that much time to eat lunch AND talk to friends AND check out the girls I’m told… Small hits of nutrition seem to work best for my son. One of our stand-by lunches is a small tub of peanut butter and stuff to dip. Or a small bag of nuts and a banana and a granola bar.