The Lunch Idea:

If you're really paying attention, you might know that I usually pack breakfast for lunch on Wednesday. But I'm mixing it up a little this week, and I'll be packing the breakfast for lunch tomorrow.  Instead today's lunch is an easy snack box - or what some people call a homemade "lunchable". For this type of lunch I just try to focus on the basic groups - protein, vegetable, fruit - and make sure they get a little some of each. 

What's in the Lunches:

These are each a little different, so I'll do them one at a time. (clockwise, from top left)

Lunch #1: Tomatoes, carrots, cheddar cheese, plain almonds, and a few chocolate covered almonds. 

Lunch #2: Dried apricots, carrots, babble cheese, plain almonds and a few chocolate covered almonds. 

Lunch #3: Cheddar cheese, tomatoes, carrot, sliced turkey

Lunch #4: sliced turkey, tomatoes, carrots, and ranch for dipping.

And they all have Annie's gummy fruit snacks, graham crackers, and a strawberry.

Questions and tips:

• These lunches were packed on Sunday and sent to school on Wednesday. I checked them this morning and they still looked perfect.  No, the graham crackers might night be quite as crisp as they were on Sunday, but that's part of the reason I chose graham crackers, because I think they taste just as good when they are a tiny bit soft. This kind of lunch actually works great for packing ahed, because everything is relatively separate and it's all stuff that would have just been on its own in the fridge for that amount of time anyway - so there's really no difference in whether it's in a lunch container or in some other container in the fridge. For closing up, I squished the bunny gummy package down and put the strawberry in with it, so the fruit was not touching the crackers.
• I don't buy "baby" carrots for lunches - my kids like whole carrots, and if I want them smaller they only take a minute to peel and cut up. 
• I rarely send chocolate for lunch, so those chocolate covered almonds are a treat. Also it's a desperate plea on my part to get those two girls to eat a little more protein.  
• The packaged snack is also a rare treat, but the kids all got those in their Christmas stockings.

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