What’s for lunch?

The days of daycare provided lunches are behind us, and now we step into the challenge of packing lunch for school. It’s the night before the school day (or the morning of which is usually the case here) and you need to figure out what to pack  your kids for lunch. I know the simplest thing is to grab a store-bought lunch pack out of the fridge or send them with money to buy from the cafeteria, but those are not the only options.

I’ve found that my daughter is still hungry after only eating the crackers and the cookies out of the lunch packs as she doesn’t like the meat or cheese (I mean who wouldn’t still be hungry?) Then, buying lunch takes a good chunk of time out of the mere 20 minutes they get to eat anyways… to get a lunch she may or may not eat.

What is the best method?

I have a fairly picky eater and finding something that she will eat, fill her up, and offer some nutritional value is a task most days. Packing her a lunch in a divided container has worked best for our family, and I’m so glad that I found these amazing bento-style lunch boxes that are perfect. Anything that can display the whole lunch at once really helps her see all that is offered. I find these style lunch boxes are so much better than throwing each individual item in a bag or container in the lunch bag. In my experience they are not going to dig to the bottom and just end up eating what’s on top!

What to put in the bento-box?

As mentioned, my daughter is not a huge fan of deli meat, so we tend to gravitate towards nut butters for wraps and sandwiches. A favorite of hers is peanut butter or sun butter and Nutella as a wrap or sandwich. I’ll pair this with some crackers, chips or pretzels, along with fruit such as apples or oranges, some cherry tomatoes or carrots, and occasionally a sweet treat. We always pack water for a drink and hardly ever pack juice boxes (there are some decent ones with low sugar now, but I prefer to stick to water).

Above all, go with what you know your child will eat and don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with different colored foods when packing your kid’s lunch!

Check out some more options below!