While we eat our evening dinner together as a family, I don't find objection to this eating style during the day. Being only two days into summer break and completely out of breakfast cereal and bread, I'm realizing I need to plan more for this, however.
Portable Kid Meals
- Frozen gluten free muffins
- Granola Bars
- String Cheese
- Lunch meat pieces
- Frozen homemade GF Protein bars (individually wrapped)
- Individual Pizza Slices, wrapped and frozen for heating
- bananas
- apples
- bag of celery sticks and carrot sticks sitting in fridge (PB and Ranch readily available in little containers for dipping)
- frozen burritos
- frozen taquitos
- frozen tamales
- have an extra loaf or two of regular and GF bread in the freezer for back up!
- Buy cereal in bulk!
- keep 4 gallons of milk in the fridge
- back up containers of PB and Jam
If this is how they are going to eat, and I am okay with it (I realize not everyone is :) I'd like to make it as healthy and balanced as possible. Here are my ideas of "portable" breakfasts, lunches and snacks for summertime. Feel free to add yours too. I am writing this because I have very few ideas, so suggestions would be really helpful!
Yep I do this too! Today my kids ate string cheese, applesauce and nuts for lunch.
ReplyDeleteJessica
stayathomeista.com
I don't have kids "grazing" yet, as my dad calls it, but I do make my husband's lunches and I like them to be quick to assemble. I have found when I buy something like grapes it is much more likely to get used in the lunch when I cut the bunch into portion size groups and place each into its own plastic bag so it can be grabbed quickly. I do this right when I unpack the groceries so that it is ready to go otherwise I forget to do it later.
ReplyDeleteHi! I found you on FaFF on Sew Many Ways, your blog is so thoughtful! I love it!...I like to buy the small (8oz) Ball plastic freezer jam jars, they are the perfect size for on the go sized snacks. I keep some in a basket in the fridge filled with carrots, or melon bites, or a mix of berries...and I fill the snack basket in the cupboard with them filled with homemade trail mix, goldfish crackers, regular crackers (and I put little precut pieces of cheese in the fridge), homemade granola bites, etc. The kids get to pick one for snack after school (but during the summer they kind of "graze" throughout the day) and as mentioned by Elizabeth, my husband loves that he can just grab and throw in his lunch.
ReplyDelete-Andrea
Hi, I found your blog from the USA today article about House Hunters, and loved this post about "on the go" snacks/meals! I have another easy idea for your list: frozen PB&J sandwiches! They aren't as "on the go" as grabbing something out of the pantry to eat immediately, because they have to thaw out, but it works well if you are heading out the door to go play at the park, because you don't have to scramble to get lunch ready to take with you! Simply grab them from the freezer and walk out the door! They only take about 30-45 minutes to thaw and they taste like you just made them fresh! The key is to put peanut butter on BOTH sides FIRST, and then put jelly in the middle so the jelly doesn't crystallize, and so the bread doesn't get soggy when they thaw out. I just buy a loaf of bread, PB, and jelly, and make them all once i get home from the store, and throw them in individual baggies/containers in the freezer! I don't know how long they would last in there, cause we usually eat all of them within a week or two... Oh, and another little fun trick is that I use a "wonder bread" sandwich cutter that cuts the crust off, and seals the edges just like those smuckers uncrustables! I have read that pampered chef makes them too. Hope you will be able to try it!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea!
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