Those Dreaded School Lunches

I signed Big Bro up for a four-day camp that met from 8:30am through 2:30pm. I got three of his buddies to sign up with him so he would feel more comfortable with me dropping him off for such a long day. I figured it would be good practice in advance of Kindergarten. Going from three mornings of preschool a week to five full days of school is a huge change.

While I thought what good practice it would be for Big Bro to try a new routine, I didn't realize it was going to be good practice for me as well: getting up and out the door early, and packing those dreaded school lunches.

I have read blogs about packing school lunches and they all like to describe what a pain it is. The endless containers, the wasted food, the preparation time, planning and shopping, limited menus due to kid's picky palates, and of course, food restrictions due to the nut-allergy epidemic. Just like Big Bro's new elementary school is nut-free, his camp is also nut-free. So much for endless peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches.

I bought a YumBox last Christmas (an impulse, sale purchase). It offers compartments that seal shut with just one lid. Each compartment is labeled with a food group to help you plan a balanced meal: protein, grain, vegetable, fruit, dairy, and even a tiny one for dip. In addition to filling his YumBox, I also sent him with a breakfast bar and granola bar for snacks.

Here's how the week went:

Day 1: ham slices, Parmesan goldfish crackers, cucumbers and ranch, 2 cherries and a strawberry, slices of cheddar cheese.

Result: He ate everything but the ranch. He was hungry when he came home but that's not surprising, after school snacks are typical. He informed me he was so hungry before dinner and he "never had real lunch today."   Uh oh.

Day 2: buttered bread (I ran out of ham, shoot), hard boiled egg, cucumbers and craisins, slices of cheddar cheese, chocolate caramel kiss as a bonus.

I sent him with two breakfast bars and 2 granola bars and told him to save at least one for the ride home with his friend and his mom. 

Result: He had a good ride home and ate 2 bars when he got back here. He ate everything in his YumBox minus the bread crust, a small cucumber and a few craisins. He even ate the egg (yay!) and said he wasn't hungry during the day, nor did he say he had no real lunch.

Day 3: buttered bread (crusts removed this time), goldfish, an egg (why mess with success?), ham, carrots (a change from the cucumber) and cherries, plus another chocolate caramel kiss (his favorite part, surprise, surprise).

Result: he didn't touch his buttered bread or ham (it wasn't the usual brand so he didn't like it). He left behind goldfish and even cherries. He said he wasn't hungry. He didn't eat any of his granola/breakfast bars either until he got home. Weird.

Day 4: final day! I had a late night meeting so he ended up with cheese, strawberries, crackers, egg, carrots, and a slice of ham even though it's not his preferred brand (it's all "Black Forest" ham!?), and the beloved chocolate kiss.

Result: the ham came back half-eaten so that's some progress. The carrots came back because "he only likes carrots with ranch."

After only 4 days of lunches I already felt the monotony of this packed lunch thing. There were two nights in the week when I felt like I should have gone shopping, but only made a store-run on one of those nights. I'm glad Kindergarten will have hot lunch options for purchase to break it up a bit. The YumBox compartments really did help with packing a varied lunch. 

What grains, proteins, dairy, fruit and veggies are packed lunch favorites in your house?