Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Portability



Portability. Is that even a word? Regardless, it's something I've been aware of the last several days.

This year the girls have decided that they would prefer to pack their lunch instead of eating the hot lunch at school.

Lawman and I were open to that idea as long as it was understood that they would have to help with the preparation and planning. Also, that it would need to happen the night before unless what they were taking needed to be made the morning of (example: peanut butter and jelly made the night before can become soggy).

We added lunch supplies to the school supplies list.

Sunday night I prepared a double-batch of chicken fajitas thinking that they would be easy to pack in the lunches. B2 thought that was a great idea. B3 however, preferred to take a turkey & cheese sandwich.

So, this week I've been 'in tune' with a foods portability. I will say it's required a bit more planning on my part but the results have been good. The girls have willingly helped with preparing their lunches and they seem to have enjoyed them.

Do your kids (or spouse) pack a lunch? What are their favorite items? I'm open for suggestions. Right now we're doing fine but I know my creative juices will hit a brick wall before next summer arrives.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

DJ and I both take lunches to work - considering how expensive Downtown Denver is. Leftovers are normally the easiest to pack because you can pack the lunches while you put away the rest of the left overs. Otherwise sandwiches, fruit, chips etc are the easiest to get to work/school.

Nancy said...

I've brought my lunch for years and leftovers is usually what I have. However, now with 3 of us taking lunch each day, it requires a bit more thought as there aren't always leftovers to feed 3. Maybe I need to portion out 3 lunches before we sit down to eat it for dinner.

Sarah said...

Sadly, Ryan is a very very traditional lunch person - to the point that it's a bit gross to me. He'll have turkey/ham with American cheese on white bread if there aren't any leftovers (without even mustard or mayo or any condiment!). Along with that are usually grapes, chips, and pudding. Seriously, sometimes I think he's 10.

Sounds like your daughters are already on a better path than my husband, so I'm at a loss for suggestions!

You might want to check out http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/ for some inspiration - I love some of her ideas!

Anonymous said...

making lunches is like my least favorite thing to do!

kids are helping this year for sure.

my kids like variety. I like healthy.

Anonymous said...

Both hubby and my kindergarten-aged daughter take lunches. Because we eat our leftovers for dinner the next day, hubby usually takes a frozen meal like a lean cuisine, some yogurt, a cup of soup, and a piece of fruit. He's a real creature of habit, and seems not to mind the monotony. Whenever frozen meals go on a good sale, I'll buy a ton and keep them in our chest freezer. Occasionally, I'll make up a batch of chili or something and freeze it in individual portions. Of course, he has a microwave at work, so he can pretty much take anything we can pack up. Daughter is more difficult. She takes a sandwich most days with some extra things - fruit, gogurt, a cheese stick, pretzels, or carrot/celery sticks with ranch for dipping. Sometimes, I'll send some dried fruit or a fruit cup. About one day a week, I'll send spaghettios in a thermos just to get out of the sandwich rut.