Lunchtime Madness!
School starts up again next week, and like any other food-conscious parent, I’m already frazzled when it comes to lunchtime for my school-age daughter. When she first started school three years ago, we sent her off to school with cold lunches, lovingly made each and every day by mom. Halfway through the year though, she declared her intent to eat what all the other kids were eating, and begged and pleaded to be allowed to eat school lunch. Like any good parent, I acquiesced and allowed her the school lunch, thinking that a few weeks of that and she would become tired of it. Of course, that was not what actually happened, much to my annoyance.
Instead, the last two years have been spent going back and forth between lunch from home and lunch from school. We have all the fancy lunch gear you could imagine, and have tried every lunch under the sun, but I simply cannot compete with that school-made pizza and those breaded chicken nuggets. So this year, we have a compromise. Two days a week, Abigail will choose hot lunches from school that she wants to eat the most. The remaining days of the week will be lunches from home. That way she can have her occasional school lunch, and I can have peace of mind knowing that she’s eating well most days of the week.
As I’ve been contemplating the all-important first week of school, when first impressions are everything to a third grader, I’ve found inspiration from an unlikely source. The folks over at Organic Valley Farms have put together a suggestion list for those lunches from home. Their method is to give each day of the week a theme, such as Soup on Monday or Salad on Wednesday. I like that idea, and I also like the list of a month full of lunches that they have available on their website! With lunches called “Lunch Money” or “Bacon and Egg Salad Torpedoes,” there is certainly something to please every young appetite. Terese Allen’s lists and recipes are sure to put any frazzled school mom at ease. I know it’s helped me relax a little bit, and try to have fun with this year’s lunchbox. You can check out her ideas at Building A Better Lunch from Organic Valley Farms.
