From Cindy's Porch: Lunch Time Ideas!
 I have to be honest here and tell you that packing lunches for the family is one of my least favorite things to do. My husband's lunch is easy. I simply pack up the leftovers from supper and a couple pieces of fruit into a canvas lunch bag and he is set. It’s simple because he has access to a fridge and a microwave at work to handle the cooling and cooking part of his lunch.
The kid's lunches are different. When they used to come home for lunch it was easy. I had plenty of time in the morning to put together awesome soup and sandwiches, fruit salads, yogurt treats, muffins, and when the cupboard was getting a little bare, pancakes (one of their favorites)!
But now that they bring lunch to school, it has become more difficult. Our local school offers an in-school lunch. But at $3.00 per day, 20 days per month, and 10 months in the school year – we would be looking at $600.00 per year per kid. YIKES!! I have better things to do with our money than buy tuna sandwiches, chicken noodle soup, and macaroni and cheese at $3.00 each! SHOP at home FIRST – the bagged lunch!
To help you out on those mornings when nothing looks good to eat LOL, we put together a "LUNCH Guide" that you can print out and hang on the fridge. Enjoy!
- PDF file (need Adobe Acrobat Reader(TM) to view)
- GIF file This isn't as clear as the PDF file, but hopefully it works for those of you who are having trouble with the PDF files. Here's a hint: look at the "print preview" to ensure everything is lined up properly before you print it out. - Cindy.
The Hazards of Being a Bagged Lunch…
A person can understand why the bagged lunch has become so unpopular over the past number of years. Today, it is so easy to sign up for the school lunch programs, or even pop into a deli or fast food outlet for a quick lunch. CHA CHING, CHA CHING! Let's save a few dollars this year and take a closer look at the bagged lunch. A bagged lunch is a very complicated animal. Think about the hazards this poor lunch has to face during the day.
- The "Smooshing" Hazard: Unless you pack a lunch in one of those suitcases that a gorilla can safely jump up and down on, every lunch can fall victim to the "smooshing" hazard. Think about it. That fragile sandwich wrapped in plastic is destined to be flattened by the apple in the lunch box, or the math textbook in the backpack, or the winter boots in the locker, or the kid two desks over in the classroom. I can't begin to tell you how many light, fluffy, delicious sandwiches have come home looking like a steamroller drove over it TWICE.
- The "soaking hazard": Any time you mix together wet stuff and dry stuff, mushy stuff is going to result. Drinks are going to spill, lids are going to leak, and blueberry yogurt is going to escape from its container and slime the entire contents of the lunch kit! The other soaking hazard comes when you wrap the tomato, cucumber, and lettuce with the sandwich. When you allow bread and tomato slices to sit together for several hours, some strange chemistry occurs and the tomato juice bonds with the bread to form this oozy, gluey, sticky, mashy mess. Not a pretty sight, and not very appetizing.
- The "spoiled lunch": Many hours pass between the time a bagged lunch is made and a bagged lunch is eaten. And most kids don't have access to a refrigerator to store their lunch in. That means you have to keep cold food cold, and hot food hot.
- The dreaded "traded lunch": Why is it that the disgusting lunch of prepackaged ham, process cheese, and transfat white flour crackers is so much more appealing than your lovingly prepared sandwich with whole wheat bread, sprouts, fresh tomatoes, sliced fruit, and milk? Big sigh. I suspect we were all the same way when we were kids - except I used to drool over the other kid’s store bought Oreo cookies LOL.
- Last, but not least, the "dumped lunch": This is every mom's nightmare. A lunch that was so bad, it wasn't even worth trying to trade. I sent my kids in "undercover" and asked them to watch what happened to kid's lunches. The amount that ended up in the trash was incredible (and sad).
The Equipment...
Making lunch goes a lot smoother when you have the right equipment, containers, and supplies. It’s even easier when the supplies are actually in your home (and not hiding out in the bottom of a locker someplace). And if they are clean, you are set to go! Our kids are pretty good at bringing home their lunch kits. And they are getting better at putting their dishes into the dishwasher and wiping out the insides of the lunch kit when they get home. I think they will have this perfected by the time they move out.
Before you start hauling out the bread and butter, make sure you have a place to put it all in…
- Lunch Boxes/Lunch Kits: I love things with pockets. Binders, briefcases, computer cases, pack backs, and yes – lunch boxes! You can find everything from simple nylon sacks (only good if the lunch can be stored in the fridge), to insulated high-tech, multi-pocketed, multi-zippered units designed for the mothers of the kids who have to carry them. I came home with the most beautiful burgundy colored lunch kit for my oldest child. It was insulated. It had a plastic liner. There was a section for stuff that didn’t have to be kept cold, a pocket for spoons and forks, a mesh pocket for a napkin, and a large section for the main lunch part. There was even a cute water bottle that came with it. My oldest looked at it and said, “Mom!” in that long drawn voice kids use when they think their parents are clueless. “I can’t bring that to school. It’s too big, too heavy, and it won’t fit in my locker. How I am supposed to carry it?” Big sigh, my kid was right. So I kept the lunch kit for myself. Let your children pick out their own “cool” lunch kit. Outline your rules and your price limits. Encourage them to pick out an insulated lunch kit. If your child has to walk a long distance to school or take a school box, look at lunch boxes that can be clipped to the backpack. The color doesn’t really matter.
- Plastic containers: We use plastic containers as much as possible. Our cupboards are full of them, we may as well use them! Small sour cream containers are great for yogurt, applesauce, canned fruit, sliced apples (sprinkled with lemon so they don’t brown), dips, fruit salad, pasta salad, and dry snacks such as crackers, raisins, cereal, etc. Square or rectangular plastic containers with tight fitting lids are perfect for sandwiches (eliminates the “smooshing hazard). I am not fond of those individual sized Tetra™ packs. They cost more and result in too much trash. So we use small-sized Rubbermaid™ drinking bottles. We don’t worry about buying replacement straws. The bottle works just as well without the straw. Remember to screw the lid on properly and flip the spout down (please don’t ask me how I know this – refer to hazard #2 LOL). Keep in mind; anything you send to school may not come back home again. So only use things that you don’t mind if they get lost or thrown away.
- A good quality Stainless Steel Thermos™: Don’t bother wasting your money on Styrofoam filled containers or those plastic Thermoses. Been there, done that. The food only stays “hot” for about an hour. Then it quickly goes to lukewarm to cold to uneaten in just a few hours. Since our winters have been pretty cold, I wanted our kids to have hot chocolate or soup to warm them up. I finally broke down and spent the $30.00 to get a good one. We’ve been using it all winter (and not just for the kids!) Here’s a hint: fill the Thermos with hot water for about 5 minutes before you fill it with the lunch food. Everything will stay hotter for a longer time.
- Plastic wrap and bags: We don’t use plastic wrap or plastic bags very often. Once we got into the habit of re-using containers, it seemed like a waste to pay for something that was going to end up in the trash a few hours later. The secret is to ensure the kids bring the containers home and wash them out after school so they are ready for the next day (not as easy to accomplish as it sounds – big sigh!). Occasionally, we use the small zippered bags for carrots, cookies, or other small snacks. They are handy for field trips when it is awkward to carry around a bunch of dishes. Some people wash out the bags and let them dry out so they can be used again. I also use plastic wrap when freezing foods in individual packs for future lunches. Those plastic containers can take up a lot of space in our small freezer.
- Forks and spoons: If you send your kid to school with soup, yogurt, or canned fruit, remember the spoon (or you will hear about it when they get home LOL). We use our regular cutlery for our lunches, but if you want to cut down on the weight of the lunchbox, think about buying a few plastic spoons and forks and re-using these. Keep in mind, many schools no longer allow butter or paring knives (even plastic knives). So cut and slice your child’s food at home. Here’s a hint, a kid is more likely to enjoy their entire apple or orange if you cut it up ahead of time.
- A napkin: We use cloth napkins at home. So I always send one in their lunch. They assure me it is not embarrassing. If your child doesn’t have access to good hand washing facilities before lunch, you may want to send them a small damp/wet napkin in a container.
- An ice pack: Cold parts of the lunch have to stay cold. If you make lunch the night before, load it up in the lunch box and set it into the fridge so everything will be as cold as possible. Then add a re-usable ice pack to keep the food at a safe temperature during the morning. Many people freeze their water or drink packs the night before and use that to keep food cool. The drink is thawed out by lunchtime (you hope). Here’s a tip from a member: fill a water bottle half full and pop it into the freezer. The next day, fill it up to the top with water and put it into the lunch kit. There’s nothing wrong with bringing water to school or work!
- A note: This is the most important part of the lunch. When mom or dad writes a quick, “I love you. Have a great day” note and slips it into the lunch box, you are guaranteed to bring a smile to your child’s day. While you are at it, slip a quick note into your spouse’s lunch as well.
The Food...
Now, let’s look at what kind of food to keep handy in the home so there is always something for lunch (even when the cupboard is bare)! Thanks to all the members who sent in their tips!
- Keep a variety of whole wheat breads, pitas, tortillas (wrap up leftovers in a tortilla and call it a “wrap” – tip from a member!), bagels, taco chips (the healthy variety, not snacky type – serve with salsa on the side and shredded cheese), buns, rolls, etc. in the freezer. Your kids don’t like whole wheat (or have never tried whole wheat)? How about a mixed sandwich – one slice white bread and one slice whole wheat. Mine also enjoy homemade rye bread with caraway. Mmmmm! Here’s a tip from a member: toast the bread before making the sandwich, then the bread doesn’t smoosh to yuck by noon time. And another tip from the same member… for the wheat intolerant, use rice crackers.
A few more ideas from members: Make “sushi sandwiches” without the rice. Cut crusts off bread, roll them flat, and add grated carrot, cheddar cheese, and lettuce. Top with a little mayonnaise, and roll it up.
Layer creamy peanut butter on a flour tortilla with jelly or fruit spread. Roll up jellyroll style and slice crosswise into pieces.
Make homemade “pizza sticks.” Make a big sheet pan of focaccia. Bake the cheese and seasonings right into the foccacia. Then cut it into sticks and freeze in individual packets. Serve with a small container of spaghetti or pizza sauce from the fridge.
And this is from my kids: the sandwich tastes much better when it is cut into triangles instead of simply in half. Who knew? LOL.
- Keep a variety of sandwich fixings in the fridge. My mom uses a large plastic container and keeps all their deli meats and cheeses packed together. When it is lunchtime, the entire container is placed on the table. Canned tuna and salmon mixed in with chopped celery and mayo also makes a yummy sandwich. Here’s a hint from a member: remember that leftover chicken, turkey, ham, and roast beef from supper can be sliced up into a wonderful sandwich. Add some mayo, relish, and mustard and you are set to go. Here’s another tip from a member: use a roll to make a submarine sandwich. Cut the meat and the cheese on the diagonal instead of rectangular and make it “look” like the other places…
- Keep a variety of “green” sandwich fixings in the fridge. This would include cucumber, lettuce, spinach (we almost always use fresh spinach instead of lettuce now), tomatoes, peppers, olives, and pickles. Remember to pack these on the side. Let your kids add them to the sandwich just before they eat. This avoids the “soaking hazard.”
- Bake a couple of batches of muffins at the beginning of the week and freeze them in individual packets. The kids can help themselves when they are packing their lunch. Speaking of muffins, I will be right back. I want to mix up a batch of muffins to bring to piano lessons. The kids get hungry while waiting their turn, and this will save me from having to make a trip through the “Big M” drive through…OK – I’m back – 7 minutes to mix up muffins and get them into the oven.
- Take a trip to the bulk food store and stock up on pretzels, dried fruits, and other snack items. It’s much cheaper than buying this at the grocery store and it adds variety to the lunch so they don’t get boring. (Note from Cindy: check your school’s policy on peanuts and other nuts. These are not allowed at our school.)
- Keep a variety of non-transfat crackers (especially whole wheat crackers) in the pantry. Some days, the kids just feel like having crackers with cheese, deli meat, cucumbers, and cream cheese. It’s much better than those “Lunchable” things. At least you have control over the quality of the cheese, meat, and crackers!
- My kids love bean and cheese burritos. They also like the ones made with chicken. Then I thought what was the difference between the home made burritos we made for supper and the pre-made ones I was buying for lunch? Nothing, except the pre-made ones were frozen. So, on the nights we have Mexican food, I make extra and freeze individual packs. Here’s a tip from a member – bake the burrito in the oven at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes (wrapped in foil) and then slip it into a warmed Thermos.
- Keep a variety of dairy products in the fridge. This includes different types of cheese (our current favorite is Havarti – mmmmm!), cottage cheese (delicious with fruit salad – see below), yogurt, cream cheese (delicious on bagels!) and milk. My kids are not very keen on milk that has warmed up in a lunchbox all morning. Since they drink enough milk during the rest of the day, I don’t worry about it too much and send a small drinking container with juice, water, or occasionally, chocolate milk instead. They enjoy a hunk of cheese or a small container of yogurt at the end of their meal (apparently this is good for cleaning the teeth too). Dairy stuff that never finds its way into our home is the pre-cut, pre-shredded, and stringy cheese products. Too expensive. It takes seconds to shred and cut our own cheese LOL. Our teachers have also asked parents to stay away from yogurt tubes – too messy in the lunchroom. And too expensive for me!
- Keep a variety of fresh in-season veggies in the fridge. This includes celery (great with cream cheese or peanut butter – add raisons on tip to keep the peanut butter on the celery and not on the plastic bag – a tip from a reader), carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers (especially the sweeter orange and yellow peppers), cucumber, tomatoes, spinach (use instead of lettuce in a sandwich), etc. Here’s a tip from a member: when you get home from the grocery store, wash and precut the veggies and pack them into plastic packs with a little bit of water. This will keep them fresh until someone packs them into their lunch.
 Keep a full fruit bowl in your kitchen. I learned this from one of the fellows I used to work with. He said that his wife’s secret to keeping his three teenagers fed and healthy without breaking the bank was to keep a full fruit bowl on their kitchen counter. The boys were allowed to help themselves whenever they had “the munchies” and trust me, he said, his growing boys ALWAYS had the munchies. But he worked out the cost of bananas, oranges, apples, and other fruit and compared it to chips, nachos, brownies, and other high-fat treats. The fruit came in cheaper! Today, my kids are welcome to help themselves to a piece of fruit whenever they like. We also freeze many bags of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and currents during the summer. During the winter, when the kids are getting bored with apples and oranges, I simply thaw out some berries, chop in an apple, orange, and banana and we have a delicious instant fruit salad! Here’s an idea from a member: Cube an apple and add blueberries. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and stir. Sounds good!
- Make your own veggie and fruit dips. Our favorite “quickie dip” is ½ cup mayonnaise mixed with ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt. Stir in one teaspoon dried dill and you have instant dip (it tastes better if you make the night before, but don’t late that stop you from making it at the last minute – the kids still eat it LOL). Remember, salsa and salad dressings also makes a great dip!
- Don’t under estimate how yummy a salad can be (especially for those older kids). Ideas include egg salad (remember to keep it cold during the morning), tuna salad, ham salad, Greek salad, potato salad (use leftover potatoes from supper), pasta salad (make the night before), and a simple garden salad. Pack the dressing in a small plastic container on the side. Remember to pack a fork.
- Keep those little condiment packages you get from the restaurant. Sometimes those mini ketchup or mustard packages are just the right size for a lunch.
- Remember, there is nothing wrong with leftovers. A chicken drumstick, a piece of pizza, chili, potato salad (without eggs), pasta salad, or even green salad make a yummy addition to the next day’s lunch menu.
Now, let’s look at WHEN to pack this lunch!
There are a bunch of options. The best bet is to pick a time when you are not rushed and you can enjoy putting together the meal for your children. That’s when you will have the patience to slice, chop, and create something that hopefully won’t end up in the “traded” or “dumped” hazard classification.
- Make the lunches for the next day while you are making supper. The kitchen is already dirty, the sink is already full of hot soapy water, and you are already hauling food in and out of the fridge (I’m going to try this one).
- Make the lunches the night before. This is what we have been trying to teach the kids to do. But I have to admit, lunch inspiration is at an all-time low after the supper dishes have been done, homework is not quite finished, and bedtime is approaching. Even I have a hard time focusing on healthy food choices when I am tired.
- Make most of the lunch the night before and finish off with the fresh fruit and hot foods in the morning (this is currently working the best in our home).
- Make the lunches the morning YIKES! Now this is asking for morning stress LOL.Murphy’s Law says that the morning you sleep in is the same morning your oldest has basketball practice at 7:30am. It’s also the same morning you have to find $2.00 in change for your youngest’s field trip and your husband needs his shirt ironed. So, after wetting down the shirt, and tossing it into the dryer, you try to scramble around the kitchen in search of that elusive lunch. The bread is frozen and breaks off in chunks, peanut butter is banned at the school, and the last bit of milk was just consumed by the dog. You have to be a very organized early-bird to handle making lunches in the morning on a regular basis.
- Make bulk lunches ahead of time. Wow, I have to try this one! Get the family involved and pre- assemble all the lunches for the week. Freeze anything that can be frozen. Pre-pack and refrigerate anything that can be chopped, sliced, or shredded in advance. Here’s another hint from a reader - clear a shelf in the fridge for the lunch/snack items. Then each kid can grab a day’s worth of lunch stuff without even having to think – it is ready to go. (Yup, I definitely have to try this one – Cindy)
- Here’s a tip from a member: Set up a schedule for two weeks worth of lunch ideas. Then rotate them. One week, start from left to right on the list, the next week, right to left. Then go back the opposite way. Also remember to add in any leftovers from supper if possible. Freeze extra leftovers and use them up in the lunches the following week.
- Use the school's lunch menu plan: Love this idea! Get a copy of the menu plan from the school for the month. Then plan the bagged lunches according to the menu. I know I can make tuna on a bun for a lot less than $3.00 per day! Substitite apple chips for the potato chips on the menu, and your child will be eating similar stuff as the rest of the kids.
- Pack smaller portions: Remember, most kids only have about 20 minutes to eat their lunch and most of this time is spent talking to their friends. If your kids are bringing most of their lunch home at the end of the day, try packing a smaller lunch. Perhaps half a sandwich and more finger foods. Perhaps half a sliced apple, instead of a whole apple. Ask your kids, I'm sure they'll have some suggestions...
A few more links (including food safety)....
Need a few more ideas? Thanks to our members who sent in these links. Enjoy! (And no, I am not affiliated with any of these websites - Cindy)
Last note from Cindy: I may not like making lunches, but the benefits of healthier foods, saving a few dollars (actually saving A LOT of dollars) is much better for our family in the long run. Fortunately, my husband and our kids often help out with the food preparation. So when we make it fun (instead of a chore), the lunches are more inspired and the job is done quickly! Have fun everyone, and thanks again for all your ideas.
Remember, SHOP at home FIRST!
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