Lunchbox Dilemma Solved Easy Meals for Lazy Moms and Desperate Dads 

Lazy Meals for Lazy Moms and Desperate Dads

Let’s start with a quiz. How to make a good lunch (and breakfast and snack):

a) count the calories

b) balance food groups

c) include comfort food— PB&J or Mac ‘n Cheese— in case s/he doesn’t want broccoli

d) provide a wide range of colorful food throughout the day and variation from day to day

d. There are many important reasons to eat a great variety of food. Every food supplies a unique combination of vitamins and minerals. You will develop a taste for and interest in trying new foods if your taste buds are developed at an early age by the introduction of a wide range of foods.

Below are some great ideas. Most of them are easy. Martha Stewart did not prepare any of them. Some are even from a can (gasp!)

I’ve included breakfast, lunch, and snack so you can see all the foods in combination. Note: Every night I jot down on a post-it what I’ll be preparing the next day for breakfast, lunch, and snack, so that when I’m half-dead in the morning and have 30 minutes to do everything, I don’t have to think about it and am just going through the motions.

I’ll give brand suggestions in a separate post.

MONDAY

breakfast:
apples and almond butter (use corer for user-friendly slices). Mornings are a great time for nuts (all kinds) because most schools don’t allow them anymore. If your kid is allergic, try seeds, or legumes.

lunch:
canned sardines in olive oil (shrimp and lox also travel well—try both). Veggie option: seaweed salad
cut veggies: fennel,  snap peas,  jicama, celery with ranch or guac dip
leftover chilled sweet potato chunks or sweet potato fries

snack:
grapes
salted roasted pumpkin seeds (because the raw kind aren’t nearly as tasty)

TUESDAY

breakfast:
smoothie (kale or parsley, frozen mango, apple, almond butter, ginger, coconut oil, filtered water, protein powder, ice)

lunch:
leftover broccoli reheated in pan with olive oil and combined in thermos with tofu sautéed in butter

snack:
date roll with coconut
sunflower seeds
corn on cob (can be eaten chilled—and even raw—or boiled and wrapped in aluminum foil)

WEDNESDAY

breakfast:
coconut or whole milk yogurt with smashed banana, cinnamon and nuts (or chia seeds)

lunch:
precooked heated grassfed hotdog (can be served chilled). veggie option: hard-boiled egg or quinoa
sauerkraut
cut cukes and tomatoes

snack:
cut melon chunks
seaweed squares with olive oil

THURSDAY

breakfast:
raw cheese slices
tomatoes

lunch:
lentil soup in thermos
sprouted grain bread with grass-fed butter

snack:
edamame
clementine/berries/pear (whatever is in season)

FRIDAY

breakfast:
scrambled eggs with parsley or cilantro, avocado slices

lunch:
leftover brown rice and canned beans with chopped parsley or cilantro (or onion, tomato)
cut veggies: raw string beans,  carrot, red pepper, beet, purple cabbage

snack:
carrots, celery + hummus

My rule of thumb is that:

1) roughly half the plate should be fruits and veggies
2) you should eat a ratio of 2 veggies for every fruit

10 EXTRA TIPS

1. Keep in mind that veggies can be roasted, stir fried, steamed, or eaten raw. Try all methods to see which is preferred. Also use condiments and flavorings—butter and melted cheese are usually winners.
2. Mix and match veggies. There are so many to try. You can substitute any cut or cooked veggie for any other. Same with fruit. Try to pick things that are seasonal, local, organic. Berries are most dense in nutrition and lowest in sugar; bananas carry the highest glycemic load, so best to pair with fat or protein.
3. You can precut the veggies and put in airtight container for faster morning preparation.
4. If your kid really likes hot lunches, try to do more heated leftovers. I often combine meat and veggies (like ground beef and broccoli, or chunks of salmon with roasted potatoes.)
5. Offer some kind of reward for trying new foods if this is difficult for your kid. (not an unhealthy treat, though—we are trying to retrain his taste buds).
6. Rule of thumb for yogurt: more fat, less sugar. Most prepackaged single-serving sizes are loaded with sugar and best used as a dessert.
7. Work slowly towards the goal of healthy whole minimally-processed foods. Don’t get discouraged when something new comes home uneaten. Try again. Slowly eliminate packaged carbs.
8. My weekly menu plan is a reference guide. Feel free to recombine things as you wish (see first picture).
9. Good sites for supplies and more ideas are bentology.com, planetbox.com, and kleankanteen.com.
10. Where’s the vegan options? While I think that fruits, veggies, and nuts should be a huge part of your diet, I strongly discourage purely vegan diets. There are no examples of past or present vegan cultures in all of human history and there is a growing body of research showing that this well-intentioned and ethically-based diet is unnatural, unsustainable, and harmful for your body and especially for young kids.

 
Clockwise from top left:
Sweet potato, tofu, raw cheese, white cabbage, carrots

Clockwise from top left:
Date coconut roll, sauerkraut, baked chicken with all-natural rub, steamed broccoli

Clockwise from top left:
Asparagus, roasted chicken, purple cabbage, cilantro, cucumber, fennel

Clockwise from top left:
Date roll, sunflower seeds, grass-fed organic hot dog, edamame, string beans, purple cabbage, red pepper, parsley

Clockwise from top left:
Purple rice, sprouted tofu, tomatoes, jicama, purple cabbage, fennel

What do all these lunches have in common?

• a) no refined carbs or sugar
• b) the color orange
• c) I pre-chewed some of the food in each one
• d) My son cries when he opens his lunch box.

That’s right—a!

I’d love to hear from you, so let me know what works and doesn’t work for your kids!