Either I recently experienced a stroke of pure genius, or I'm finally starting to get the Mom thing! EVERY mom has been through this! The meal struggle; and of course it's exaggerated when you have growing kids who go through varying stages of pickiness. And that struggle is even more intesified when you have a very slim little girl who pretty much refuses to eat anything mom makes, with the exception of dessert (ok, she will eat broccoli and she'll drink chocolate milk, but this vegetarian kid needs more protein!) I've tried everything! The biggest problem, she likes something one day and looks at it like it's Satan's spawn the next! The next struggle is one that only the stay-at-home mom gets---you do need to provide all the meals for your children. I have a previous neighbor from up-north who intentionally left her children in daycare longer so that she didn't have to provide breakfast or lunch! And the beauty of it is, she had at least 3 hours to herself each day. Of course I'd LOVE that, but I still wouldn't trade what I have for anything. I know how lucky I am. Then the next challenge is, we are homeschooling, it's real now! I know I know, make meal preparation part of the homeschooling experience--great learning opportunities. Well, the reality of it is, when you have two children close in age, it's not that easy--but once n awhile, we'll bake together or do simple things. We are vegetarians afterall; which means I'm often using butcher knives for chopping and dicing-- I'm not interested in any unintended slicing (and I mean me--I need to concentrate:) And they are still a bit young for stove top work--but we're working towards that. In fact Daddy's taken this on with Saturday morning cakes and eggs (or is that eggs and cakes:). Also, once school's done, these girls are hungry! Anyway, more later on Kids in the Kitchen--we shall revisit this, as we found a really neat Goose Berry Patch cookbook for kids when we were in the Smokies.
So, what is this blog posting about? Where was my sheer genious? Snack Pack Lunches! I saw these lock n lock plastic containers which have optional dividers (as seen in the photos above), so that you can change the size of the inside as needed. What I started doing was during the week, preparing some healthy appetizer type items, that I pack up each night into these containers. So that when school's done--lunch is ready! Also, I've been spending WAY too much money (and calories) on eating out, when the girls and I go out on our little excursions and field trips. Voila, these lunches were packed the night before, I can just throw them in a cooler for our trips!
Do you know what else is working!! Fairy Girl LOVES this--I don't pack the same items everyday--so it's a fun mystery--and she actually eats--they are both very excited for lunch time! I could put all the same stuff on a plate, and I believe she would snub the same meal! I've carefully researched and prepared a list of ideas for my lunch (and yes, I actually put my list onto an excel spreadsheet, along with a general grocery list--it's a big time-saver, which we need. You'd think that as a mom who doesn't work outside of the home, it would be easy--but I am their full-time teacher--so it takes organization. Below you will find a list of some of my ideas:
| Main | Side | dessert | other |
| roasted red pepper hummus and pita chips | celery sticks filled with cream cheese | fig bars | smoothies w/whey |
| veggies and dill dip | celery sticks filled with peanutbutter/raisins | cookies | |
| Nacho Bites | apples and peanutbutter | granola bars | |
| egg salad with crackers | bananas | pudding | |
| hard boiled egg | dried fruit | ||
| deviled eggs | candied nuts | ||
| cottage cheese with chives or garlic seasong | mini muffins | ||
| bagel bite crisps with cream cheese | string cheese | ||
| cold ranch veggie pizza | cheese slices and whole grain crackers | ||
| mexican snack squares | trail mix | ||
| fruit burriotos | parmesan popovers | ||
| taco rollups | taffy apple salad | ||
| mexi dip and chips | party snack mix | ||
| savory cucumber sandwiches | nutty carmel apple dip w/ apples | ||
| Italian-style pasta salad | marinated mozzarella bites | ||
| crostini w/ hummus | roasted pumpkin seeds | ||
| white bean dip w/pita chips | mini frittatas | ||
| walnuts, grapes, cheese cubed |
1 comment:
i LOVE this! i started packing kevin's lunch last week, and this list is exactly what i needed. actually, the kids do their own lunches but they tend to eat the same thing every day, so maybe i need to offer them some other options too!
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