Sack Lunch Ideas

You should know that, when I am packing a lunch, I try to pick healthy lunch options, including healthy snacks, provide some variety – and of course take into consideration a potential trade my son will negotiate at the lunchroom table. …We recently had Carol Schiller of Cozi.com on the radio with us (55KRC, Sundays at 3PM EST) and together we dished on quite a few tips to help lunch-making easier.

Many of the people who know and love me know that, when it comes to food, I am a creature of habit. I may experiment and play with food all day, but if I had to eat one thing everyday of my life, for the rest of my life, it would be a PB&J with apple jelly, creamy peanut butter and butternut bread, Goldfish crackers and chocolate milk. Yes. This is true. I ate this exact same meal every day during school from kindergarten to 8th grade. It was all I ever wanted. I ate the same thing, in the same order, and loved every bite. However, now, as an adult and an adult who finds herself packing lunches, I am taking a slightly different approach.

You should know that when I am packing lunch, I try to pick healthy lunch options, including healthy snacks, provide some variety – and of course take into consideration a potential trade my son will negotiate at the lunchroom table.

We recently had Carol Schiller of Cozi.com on the radio with us (55KRC, Sundays at 3PM EST) and together we dished on quite a few tips to help lunch-making easier.  Here are some of the highlights from our conversation:

—Let lunches become a great way you recycle meals and use leftovers. Don’t box yourself into sandwiches. Soups, pastas, and casseroles can be heated beforehand, stored in thermoses and remain hot to ensure your family has a feast in the middle of the day.

—Treat ingredients as cooling mechanisms. I always found it a hard task to remember to bring home my large blue ice cube that kept my lunch cool.  If you do make a sandwich, leave your bread frozen but still assemble as a sandwich. As the day progresses, the bread will thaw, keeping your entire lunch box cool (as well as the produce that’s a part of your sandwich nice and crisp).

—Variety is the spice of life – especially when it comes to lunches. I learned this from my six year old niece. She is a great healthy eater but sometimes (as she informs her mother – Kelly) she would appreciate blueberries or plums instead of grapes. If you switch the basic equation everyday it becomes a fun surprise.

—Save the desserts for home. This is something I have just learned from my 4-year old. I made him a sandwich, packed pretzels, string cheese, and a small Nutella sandwich. Well, needless to say the pretzels and string cheese came home and I’m not sure what happened to the rest of the sandwich. My new plan of attack is to fill his lunch box with healthy lunch options and wait for him to come home so we can have dessert together and he can tell me about his whole day.

—Cut the sandwiches in different shapes. Even serving up PB&J in circles will change your child’s day. Or, get fancy and use cookie cutter shapes to switch it up.

—A little love note goes a long way. I may have eaten the same thing for nine years but I remember each day being different from what my mom would write on the notes in my bag. Everyday my mom would write that she loved me and would date them. I would then use the notes as bookmarks in my textbooks. To this day I probably have 100s of notes from my mom (I’ve saved them) all saying basically the same thing – but it’s always great to know how much your mom loves you!

I’m always learning and will be sure to keep you posted as new ideas arise. I know I have years of practice ahead of me.