The Lunchbox Dilemma!

Being a health nut and foodie, I absolutely and completely disagree with what they feed our children for school lunches.  And since I have two little adorable, perfectly perfect angels (just like yours) to feed EVERY DAY, I decided packing a lunch is a necessity. It’s a part-time highly stressful job packing lunches if you aren’t prepared! My husband bargins with me on who is making lunch.  “If you make lunch I’ll give them a bath!” There is a major difference between moms lunchbox and dad’s.  Hey if it’s colorful and cute for little fingers they will devour it and it doesn’t have to be hard or planned out.  It really needs real food and raw is always better.  After a week of not touching fresh red peppers in their lunch box every day, one time they will take a bite and say, hey that’s not so bad!  I just don’t take no for an answer so now my children eat all kinds of raw veggies, hummus, avocado, artichoke and kale yogurt dip, spinach egg muffins, etc…Children need to be offered a food sometimes 10 times before they will ever try it.  I promise it’s worth the struggle to have them eating everything you put in front of them.

So what the freak do you put in a school lunch that will be good after being in a bag for hours with only an ice pack?  Chips, sandwich and a cookie would be the answer from 80% of the busy parents out there including my sweet, ever-thoughtful husband. Because he would want the cookie too! But that is dead food and doesn’t provide color or fiber and is high glycemic and spikes their blood sugar. Too much sugar is a bad idea because it depletes B vitamins and those are the calming happy vitamin. A meal always needs color (where most of the nutrition is) and incorporate live food (enzymes, fiber and energy). I personally hate lunch meat and if it’s not organic, it’s full of crap like sodium nitrate and the animals are certainly not clean if you are buying at a local grocery store.  It’s also not appetizing if you ask me. I’m just not a cold sandwich kind of person but once in a while is fine, I just wouldn’t want to eat it.

So for all my mom friends out there I wanted to share some of the lunches I make every day.  I just started trying to capture a picture in between dinnertime, bath time, story time, home work time, right?  You know what I mean…And being a busy working entrepreneur and traveling, I have very little time to get creative or research, so lunch is created from whatever is there in the fridge or cabinet.  I will continue to post ideas so check back for more creative eye candy ideas for your kids lunchboxes!

Organic graham crackers with almond butter, organic seedless English Cucumbers, Mini Organic Carrots, Sliced Organic Mozzarella, Organic Raspberries, Chocolate Raspberry Granola (Costco)

Sweet potato and apple cinnamon chips, honey infused organic peanut butter and banana wrap on fresh cooked tortilla, cherry tomatoes (Sunset, hothouse so no pesticides)Homemade mini Organic Blueberry Bran Muffins, Organic Celery with Almond Butter and Raisins (Ants on a log), Sliced Cucumber, Real Cherries from Trader Joes (not the embalmed and died artificial looking weird ones) with Natural Whipped Cream

You can find easy bento lunch boxes for boys and girls online as well as other supplies like Mini Dippers and colorful Silicone Baking Cups to make lunch fun and take up some space for little eaters. (After all it starts with your eyes and helps kids get excited about celery!)

I hope making lunch for your kids is as fun and healthy as it has become for me and my children.