the making of a lunch

I am not sure when I hit this point in my life, but the highlight of my weekends is the fact that I don’t have to make 5 lunches in the morning.  for some reason, I really see it as an accomplishment each day after I’ve gotten all the lunches thought-through (no easy task with everyone’s annoying likes/dislikes), organized, and into kids’ backpacks.  I especially look forward to that time on Thursday night when I wrap up Friday’s lunches, knowing that I am “off” for a couple of days.  I may have just leapt for joy just a tiny bit. 

I used to be wholly opposed to completing lunches the night before because I am one who despises sogginess. I can hardly fathom even making sandwiches hours before lunch, let alone an entire day.  gross.  but it has come down to simplicity for me.  and maybe the fact that I don’t really care anymore if my kids’ sandwiches are soggy.  whatever.

one would think that after years and years (and years) of making lunches, that I would have it down-pat; that it wouldn’t be something I dreaded so much.  but nearly every monday morning, I still find myself staring blankly into my pantry or fridge, trying to figure out a lunch plan.  sometimes I even forget the “formula’': something protein, something fruit(y), something crunchy, something fun, something extra (just in case).  I am so thrilled with myself when I remember on sunday afternoon to start planning and get that part of my monday morning taken care of. 

most days, it seems I count the weeks down in the school year based on how many lunches I have left to make. 

nolan has a pretty special field trip tomorrow and, for some reason I feel like field trips deserve special lunches.  I remember as a kid actually going shopping at Revco the night before a field trip and buying the “giant” individual-sized bags of cheetohs and cookies and cans of pop (that I would wrap in tin foil to keep cold) for my lunch.  it was such a treat!  I don’t go to those lengths for field trips for my kids, but I usually ask them if there’s anything special or specific they want in their lunch. 

Nolan requested a pancake sandwich, which is a personal favorite of his.  it was created out of a desire to use up leftover pancakes from breakfast- and maybe a lack of actual bread- one day.  it’s truly just a sandwich made out of chocolate chip pancakes and peanut butter and nutella (and banana slices, if we have them).  because it’s usually something I make to use up old pancakes, it seemed dumb to make pancakes tonight just so he could have a sandwich made out of pancakes.

but since it was a “field trip lunch”, I made the extra effort and made pancakes tonight just for his sandwich tomorrow. 

as I was wrapping up each kids’ lunch, it got me thinking about the mind-bender task it is to make lunches for 4 different children.  it’s certainly not just making 4 lunches. 

let’s start with Elli (right) and Emma’s (left) lunches:

Elli:

• doesn’t like protein
• often brings her lunch container home mostly full
• doesn’t really like anything
• I never get it right
• when I do get it right, I repeat over and over until she hates it
• in this lunch, I have half a pancake sandwich, sliced apples, cubed cheddar cheese (her current “love” that she’ll suddenly despise next week, red jello, and leftover pizookie from something I was doing a trial run on).  I’ll also include pirate’s booty and a protein bar for after school/before track
• loves jello (which I recently found out has 2 grams of protein per serving! yay!  (shhh.  don’t  tell her), fresh fruit, bagels, caesar salad, madsen’s toddler fruit pouches (that cost $1 each)
• hates peanut butter, lunch meat, yogurt, wheat bread, nuts, anything that’s my idea
• is my hardest to please

Emma:

• really should be doing all gluten-free, but it’s so hard to keep that up
• loves pastrami, string cheese, jello (not green!), bagels (no cream cheese!), hummus
• hates cream cheese, yogurt, salads, vegetables, raisins, cheddar cheese
• in this lunch, I have a pastrami sandwich on a bagel, orange jello (doesn’t like green), pizookie, pirates booty
• usually eats everything I put in her lunch, even if she didn’t love it

Nolan (right) and Ray’s (left)  lunches:

Nolan:

• is pretty easy to please, thankfully
• often pays me specific compliments for things I put in his lunch
• loves pancake sandwiches, jello (hopefully blue), sweets, gogurts, bananas inside sandwiches, applesauce, uncrustables, cereal, danimals, cheezits, flavor-blasted goldfish, blueberries
• hates oranges, chewy bagels, a specific flavor of juice box that I keep putting in his lunch
• in this specific lunch, I put a pancake sandwich, chobani yogurt tube, blue jello, pizookie, pirates booty, applesauce

Ray:

• recently got braces and is going through a soft foods phase
• sometimes eats everything I send, other days comes home with more than half his lunch because “he didn’t have time” to eat it
• would be happy with an uncrustable every day or maybe 3 or 4
• in this specific lunch, I put a pancake sandwich, peeled, sliced apples, cheese cubes, pizookie, green jello, pirates booty
• loves danimals, cheese, peanut butter on a spoon, regular goldfish, green apples, smoothies, protein bars
• doesn’t love:  yogurt, cereal, bread-y things

jell-o seems to be the least common denominator

my jell-o shelf in my fridge right now:

come monday, this jell-o shelf will be completely empty
and everybody’s loves/hates will be different. 

I can’t keep up.  only 12 more weeks left of making lunches.