Five Minute Lunch Box Ideas

Strawberries stuffed with peanut butter or cream cheese; for a special treat, do the same with Nutella!

Forgotten to make the kids' lunches on a hurried school day morning? 

No bread in the house?  Or worst still, the bread is stale and you've run out of milk.  It's just one of those mornings.  Happened to me today, my son sadly shook his head and said "You're off your game, mom.  No milk..."

Either you can run into Starbucks and buy a ready made lunch on route to school, or try out some of these suggestions.  You'll be surprised what you can rustle up by ferreting around in your store cupboard and fridge.

* Carrots and celery sticks with a tupperware bowl full of cream cheese with a handful of raisins swooshed around in it,

* Crackers, pepperoni slices and cheese, quickly cubed on the fly!

* red and green grapes, black olives and cubes of cheese

* crunchy cos lettuce wraps - take a slice of luncheon meet, wrap it tightly in the lettuce and you've created a bread-free wrap

If you've got a little more time to spare then try out this concoction:  cream cheese or peanut butter-filled strawberries. 

For best results it's worth while investing in this fail-proof strawberry de-huller. 

It may look like a space shuttle from an Austin Powers movie, but it ain't.

Available in most cookstores, including Amy's Place in the Reading Terminal Market.  It turns hulling strawberries into an exact science...

Down Home Lunches Save the Day!

Looking for simple, healthy ways to fill your child's lunchbox?  Us too!  And with the typical morning mayhem of getting the family out the door, there often isn't time to lovingly prepare wholesome, balanced meals that travel well.  Not to mention the fact that I'm on crutches (fractured foot) so food prep, precariously balanced, is not what the doctor ordered.

Fear not, fair friends, Down Home Diner gallantly came to the Rescue!  I availed myself of  several of their takeout items last week, and so far, all have met with approval.  If you have any experience with teens and tweens you'll know that approval is doled out sparingly at best, so I considered this experiment a real success.  Some of the greatest hits from last week's lunchbox menu include:


DHD's Fried Chicken--we love it hot, but it's delicious cold, too!

Wraps and Sandwiches--with a selection to please even the choosiest of brownbaggers.  My kids are not great fans of sandwiches, but they ate these.

As the mercury drops, a hearty soup in a thermos is a great option, (though even on a warmish Wednesday my daughter enjoyed her black eyed pea with and a biscuit on the side.)

The salads also travel well--the Mediterranean was a hit, though my kids did pick out the cherry tomatoes....


Of course, we didn't forget fresh fruit from Reading Terminal Market's produce merchants or treats from the bakers.  I fear, with these sumptuous repasts, my kids will wish me an extended convalescence.

Do you have any trade secrets for lunchbox ooohs and ahhhs?