When I was a little girl, my favorite meal was hors d'oeuvres! Lol, my Mom would make us plates of cheese, olives, egg, carrots, broccoli, etc. with dip and we called it hors d'oeuvres. We would use toothpicks and oyster forks too! That made an imprint on my mind and my heart, we laugh about that all the time to this day. So, I do the same thing for my kiddos hoping it will have the same effect on them!
One night we were having Greek Salad for dinner, so instead of serving the kids a salad, I gave them the deconstructed version. I made their plates with everything we were having, even the dressing, just not lettuce. They ate it better than any dinner ever, artichoke hearts and all. I am not sure if it was the food or that maybe it made them feel big, I don't know, but it works. So now, I do this for them a lot, and it is a lot like how I make their lunches. Sometimes they do get tuna, egg, or chicken salad sandwiches, but most often, the get hors d'oeuvres style!
We have Planet Box Lunch boxes. Yes, it was a little costly to purchase 4 of those at once, but the savings are well worth it! Although, there are other Bento Box style lunch boxes out there, if you are looking for the idea without quite the cost. I love these because they are stainless steel, safe and BPA free. They are dishwasher safe and that's makes them awesome; moreover, stainless will last forever. They also come with additional containers for soft food like applesauce and yogurt and a tiny one for dips. They stay super cold with an ice pack - anything leftover is always still cold when they get home! The little compartments make it easier and more motivating to fix them healthier lunches and they think they are fun! They are made with perfect child sized servings in mind and the sections allow for a perfect amount of each lunch item! The 4 sections guide you towards a fruit, a veggie, a protein and a treat item or grain (whatever your preference). They are easy to open and close, zip right into an insulated bag made just for them, with a slot for a fork/spoon. The bags have 2 pockets on the outside, perfect for a canteen or a juice box. Ours all have everyone's names on them, so there is no confusion, any particular likes or dislikes can be catered to and no one will know the difference! We love them!
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| Planet Box with tuna salad, fruit, carrots & broccoli w/ greek yogurt dip & a pickle. |
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| 4 Planet Boxes ready to roll! |
In the interest of time, I alternate a couple of days with snack bags. Yes, I know this wastes a lot of those little snack bags, and most of the time I use the stainless boxes, but I can prep tons of these single serve bags on the weekend and pack 4 lunches in literally 2 minutes, and this is awesome on busy nights - especially since I fix 30 pre-made lunches each week! And...if I alternate then I can take my time in fixing their Planet Box lunches while they are at school!
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| Planet Box Insulated Bag packed with turkey roll up, grapes, whole grain blueberry newton, apple sauce & roaring water. |
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| Snacks and lunch items ready for grab and go! |
Snack Bags
I buy the snack bags in bulk for $.50 per box, about $.01 per bag. Then I purchase healthier items to go in them and bag them up 25 or so at a time. This way I have grab & go single serves of snack items in the pantry for lunches, the park, the car, the boat, etc. It's a lot cheaper than purchasing the single serve bags of Pirate Booty, etc. I can fill them with homemade items, trail mixes, fruit, and cater the serving sizes to my kids will eat, so there are no leftovers that get tossed.
Typical snack/lunch items I keep in the pantry:
Trail mix - dried blueberry, dried cherry, raisins, yogurt covered raisins, almonds, macadamia nuts, banana chips, whole grain Cheerios, dried apricot, prunes,
Squeeze Applesauce
Mash-ups
Cucumber Chips
Green Bean Chips
Veggie Chips
Yogurt Covered Pretzels
Apple Chips
Pirate Booty
Whole Wheat Fig Bars
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| Sunday Prep - turkey/cheese roll ups, apple chips, veggie chips, green bean chips, cucumber chips. |
Proteins in Fridge:
Hard boiled eggs (they eat these by the dozen)
Grilled chicken sliced up
Turkey Breast sliced up
Tuna Salad - recipe below
Chicken Salad (s)
Ham chopped up
Cheese
Frozen yogurt squeeze packs
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| Tuna salad - 2 cans of tuna, 1/4 cup your choice of mayo, 1/4 cup relish. |
Veggies in Fridge: (I always keep Otria Greek Yogurt Dip for these and the honey mustard dip in my chicken tenders recipe) These are all washed and in little tupperware containers or in one large one sectioned out. Most of them keep fine for 3-4 days like this.
Broccoli
Carrots
Garbanzo Beans
Pickles
Olives
Artichoke Hearts
Cucumbers
Sugar Snaps
Cherry Tomatoes
Zucchini stix
Parsnips
Radishes
Beets - but I don't usually send these to school because I do like their teachers! ;)
Fruit in Fridge: (almond butter for dipping)
Apples
Grapes
Banana
Avocado
Strawberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Grapefruit
Clementines
Mango
Cantaloupe
Applesauce
Cherries (in season)
Peaches (in season)
Plums (in season)
Pineapple
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| I keep grapes and apples at the ready. Clementines too. |
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| My many bags stored in the pantry. |
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| Turkey Roll Ups |
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