My daughter is starting Kindergarten in the fall and a big concern for me is the lack of nutrition offered by the school cafeterias in our nation. As a result, I have been planning to pack her lunches daily and send them with her. The dilemma, of course, is to make the food seem more appealing than the rubber fakery that the school cafeterias call food and I don't think eating a sandwich every day would be desirable nor would I expect her to cheerily consume the exact same lunch every day. I had already decided that I will pack her lunches as many of the Japanese do- Bento style. It is an art form, really, but also a great way to pack a healthy, varied lunch.
Anyway, I was super excited to run across a cookbook on NetGalley devoted specifically to packing interesting lunches. Many of the recipes are derived from cooking dinners and using left overs which is cool by me. I think a lot of the recipes in the book would be more appealing to my husband than my 5 year old daughter, but it was still helpful because I have also been in a rut trying to figure out what to pack him for his overnight shift at the hospital. I do think that many of the recipes are things my daughter will eat as well though. There are several categories the book is divided into including breakfast for lunch (this will definitely come in handy for my breakfast loving 5 yr old, I would have never thought to send breakfast for lunch, but why not?) a section on sandwiches, another one on sausages and one completely devoted to poultry. There is even a small vegetarian section, which I found refreshing (I just wish it contained a little more)! There are ideas in this book for pretty much every meal under the sun that you can possibly think of. I love the idea of taking school lunches beyond sandwiches and prepacked Lunchables which have a gazillion milligrams of sodium and are also highly processed. I like that this book offers a variety of options, keeping lunch less boring than lunch can be known to be. This book will definitely come in handy when school starts and I need some great ideas for my daughter's lunchbox!
Beating the Lunch Box Blues will be available for purchase September 3. You can pre-order at Amazon.com. In the meantime you can check out J.M Hirsh's website where he posts pictures of his son's lunch box contents. If you need ideas for lunches, you will love his website and the book!
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