School Lunches

I have yet to photograph any of the lunches I pack for my son but I thought I would share some ideas for anyone who might be interested. My very favorite thing to pack is left overs! The food is already prepared and I can usually gauge what my almost 4 year old will eat, at school that is. Sometimes, even though he eats the entire dish at dinner time, he won't touch it at school the next day. Darn him!

If there aren't any left overs available, I pack him a variety of different lunches. I try to balance between grains, fruit/veggie, dairy, protein, etc. My son tends to like "snacky" lunches; more specifically, a smaller quantity of several things rather than one big main dish. Some examples: 

• A hardboiled egg cut in quarters
• Fruits/Veggies-Cubed avocado and kiwi are HUGE favorites.  Other regulars for us are sliced apples, strawberries, carrot sticks, ants on a log (celery and pb) and so on. Once in a while I try to make fruit a little fun by throwing a stick through it for a fruit kabob. Sometimes that entices him to eat things that he otherwise wouldn't (like blueberries).
• String cheese or yogurt (I usually don't put both on the same day-don't want to overload the dairy)
• Crackers-we really like Ak-Mah crackers (not sure if I spelled that right). I buy them at TJs (Whole Foods has them as well; not sure about conventional grocery stores bc I rarely shop there). Be mindful of the ingredients in crackers. It's really hard to find a decent cracker; they're all so full of junk. 
• A small handful of raw nuts-NOT roasted, salted, sweetened, etc. Plain ole nuts are just great! We switch it up between almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc. Once in a great while I will buy raw peanuts but not very often. 
• Apple sauce-unsweetened, no other ingredients, JUST APPLES. I cannot believe the CRAP they put in some brands of apple sauce. I will buy the pouches of fruit mixes if the ingredients are acceptable. Some brands really try to sneak in unwanted "ingredients". 

"Main Course" Ideas (other than left overs) 

• Apple Sandwiches-found these on 100 Days and LOVE them. My son loves them and I think they are absolutely delicious. Very simple and a good way to mix up the everyday, boring sandwich. I don't put raisons or sprinkle lemon juice. I literally just slice the apples, use my melon baller (bc I don't have round cookie cutters and my melon baller is perfect for this task-I just use it to stamp out the middle the same way a cookie cutter would) and spread pnut or almond butter on it. Done. Love them!
• PB&J sandwiches-First of all I don't put jelly on my son's sandwiches (my husband does <ugh, no comment> whenever he makes them, which is rare). I use honey instead. Most of the time a PB&J for my son is pnut or almond butter, honey and sliced bananas. My son really likes these, in fact it's what he asks for almost every day. 
• Hummus and cheese sandwich-Whole wheat bread, organic hummus and sliced havarti cheese. That's it! And my son LOVES them! Easy, healthy and a guarantee that he'll eat it! I put cucumbers, tomatoes and spinach on these when I make it for me but my son isn't a fan of tomatoes or cucumbers and he will eat spinach at home, no problem, but whenever I send it to school, he picks it out of the sandwich. 
• Waffle sandwiches- I usually make big batches of waffles and freeze them inbetween sheets of wax paper so I always have "toaster" waffles on hand. Once in a while I will buy real toaster waffles from WF. Pay close attention to ingredients when you buy these. There are lots of hidden "treasures" that I don't care to serve my family. I spread pnut butter or sometimes cream cheese between waffles and call it a sandwich. Kid loves them!

For really great lunch ideas...check out this post by 100 Days of Real Food. Furthermore, check out her entire blog. You can get lost for hours reading about the importance of nutrition and she has really helpful tips on how to incorporate these practices into your lifestyle. She is a great "teacher" when it comes to eating unprocessed foods.