Mommy & Me Laptop Lunches

Posted on the 11 January 2013 by Lifeasarunningmom @RunningMom6
Last year I splurged and purchased the bento lunch boxes from Laptop Lunches for darling daughter and myself. In all honesty, I think I fell in love with this product before she was even born but wanted to wait until she was old enough to have some accountability for her lunchbox and the pieces inside. My mom was shocked when I confessed the overall price, but it was worth it. Perhaps I am a bit weird, but it makes making lunches fun! And I feel I am more aware of portion sizes when making my lunch for work, which also contains food for my second breakfast and sometimes an additional snack if it will be a long day for me.
Here is what darling daughter and I are eating today!

I often pack our lunches similar since it makes the process easier for me. Plus I am a huge advocate of engaging children to eat "grown up" food and not just the foods that appeal to kids. And darling daughter is always involved in the process either indirectly by voting on food choices or directly by packing food or writing a lunch note for me.
Here's the note I got yesterday. And yes, I am still grinning from ear-to-ear and did show off my special lunch note.

But what are we eating today?
My goal is well-rounded meals and do teach darling daughter about what each food has to offer. And it works. At dinner if I say she needs four more bites of protein, she knows what the protein is and what the protein does for her body. Gotta love it!
Now onto today's lunch:
  • Protein: Turkey rolls (today they contain flax seed, cheese, and spinach)
  • Freggies: The spinach in the turkey roll plus peaches. Usually we are more veggie dense but tomorrow is shopping day and my veggie drawer is essentially empty at the moment. Therefore, I increased the amount of fruit. I prefer frozen berries or fresh fruit but hey, sometimes a mom needs to do what a mom has to do and this is probably the only way we eat peaches.
  • Dairy: The cheese in the turkey rolls. Plus darling daughter has some vanilla yogurt (no artificial sweeteners inside) as a "treat". Her school is very good at ensuring kids eat their main meals before the "snacks/treats" but in all reality, I pack her lunches so no matter what she eats, I don't feel she is missing much and isn't loading up on "junk".
  • Crunchy: This mainly fills my love of some crunch in my day. Today we have some pretzel crisps, yesterday a few triscuits to go with our tuna salad, and sometimes baby carrots serve the trick.
  • Drink: Water. I have access at work and I fill a reusable bottle for darling daughter to take to school. Very, very seldom she may get a juice box, such as Fruitables by Apple & Eve.
  • Mom Add-on's: Since I eat my second breakfast at work I packed some oatmeal, a cutie, and a lilikoi (passionfruit). I will heat up some water at work, make my oatmeal, and top it with fruit and chase it all down with more water! Somedays I opt to do cottage cheese inside of oatmeal and very rarely I do yogurt.

What is your favorite lunch time meal? If you are a parent, how do you pack your kids' lunches?
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for very comfortable mattress pads.
Daily Affirmation: I am happy to be alive.