I remember seeing the movie “Supersize Me” (a definite must see) and watching in disgust as they showed the kind of “food” that is served to our kids in schools across the nation. I remember thinking that I would NEVER let my kids eat that kind of processed crap. And then of course… as years went by… and my kids started heading off to school…and “EVERYONE else was having hot lunch”..slowly my initial disgust gave way to tolerance, which gave way to feeble acceptance. But as of late, I have recommitted myself (and my kids) to healthier lunch options.
We have come to an agreement that my kids are allowed to pick 4 days a month to have hot lunch. The rest of the time they bring cold lunch from home. I was searching for nutritious ideas and came across Bento boxes. Essentially these are the lunch boxes that are what most Japanese people pack their lunches in. The great engineering behind this lunch boxes is that they compartmentalize your lunch (without loads of tupperware and ziplock bags). The Japanese ones weren’t exactly what I was looking for, but my Bento search lead me to an American company called Laptop Lunches. Both me and my kids were ectastic the day we received our new lunch boxes.
The genius behind these is that when the kids open up the box, there are 4 containers each with a different food choice (and they don’t need to have lids unless it is a liquid). So they can have a sandwich, apple slices, nuts, and a cookie right there at their fingertips. Brilliant. So on occasion I will post some fun lunch time ideas that have worked for us.
On this particular day my kids took fruit salsa w/ tortilla chips (see recipe), sliced English cucumber, walnuts, and choc. chips
Source: WFM Blog – 2