When you homeschool, the noon meal is not exactly a lunch break. You are still on duty even then. While my kids have definitely been known to make a lunch or two, for the most part if the food is to be beyond sandwiches, the duty is on me. No cafeteria is to be found down our hallway. While earlier I did post about eating appetizers out for lunch, the reality is that is a rare treat, not a daily or even weekly occurrence.
I must admit that I do a much better job with supper than lunch. Possibly it is because my husband eats that meal with us. The other factor – when I am in the middle of a day of schooling, going to a lot of effort does not sound enjoyable at lunch. I know that I could improve in this area. Perhaps I need to make the kids’ lunches the night before, with their assistance. When noon arrives, we would be ready to go!
Anybody else love the “Frances” books written by Russell & Lillian Hoban? This series was my very favorites from childhood. I am glad that my daughter enjoys them right along with me!
Bread and Jam for Frances is a particularly fun book. Frances decides that maybe she will rethink her idea of only eating bread and jam when she sees the amazing variety of her friend Albert’s lunch. Perhaps I need to take some lunch preparation lessons from this book. Serving hard-boiled eggs and having dessert custard would be fun. I do need some more creative ideas, and I think I will find some new great go-to lunches from the links below. I have had fun looking for some great sites to share. Now to just manage to be organized enough to have the ingredients on hand to make them …
Very Culinary: Back to School Lunch Ideas (Her combinations are fun and seem easy to do in advance)
Three Boys and a Dog: Over 50 Back to School Lunches (The lettuce wraps really look yummy to me!)
100 Days of Real Food: School Lunch Roundup (I must confess that I will probably not buy the organic ingredients – I am a bit too cheap for that. I do think her ideas are quite creative!)
Mom Endeavors: A Month of Kid-Approved School Lunches (Great ideas with links to more!)
First Home Love Life: School Lunch Planning Printables (This might be my favorite because these ideas will help kids to make their OWN lunch that is still healthy and does not involve serving yourself a full bowl of chips!)
P.S. My kids’ lunches will probably not look as adorable as the ones featured on the websites. While the above fruit kabobs picture was taken by me, I arranged it for a photo shoot, not just for fun. (Five Ways to Pack a Fun Picnic Lunch for Kids – a ghost blog I wrote for my friend). My goal: to create a healthy fun lunch ONCE a week. Maybe it will even be every other week. And yes – you will definitely continue to find boxed macaroni in my cupboard and microwaveable corn dogs in my freezer. A girl has to have a back-up plan. Just keeping it real!
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