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Cooking for Kids: Fun Combination Lunches For Kids

Will is totally enthralled with those pre-packaged lunches at the supermarket that come with a few bits of meat, cheese and crackers in a shiny yellow container. I never buy them — honestly, I think they are gross. The meat is slimy, the cheese is mediocre … they look a lot better than they are.

But I am all for making my kids happy, so I decided to make my own for Will’s school lunch. It’s really just a fun combination lunch, which gives several tastes in a cute package, so it’s pretty easy to create yourself. How?

For Will’s school lunch, I used:

  • 1 old Chinese takeout container, but a stout reuseable container would work too
  • 6 silicone cupcake holders (you may need less/more depending on your container)

Now, what did I fill it with?

  • 4 small slices extra sharp cheddar cheese
  • 4 slices beef summer sausage (precooked)
  • 1/2 cup red grapes
  • 1 small red pepper, sliced (picked this morning in the garden)
  • 6 sungold tomatoes (picked this morning in the garden)
  • crackers
  • 2 Oreos (Joe-Joes from Trader Joe’s are my fav, but I haven’t been to the store lately)

So, did he eat it? Of course! Between lunchtime and snacktime, Will ate everything in his combination lunch. But it was a bit much just for lunch … After talking to him, I think he could have used four components for his school lunch, instead of six. But overall, I am happy with how it worked out. I am going to seek out a slightly smaller container that will easily hold four components.

You could easily trade in other components too — berries instead of grapes, turkey or chicken instead of the sausage, etc. Heck, you could even include lettuce leaves instead of crackers, so that kids could do lettuce wraps.

Tomorrow? I am planning on leftover turkey, cheddar cheese, grapes, cucumbers, crackers and some sort of special treat.

Sharon

Thursday 23rd of September 2010

I used to make "kebabs" of fresh mozzarella, basil, meat and cherry tomatoes for my kids' lunches, cutting the sharp end off a wooden skewer -- but I was always nervous they'd get in trouble for having the skewer at school, even a blunted one. The silicone cups seem like a nice, flexible alternative -- thanks!

Tonia

Tuesday 14th of September 2010

Great idea. I'm going to pass this on to my sister for my niece's lunch. I was thinking a Bento box would be perfect for this too. So much better than those yucky sodium-laden lunchables.

Mutantsupermodel

Tuesday 14th of September 2010

Brilliant. You should look into bento boxes. They really turn combination lunches into an art form. I'm absolutely going to have to try your cupcake holders idea. My daughter loves this sort of lunch. I wish my son did too!

Karissa

Tuesday 14th of September 2010

fabulous idea! i love it! so much better then those lunch things! way to go creative mom!

Cate O'Malley

Tuesday 14th of September 2010

Very cute - love the idea of using the silicone cupcake holders!