I remember heading off to school with a homemade lunch tucked in my backpack pretty much every day of elementary school. Mom (and sometimes Dad,) always included the same components: sandwich of grilled cheese--my fave--or ham and chedder, a sweet gummy snack, a piece of fruit, and boxed juice.
And as dutifully as they packed that lunch, I consumed it with an equally pat routine: eat the sugary snack, drink the juice, nibble on the sandwich, and toss out the fruit! These days, I pack my own lunch and I'm more nutritionally aware of what I'm eating, too.
There's an art to packing the perfect lunch, but I know it's tough to do every day. I can only imagine how harried my mom must have been, throwing together sandwiches for two kids while working full time and running the household to boot.
Now that it's back to school season, what do you pack for your kids? What do you remember about your childhood lunchboxes? I'd love to see your recipes in the Gather Food Essential and in Food Talk!
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Comments: 12
"What do you remember about your childhood lunchboxes?"
Those brown bags were stylish!
I don't get to pack a kid's lunch but I do pack my own, usually some glamorous leftovers from the previous night's dinner.
replacing the sandwiches. I tried packing fried rice, but it doesn't taste good when cold. As I was "informed" much later, you and your brother swapped many lunches with the other kids!
Now that I am so much more aware about nutrition and shortcuts to making healthful meals, and have more time to devote to preparation instead of throwing it together, I think I can come up with those little morsels of exquisite sandwiches as one would find at those high tea restaurants!
Pam K.
My 3 year old niece was sent to her first day of day care with a brand new Barbie lunch box. When she was picked up, her mom noticed that her leg was all drippy and sticky. Apparently, the lunch box was dripping down the side of her body. At lunch, the little girl attempted to open the thermos, getting it partially opened and not knowing how to shut it. As a result, she had no liquid throughout the day and the rest of her lunch was ruined.
If we provide our kids with cute gadgits (even the small juice cartons with the punchable straws), make sure they know how to operate them.
I pack a yogurt, a fruit, and usually a cheese & veggie sandwich.
Julia - Yesterday's leftovers make the BEST lunches!
Pamela - I never used a thermos, but I can definitely see those being too complicated for young kids.
Sarah - You health nut :) But seriously, that sounds good. Simple, healthy.
My family had four little girls, all one year apart. My parents' whole lives were devoted to making our lives as perfect as possible. In reality, what parent can succeed at that, but my parents did a damn good job.
My mother was great with leftovers. The other school kids never knew they were leftovers.
Mondays were always best. Whatever wonderful meal we had on Sunday -- and it was always a feast -- mom always made sure there were leftovers for Monday's lunches. Fried chicken and bbq chicken were two of my favorites. Occasionally we sisters would all be able to bring a whole bbq hamburger. Talk about lunch envy!
For the most part we had lunch boxes, not sacs. I do remember always having a thermos of milk. My thermos did not do a great job of keeping the milk icy cold, but when you're a kid you don't know to complain.
Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursdays were mostly sandwich days. Everything you can imagine. Today we get all gross over it, but back then mom packed up a lot of Spam sandwiches. With mustard and pickles, it wasn't that bad.
And Fridays were always a challenge for mom. In the old days Catholics could not eat meat. There were a lot of canned tunafish sandwiches -- and I hated tunafish. I remember once - only once - mom made us (all of us -- all of the sisters always took the same thing for lunch) pinto bean sandwiches. She must have been desparate to give us something different. It was a disaster though because somehow these pinto bean sandwiches attracted ants. All of the lunch boxes in four different grades were crawling with ants by lunchtime. Mom never lived down the shame.
The one benefit of Catholic Friday lunches was that mom felt so guilty over the slim pickings that she started the tradition of giving us an allowance on Friday. Each sister got a nickle. We were allowed to go to the school cafeteria snack counter and buy anything we wanted with that one sacred nickle.
I remember that everything was always wrapped in wax paper. Kids today don't know what wax paper is.
I remember during Christmas season we sisters always had the BEST homemade cookies in our lunches. Mom's special seasonal baking included 7-8 kinds of FABULOUS cookies. No one was a better baker than mom.
I never envied the kids who got to buy their lunch. The other kids thought bought lunches were so cool, and maybe they were, but our wax paper wrapped sandwiches, not exactly cold milk, and some kind of great homemade dessert got plenty of envious glances from the peanut gallery.
Sorry for this long comment. That's what you get for asking a question about food.
If she gave me a sandwich, she also gave me a yogurt and a box of raisins. I ate the raisins at around 10 am, the yogurt around 11 and then the sandwich at lunch time. At around 2 pm, I ran out with my friends to get some french fries and at 4 we went out for pizza and 5 we left the campus (my H.S. had a campus and had weird hours). I got home and ate a snack, had dessert after dinner and a bowl of granola before i went to sleep. I wish I still could eat like that!
For my son, I give him either leftover mac n cheese with 2 snacks, leftover homemade pasta, a grilled cheese on a bagel (my creation) or a Waffle Pizza (a creation I got out of a Pillsbury booklet 2 years ago). I told him I am also giving him chicken sandwiches this year on whole wheat buns. I am also going to send a piece of fruit that he better eat! No trading or throwing out.