Oh, how I often envy homeschooling parents who can work bread baking into the curriculum and serve lunch cooked from scratch every day! I can also relate to parents so busy outside the home that they're tempted to throw any sort of food-like substances into a child's lunch box! More and more parents, no matter how busy, are waking up to the fact that just because it includes the word "lunch" in it and comes in a convenient package, it's not necessarily nourishing. I find myself somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. I would prefer to make all my children's food from scratch, yet I also crave convenience foods for school lunches. That's why I welcomed the challenge of the Rock the Lunch Box campaign!
I'm one of several bloggers tasked with creating wholesome lunch entrees and determining which convenience foods I would pack along with them in a child's lunch box.
The first lunch starts with what we're calling the "Anything Goes" Lunch Wrap. You can create the wrap any way you'd like, using leftovers in your fridge. Here's how we made ours.
A sprouted grain tortilla creates a simple
base for the “anything goes” lunch wrap!
We started with plain Stonyfield Greek yogurt, adding chopped dill and
basil to taste, plus dried parmesan cheese, salt and pepper for a refreshing
dressing. Fresh leaf lettuce, cold black
beans and chopped, grilled chicken were added straight from the fridge. Finally, we grated fresh carrot to counter
the cries of, “Mom, not carrot sticks again!”
A large wrap can be split into two tot-sized lunches, with smaller
slices more manageable for little hands. If you have leftover roast beef instead of chicken, use that. If you have leftover slaw, use that. You get the idea.
Wraps go perfectly with crunchy Annie’s Cheddar
Bunnies and Organic Valley Stringles organic string cheese. A YoKids organic Smoothie makes a fun dairy
dessert drink, while Honest Kids’ Appley Ever After organic juice offers 100%
of daily vitamin C.
Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks can be an extra
treat at lunch or to save for snack time.
Next, we created a lunch we'll call the Shells, Veggies & White Cheddar Lunch.
Annie’s Shells & White Cheddar macaroni and cheese inspired this motivated mom to thaw frozen, mixed vegetables and
mix them in. The mixture can be quickly
heated and stored in a thermos for a warm, meat-free lunch entrée.
Heart-shaped watermelon gems add a fresh,
cool side dish.
Organic Valley milk serves up dairy
“without antibiotics, synthetic hormones or toxic pesticides.”
Berry Berry Good Lemonade from Honest Kids
offers another drink choice for lunch or later.
Frozen YoKids Squeezers help keep the
lunchbox cool while offering a tasty way to finish off lunch.
See how dozens of other bloggers and their families are going to Rock the Lunch Box this school year, and do some "clean couponing" over at www.rockthelunchbox.com.
*Disclosure: my family received free food products to review for the Rock the Lunch Box challenge. My opinions are always my own!
Enter to win your own Rock the Lunch Box lunchsack filled with products and/or coupons from these family friendly companies: