Tip of the Week: School Lunches

This year I will send a child off to start a new school year for the very last time.  Before I burst into tears, let's just jump right into my ideas for school lunches.  When my daughters were in high school, they didn't like taking a packed lunch to school, but they really loved me to make them homemade cinnamon bread, cut into thick slices and individually bagged to grab and stuff into their backpacks for lunch.  My son is a different matter--he's not the least self-conscious about carrying a fully stocked lunchbox, complete with sandwiches, fruit, and cookies.  Here's a few little tricks I've picked up along the way:

1.  PB&J sandwiches will be less soggy if you spread peanut butter on both pieces of bread with jelly in the middle.  This forms a seal between the bread and the jelly, jam or honey.

2.  Buy large bags of small hard rolls, layer on slices of ham, roast beef or tukey, then bag individually and freeze.  If the kids grab them straight out of the freezer as they leave, they will stay nice and cool until lunch, thawing slowly.  For those who like mayo or mustard, invest in individual little packs they can throw in and add to their sandwich later, as it won't freeze well on the sandwiches.

3.  Frozen water bottles are a good choice for lunch drinks, but you can also fill small drink bottles with juice and freeze.  This also helps keep the lunch cold.

4.  Bag your own chips from a large bag instead of buying the individual bags.  Do a whole bunch at once.  Same with carrot sticks.  Apple slices dipped in lemon juice won't go brown.

5.  Small thermos containers filled with canned pasta (spaghettios or ravioli) are a nice change of pace.  Fill the thermos with boiling water to heat it up, then let stand while heating the pasta in the microwave.  Dump out the hot water and add the hot pasta.  It will stay reasonably warm until lunch and be safe to eat, (as long as the kids don't finish up the leftovers on the way home.)  Don't forget to send plastic spoons.

6.  Finally, realize that no matter what you send for lunch, they will be starving again and begging for snacks when they walk in the door!

See you next week!