Saturday, September 5, 2009

Lunch Failure...

Speaking of lunches, the kids started preschool at church this past week. They go 2 days for 3 and a half hours and eat lunch before I pick them up. The school as I mentioned is peanut free for safety reasons. Also my kids don't like the same foods...this could get really challenging. But I knew as I packed this that it might not come back consumed. So I decided to do a before and after picture.

Dear Daughter's is on the left, she is in junior preschool. She won't touch vegetables but I added them anyhow. She also won't eat any sandwhich unless it is a BP and J. These are ham and cheese. Dear Son's is on the right, he is in junior kindergarten now. He is finally eating edamame beans (known in this household as shek beans! It's all in the marketing folks!).

There was so much space still so I added the graham and triscut crackers too.

As you can see they did not really eat too much. It was more like a glorified snack. Big, sigh! And the next time I packed lunch, it was the same....very little eaten. I think the newness of the routine and new teachers and kids makes it too distracting at first. But I will keep offering as I have seen my son finally eat vegetables in the last 6 months. Even if it is more snacky my close friend pointed out "Do whatever makes it simple for you, the kids, and the teachers and focus on healthy lunches at home." I think that is great advice.


One last tip, we have to label everything and I don't want to pay for expensive labels. My mother-in-law made some labels with ther label maker and those work just fine on the bento boxes and their lunch bag. For their drinks I put an old produce rubber band and just write their name with a pen on the rubber band. This is great even for church nursery if you want to leave a drink behind and keep it labeled!
Hope you have a great Labour Day weekend. We are headed off to Algonquin National Park. I cannot wait to stay in cottage country. I have been wanting to do this ever since we moved here.


5 comments:

Lemonade Makin' Mama said...

That rubber band idea is fabulous! My kids never ate much at school either, before they were homeschooled. There was just way too much fun to be had to sit down and focus on eating... but man were they hungry when they got home!

I would die if we couldn't do PB&J.

Jana said...

I have soooo missed your blog, looks like they are beginning to try new things!!! I cannot believe I havent sent the bento boxes out...they sort of got lost in the shuffle even though I left them out...I am sooo sorry...on a good note...they will get there...I know that for sure. Im so sorry. Blah. haha.

Susan Yuen said...

I love the lunches! Have you ever tried soy nut butter? I have never tried it, but I hear that it's supposed to taste like peanut butter and is totally peanut free too. I was going to try the soy nut butter this year for my daughter's school lunch, but they gave us the okay for peanut products again. Great blog BTW!

golonghorns said...

Thanks for the encouragement Ladies. Jana you'll have to let me know your addy when you move so I can send you a bento care pkg! Susan, I just spoke to a Mum whose daughter has a severe peanut allergy and she recommended sunflower seed butter. I also saw pumpkin seed buttter at the store. I have to get these okay'd with the school but crossing fingers! If only they would eat rice and or eggs I could do so much more with their lunches. I was so desperate I tried to use my fun shape molds on mac and cheese...sadly it does not work.

Michelle said...

Okay, this makes me feel much better. I am not alone! Sydney has completed 4 days of preschool and will not touch any of her lunch except the juice and the snacky food I put in (like pretzels). It truly is like a glorified snack! So discouraging and wastes so much food. I guess I just need to give it time. In the meantime I am packing much smaller lunches. I am also still trying to figure out things to pack that don't need to be warm (Sydney won't eat sandwiches). I guess it just takes awhile to figure out what works. :0) Glad your kids are doing better. It encourages me!