School Lunch Ideas (aka The Hunger Games)

Yay, it’s back to school time and I LOVE to make lunches (said no mother ever)! Well, except maybe for my friend Sarah, More Than Your Average Mom.

Anywho, back to me.

Lunches are a struggle. I’m not a pre-planner and our meals suffer because of that. I’m not proud but it’s the reality. So I thought I’d enlist the help of the inmates, the Tween Queens who will actually be eating (or ditching) the lunches I prepare.

I wasn’t really sure how it would go but it actually worked quite well. I was surprised that they came up with healthy ideas that they (apparently) will actually eat. Guess I’ll have to report back in a few weeks to see if this experiment worked.

Here are the Tween Queen lists:

Let me translate. Lunch ideas:

• Salad (Caesar and otherwise)
• Mac and cheese (heated up in thermos)
• Grilled cheese
• BLT
• Sushi
• Chicken wrap
• Pizza

Snack ideas:

• Watermelon
• Fruit salad
• Carrots
• Fruit
• Grapes (which apparently aren’t considered fruit)
• Apples
• Yogurt

I think they did well!

Lessons learned? 

1. Kids don’t know the difference between main meals and snacks (or at least mine didn’t). And they also don’t know what is fruit and what is not. We’ll work on that!

2. They don’t know how much I will hold them accountable if they DON’T eat something that’s on their list. Win for me! I have read that: Children’s participation is more than just asking them for their ideas and views. It’s about listening to them. I’ve done my listening, now they better do their eating!!

And finally, the biggest learning from this exercise:

3. Spelling needs to be a priority this year! Enuf said (ha ha, did you get that, that was a joke. KK?)

Anyone know where I can get a girrled cheez?