Meal Plan: The Lunch Edition

One of the August goals was to figure out lunch planning and packing for two kids.

Sigh.

Why can't they like hot lunch?

First up.  The packaging.  I'm a big fan of Land's End for quality backpacks and lunch boxes.  Sweet is on year 3 with a classic grey backpack and a navy blue lunch box.... although, to be fair, the lunch box was "lost" for most of last year and he used a cheap lunch box from Target.... so I'm not really a snob.  Tuff has this amazingly cute backpack and matching lunch box for this year (and many years to come.... I hope).  Bonus:  I will be able to find her green backpack amidst the sea of pink on the playground.

I use a few lock-n-lock pieces for lunches and some travel cases for ketchup and dipping sauces.  Sometimes I get all bento box and use silicone baking cups.  I want to make a few reusable sandwich bags.  But mostly we keep it low key.

I also realized a girl needs a new water bottle for Grade K.  And I found a cute two-pack with a thermos cold cup and a hot thermos on clearance at Target for $7 (regularly $30).  She loves the drink cup and it really does stay cold.  Sweet somehow broke his Costco water bottle last year.  He finished the year using Bugsy's yellow bottle and a random selection of other ones.  So I got him a fantastic Steelers bottle for back-to-school.

So then we were on to the planning.  My basic plan is:  main lunch item, fruit and/or veggie, something else, sweet, non-messy snack for morning snack time.  The problem is Sweet eats like a teenager and I worry he won't have enough food.  We always pack an extra "emergency" baggie of pretzels in the side pocket of his backpack and one in the car.

Martha.  What do you think of the magnetic lunch chart and printable labels?  I asked the kids for a list of snack foods:

pretzels
cheese sticks or cubes
salami
apples
strawberries
banana
cantalope
cheese/cracker packs
wheat thins
grapes
carrots
blueberries

Don't they seem strikingly healthy?  Then I asked for lunch items:

soup
corn dogs
salami/mayo sandwich
cheese and pickle sandwich
peanutbutter, powdered sugar and chocolate chip sandwich
pizza
noodles and sauce
ramen
chicken nuggets
chips

That's my team.  Always finding the balance.

So that's as far as we've gotten in the planning process.  My goal is simple and vaguely healthy lunches.  Their goal is packing as much junk food into a thermos as they can and calling it lunch.