The day has come where all four of my older children are going to school. They began last week and had a great start at an amazing school called Life Academy in Bloomington, MN! The challenge for me (other than missing them terribly as they have been home schooled the last four years), was LUNCH! Wow, it took some time to plan and then implement a lunch plan that I felt good about, that fit our dietary needs, was nutritious, and delicious!
What I did to survive week one of school lunches....
The first thing that I did was create a Fall School Menu. The menu had breakfast, lunch, school snack, and after school snack on it. I then pulled all the recipes, printed them, and put them in a binder. I am still in the age of hard copies. Quick and easy in my kitchen and then I don't spill all over my computer. I created a master pantry list of everything that I need to create the meals and snacks that I was preparing. I then typed up that list and highlighted everything that I needed. Then off to the stores I went. Came home put everything away and awaited day one of school.
The night before school began I had a mini muffin making party with myself and made a double batch of chocolate chip banana muffins and beet muffins. I let them cool over night and served up one batch for breakfast with a protein shake on the first day of school. I then tossed the other 3 batches in the freezer and I have my Monday breakfasts done for the rest of the month.
On the first day I kept it simple with PBJ sandwiches (sun butter for one who prefers that to peanut butter), carrot sticks, strawberries, and a crispy energy bar. For snack at school I sent a trail mix with nuts, craisins, and raisins. After school they feasted on guac and chips! A successful and relatively easy day one!
Day two was hamburger rice hot dish in the thermos, (I just threw it together the morning of so it was piping hot going into the thermos), organic grapes, pea crisps, and crispy energy bar (they were a hit)! The school snack was craisins and cashews. After school snack was homemade sweet potato fries.
Day three was "meat" sandwich day with a cucumber and tomato salad, organic raspberries and a date ball that we call "almond joys" they are yummy and packed with nutrition. The school snack was apple sauce. The after school snack was kale chips.
The last day of the week for us this week was day four (nice way to start the year, short and sweet). The main course was pesto pasta in the thermos, fresh strawberries and blueberries, carrot sticks, and dark chocolate covered almonds with a note from me telling them what an awesome job they each did on the first week of school! The school snack was apple sauce again. After school snack was nothing as they all ran in the door, changed, and ran out the door to play with friends!
A successful week one of school. Next week will be even easier as we have done it once already! I will use this menu until winter in which I will create a whole new menu to fit the winter season! Next week I will blog on the breakfasts that we are eating to start the day off right!
I know many of you start school this week after the Holiday weekend. I pray that my ideas will help you send delicious and nutritious lunches for your kiddos! I am excited that these meals will keep our kids healthy, energized, and well nourished!
FOR THE BRAIN....
One last quick note. Make sure your kids are taking a quality fish oil like Nordic Naturals everyday for optimal brain functioning! WATER is also critical to brain functioning so make sure your child is drinking 1/2 their body weight in oz. of water each and everyday!
Happy School Year!
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