School Lunch: Shake Up the Weekly Menu
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Forget homework and science fair projects. Packing enticing lunches can be one of the biggest struggles of the school year. If you come charging out of the gate with perfectly portioned, well-balanced, nutritious meals and find yourself four weeks in serving a scant slab of lunchmeat on bread heels with a Ziplocked side of potato chip dust, you are in good company. Most parents dry up on ideas before the leaves start to change and that problem combined with bored palates can result in a recipe for lunchtime catastrophe. Little Timmy starts coming home with a barely touched meal while Miss Susie informs you she traded her entire lunch for one Oreo™ cookie and is surprisingly famished. The school mealtime woes are as common as 1st grade headlice letters, but a little planning and a few inspiring hacks can really spice up a lackluster lunchbox.
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Sustenance Spreadsheets
One tool that might help you get your square meals squared away is a lunch calendar. Fifteen minutes spent planning out an entire month’s worth of food is a worthwhile investment of your time as it can spare you the agony of a late night or early morning lunch packing scramble. Dedicate a day of the week to a specific main course and then mix it up as you go. For example, Mondays can be pasta day. The first Monday can be pasta with marinara, the second Monday can be pasta with pesto, the third Monday can be ravioli, and the fourth can be mac-n-cheese. This can be applied to soups, salads and more.
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Crustless Creativity
Sticking with simple sandwiches? No problem. Beyond mixing up the PB&J’s and ham and cheese go-to’s, you can make your sandwiches a lot more exciting. Cutting a sandwich into triangles isn’t going to cut it at the lunch table in 2021 but having a heart shaped turkey and mustard will make your kid the envy of the entire cafeteria. Roll out bread slices and cut with your kiddo’s favorite cookie cutter shape. Pile on their favorite sandwich toppings and throw it in the lunch sack. Doesn’t everything taste better when it looks like a star?
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Treasured Treats
If the twists on food feel a little challenging, you can still keep Timmy and Susie engaged and looking forward to their midday meal. Slipping a daily surprise in the old brown bag can keep your little ones counting down the seconds to lunchtime. This could be a small, sweet treat or a little toy they can have if they eat their food. It could even be a note with a joke of the day or just a simple “I love you” message. Creating your own version of the Happy Meal is the easiest way to ensure your kiddos have full bellies and full hearts. What could be more satiating than that?