After twenty years, I’m packing box lunches again.
My tips:
* When I bake lunchbox treats, I wrap brownies/cookies individually and freeze for intermittent use. They thaw by lunchtime.
* For PB and J, I always spread the PB on both pieces of the bread. This keeps the jelly from sogging up the bread.
* When making a wrap, I always lay a dry lettuce leaf on the tortilla first; this prevents the tortilla from getting sogged up by whatever else is added.
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* I always make lunches the night before. If leftovers from dinner are involved (and they frequently are), I pack lunches right after dinner, saving the effort of pulling food out again after the kitchen is cleaned up.
* ALWAYS include an ice pack in your lunch bag to keep food fresh.
Here we go…40 lunches for 40 days!
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2. A BIG DIPPER meal (the main item is dipped up with crackers or chips): Tuna salad (with celery and water chestnuts), Triscuit dippers, cinnamon/sugar apples, (coat apples with lemon juice to keep them from browning), mini peppers stuffed with savory cream cheese, and chocolate-covered raisins.
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4. Whole grain tortilla PB & grape J pinwheels, canned beets/green beans toss, sliced oranges, and a pumpkin muffin.
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22. Quinoa with black beans/peas/feta, cinnamon pineapple, radishes & red peppers, and a mandarin orange corn muffin. (You might be picking up that my family loves red peppers, radishes and celery.)
23. Chicken salad/spinach wrap, hummus, celery broomsticks for dipping, SQUIRREL NUT MIX, and cantaloupe.
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27. PB & strawberry J on whole wheat, leftover baked potato/cheddar stack, baked beans, and pineapple/blueberry mix.
28. Homemade vegetable/barley soup in an easy heat-up Ball jar, whole-grain Saltines, string cheese/pitted date skewers, and canned peaches.
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31. Potato salad, hard-boiled egg, cukes/red pepper mix, and grapes.
32. Strawberry/yogurt smoothie pop (thaws by lunchtime), baked sweet potato sticks (leftover), whole wheat pancake/peanut butter sandwich, and sugar/cinnamon apples.
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34. BIG DIPPER Taco salad (lettuce, ground beef, black beans, red beans, corn, grated cheese, and Catalina dressing), Doritos dippers, and a plum.
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36. Tuna salad pita (with celery, water chestnuts, sweet pickles and lettuce) black beans, cukes, watermelon, and a fruit bar.
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This all looks so delish!!Can I come live at your house?
All of those look WONDERFUL!! I eat veggie burgers and morning star bacon strips. I never thought to make a sandwich out of them. I will definitely get the popsicle thing. Christopher will like that. Unfortunately he doesn't have a way to heat up his lunch. But I see some things to mix and match. Thanks for your hard work in putting this together.
Just came back to say, "Wow". You've made me not want what's for breakfast.
Everything looks great! I really, really want that baked potato right now. 🙂
mare, this is genius, i can't tell you how much i enjoyed all of these–i would love these each day—so creative!!
Some great tips and ideas! I especially like the one about lining the tortilla with a dry lettuce leaf, thanks!
Mare!! What an accomplishment and what a great job you did with everything!! Only problem is that I'm STARVING now!!! Excellent!! I'm jealous.
Those are the best lunches I've ever seen!! Very creative in what you came up with to pack!
betty
These all look really good. I love how you pack them too; they look so much nicer than my leftovers dumped into a container. Do you have a recipe for the smoothie pops? I'd like to try those.
Jen, if you're in Florida, you can certainly stop in for lunch!
Danielle – I emailed you…making a smoothie is really more a method than a recipe. You can do anything with them! And there are companies who sell lunch compartments on line, all kinds of fancy boxes…I've found small butter tubs and Rubbermaid containers works just fine. I even have one repurposed denture cup I use! I get a lot of little containers at thrift stores for 50 cents!
Amazing! You must have been working on this for a while. You have done a beautiful job on creating and photographing all these meals!
All lunches look yummy! Great job!
These meals look so good, and so balanced! I must pin this. 🙂