SubscribeLeftovers for lunch
My grandmother Muddy was the queen of packing lunches and food to travel with. And I knew her handiwork well. The telltale sign of her packed meals was the wax paper that she wrapped your food in. Usually those packages included cold fried chicken, homemade biscuits, and pound cake with caramel icing. Well, we’re a long way from biscuits and pound cakes, and the chicken, more often than not, is baked not fried. But I’ll always remember her lovingly packed meals with rubber-bands wrapped around them to hold things in place. That was long before zip-lock bags.
A few years ago, one of the lunch ladies who works in the Philadelphia Public School System told me that she wouldn’t feed the school lunches to her dog. I’m not sure which public school she worked in, but I do know that in one of my children’s schools, I wouldn’t, either, because they don’t even have a lunchroom. And that means all of the children’s food is cooked or heated in a microwave, which means, guess what? Dead food. That’s right. Food that’s heated or prepared in the microwave is DOA, dead on arrival. Besides, in this particular school, the children have to eat in the gymnasium, which is far from being the most hygienic area to have lunch. So, in packing my kids’ lunches, I always include hand sanitizers, just in case their teachers forget to send them to the bathroom to wash their hands before they eat.
When I was a youngster, my two sisters and I considered ourselves lucky because we had a stay at home mother. With the exception of a very few rare occasions, Mom made our lunches every day. Usually, we ate sandwiches, and in the winter, she would add soup, so we came home to a hot lunch. Now, some of the city’s high schools do provide hot lunches, but many of our children are forced to eat the cold food their schools choose to serve them, no matter how bad it tastes. My children will starve before they’d even consider eating a school provided lunch. So every morning or at night, they pack wholesome nutritious lunches that always include spring water, a sandwich or salad or sometimes leftovers from dinner the night before.
More often than not, I plan our family meals ahead of time to include their lunches. One of their favorites is one of my pasta combinations, which include fresh veggies, and are enjoyed either hot or cold. Lots of dinner meals taste great the next day. Turkey or steak sandwiches, veggie burgers or good ole turkey bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches on whole grain bread are just as nutritional.
If your child is a picky eater, get them engaged in helping prepare their food. Children love eating food that they helped you make. And you’ll have more peace of mind knowing that they aren’t sitting through lunch with their noses turned up.
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As the mother of five and a journalist, I've always encouraged people to empower themselves with information on healthy foods and lifestyles. Nurturing our children with healthy food is one of the most important jobs we have, yet as families have become busier or drifted apart, meal times have been sacrificed.
