Can you guys believe it’s almost September?! Where in the world has the time gone? It’s officially time for all the kids to head back to school and my little munchkin started first grade on Monday. First grade! I swear this kid was an infant just last week. Now he’s a grade school kid with math homework!
Before Dev started kindergarten last year, he insisted on getting a cool lunchbox so that I could pack him a lunch every day. That lasted about 5 days. Actually, I’m pretty sure he told me he wanted to start eating school lunch after day two, but I talked him into finishing out the first week with packed lunches because I had already bought everything. Honestly, I was kind of relieved he wanted to start eating school lunches because I was stressing out about what healthy options I could pack that he wouldn’t get sick of eating. Plus, I reviewed the lunch menu and knew proper, balanced nutrition was very important to his school district, so I felt comfortable letting him eat their school lunch.
Well, this year Devin has requested packed lunches again so, once again, I’ve been stressing about what to pack. I mean, have you seen some of the lunches parents are packing nowadays? They’re like works of art! Check out these bento box lunches.
What kid wouldn’t want to eat those lunches? They are so ADORABLE! Seriously though, I can’t compete with that. Visually, Devin’s lunches are nothing to get excited about. I just try to make sure he has a fruit and/or veggie, a drink, a main dish, and sometimes a snack for after school. He almost always has these organic apples slices, watermelon, or berries along with organic juice like Honest Kids pouches or these Apple & Eve Quenchers.
He was eating sandwiches as his main dish every day during summer camp, but I think that’s boring. I also started to notice he was eating less and less of the sandwiches as the days went by. By the end of summer, his entire sandwich would still be in his lunchbox when I picked him up. The sandwiches are definitely no longer popular! I knew I was going to need to make his lunch more interesting for school, but I was also realistic and knew I wasn’t going to be making food artwork every day just to get him to eat it.
**I give major props to all the moms and dads out there making adorable lunches for their kids every day for years. You are beyond awesome!**
Instead, I bought him a Thermos Funtainer food jar to help expand the variety of foods I can pack. Now I can heat up healthy leftovers from the previous night’s dinner and the Funtainer will keep the food warm until he’s ready to eat lunch. It’s worked great so far and it’s keeping things healthy AND interesting!
Do you pack lunch for a little one or did you eat a packed lunch when you were little?
Do you do anything special to keep your kid’s lunch interesting or is there something your parents did that you still remember?
