Brown Bag Lunches
Food that Fits
Brown bag lunches guarantee that your children at school (or you at the office) will get food that not only fits into your brown bag/lunch box, but will fit into the nutrition plan you follow at home.
Small packs of peanuts, granola bars, raisins or fresh fruit go into them. A sandwich made with whole-grain bread and peanut butter provides complete protein and can be made the night-before with no loss of flavor, texture or nutrition. You can even make it better with a sprinkling of bacon bits or chopped dried apricots. Juice boxes and milk boxes are convenient or iced tea with honey/lemon can go in a thermos.
You may start out the school year with little love notes tucked away in the bag or cut out sandwiches with heart-shaped cookie cutters, but by October, you are lucky to make it to the kitchen in the morning and brew a cup of coffee.
Here are some suggestions that I hope will help you when you run out of ideas of "what to pack for lunch today."
Choose one from each column
Sandwiches/Soup/Salad
| Drinks
| Extras
|
---|---|---|
Turkey, lettuce, tomato wrap
| Orange Juice
| Celery sticks w/peanut butter/raisins
|
Egg salad
| Lemonade
| Grapes
|
Peanut butter /banana
| Milk
| Melon
|
Tuna salad w/celery/onion/mayo
| Apple juice
| Fat-free brownies
|
Leftover Meatball/Mozzarella, sauce
| Bottled water
| Yogurt
|
Lean ham, pineapple and cheese
| Hot chocolate
| Banana
|
Chicken noodle soup
| Herbal iced tea
| Baby carrots
|
Leftover Chili in wide mouth thermos
| Chocolate milk
| Apple
|
Three-bean salad w/Italian dressing
| Vanilla soy milk
| Graham crackers
|
Leftover chicken legs
| Pineapple juice
| Cut up cheese
|
You may want to make your own chart using the same principal. Choose one from each column. Mix it up a little.