Sunday, October 2, 2011

What's For (School) Lunch?


I missed out on yesterday's Opening Day, although I did read a few of your blogs while I was eating my breakfast this morning. I'm here now, and although I don't have anything too outrageous planned, I plan to embrace my participation as fully as possible. (And I will have two giveaways coming soon!)

This year, both of my boys are at home again for school, although they attend our homeschool co-op twice a week. On those days, they bring their lunches. My daughter will be attending preschool, thus bringing her lunch with her regularly. Therefore, most of my school lunch pics will belong to her.

One of the homeschool co-op days is Pizza Day, in which pizza is brought in to purchase. I have tried to make sure the boys have pizza in their lunches that day, as well, so they will not feel left out. This was my 6 year old son's lunch:
Tofurky Cheese Pizza (with hemp seeds sprinkled on top),
1/2 of a Hail Merry Chocolate Tart,
dried mango (from the bulk bin at WF), carrots

Since their preferred taste buds differ slightly, their lunches also vary slightly. The difference in my 11 year old's lunch:
Brazil nuts, Lemon Thyme Hail Merry Soaked/Dehydrated Pecans,
bell pepper slices, carrots,
Amande Cultured Almond Milk yogurt

And my 4 year old daughter got pizza that day, too, along with:
the other half of the Hail Merry Tart,
cherry tomatoes, bell pepper slices, Brazil nuts, Hazel nuts, dried mango


More 4 year old lunches:
3/4 sandwich with a Tofurky deli slice, hummus, lettuce, avocado, & mustard,
Garden of Eatin' Pico De Gallo Chips (love!), strawberries,
bell pepper, raisins

pistachios, soy yogurt with mini chocolate chips, Sun Butter & fruit spread sandwich,
carrots, berries

apple slices, cherry tomatoes,
Brazil nuts, a strawberry, a homemade chocolate chip cookie,
(with hemp seeds and a little olive oil)

Brothers-ALL-Natural freeze dried strawberries & bananas,
Cocoa Kissed Savi Seeds,
two "R" (her first and middle initials) nut butter & fruit spread sandwiches,
cherry tomatoes, pecans

*******************************
Off to clean my kitchen, then cuddle into my bed to read as many VMF posts as I can tonight! Have a fun week, everyone!


24 comments:

  1. Love the lunches! Great food and presentation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like those Amande yogurts too. They were on sale so cheaper than Coconut Yogurt and I appreciate they are a little higher in protein.

    I would like half a Hail Merry Miracle Tart for lunch. You are an awesome mom.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh man, if we got pizza and ravioli in our lunches, we would have been over the moon! Wonderful, healthy, and fun combos! I love the 'R' sandwich, fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wish you packed my lunches when I was a kid!!! My peanut butter and jelly sandwiches always tasted like my mother's perfume :( I can still taste it... Estee Lauder and strawberry jam do not mix.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, as always you pack the most amazing lunches! You are an awesome mom! Bet your kids have smiles on their faces every time they open their boxes :)

    By the way, we might have a vegan meetup soon in Springfield if you're interested.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really like your school lunches. My kids love nuts too and that's pretty much always a staple in their lunch box.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love this post for so many reasons... I am really looking forward to making lunches for my children (when I have them) because I feel like it's something I missed out on. I pack my lunch every day for work and you're inspiring me to try new things instead of getting stuck eating the same salad every day. Your pictures just show so much care and LOVE put in to something so fundamental as providing nutrition for another human being. *squee!*

    ReplyDelete
  8. I wish you could make my lunches--these look 100% better than the slop I sling for myself!

    ReplyDelete
  9. yay, another post of school lunches! you always make them look so good. i'm still getting the hang of it with jackson. some days he polishes off everything and i wish i sent more, other days he leaves some foods untouched. can i ask where you got that metal lunch tray with what looks like removable partitions?

    ReplyDelete
  10. That ravioli sounds incredible. I love seeing the lunches - can you pack one for me too please???

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jenny, did you make a sunbutter sandwich because of allergy reasons (Like, does the school ask that you be mindful of those things) or is that just her preference?
    Either way, it all looks great - especially the ravioli.

    ReplyDelete
  12. All of your lunches look great - so colorful and fun! I need to take a lesson in lunch variety from you! haha! That ravioli looks SO yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love seeing what people pack in lunch boxes!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jenn, thanks!

    bitt, thank you, also! I like the thicker texture of the almond yogurt, too.

    Rose, I know; I have very little memory of my school lunches...and once I got old enough to pack my own...I think I stopped eating lunch. I usually bought a candybar - yikes! Thanks!

    Cara, that's so funny and weird! :)

    Cassie, thank you! And yeah, I'll get the info from you and who knows, maybe I could make it!

    Mary, they're big on nuts, too. Thanks!

    Healthy Party Girl, that's so nice of you to say. And I will say it's harder for me to be creative and use as much energy on my own lunches, whenever I need to pack one.

    Stacy, like I said to HPGirl, it IS less motivating for me to pack my own lunches. I enjoy packing my children's, though. Thanks.

    Sara, it does take some tweaking to get the right amount. A lot of days she comes home with an empty box, then I think did I pack enough?! But I probably did. I think it has to do with how much time she spent socializing and how much time she spent eating maybe because occasionally she'll leave a lot of her favorite food. She always finishes her lunch on the ride home, if there is anything left.

    AND - those are Lunch Bots. They have a website - lunchbots.com, I think. They may be cheaper on Amazon or other sites, though. The partitions aren't removable, but I do love the ones with the partitions.

    Heather, thanks. And if you lived next door to me, I would.

    Maud, yes! Their school is peanut-free. I don't think my kids have a preference in nut butters, though. Well, I'd say they like peanut and sunflower the best because they taste pretty similar, I think. And the others are all sort of on the same level to them. Thanks.

    Sheridan, thank you!!!

    vegan in brighton, i do, too!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for the school lunch ideas! My son wants to stop eating meat and I need ideas beyond peanut butter and jelly.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am so jealous of those lunches! I love that you sent them with pizza on pizza day, so they wouldn't feel left out. You're such a great mom!

    ReplyDelete
  17. OMG there is too much cuteness going on in this post! All of these lunches look so good, I also wish you could have packed my lunch when I was a kid. Heck, I kind of wish you could pack it now, lol! Those containers are all so cute too!

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are an amazing mother! Those lunches are 100% adorable.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Am I the only one that wonders what happened to the other 1/4 of that Tofurky Sandwich? That 'R' Sandwich leads me to believe the Lunchbox Assembler might have had some nibbles.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The lunches are something else — much more interesting and exciting than my lunches usually are. Do your kids realize how lucky the are?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Rachel, I'm curious how old your son is; I'll peruse your blog to see if I can find out. That's awesome. Glad I could help.

    Michelle, sweet of you to say!

    vavavegan, hey, your lunches don't look too shabby! Thanks.

    Brittany, you are way too kind. Thank you.

    SV, no conspiracy. I never made the other 1/4. I just cut the bread like that and left the 1/4 in the bag to be snacked upon by someone else at some point. I find that 3/4 of a sandwich is better than 1/2 or a whole, which is too much, for her. And no nibbles. I think the bread was just a little crumbly in the cookie cutter. Silly ol natural bread.

    Andrea, well...probably not. Their house is a mess, though, so at least there's that. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm starting to pack my lunch each day and I've picked up some pretty good tips from you. Pre-slicing the fruit or getting dried fruit makes it easier ... but more importantly, I think I need a better lunchbox with compartments! Or maybe I just need a vegan momma to pack it for me ;)

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love to eat chocolates and candies on breakfast, even I know it is not healthy, but I can elude to do it.

    ReplyDelete