My youngest is starting 1st grade and will be taking a school lunch with her every day to school.  She is an extreme introvert so I know by lunch time she will be exhausted and ready to come home.  I’m hoping school lunch will be like a giant hug from me to keep her going for a few more hours at school.  Any ideas you have to offer would be much appreciated.  I’ve been researching school lunch ideas for quite some time now.  Here are a few tips I’ve gathered.  I especially want to thank my sister-in-law for her ideas.  I’m really getting excited for school to start again.

The question is, how to make lunch easy to put togeter and afordable?  I would love to pay for my daughter to have hot lunch every day at school, but I’m worried about how heatlhy school lunch really is. After watching Jamie Olivers Food Revolution, I’m not so sure about school lunch anymore.  Yuck.

It will be a treat once in a while for her.  My favorite thing about school lunch when I was little was the cute little milk cartons (I loved it when we could choose chocolate milk) the rolls and the big peanut butter bars topped with chocolate frosting.  Mmm.  Those were so good.

Picking the right lunch box.  I’ve been advised to choose one that can fit both a water bottle and a thermos.  A 1 cup size thermos is large enough for a first grader.  I think a warm thermos with chicken noodle soup or cinnamon roll oatmeal would be a welcome site for lunch.  We’ll have to see what my 6 year old likes.  She’s a picky one.

These Ziploc press and seal containers are perfect for making a  fruitcup for each day of the week.  I like to buy a 106 oz can of pineapple or peaches from Costco (They are only $3 or $4 each.  I wish they sold one with Mandarin oranges for that price.  My kids inhale those.)  You can freeze pineapple in cupcake pans for 1 hour or until frozen and then store then in a large zip top bag in your freezer.  When getting ready for school lunch for the week place 1 cup of fruit in 5 ziploc press and seal containers and grab one each day when you’re filling up the lunch box. 

The second item I will put in the lunch box will be crackers, string cheese, jerky, nuts or a granola bar.  I’m not a big fan of store bought granola bars.  They are just too full of sugar for me and make me feel sick.  Below is a delicious granola bar recipe with all kinds of healthy yummy things in it.  You can add more healthy things like pumpkin seeds, flax seed, protien powder, etc..  Cater it to your childs taste.

Chewy Granola Bars

Yield: Two 9 x 13 -inch pans (about 16 bars each)

Crust

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup finely chooped walnuts

2/3 cup (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) butter melted

Filling

4 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

4 teaspoons vanilla

2 Tablepsoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chopped dried berries

2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup shreddded coconut

1 1/3 cup granola or quick-cooking oats

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  For crust mix together 2 cups flour, 2/3 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup walnuts; blend melted butter until crumbs form.  Press into 2 greased (or foil pans) 9 x 13-inch pans.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes until light golden brown.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat eggs until fluffy, gradually add  1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 brown sugar.  Then stir in the vanilla.  Add flour, baking powder and salt.  Then add dried berries, nuts, coconut and granola (or oats).  Pour over partially baked crust and bake for 20-25 minutes longer, or until the bars are set.  Cool for about 1 hour then cut into bars and roll in powdered suar.  Slice and place in zip-top freezer bags, or warp bars indivdually for a quick lunchbox treat.

For the main dish in the lunchbox, I have lots of fun ideas in my new book “Fabulous Freezer Meals”.  Most recipes can be made quickly in the morning, or frozen for future lunches.

Chicken Pesto Sandwiches

Yield: 5 servings

1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup ranch salad dressing

1/3 cup spinach pesto

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked (or canned) chicken

10 slices toasted whole-wheat bread

In medium bowl, combine cream cheese, ranch dressing; beat until smooth.  Stir in pesto and chicken.  Spread chicken filling on bread to make sandwiches.  Wrap each sandwich individually in plastic wrap and place in a large freezer bag.  label the bag of sandwiches and freeze.

To serve:

Let sandwiches defrost overnight in the refrigerator and place with an ice pack in the lunch box or add to lunchboxes in the morning and let thaw until lunchtime.  Make sure sandwiches are eaten witing 2 hours of thawing completely.

Peanut Butter Granola Wraps

1½ cups peanut butter

1½ cups granola

½ cup chopped peanuts

3 tablespoons honey

8 medium (10-inch) whole-wheat tortillas

In a large bowl, combine peanut butter, granola, chopped peanuts, and honey; mix well. Spread tortillas with the peanut butter mixture so they are completely covered and the mixture is ¼ inch thick. Roll up tortillas and cut   in half. Serve immediately, or wrap well and freeze. Let thaw in an insulated lunchbox until lunchtime. Yield: 12 servings.  *Add jam is optional.

xxx

I will be including treats once or twice a week (cookies, brownies or rice crispy treats).

I am going to try out a few fun ways to make the presentation fun.

I love these ideas my friend Suzy in Hawaii posted on her blog.

Isn’t this adorable?  It is a rolled sandwich with a hello kitty wrapper on it.  I think this would be  a pretty hot item in a lunch box.

My friend Suzy found this cute Japanese book at a library in Hawaii.  I love the ideas and can’t wait to try some of my own with fairies, Rainbow Brite and Littlest Petshop characters.