Thank you to everyone who sent help yesterday after I asked for school lunch suggestions. I really appreciate them! I’m happy to report that the cream cheese & applesauce sandwich was a hit with both kids, although I think 50% applesauce makes the mixture too thin. I’ll try a 2:1 ratio next time, and I need to work on my cinnamon raisin bread technique too, since the bread was a little crumbly because I put the raisins too close to the edge.

Gina‘s suggestions have me thinking outside the box a little bit, and I’m wondering if Alex would have taken some cold pasta bolognese leftover from Tuesday night’s dinner, or if he’d eat some cold pizza rolls. He also loves shredded chicken in pita, but that’s a meal that usually takes him some time to eat, and time really seems to be a huge issue for him.

It rained all day today, so the kids ate in the classroom instead of going to the cafeteria, and Alex said that he has plenty of time to eat when they eat in the classroom. (Probably because they don’t have to head to recess on the playground after eating when it’s raining outside.) And indeed, he said he ate everything today. So I’m making it a priority to give him easy to eat foods. For us, that means mainly finger foods, but hopefully as the school year progresses, he’ll get the hang of eating quickly (but just at school – I don’t want him wolfing down food at the dinner table!).

As I get the hang of what to pack for lunch, I’ll take some photos and share my what’s working for us. I do like the bento-style of packing a lot, and I do it even with sandwiches.

The school lunch menu is less than thrilling to me, full of the usual suspects you might expect: chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza, PB&J, and spaghetti and meatballs. I know these foods have decent nutritional value, though knowing my child, the healthy side dish would end up neglected – and that’s assuming he ate the main course, which is hardly a safe assumption. I worry, too, that the quality of ingredients used in the lunches is on the low end of the spectrum – highly processed, all conventionally grown and raised, and possibly full of additives.

Mark Bittman accuses American school lunches as being “third world” today, but I think that’s a little unfair. I can tell LAUSD is trying to be healthy, by serving at least some whole grains, providing a vegetarian option, and serving more than canned fruit cocktail. Of course, I’d love to see a more sophisticated menu with fresh fruit and vegetables, and locally sourced ingredients, freshly prepared on campus. And while I know that there are some schools that do this (Alice Waters and her Edible Schoolyard program come to mind), it’s just not something that’s universal in LAUSD.

In fact, even though our elementary school is one of the best in the district, I’ve attended many meetings at this point and I haven’t heard a single suggestion regarding the school lunch menu. I’m actually okay with that, because the focus has been on making up for the district’s budget cuts and making sure the kids still get PE, art, a nurse, etc.

Also, as I mentioned before, time to eat is an issue in kindergarten. One reason to pack a home lunch is more time to eat, since there’s no time spent waiting in line for food. I’m trying to get Alex to leave all of his leftovers so I can see how much he eats every day, but for some reason, he keeps throwing all the food out.

I tried packing warm food in a thermos but Alex says the food didn’t stay hot. The problem here is that I can’t tighten the thermos top as much I normally would because then a small hand can’t get it open. And while there is some adult supervision, I don’t want him to waste precious eating time trying to get someone’s attention so his thermos can be opened. Given the obvious safety concern, I’m trying to stick with cold foods.

I’ve been packing a lot of sandwiches, but it’s tough to find a deli turkey that’s also free of added hormones, antibiotics and nitrates. I’ve found one at Whole Foods that Alex seems to like, but I’m sure he’ll get tired of it quickly and we’ll need to take a break. I’ve done homemade Lunchables, too, but those take more time to eat than a sandwich and he keeps saying he didn’t have time to finish his lunch.

Tomorrow I’m going to try a suggestion I found online for a 50-50 cream cheese and applesauce sandwich on the cinnamon raisin bread I made yesterday. Any guesses on how that will go over? And any suggestions on sandwich ideas would be welcome. (Note: We don’t do PB&J – any other kind of nut – due to food allergies. But oh, how I miss Nutella!)

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’ve been eating a lot more takeout than I would like. It’s been getting better since my resolution to buy more convenience foods instead since they’re more economical, but we still get fast food and takeout sometimes.

And when we do, I save the plasticware and condiment packets for brown bag lunches. The ketchup packets are particularly handy because little kids really like ketchup! I generally use at least a couple of these every week for the boys’ school lunches.

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