Sunday, August 12, 2012

School Lunch Drama

I don't know if it's just me, but my kids' school lunches have always caused drama. We pack our lunches as TPA does not have a school lunch program, and although Ward does, the food is HORRIBLE! {Think the worst, store brand, TV dinner, well these are worse than that!}

Last year was a fail. Neither girl likes sandwiches a whole lot, and Celeste down right refuses to eat them. So most days they took an Uncrustable and snacks (granola bars, apple sauce, CheezIts, Pudding cups, cookies, etc). See what I mean? FAIL!

I am determined to make this year better. I want my kids to eat REAL food. So where did I start? Pinterest of course! We got some ideas and a good place to start: square freezable lunch boxes and sectioned containers. 
This makes it easy to give them a variety of good foods.

Here is what week one consisted of:

Main dishes: -homemade tri color pasta salad with red peppers, cherry tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, feta, and Trader Joes "Soycatosh" (soybeans, corn, red peppers).

-Toothpicks with rolls of Boarshead roast beef and Muenster cheese 
-Mini English muffin pizzas

Sides: -Home made banana bread made with applesauce in place of butter
-Smoothies made with bananas, mango, pineapple, apple juice and plain Greek yogurt (frozen, so by lunch time they are still a little slushy!)
 








-Chips and Salsa

Drink: Frozen Capri Sun (the worst part of their entire lunch!)

And guess what? They ate it and LOVED it! Success!

This week we are repeating the pasta salad, roast beef, chips and salsa, pizzas and smoothies. We are making pumpkin, raisin bread instead of banana, adding hummus and cucumber slices, Cuties, and Sophie is going to try mini whole wheat bagel sandwiches. 

Sophie's lunch

Celeste's lunch

Wish me luck in keeping up with this new routine!

2 comments:

Julie said...

Love these!! You are sooo creative. I'll have to try this with my kids. Even though they're still at home, they'd appreciate more thought than a simple PB&J!

H said...

How did I miss this post? I'm so very impressed! Maybe I'll consider packing lunches again if I can make them this fun. I won't be rushing into anything though... Tasha seems to eat more veggies if I have her get lunch at school. (at least she tells me that she does!)