Do you have problems coming up with ideas for sandwiches to put in school lunches? I now know why my mom fixed so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for us when we were growing up! Of course back then we didn’t have insulated lunch bags either, just the good old customary brown bag that you threw in the trash when you were done. We would get a sandwich, some potato chips, cookies (if we were lucky) or an apple (which I seldom had time to eat) and then milk money to get a carton of milk in the cafeteria. Needless to say our lunches were pretty boring and we looked forward to cafeteria food!
As I got older, in my teen years, I would tease my mom because she would make out a grocery list and invariably leave it on the kitchen counter. We would get half-way to the store and she would realize she left it at home. One day I said to her, “Just use the one in your purse from last time, you always buy the same things anyway!” You can imagine how well that went over!
At least with my children we use the insulated lunch totes and little thermos bottles that can be filled with either milk or soup and small containers that can be used for hot or cold items.
I do find that making sandwiches is a bit tricky to keep a variety going for both of my older children since they are both allergic to peanut butter, I will make them cheese sandwiches without mayonnaise or put in lunch meat, cheese, lettuce and pickles into the keep cold containers and bread in a lunch bag. That way they can create their sandwiches when they are ready to eat and they are not soggy. You notice I didn’t include tomatoes, trying to get those down them uncooked is impossible!
Both of them like to take macaroni and cheese, beef stew, chili, or spaghetti in one of the insulated containers. Other favorites are cottage cheese, fruit cocktail, peaches or pears. This winter, I am going to include soups and hot chocolate and see how they like that.
I just had to share this with you all. It is a picture of A.L and her cousin L. playing in the park when her uncle and his family came to visit from Arizona. Alyssa took this picture and then entered it into a photo fair contest and she won first prize in her age group! I absolutely love the concentration of the two of them as they were playing along the hopscotch that was made on the sidewalk.
