Lunch Box Fun

Most folks think that because my children are homeschool, that I don't really fuss about lunch boxes and packing lunches. Well that is true to an extent. My children are homeschool, and on occasions, I do have to pack a lunch or a snack. I pack a light lunch or snack when we go to the park, children's museum, zoo, ballet classes, summer camp or vacation bible school. As a single parent I try my best to save money and bringing our lunches or a snack with us to the zoo , children's museum or the park is a wonderful option for us. We will sit in the little picnic area and eat our lunch and enjoy each other company.  These lunch boxes are perfect for my children and I can assure that they have a healthy well balance lunch or snack while we are out and about without being tempted to stop and get some fast food.

Now I like to get creative with our food and make things fun. I want my children to remember eating fruit cut into shapes and having their sandwiches not cut in triangles but in planes and trains. How do i accomplish this??? I use large size cookie cutters. I was buying sandwich cutters but I found those to be a waste of money and the large stainless steel cutters work better. So I suggest investing in plenty of those. Also remember it is easier to cut your bread, then your meat, etc ; separately, That is a lot easier and you get cleaner cuts versus trying to cut a already build sandwich. 

I also brought what is called fondant cutters , they are just simply really small cookie cutter type things that bakers used to cut shapes into fondant. I use them to cut shapes into fruit, I have even used them on cheese slices sometimes instead of the regular cookie cutters. 

I don't know about you but I enjoy seeing the looks on my kids faces when they see how creative I got with their lunches. I just don't do this when I have to pack a lunch or a snack , but I do it when we are at the house as well. Somedays I don't have the time do extra special lunches so , on days when I take the time to cut up everything in cute little shapes, the looks on their faces is priceless. 

How much food I put inside depend on the activity , and rather I was packing a lunch or a snack. During the summer my kids went to a summer camp that required me to pack them a lunch for the 4 hours they were there, so I packed a well balance healthy lunch for them with the occasional treat. When they went to vacation bible school which was 2 hours long; it was required that they have a snack sent with them, so I filled their lunch boxes with healthy snack options.