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Chicken Salad with Apples
Recipe makes about 4 servings of 1 cup each Ingredients: • 2 cooked chicken breasts (about 12 ounces), cut up into 1 inch cubes • 1/2 low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise • 1 medium or large Granny... More
Recipe makes about 4 servings of 1 cup each Ingredients: • 2 cooked chicken breasts (about 12 ounces), cut up into 1 inch cubes • 1/2 low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise • 1 medium or large Granny... More
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The Capital Disctrict Parent Pages Features are cover stories pulled from our print edition. For ALL features, stories & more, pick up an issue at one of our many locations.
Beyond the brown bag: Think outside the lunchbox for fun meal ideas
Posted on Tue, September 1st, 2009
Written by: Jennifer Farnsworth, Parent Pages Writer
email: cdparentpg@aol.com
It seems moms are always looking for new ways to make bag lunches more exciting for their little scholars because, next to gym class, lunchtime is often their favorite part of the school day.
Whether it's Mom, Dad or Grandma making the meal, the options for a successful brown-bag lunch have increased dramatically since the days of Wonder bread and peanut butter and jelly.
Sometimes, it's as simple as the packaging. There are now specialized containers, wraps, character water bottles and even designer sandwich bags that can give that plain old PB&J some pizzazz.
Savvy parents know that you don’t have to spend a lot to pack a healthy but cool lunch.
One area mom said she has switched from bread to tortilla wraps to make a simple sandwich a standout.
Kim Liguori, a Rexford mom of three, said taking a healthy whole-wheat wrap and filling it with her daughters' favorite fixings is always a winner.
Liguori recommends the Cedars brand whole-wheat version "with anything on them – peanut butter and jelly, turkey, and lettuce and tomato."
But, Liguori said, the simple standbys work just as well.
"Lots of days, our girls just yell at me, ''Cheese wrap!'" she said.
Another area mom likes to pack peanut butter crackers, keeping some of the crackers plain and in a separate container. Heather Tice of Schodack said that trick gives her boys the opportunity to put their food together before eating it.
This is a useful technique when packing for picky eaters who like to know exactly what they are eating. It also can be used to help avoid the “soggy sandwich syndrome” that happens when busy parents but together a packed lunch the night before.
Tice said she also likes to use a round cookie cutter in the middle of the sandwich. She said it is a quick trick for taking of the crusts, creating a kid-sized portion, and making the sandwich more fun. She said the Web site www.pbslices.com is an excellent resource for bagged lunch ideas.
Tice said that dips like ranch and hummus are also a huge hit with her boys.
She said tossing an ice pack into the lunchbox along with dip and fresh veggies such as baby carrots is good way to get kids to eat something healthy. She also said adding variety keeps lunches from getting boring, and her boys actually look forward to seeing what she has packed that day.
“My Jared only eats a jelly sandwich, which gets boring, so I try yogurt, carrots with dip or hummus, a cheese stick, fruit, applesauce, fruit, pretzels and soup,” said Tice.
One way to make sure kids actually give those dips, wraps, yogurts and cheese a second look is through artful presentation – a key component. This part of the packed lunch has come a long way from the metal lunch boxes of generations past. Now there are reusable bags, containers, bacteria-free bags, snack bags, mini-water bottles and, of course, juice boxes. A great online source for lunch bag items is happy-sacks.com. Check the dollar bin sections of stores such as Target and Wal-mart, for a variety of lunch items, including ones that can be thrown in the dishwasher.
Lisa Jordan of Rotterdam said a tactic she uses to encourage her boys to eat their lunches is to allow them to buy a meal at school one day a week.
”It works as an incentive and gives them the freedom to pick that one day a week that they want to buy lunch in school,” said Jordan, adding that the quality of what they are buying has improved over the years.
Soup and macaroni and cheese in a thermos may be popular but are perhaps best-suited for older kids. Keep in mind all the helping hands that would be needed to make that meal a success for kindergarteners still learning their way around a lunchroom.
For the more dexterous set, something warm on a cold winter day can be comforting, and parents can find kid-sized thermoses in the camping section of sporting goods stores like Dick’s.
One last idea: Tuck a day-brightening note in your child's lunch bag. School days can sometimes be long and tough for kids, so make their lunches a bright spot in their day, and some day, they will thank you for it.
You can contact cdparentpg@aol.com with any questions. Also, feel free to post comments below.
Readers had this to say
Nobody has made any comments about this yet... you could be the first. Comment about this article.
Posted on Tue, September 1st, 2009Written by: Jennifer Farnsworth, Parent Pages Writer
email: cdparentpg@aol.com
It seems moms are always looking for new ways to make bag lunches more exciting for their little scholars because, next to gym class, lunchtime is often their favorite part of the school day.
Whether it's Mom, Dad or Grandma making the meal, the options for a successful brown-bag lunch have increased dramatically since the days of Wonder bread and peanut butter and jelly.
Sometimes, it's as simple as the packaging. There are now specialized containers, wraps, character water bottles and even designer sandwich bags that can give that plain old PB&J some pizzazz.
Savvy parents know that you don’t have to spend a lot to pack a healthy but cool lunch.
One area mom said she has switched from bread to tortilla wraps to make a simple sandwich a standout.
Kim Liguori, a Rexford mom of three, said taking a healthy whole-wheat wrap and filling it with her daughters' favorite fixings is always a winner.
Liguori recommends the Cedars brand whole-wheat version "with anything on them – peanut butter and jelly, turkey, and lettuce and tomato."
But, Liguori said, the simple standbys work just as well.
"Lots of days, our girls just yell at me, ''Cheese wrap!'" she said.
Another area mom likes to pack peanut butter crackers, keeping some of the crackers plain and in a separate container. Heather Tice of Schodack said that trick gives her boys the opportunity to put their food together before eating it.
This is a useful technique when packing for picky eaters who like to know exactly what they are eating. It also can be used to help avoid the “soggy sandwich syndrome” that happens when busy parents but together a packed lunch the night before.
Tice said she also likes to use a round cookie cutter in the middle of the sandwich. She said it is a quick trick for taking of the crusts, creating a kid-sized portion, and making the sandwich more fun. She said the Web site www.pbslices.com is an excellent resource for bagged lunch ideas.
Tice said that dips like ranch and hummus are also a huge hit with her boys.
She said tossing an ice pack into the lunchbox along with dip and fresh veggies such as baby carrots is good way to get kids to eat something healthy. She also said adding variety keeps lunches from getting boring, and her boys actually look forward to seeing what she has packed that day.
“My Jared only eats a jelly sandwich, which gets boring, so I try yogurt, carrots with dip or hummus, a cheese stick, fruit, applesauce, fruit, pretzels and soup,” said Tice.
One way to make sure kids actually give those dips, wraps, yogurts and cheese a second look is through artful presentation – a key component. This part of the packed lunch has come a long way from the metal lunch boxes of generations past. Now there are reusable bags, containers, bacteria-free bags, snack bags, mini-water bottles and, of course, juice boxes. A great online source for lunch bag items is happy-sacks.com. Check the dollar bin sections of stores such as Target and Wal-mart, for a variety of lunch items, including ones that can be thrown in the dishwasher.
Lisa Jordan of Rotterdam said a tactic she uses to encourage her boys to eat their lunches is to allow them to buy a meal at school one day a week.
”It works as an incentive and gives them the freedom to pick that one day a week that they want to buy lunch in school,” said Jordan, adding that the quality of what they are buying has improved over the years.
Soup and macaroni and cheese in a thermos may be popular but are perhaps best-suited for older kids. Keep in mind all the helping hands that would be needed to make that meal a success for kindergarteners still learning their way around a lunchroom.
For the more dexterous set, something warm on a cold winter day can be comforting, and parents can find kid-sized thermoses in the camping section of sporting goods stores like Dick’s.
One last idea: Tuck a day-brightening note in your child's lunch bag. School days can sometimes be long and tough for kids, so make their lunches a bright spot in their day, and some day, they will thank you for it.
You can contact cdparentpg@aol.com with any questions. Also, feel free to post comments below.
Readers had this to say
Nobody has made any comments about this yet... you could be the first. Comment about this article.