School Lunches for Older Kids

[Holli]

My daughter is having a tough time not only with our fairly new vegan lifestyle, but also with the raw aspect of it. She just wants to be like everyone else with their wonderbread sandwiches and packaged fruit snacks-:eek:

Anyway, I just found out that she actually is really embarrassed about her lunches. She told me she hides her food and takes little bites when no one is looking! And, I haven't even been packing her anything super "raw-weirdo"- she normally has fresh fruit, some cut up veggies, trail mix, and maybe some pita bread or chips or something. But, this whole food change is really bothering her. I'd like to help her. I know there was a thread about lunches for littlier kids...some of the ideas may work for her, but I was wondering for those of you with older kids what you pack them for lunch? Any "cool" ideas that she would not be emabarrassed to eat?

[michigan roman]

my thought is a very hearty salad . pack the salad , the dressing , the nuts / seeds seperately to then be constructed upon eating .

besides the heavily stocked with vegis like broccoli and mushroom salad , and the possibly very hearty heartified with avacado dressing are either coarsely chopped walnuts or slightly chopped sesame seeds to give the salad a heavy fuel source .

now your daughter can present this meal as a VERY HEALTHY / VERY HEARTY
meal type with zero stress factor :cool:

and the outlook ide fortify her with in order to give her solid ground to stand on against any critical comments is " maybe youve noticed the factual data that americans are thee most obese people on earth , i dont plan on being overweight and illhealthful by age 40 from the obviously flawed standard american diet . and i guarantee you that im getting every bit of protein - vitamin - mineral - fiber i need right here in this hearty salad so if youve any criticism of it ide have to TOTALLY disagree with your opinion and rather not continue the discusion because this is what ive decided is proper cell fuel and im not changing my mind ! ! " :cool:

HEARTY SALADS OWN :D

* in case not familar with the word 'own' used in this manner it means hearty salads are better than cooked stuff like breads

[michigan roman]

ps - and if a bread type food is needed ide be dehydrating these flat bread type recipes people make to make it a hearty salad and bread meal which should be very easy to stand for .

[kaleidoscopeeyes]

Definitely include some sort of raw dessert!

[justinesmith]

I was thinking of Alissa's crepes when I read your post ~ they are so filling and delicious and easily packed in a tupperware container. My dh loves to take them to work. Sadly, being 35 years old and a mother to two little girls, I have no idea what is cool anymore. :o I would think a raw piece of pie would be o.k. too.... ? Good luck ~ it's hard to be cool. :)

[slickerk]

ooh, I agree! A salad is great, but dessert is better. Plus, everyone will think that she is totally cool because mom sends her pie for lunch instead of ham and cheese!

[rainbowgirl]

raw donut holes (ani phyo)

raw chilli

calzones or pizza raw

dates/raisins/raw nuts and seeds mixed together with other dehydrated fruit

mock tuna salad (no one has to know but her it's not tuna)

fajitas or taco salad

breads dehydrated

grapes or apple

bread with almond butter on it and bananas and honey

brownies

cake

balls (seeds/nuts/dates/honey) rolled in coconut



these are all things my kids think are cool.

[Holli]

You guys are great. Thanks for the ideas. She actually loves salads. We went out of town and got back very late Mon Night. There was no food to make her a lunch and I'd pretty much rather her be hungry than eat at the caf at her school, so I ran to a sub place that was open and had them throw all their raw veggies into a container...she thought that was cool. So maybe I should just do that again, save the container, and make her a new salad each day-then her friends will think she gets food "out" every day for lunch! (For some reason, I can make the exact same dish, but if I buy it somewhere else, she likes it and it's WAY cooler-go figure!)

Justine- I'm with you. I'm 28 and I'm still not up on the "cool" standards. And, from what I can see of what the kids these days think are cool, I'm going to take that as a compliment!