The Lunch Struggle
By Heather Miller
As I dressed my child up as a 100 year old lady for the 100th day of school it dawned on me that I have now packed 100 lunches. Times two, as I have two school aged children. 200 lunches. That, friends, is a lot of sandwiches. A lot of repetitive sandwiches. I need to spice it up, you probably do too, so I started to brainstorm and came up with a few new lunch ideas that I thought you might also like to take advantage of.
The Breakfast Lunch
Throw in a blueberry bagel, some fruit, and a yogurt and all of a sudden they are brunching with the best of them. You could even make some chocolate chip pancakes the night before for a super special treat!
The Roll Up
Grab a tortilla and ditch the bread. There are tons of variations of roll ups that you could make. Pepperoni and cheese for a pizza lunch, turkey and cheese, ham and cheese, just cheese…..you get the idea, if you can roll it, they can eat it! I have even been known to roll up a string cheese, why not?!
The Package Deal
Nothing is easier and more well received than the good old Lunchable. Throw that box in a bag and you are done and done! I only do this once in while and it is usually when I can find them on sale, but the kids love them and so does my early morning routine.
The Basic Plus
Triangles and squares are so last season. On those days where an old fashioned peanut butter and jelly is up to bat, make it fun! Grab some shaped sandwich cutters, or even some cookie cutters, and shape up those sandwiches. There is nothing more fun to five year old that eating the head right off of their dinosaur shaped pb&j. ROAR!
While the days of packing a lunch for your little ones are numbered, they sure can seem long. And lets face it, they don’t want to eat the same thing every day anymore than we do. But the lunch struggle is real! I hope these ideas help you out. If you have any of your own to share, please do! The first 100 days of school is a milestone, but really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lunch packing, if we’re being honest.
Happy lunching!
