Easy Lunch Round-Up

"Easy" has been my middle name the past few grade school years! I don't know what's happened, but I seem to have burnt out on lunch creativity, even with my MOMables lunch (and some dinners!) menu planning subscription!

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Randomness

Glutino pretzel chips; organic apples, raspberries, yellow carrot; organic quinoa and brown rice with hemp hearts

Tuesday, 7/28/14 - This was a "grab anything I see and toss it in a box" lunch for my toddler. Leftover "rice" (quinoa and brown rice mix) with some hemp hearts for protein, broken bits of gluten-free pretzel chips, and even some yellow carrots cut with a mini heart cutter! Like most kids, she vacillates between being a "good eater" and being a nibbler. This was during a growth spurt, so I packed extra food. Plus she tends to graze on her food - eat a little now, then keep coming back for more, if I leave it accessible for her.

PB Cracker Stackers

Kay's Naturals Cinnamon Twist Protein Pretzels, PB on Glutino crackers, organic snap peas and strawberries 

Wednesday, 7/29/14 - I had a bunch of broken pretzel bits, so tossed them in for a treat, even though they're actually quite low in sugar and high in protein and other nutrients. Yay!

DIY Nut-Free Cracker Stackers

Organic strawberries and carrots, Glutino crackers, Sunbutter Squeeze Pack

Thursday, 9/4/14 - My older one is always a fan of assembling her own lunch. It's very empowering to get to choose how and how much you eat of your lunch. As adults, we essentially get to do that when making and packing our meals, but kids are constantly faced with situations where everything has been planned out for them, and they have very little say, and even less control. So sending build-your-own lunch options, which has made those boxed ones at the grocery store so popular over the decades, gives them so much power at an age when they already feel so powerless. Plus honestly it's easier just tossing in the ingredients and letting HER do all the work! Hahaha!

I packed the gluten-free crackers in one of my favorites, a silicone flower cup, and sent a stainless steel spreader thing I got at Daiso (a Japanese dollar store.) But honestly, she usually just squirts the Sunbutter straight into her gob, and snacks on the crackers later, if at all. Isn't it fun being in charge of your own lunch, even if it's only in small ways?

Leftover Pizza for First Grade

Leftover GF pizza w/Daiya cheese, goat cheese, olives, and bacon; organic grapes and corn

Friday, 9/5/14 - It doesn't get much easier than tossing a slice of leftover pizza into a lunch box! My kid doesn't mind her pizza cold, but I've seen people cut it up and pack heated in an insulated food jar to keep it warm until lunch.

Easy-Peasy PBJ for Little Sis

Naturebox Blueberry Almond Bites, GF PBJ; organic strawberries, tomatoes, and corn

I only had the one slice of pizza left that day, so my toddler got half of a PBJ instead. Plus some nommy Naturebox snacks! (Seriously good. I could eat the whole bag in one sitting! And have...)

Tools of the Trade

     

Mommy and Me Sandwich and Salad!

I don't usually pack the same foods for everyone, mostly because my girls rarely eat salad, and I'm not a huge fan of sandwiches now that we're gluten-free. Plus if I "forget" to pack a lunch, I can fill up on junk! Yay!

Mama's Lunch

Naturebox trail mix, PB-honey sandwich, organic salad
(red lettuce, spinach, carrots, sunflower and chia seeds, hemp hearts, raisins, rosemary vinaigrette)

Thursday, 9/4/14 - I made myself my usual salad, and after some success at dinner the night before getting the girls to eat salad with their favorite dressing, I decided to pack some for their lunches as well! Fair's fair, so I made myself a sandwich like them too. Except I prefer peanut butter and honey, so gave my sandwich a more-favored "dressing!"

This lunch is fairly protein-heavy with the hemp hearts and chia seeds for the salad, the peanut butter in the sandwich, and the nuts in the Naturebox trail mix (with chocolate! NOM!) Whoever said that vegetarians can't get enough protein?

Since I prefer my salad add-ons crunchy, and my salad not-soggy, I pre-packed my toppings and dressing in Mini Dippers to add them on when I was ready.

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1st-Grade Lunch

GF ham and goat cheese sandwich, HomeFree GF vanilla cookies,  organic "butter beans,"
organic salad (red lettuce, hemp hearts, dairy-free Ranch)

The Home Free cookies were a last-minute add-in, since I had put some in Little Sister's lunch to help fill space, and decided I'd better give a few to my older girl too. So I squeezed them in in a pink flower cup to keep them from getting soggy from the ham.
I packed a matryoshka fork (which is the perfect size to fit in the EasyLunchbox) to use for her salad and "butter beans." Butter beans are just steamed green beans slathered in (dairy-free) butter, or olive oil, when I'm feeling lazy. And salt, of course. Z will pretty much eat anything if I put butter and salt on it...

Toddler Lunch

Little Sis got the exact same lunch as my older one, but with just half a sandwich. She doesn't eat as much, and rarely eats her bread, so I hate wasting more on her.
She got her favorite Olaf fork to help eat her food. Both girls ate most of their salad, which made this Mama happy!

Reality Check

I've shown off my photo setup once before, to help show the reality behind many of the bright colorful photos you see online. Here's another glimpse at the secret to my "success."
I don't have a collection of pristine perfectly-stained or aged wood tables... I have vinyl backdrops and scrapbook paper. I don't have a beautiful well-lit space... I have to drag everything out onto an old cat scratching bench on the back porch for some nice indirect light. And hope it's a sunny day!

To reduce shadows, I hold a sheet of white dollar store foam board to help bounce light back. Or sometimes my lovely assistant insists upon helping helps me. Sometimes she's not the only one out there in the morning without any pants on...!

The photos you see above have all been cropped and edited and brightened and enhanced to look more appealing. So next time you snap and share a picture of your amazing lunch, don't compare yourself to us "Pinterest Moms!" Just like the gal with the perfect hair and make-up each morning, it takes time and effort to "look good" on the internet! I spend my time taking and editing pictures of our lunches... I promise, there's a reason I rarely share photos of myself! Hahahaha!

Tools of the Trade

      

Leftovers to Lunch: Chicken Strip-Kebabs

Leftover chicken skewers are one of my favorite lunch ideas from my MOMables subscription. Both girls like them okay, although no one is clamoring for me to pack them again and again and again. But they're suuuuuper easy for me! I don't have to think really hard, or make anything special in advance. And with cute picks and skewers, I can make them fun with zero extra effort! Win!

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Leftovers for a First Grade Lunch

Leftover chicken skewers (GF Ian's chicken strips, olives, goat cheddar,) olives, organic grapes and salted cucumber

9/10/14 - Since Yumbox sent me the new Yumbox Panino* (for free!) it was the perfect box for this lunch. The little treat compartment works great for just a few olives, and the whole box is water-tight, so no worries about the olives or cucumbers leaking into other compartments.

I made mini skewers using some cute animal picks, rather than trying to thread these onto one or two longer picks. The goat cheddar is very brittle, and I needed very thin skewers if I wanted any chance of the cheese cubes not just splitting in half. Nailed it!

*red Yumbox no longer available

Leftovers for Little Sis

Leftover chicken skewers (GF Ian's chicken strips, olives, goat cheddar,) organic salted cucumber and grapes

I used some wider animal face picks for my toddler for safety reasons, but they did end up splitting the cheese, as you can see on the left. Oh well. Still tasty!

She wasn't as keen on cucumber slices, so I tried making them more fun with a flower veggie cutter. Which totally worked! She ate a few! Yay!

Tools of the Trade