LUNCH IN A BOX

Last year at the daycare, we did not have to worry about Mew's lunch because it was included in the tuition. The daycare teacher also helped the kids to eat their lunch and the atmosphere was very comfortable for young kids. It is totally different at the kindergarten however. Kids must bring their own snack and lunch to school and the lunch time is very limited with only 1-2 minutes for warming their lunch in the collective microwave. Although there are supervisors at lunch but they do not "help" kids as before. Consequently it becomes a headache for parents to prepare their kid's lunchbox to ensure a proper nutritious value but it is not too complicated for kids to handle it by themselves. It cannot be too much either because kindergarteners are often not able to finish a big lunch within 30 minutes. It should be easily frozen and defrozen or microwaved so that kids do not have to wait too long for their meal to be warmed. It should be also attractive enough so that kids do not get bored with their lunch, etc. A lot of things need to be taken into account.

Although I am very admired at Biggie at Lunch in a box, I unfortunately am not as talented as her nor love cooking enough even for the sake of my kids to venture myself into a lunch-preparation journey. So, I decided to make it simpler for both me and Mew. Luckily, Mew is not a picky eater and normally she eats what I prepare for her, and sometimes she is even more than happy with the same meal for all 5 days in a row if she really likes the ingredients. Thank you, Mew, for your complete change in eating habit since your age of 4. If not, we parents would have already died from exhaustion to cater for your food needs.

Here is some pictures of Mew's lunchbags. The Princesses one can be put inside a medium-sized backpack but the two-compartment California Innovations lunch bucket cannot fit Mew's daily backpack so she has to remember taking it back and forth (she has forgotten twice so far but luckily found it later).

The most frequent lunch I prepare at home for her from scratch includes fried pasta with vegetable and soy sauce, glutinous rice made in shapes with seaweed and shaped boiled egg, mashed potato with cheese, milk and egg, fried mixed rice, sandwich bread with slices of cheese and ham made into funny shapes.

 

This is the lunch for tomorrow. Mew insists on having her "fake sushi" so I cooked glutinuous rice with grean bean and molded it while still very hot to make star, heart, flower, triangles and onigri shapes. I used seaweed to roll around each shape and also cover their facets. Next compartment is fresh vegetable, namely carrots, mushroom and olives. I put a small container of Ranch sauce for Mew to dip the veggie. To ensure the protein input, I boiled an egg and molded it into a fish shape. Finally, for her dessert, I tossed in some Funcheez (dinosaur-shaped cheese) and Allens fruit punch.

 

This "obento imitation" lunch was from last week. The same recipe with "fake sushi". The egg was mold into heart shape and cut into halves (due to the lack of time, this egg did not shape well). I did not forget vegetable with mini carrots and steamed cauliflower florets. I grilled a hotdog then cut it small and poured some Heinz ketchup sauce (Mew prefers chili sauce but she coughed a lot so I did not allow her to touch any spicy ingredients).

 

The most popular mixed fried pasta with a lot of kinds of vegetables, frozen imitation crab or sometimes cooked ham, pasta sauce or soya sauce, olive oil and voila ... enough for 3 ready-to-go meals in the freezer.

Quick and easy - toasted sandwich bread slice cut into snowman, Xmas bell and frog shapes by cookie cutters with cheese slice of the same shape in between. I tried to make a funny face for the snowman but finally his eyebrows made him a bit scary instead. Mew's lunch cannot be without some veggies so I tossed in mini carrot and olives. To add some more flavours, I grilled a BBQ hotdog with some melt cheese and dropped a little ketchup sauce.

 

Very traditional recipe of mixed fried rice with enoki mushroom, jambon, asparagus and egg. Seasoned with soy sauce as usual.

  

For her snack, I put button cookies, banana, apple, strawberry or blueberry, grape, etc. For her beverage with lunch, I give her juice, Kool-aid jammer, soy drink, etc.

And above is her ustensil kit including spoon, fork, chopsticks, toothpick, tissue, ice blanket or ice pack, toothbrush and small cup for oral cleaning after lunch.