And here we go...The first school lunch of the year!

school lunch

Sep 17

click on the picture to see a bigger view.

Six days later than planned, due to a teacher's union strike, but we are off and running with the first day of school!

We had a great summer and I honestly really enjoyed having the time off from packing lunches every single day. But after that refreshing break I am looking forward to getting back to the daily routines and structure that the school year brings. If you have followed me for a while, you'll know that I'm usually pretty good about posting our lunches on my social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram), but I haven't been as good about actually posting them here on the blog. So my blogging goal for this year is to do much better about getting these lunches on the blog every day! I've come up with the format below that I plan to use for sharing all of the lunches - I want to tell you a little bit about my thought process that went into it, what I actually packed, a few extra tips to think about, and what products I used. If there is more you want to know - please let me know!

So - on to the lunch!

What was I thinking:

It's the first day of school so I'm assuming there's going to be a lot of excitement and probably not a lot of focus on eating. So I tried to give them things that were easy nibbles that I know they like, and all nutritious. I left out the bread and crackers and any other grains or carbs because I didn't want any empty calories in these lunches. I want to make sure that every bite they do eat will give them nutrition and energy, especially if they aren't going to eat a lot of it.

What's in it:

Veggies: tomatoes, carrots, and two have cucumbers. The tomatoes and cucumbers are from our garden. The carrots came pre-sliced from the grocery store.
Protein: cubes of cheddar cheese, plus one has salami and one has a few bites of ham
Fruit: apples, grapes, and one has a few pieces of dried mango (Trader Joe's)
Extra: a little container of homemade applesauce

Lunch Tips:

If you've got a little one who is having trouble getting through their lunch in a short lunch period, try giving little bites instead of big items. Some kids have an easier time eating quickly if the food is already in bite sized pieces for them.
Just a few easy little touches make the lunch look fun, and I really do believe that kids (and everyone!) would rather eat food that looks fun. A few silicone muffin cups and a few cute little picks are all you need to make a lunch look more appealing.