School Lunches

It was a real challenge to figure out what to send with Owen for school lunches. He was only 4, and was about to be doing full day kindergarten! He is a very picky eater and I worried about what I could pack in his lunch that he would eat!
I revised an idea I stole from Martha Stewart, back when she had a kids' magazine. It was the BEST. Most of the ideas are on her website, but it's just not the same. Okay, I'm getting off topic here...


I made a chart for the fridge with colour-coded pockets.

Orange is the MAIN thing (sandwich, muffin, cheese and crackers, bagel and cream cheese...)

Green is FRUIT and VEGETABLES

Yellow is a SNACK (apple sauce, rice cakes, fish crackers, fruit leather, yogurt...)

Blue is a TREAT (cookies, granola bar ...) 

I cut and pasted images (Google images) of his favourite foods (or at least those I knew he'd eat), printed them and glued them to the corresponding colour of cardstock.

In the morning, or night before, Owen chooses which foods he would like to have and puts them in the pockets. I was afraid he would choose the same thing every time, but amazingly, he chose a variety of options. 

If I didn't have a certain food, I didn't put that card out. I also encouraged him to try and add foods to the list over the year, especially in the fruit and veg category. He's slowly coming around.

I hope this helps your lunch-making!