Rachel Matthews
How To Make Even Brown Bag Lunches Fun
I don’t know how it is in y’all’s house but even I – a food fanatic – often come up blank for lunch. I want my kids to grow up eating healthy and having a healthy respect and enjoyment for foods, especially foods that are good for them.
It is SO easy to take the short cuts and swing through that golden drive thru, or buy the pre-packaged lunches to stick in their lunch box and even allow them to eat at school, every day. But, I want more control over what they’re eating and I want them to see, to know the love that goes into that preparation. I remember growing up my mom or dad always made our lunches and my mom would stick a little napkin in them with an encouraging note or just an “I love you,” I don’t even think that I realized then how much that meant to me; how important those little notes and homemade lunches were to my developing self-esteem and positive psyche.
Now, as a mom myself, I can see how much time that took and how much those notes meant to her as well as to my brothers and me.
There are so many more options for lunches and snacks now that I thought I’d share with y’all a little trick that I’ve discovered that has made lunches a lot more fun for me to make and for my kids to eat. It’s a super simple trick, cookie and biscuit cutters. I know, right?!
I buy fun cookie cutter shapes and the crimped edge biscuit cutters when I find them and each day my kids’ sandwiches take on different characters, shapes and themes. The bonus – the smaller sandwiches (I can often get two shapes out of one sandwich) are perfect for little hands!!
My 6 year old daughter LOVES when I use the crimped biscuit cutters because she says they’re “Fancy” sandwiches just like the character in one of her favorite book series eats at her “Fancy” tea parties. My 3 year old son loves all animal shapes.
For the notes, I’ll try to sit down on Sunday nights after everyone is in bed and grab a stack of napkins and a felt tip pen and write a note for each day. For the 3 year old it’s usually simple: hearts, smiley faces and balloons. For the 6 year old I carefully print out; “Have a great day!” “I love you” “You are my sunshine.” Things that she can read and will mean something to her.
Well, there are my lunch tips for today… do you have any? I’d love for you to share any tips y’all may have with me!
My kids don’t always want sandwiches, they end up wasting the bread half the time! So, sometimes, I’ll cut ham or turkey and cheddar in to 1-1/2″ squares and put the stack in the sandwich container with a handful of crackers.
Sadly, my boys don’t want notes anymore – they’re too old, they say (and they get embarrassed when friends see them. Boo hoo.)
Poor Wendy
BOO! I”m not looking forward to that stage at all.
That’s a great tip, to do the crackers and meat/cheese cubes instead of traditional sandwiches! Some days my kids are all about the bread, other days…..