For the last five years, my kids have been bringing lunch to school every day. My kids are picky with what they eat so our lunch was the exact same thing every day:
- A danimal yogurt
- A cheese stick (mozzarella for N and cheddar for D)
- a few ritz or graham crackers
- Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich on white bread for D and just a jelly one for N
- a banana for N and an apple for D
I know that doesn’t sound super-terrible but now that i’ve been reading up on food, here’s how I am breaking this down:
- danimals has no actual yogurt in it, mostly chemicals
- cheese stick is ok
- ritz or graham crackers have no nutritional value and likely make my kids hungrier
- PB&J – white bread I use has pretty much no nutritional value and a lot of scary stuff in it, both the PB and J is similar with tons of added sugar.
- fruit is ok 🙂
They used to eat oatmeal (packaged) for breakfast and sandwiches and fruit for dinner.
Sooooo… as part of the work I started last summer, I’ve been working with my kids to eat better and more variety of foods. When the school year started we did a big makeover and bought some salad containers and my kids began eating salads. After reading Michael Pollan’s book last week, I decided that wasn’t enough and did an overhaul of all of their lunches. They still need a bit of work but I think we’re in a much better place. Here’s what they have now:
- for main lunch:
- spinach salad + shredded carrots
- corn for N and goat cheese for D
- strawberries+raspberries+black berries – i buy these at the farmer’s market weekly
- organic turkey deli meat – likely not good enough but not sure what else i can do at the moment
- jelly sandwich on Dave’s Killer Bread – 21 Grains Thin Sliced
- for snacks:
- grapes
- cheese stick
- an egg and peanuts for N
- raisins for D (his school is nut free)
We’ve also changed up dinner to be broccoli, fruit, chicken, and then they can have their favorite dessert. Breakfast is yogurt and bananas and granola for N.
This is not perfect in any way. Here are some issues I see with it:
- it lacks variety. I have signed up for CSA and I will slowly introduce different things.
- it’s high on fruits. this is not ideal but i’ve replaced all simple carbs with fruits. i think it’s ok for now. slowly we can increase the veggie to fruit ratio.
- the deli meat is not ideal, i’d rather they have chicken or fish or some other protein (we already have a lot of dairy so i’d rather not add that.) they are still a bit too prickly with meat/fish so i am taking my time on that.
- i’d like to find at least one more snack for David
- i’m not fond of the jelly. it has a ton of added sugar, i’d like to find an alternative that’s healthier even if it’s still jelly.
These are the core things I’d like to work on at the moment. If we can increase the veggie variety to 5-6 instead of just spinach, carrots and broccoli (and corn for N), I’d be happier. I’d like to add zucchini, squash, green beans to the list at a minimum. I’d also like to do better on protein. Just those two would already make me happier.
Considering the fact that I don’t cook at all, I think this isn’t terrible. For every meal now, my kids are eating some fruit and they have dairy at breakfast and lunch and veggies at lunch and dinner. A marked improvement from last year.
Stories from 2017 is a year-long project for 2017. You can read more about my projects for 2017 here.
Baby steps can lead you in the right direction. Years ago Michael Pollan changed the way I think of food, for the better. Keep moving forward and it will become easier and more intuitive. Have fun in Sydney.
That is great and I love seeing the photo of all of the food together. It looks like it’s good for you. I know you will have tried alsorts with the boys but what about hoummous? Or other meditareanean foods, falafel? Can you remember what you ate back in Turkey as a child? Just a thought. x