School Lunch: Shake Up the Weekly Menu

Photo by Katerina Holmes from Pexels

Photo by Katerina Holmes from Pexels

Forget homework and science fair projects. Packing enticing lunches can be one of the biggest struggles of the school year. If you come charging out of the gate with perfectly portioned, well-balanced, nutritious meals and find yourself four weeks in serving a scant slab of lunchmeat on bread heels with a Ziplocked side of potato chip dust, you are in good company. Most parents dry up on ideas before the leaves start to change and that problem combined with bored palates can result in a recipe for lunchtime catastrophe. Little Timmy starts coming home with a barely touched meal while Miss Susie informs you she traded her entire lunch for one Oreo™ cookie and is surprisingly famished. The school mealtime woes are as common as 1st grade headlice letters, but a little planning and a few inspiring hacks can really spice up a lackluster lunchbox.

Photo by Olya Kobrusevafrom on Pexels

Photo by Olya Kobrusevafrom on Pexels

Sustenance Spreadsheets

One tool that might help you get your square meals squared away is a lunch calendar. Fifteen minutes spent planning out an entire month’s worth of food is a worthwhile investment of your time as it can spare you the agony of a late night or early morning lunch packing scramble. Dedicate a day of the week to a specific main course and then mix it up as you go. For example, Mondays can be pasta day. The first Monday can be pasta with marinara, the second Monday can be pasta with pesto, the third Monday can be ravioli, and the fourth can be mac-n-cheese. This can be applied to soups, salads and more.


Photo by Monstera from Pexels

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

Crustless Creativity

Sticking with simple sandwiches? No problem. Beyond mixing up the PB&J’s and ham and cheese go-to’s, you can make your sandwiches a lot more exciting. Cutting a sandwich into triangles isn’t going to cut it at the lunch table in 2021 but having a heart shaped turkey and mustard will make your kid the envy of the entire cafeteria. Roll out bread slices and cut with your kiddo’s favorite cookie cutter shape. Pile on their favorite sandwich toppings and throw it in the lunch sack. Doesn’t everything taste better when it looks like a star?


Image by Jill Wellington on Pexels

Image by Jill Wellington on Pexels

Treasured Treats

If the twists on food feel a little challenging, you can still keep Timmy and Susie engaged and looking forward to their midday meal. Slipping a daily surprise in the old brown bag can keep your little ones counting down the seconds to lunchtime. This could be a small, sweet treat or a little toy they can have if they eat their food. It could even be a note with a joke of the day or just a simple “I love you” message. Creating your own version of the Happy Meal is the easiest way to ensure your kiddos have full bellies and full hearts. What could be more satiating than that?  

Lyndsay Camins

Lyndsay Camins is a freelance writer based in sunny Southern California. Mother to two humans and one furball, she is an avid cook, complete workout-aholic, and self-described arm candy to her equal parts loving and patient husband. A former force in the fashion industry, Lyndsay switched gears in her middle life to pursue a career in writing so that her 3am notebook scribbles might have an opportunity to be shared with the world. She will write for anyone, anywhere, at anytime for the sake and true love of the written word.

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