PB & J, chips, a snack and a drink. That was lunch for a very long time at my house. I bought processed food by the bulk at Costco and made my kids make their own lunches. It was just how it was during that time of my life. Having 7 kids drained me of any desire to attempt anything fancy for lunch. And by fancy, I mostly mean healthy. Because healthy requires effort.
But towards the end of the school year last year, as my head was coming out of baby/moving fog, I began to realize something about my kid’s lunch. 1.)They were coming home hungry and 2.)They were throwing away their PB&J and just eating junk for lunch. I began to see all kinds of really neat lunch ideas on Pinterest, and while I knew I would never have time for the creativity of some, I decided to do some research and come up with healthier lunch solutions for my kids.
Ways to avoid Armageddon from an always moving mom to Seven
Thus began my journey. After researching many, many ideas, I knew deep down that I would quickly run out of ideas of my own. I came across this amazing site called Momables where this amazing lady provides a weekly menu as well as lunch tips and other suggestions.
We did a dry run before school started and I informed my crew that we were going to try something new. We were going to have healthy lunches. We were going to try new foods. We were going to do better!
At first there was some complaining, but surprisingly, most of the kids were excited. They were admittedly tired of PB&J. I couldn’t blame them. My oldest had been eating it for lunch for six years. (I probably shouldn’t admit that!)
After the first week, I began to notice something funny. The kids were actually not starving to death when they got home from school. And they were excited about their lunch. And their friend’s moms were tracking me down to find out what I was doing.
A miracle had happened!
The key is preparation. The Momables menus go live on Thursday night. I sit down with the children and they help me choose which menu items we will use for the week. Then I make my list, check it twice and go grocery shopping so I actually have the items required for lunch. Then I write our menu on our chalkboard in the pantry for the week. We spend an hour on Sunday preparing lunches for the week (more on that next week when I get into the details of packing their lunches.)
Not all of my lunches come from the Momables site, but the majority do. I have spread my wings a bit and actually come up with some of my own ideas. Imagine that! But here is a list of some of the favorite sides for my kid’s lunches:
1.Grapes
2.Kiwi (Cut in half and send a spoon)
3.Crackers
4.Carrots with ranch to dip
5.Strawberries
6.Pretzels
7.Yogurt with granola on top
8.Yogurt covered raisins
9.Mini-muffins
10.String cheese (freeze it and it is perfect by lunch)
11.Gold fishies with nuts
12.Mini-oranges
13.Popcorn
14.Watermelon
15.Trail mix
Now, I still have picky eaters. We have some go-to lunches that we use if the children don’t like something on the menu for the week like this kid’s school sushi by Momables.
Brilliant!
It is so much better than what we were doing. I adjust some of the recipes and anything that calls for “those green things” or rather peppers, gets left out. I have some kids that will eat kiwi and some that won’t. We just make adjustments accordingly. The portion sizes are appropriate and there is always more than enough food, even for my growing 8th grader! This next lunch example was a Mexican pasta salad with chips and salsa:
I am excited to announce that Laura Fuentes of Momables has provided a three month subscription giveaway for either her regular menu or her gluten-free menu. Closed Just leave me a comment for an entry. For a separate entry, go like her on Facebook, and then go follow me on Facebook and once again leave a separate comment for each action. If you want to go just crazy with all the liking and following, you can also find my lunch idea board on Pinterest as well as Momables. (Again, separate comments for each!) Comments will close Saturday at midnight.
And then, if that isn’t enough, come back next Thursday for a giveaway by another company that has also helped to make lunches awesome for my family! I will also give you some tips on the actual packing of the lunch!
P.S. One more thing…you can find Laura(supergluemom) and I(staceysmoments) on instagram for even more lunch ideas!