Lunches served in schools use highly processed oils and food chemicals, they are very high in carbohydrates, they include feed lot and processed meats, and their servings are combined using the food guide pyramid (which is essentially a guide to obesity and a future of presciption drug dependency).
This is why parents MUST pack kid’s lunches every single day.
Logistics:
I use glass containers and paper baggies inside the lunch box.
I usually use leftovers. I always make the lunch is high fat to curb cravings and fill the tummy, and I always include some fruit (while all the kids in the lunch room are eating sugar, kids will be much less tempted if they have something sweet of their own).
Lunch box 1:
- Natural turkey sausage made with turkey fat and NOT vegetable oil.
- Avocado with lime (so that it doesn’t turn brown).
- Half a cup of coconut water
Snack:
- Macadamia nuts
- Unsweetened, un-sulfured dried mango (these will go in a paper baggie)
Lunch box 2:
- Leftover Chipotle carnitas (I emailed them about the ingredients of their carnitas. They cook them in lard and herbs, and they don’t use any MSG or flavor enhancers).
- Butternut squash and green beans with olive oil
Snack:
- Organic plain yogurt with a dab of honey, vanilla, and a nectarine
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August 7, 2011 at 11:18 am
Keep the ideas coming!! School starts in a month here and I need to come up with a wicked lunch menu for my kiddoes
August 7, 2011 at 12:26 pm
These look really simple! I feel so overwhelmed in the mornings, making lunch has just been too much for me but I can handle throwing together some leftovers and fruits. Thanks for the suggestions!
August 7, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Thank you for the suggestions. My son would like both of these options. We would love to see more!
August 8, 2011 at 2:25 pm
You’re welcome! I will be doing these as often as I can manage to get the camera out before school! haha
August 7, 2011 at 2:14 pm
What brand are the chipolte carnitas?
August 7, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Lisa,
Chipotle is a fresh mex sort of chain restaurant that uses natural meats. They do burritos. All their foods are gluten free save the tortillas. Have you heard of them?
August 7, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Oh ok…chipolte’s yep…I thought you meant the meat was chipolte flavored…he he
Yes, I have heard of them but, we don’t have one in our town:(
August 7, 2011 at 7:04 pm
How do the kids react to having a different lunch from their peers? I remember at that age I was quite sensitive to food that didn’t get the seal of approval of my friends.
August 8, 2011 at 11:41 am
This is a good question and obviously it’s going to be different for all kids and personalities.
My daughter has never cared about being different but we’re different in most ways. I try not to be flat out weird though. I don’t send her to school with pemmican, or soy milk (not that we would use that but you know it is weird), or raw meat. But having meats, fruits, and veggies has never bothered her at all.
It also depends on their self esteem. If kids are shy and not very confident, fitting in will be much more important to them. And often that can improve with a better diet.
August 8, 2011 at 10:38 am
These are great suggestions. My kids are 3 and 4, they go to Montessori school and I have provided their lunches since born. I feel I get in ruts, but they rarely complain. Your suggestions will be stored away as a refresher to me. THANKS MUCH!! oh, btw as far as I know, there are a few kids that react to what they bring, but my kids eat and don’t know anything different. The teachers are supportive, too.
August 8, 2011 at 5:04 pm
This is my latest project – primalizing lunches. What has made all the difference is buying a thermos. I can make spinach/ground meat meatballs, curried chicken salad, garlic prawns, etc and send them in the thermos. Leftovers are also great as you say Peggy.
August 8, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Mmmm, those all sound good. Will you come make my lunches? hehe. So, you send it in a thermos to keep it chilled all morning? What an excellent idea!
August 8, 2011 at 6:01 pm
Or hot. If you fill the thermos with hot water for a while before adding the food, it stays hot (you have to empty the water out, obviously.
August 26, 2011 at 9:02 am
Good idea!! My daughter always wants leftovers for lunch, but I hate to send them cold. I will definitely try this out. Thanks!
August 9, 2011 at 8:28 am
I love these lunch ideas, I just wish there were more of them! I especially love (and need) the reminder to add a lot of healthy fat. I have only been trying to rid the lunches of large amounts of grain for about 6 months, and school starts in two weeks. In our area, kids can walk home for lunch, which makes it easy to make only 1 lunch for all of us, and also solves the problem of kids feeling weird about their different lunch.
Although, in my experience, this is much less of a problem than it was when I was a kid and my mom was sending me to school with falafel, while every single other kid got the awesome, much desired school lunch. (gagging a little) At our school, there’s a peanut-free table outside the lunchroom, where one of my sons sometimes eats with his allergic friend, so I pack special lunches for him on those days. Kids aren’t (theoretically) allowed to bring candy in their lunches, but conventional wisdom still reigns.
And I second the importance of a thermos. My kids are especially fond of pureed veggie soups. Their favorite is one with cauliflower, turnips, onions, celery, butter or bacon fat, chicken broth, lots of coriander and pepper, and optional heavy cream.
August 9, 2011 at 2:07 pm
these look so good! i’m stuck with my college meal plan (they literally won’t let me out of it unless i have documented food allergies). there are certainly options, but they’re cafo meats and veggies cooked in vegetable oils…it worries me. not to mention the HUGE dessert and bread area. it’s difficult sometimes.
August 9, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Ooh, get out of the dorms!
August 12, 2011 at 11:59 am
i’m trying! universities are becoming extremely strict about required on-campus living until a certain year/age. money is becoming more important than the students….
August 9, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Wow! Awesome about chipotle. Every once and a while it’s nice to have a place out we can go when we’re desperate (desperate to not cook and clean with two small children). I love your lunch ideas. I think I’ll have them for myself, too
August 9, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Exactly. We don’t eat there often, but there are days!
August 9, 2011 at 7:26 pm
I envy you folks with supportive teachers. Last year I had a little boy living with me who had MAJOR behavior problems when he ate processed food. The teachers had big problems with me sending lunches to school and claimed I was just doing it to punish him.
This year is much better though, back down to just my own daughter here and she asked to go back to homeschooling and is learning to cook her own (mostly)paleo meals! I don’t think I could face dealing with the school lunch war again, they are too anti-independent thinking here.
August 10, 2011 at 7:18 am
Schools are a racket. I would love to home school my daughter but she is so social. She loves her friends, the playing, and the structure.
Bevie,
Are you in one of those programs with other parents that share home schooling?
While my daughter loves staying home with me, she also loves being with her friends. Plus I have to work so I’m not exactly sure how I’d juggle it, although, I do work from home so it is possible…
August 13, 2011 at 1:04 pm
We school her ourselves and arrange to meet with other young people in the area a couple ways. She is still in contact with other kids from school that she met last year, and we have friends from our church that we meet up with occasionally. We are joining a local homeschool group so that field trips and group activities are a little more practical. The school we are registered through (The Farm School in TN)does not mandate a particular curriculum, just standards of what students should learn in their grade level, so it is very flexible both schedulewise and in terms of how I go about teaching.
I do work full time outside the home, but her father does not so he takes on the majority of the schooling responsibilities. We might not be able to do it if she was a little younger, but she is old enough to take on responsibility for her own education and absolutely dives into every ounce of learning she can get her hands on.
August 13, 2011 at 4:08 pm
This is great to to know. I’ve known a couple of older home-schooled kids but I didn’t realize how independent they could be about it.
August 10, 2011 at 10:00 am
I just bought warm and tote lunch carriers. They keep food hot which makes leftovers great for lunch.
Peggy, I had a homeschooling program for the boys because there was no way I was putting them in an American public school, it’s outrageous what goes on in those schools. Anyways, the program is geered towards the child teaching themself. You spend about 15 or 20 minutes preparing there lessons, which they will be at for a fraction of the time they waste in school. My little brother uses it because he was too smart for school, and was getting in trouble because he was bored. My Father asked about the program I had for my kids and little brother has been doing it for two years now. He would be a 2nd grader doing 5th and 6th grade work. Practically teaching himself.
There are aspects of the program I didn’t use, like the religious aspect of it, and you’d have to make a great effort to get out with other kids, but the time you spend teaching is minimal. But, like most things in the world, take what you want, and leave the rest. I don’t use it anymore since we live in Ireland.
http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/
August 13, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Thanks Grainne. I’m going to see how kindergarten goes at public school. I doubt I’ll be happy. I’m so anti-establishment, anti-modern food, and anti-stupidity – unless she’s really happy there, I’ll probably be unhappy.
Thanks for the link!
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