What's In Our Lunch Today - 9/29

I am beginning to discover that my son’s request for no foods in his lunch box that are supposed to be served hot is a sneaky little way to get more of the foods he likes.

We had homemade pizza on pita bread the other night for dinner, so I made him this extra one for his lunch with a face on the top. Now, since this pizza should be served hot, I didn’t think he would like it, but as he loves pizza any which way, he declared it delicious and requested this in his lunch again sometime. Carrots and melon rounded out the meal.

For great lunch box ideas, go to What's For Lunch Wednesday.

Don't forget, there is still time to take advantage of the great deal over at Easy Lunchboxes--buy one container set and get a free cooler pack as long as you are willing to wait until mid to late October to get your set. (I wrote a post about it here.)

I shared this post at No Whine Wednesday.

What's In Our Lunch Today - 9/22

My son informed me last week that he did not want anything packed in his lunch that was normally heated up because he didn’t like eating those items cold at school. So, in an effort to break out of the sandwich rut, I made him a lunch this morning of one hard boiled egg with little cheese sails, little fish cut out of toasted bread, little boats made out of lettuce leaves and filled with cottage cheese and grapes.

He was so excited about his lunch! He couldn’t wait to show his friends.

And then when we were leaving our apartment for school, he slipped on a step, fell down 3 of them and landed on the back of his head. He said he was okay when he went to school, and I didn’t feel a lump, but I let his teacher know just so she could watch him. 15 minutes later school called me to tell me that he had a lump and he said his vision was blurry. Then he started to complain that he felt nauseous and his lips drained of color and turned white.

We spent three and a half hours in the emergency room, and he was a brave little boy when he had his CAT scan. Luckily, everything looked okay on the CAT scan and he finally started to perk up in the afternoon.

His lunch sat at school until I retrieved his belongs in the late afternoon. He was so excited about his lunch and he didn’t even get to try it! I guess I will be making this for him again soon.

For more great lunch box ideas, visit What's For Lunch Wednesday.

What's In Our Lunch Box Today

We are trying to move beyond basic sandwiches for my husband and son's lunch.

Last weekend I put some chicken breasts in the slow cooker and cooked them with Famous Dave's BBQ sauce. When they were done, I shredded them and added a little more BBQ sauce.

I also had some pita bread in the freezer, so I unthawed it, broiled it for a few minutes in the oven and then topped it with the pulled chicken. No pizza sauce or anything else, just pulled chicken covered in BBQ sauce, with cheese for my son and husband on top and plain for me. It was a big hit!

Check out What's for Lunch at Our House for more inspiring and artistic lunches.

Great Deal on Easy LunchBoxes, If You're Patient

Have you been thinking about buying an Easy Lunchbox System? If so, now might be a good time.

Due to overwhelming demand, Easy Lunchboxes has sold out of all of their containers; they expect to have new containers to ship by mid-October. To reward those customers who purchase container sets now, knowing that they will have to wait to receive them until mid-October, Easy Lunchboxes will include a free cooler ($7.95 R.V.).

If you don't mind waiting, you could purchase the container set now. The full system with containers and cooler is normally $21.90, but you can get it for $13.95, factoring in the free cooler. (Note: You will not have a choice in the color of the free cooler sent to you.)

More Lunch Box Ideas

We have been trying to think outside the box (the Easy Lunchbox!) for lunch box ideas. Today my son took this to school. The main dish is Italian Pizza Rolls.

I have noticed now that he is in elementary school and has only 20 minutes for lunch that he is usually not able to finish the entire lunch. (My son LOVES to talk, and I am guessing that he is talking most of the time.) He comes home hungry! Our lunches are still a work in progress because of this.

For more great lunch box ideas, check out What's For Lunch at Bento Lunchboxes. The lunches she features are not only healthy but artistic!!!

Leave a comment sharing your lunch box ideas. Together we can help each other fight lunch box boredom!

Recycling Restaurant Containers

While perusing some of the lunch idea sources I mentioned last week, I came across an idea from Easy Lunchboxes—use little round plastic containers with lids to include dip for dipping.

Now, I am lucky in that my son likes most vegetables, and he will gladly eat cucumber slices, broccoli or baby carrots in his lunch, but he likes them much better when he can dip them in ranch dressing. Yet, I didn’t have the little dipping containers, did not know where to buy them and did not want to really spend money on them.

About three days later I ordered Thai takeout for lunch—Cashew Tofu stir fry and egg rolls. And there in the egg roll container was a round little plastic container with the dipping sauce. Now, my son gets to use it for his lunch. Next time you order Chinese or Thai take out, save the little sauce containers for reuse in your kids’ lunch boxes.

I shared this post at Works for Me Wednesdays and Life as Mom.

Creative, Healthy Lunch Box Ideas

My son went back to school this week. At his old school, hot lunch was not an option; all kids brought their lunches from home. He can get hot lunch at his new school, but for the sake of our pocketbook and his health (my son gets WIRED with sugar), we are only allowing him to get hot lunch once a week. We pick the two healthiest choices and let him choose the one he wants.

Meanwhile, we are trying to avoid the lunch box boredom by packing him something different AND good for him each day. Today we packed him a Cola BBQ sandwich, mixed fruit and pretzels














A little earlier in the week we packed him Beefy Cornbread Muffins, apples, and cucumber.













Both of these main meals were made during my freezer cooking bout earlier this month, so they required very little effort on my part for packing.

If you are looking for some other creative lunch ideas for your children as they head back to school, here are a few sites that have creative sack lunch ideas:

Easy Lunchboxes
You can click on Neat Ideas and then either "Gallery of Yummy Lunches," or "Lunch Making Hints and Tips" or "Lunch Recipe Ideas." There are tons of ideas on this site and many links to other good ones.

Life as Mom
Follow the link and you will find a host of recipes for lunch boxes shared by readers (yours truly included).

Family Fun
If you want to get really creative, check out these artistic sandwich ideas. I have only linked to the sandwiches, but they have several other categories such as snacks for school, snacks for after school, etc.

Do you have a great box lunch idea? If so, leave a comment. I would love to hear it and be inspired!

I shared this post at What's For Lunch Wednesday and Life as Mom.