What my kids eat matters to me a lot!
When my daughter started school, I was apparently the first parent at our school district that invited herself into school lunch to see what they are like. I wanted to see what is served, how it is warmed up, how the whole processed looked like. Even though the menu on a paper looked pretty appealing, in person it did not meet my standards at all ! It mostly consisted of processed, sugary food, that was warmed up in aluminum containers in microwaves and served on plastic or styrofoam plates with plastic utensils.
I decided that my kids will be bringing their own lunches. And they will be healthy, nourishing, organic, gluten free and fun. My daughter was not too happy to hear that since getting school lunch was kind of cool. But when I let her help, include something sweet (but healthy), she came around. What’s even more important she started paying attention to what’s healthy or not.
I figured pictures say it all so I loaded my post with pictures of some of my lunches. Below are also other ideas that I missed picture opportunities of.
Thermos is also used a lot for our lunches. Especially now when my kids are getting older thay want fast, convenient and filling lunch. We use dinner leftovers often in the thermos, such as chill with a side of corn tortilla or chips, lasagna (this is the one my kids love if not homemade), soups, gnocchi, rice, beans, burritos.
My daughter likes a mix of salad with a dressing on a side.
When using a thermos for main course of the lunch, I also include one of the small stainless steel containers with fruit, crackers, extra veggies etc. together in the lunch box.
Rice cakes I turned into gluten free “peanut butter sandwich”.
Honey or jam with almond, sunflower or other nut butter.
Sprinkled with hemp seeds for extra nutrition.
Lasagna to go into thermos. I just cut it into little peaces.