Show us your lunch box

I'm sure this is news to some people, but I have two boys, one of which is old enough to need to bring his lunch to school every day. (hehehe) Somedays that lunch is a pain in the butt to make.

I blame it all on Jennifer. Her blog, Vegan Lunchbox, was the first food related blog I read. How I envied what her son would eat for lunch! Even if items weren't veganized (my son does not tolerate soy well, it has nasty affects on his personality), there is no way he would eat the lunches she would prepare!

Jennifer's blog eventually lead me to Meeta's blog, which lead me to her daily lunch box blog, The Daily Tiffin.

Both these ladies have a distinct advantage or two over me when it comes to making lunches for their children - their kids will eat a huge variety of things, and both can use nuts in their lunches. We can't. No nuts of any kind. My son has even given up peanut butter because of his best friend, who is deadly allergic. (It was a huge sacrifice for him, one he has not regretted though.)

In it's place, my son has a small selection of staples that he likes in his lunch: waffles and french toast sticks; bagels with cream cheese, soup, some noodles (only specific kinds), and little pizza's. Occasionally I am allowed to put a sandwich in, only jam, only strawberry, and only if I cookie cutter it into fun things. Yes, he is not very adventurous.

So imagine my surprise when last week, March break, my son tried goat cheese and discovered he liked it! He liked it so much, he asked for it in his lunch. Big cheers! Another item to put in his lunch box!

Which was wonderful timing, as Meeta had posted an event asking us bloggers to show what we would put in a lunch box!

Another stroke of luck - I woke up yesterday sick, sick, sick! I needed a good, balanced lunch box for my 8 year old but also needed something that would be quick to put together so I could send him off to school and go back to bed. Enter the goat cheese and the 4 minute lunch box:

fresh strawberries, little goat cheese "sandwiches" made with whole wheat paris toasts, slices of black forest ham, cucumber coins, a thermos of strawberry yogurt, and for dessert, raspberry linzer cookies (with a few of the little cut outs for fun.)

When he got home from school, I was told he hadn't eaten all his lunch, but he planned to eat it right away as a snack.

Success! So much success with a new item in his lunch that he asked for it again today! (And I'm still sick, so smearing goat cheese on little toast crackers is as energetic as I get today.)

So what do you put in your kids lunch box?

PS A big thanks to Meeta and the Daily Tiffin team for hosting this event!

5 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

The boy is expanding his world!! Always a good thing.
Hope you're felling better soon.

Elle said...

Hope you feel better soon, but that is a great sounding lunch. No wonder he wanted it twice.

Now that I'm again working away from home, my lunch gets packed, too. We have a microwave at work, so in to my lunch bag goes a Lean Cuisine meal, an apple, some mini carrots, and a tea bag and bottle of water. Not very adventurous, but it fills me up.

Lis said...

Aww that's cool =) And congrats on getting him to even try goat's cheese! hehe

xoxo

Freya said...

Luckily I don't have to make lunchboxes but good on you (and your son) for finding goats cheese to be a winner, some kids might find the taste a little too strong. Shame about the nuts though!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Brilliant. I am always also really happy when Soeren discovers something new he likes to eat. He is not such a fussy eater but I am trying to guide him towards Indian food a bit more - especially lentils and other legumes. Till now it's been going well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more brilliant discoveries for your little one!