Breakfast & Lunches on School Days

I've often needed help coming up with ideas for meals-to-go! Here are a few links that I found this week that are REALLY helpful!

-- Have you heard of Bento Boxes? Great lunch ideas ... and so cute! :http://alphamom.com/family-fun/how-to-make-a-kids-bento-box/

-- a GREAT list of ideas for things to pack (broken down by "carbs/tummy fillers," "proteins," "veggies," etc.: http://wendolonia.com/blog/2009/07/15/lunch-box-ideas/

-- and this one is a "lunch box idea roundup" with links for ideas from Family Fun, Good Housekeeping, etc. There are some great ideas here too: http://www.babycheapskate.com/2010/08/09/lunch-bpx-idea-r...

Hope this helps!

On alternating weekends, make up a big batch of french toast, pancakes or waffles and put them in the freezer. On school mornings, just pop them in the toaster or the microwave and you have breakfast in a flash. You can also make up 6 or so hardboiled eggs ahead of time and keep them in the fridge for up to a week. You can also beat together some eggs with a little bit of milk, add some cheese, ham and/or veggies, pour them into a muffin tin and bake them for 20 or so minutes to make individual crustless quiches that freeze really well and microwave up very fast. And you can also freeze a batch of muffins and microwave those up as well.

As for lunch, our children usually get some type of sandwich, baby carrots or other type of vegetable or fruit, a small bag of chips and a juice box. Not very imaginative I'm afraid, but it one of the small ways I have of simplifying my life.

Hope this helps.

For breakfast ..... (it's always a good idea to have some protein)
oatmeal
bagel and cream cheese
my daughter loves egg salad
yogurt
fruit
hard boiled egg
toast or english muffin with peanut butter
quiche (you can make it on the weekend, warm it up or serve cold on school days)

I often make a breakfast burrito the night before and microwave it in the morning. Oatmeal. Fruit smoothie and toast on the go.

I make breakfast for my son all the time. I also like to be able to make things quickly because of the morning rush. I don't know how really "healthy" they are, but i never let him leave home without eating. He likes to have bacon sandwiches, bacon and eggs, omeletts, hot pockets, cereal. We only cook turkey bacon, so it is really easy to microwave. only 2 1/2 minutes. When he wants a bacon egg sandwich, so I scramble the egg in a dish and microwave it for only 45 seconds. He gets breakfast in less than 3 minutes!

I plan to give mine oatmeal, grits, bread and egg, boiled eggs, bananas, nuts...

For a quick, on-the-go healthy breakfast, we love making waffle sandwiches. I use two Eggo Nutri grain low fat waffles, toast them, spread with peanut butter, then top with sliced banana or apple. They are tasty, delicious, and can be eaten easily in the car. Hope this helps!!!

I usually feed my kids oatmeal! It is healthy and you can add in a lot of things to make it taste better, like cinnamon and cut up apples, pecan pieces and maple syrup, coffee creamers, frozen blueberries, brown sugar. My kids also like the flavored instant oatmeal. We have also done the "just add milk" muffin mixes and egg in toast(you use a cookie cutter to cut the center of a piece of bread out- put it onto a hot, greased frying pan, break an egg into it and cook until done- flipping once. toast the inside piece of bread alongside it- very easy)
we have also done vanilla yogurt with frozen berries and granola. As for lunches, we just do sandwiches(pb&j) with juice or milk money, an orange or apple(you can slice it or get the apple sauce) crackers, and a cookie. You can also pack a small bag of trail mix for a snack after school for the one who has activities later. We also do the finger sized carrots.
Good luck!
~C.

My kids like the Kelloggs Chocolate Frosted Mini Wheats. The nutrition facts are the same for the regular Frosted Mini Wheats. I like them because they are high fiber and low calorie and delicious. It is one of the ways I get both whole grains and fiber into my kids diet.

I always try to do whole grain and high fiber chooses for the grains my family eats.

My mother, who is a school teacher says that in her training classes periodically they teach that a high protein breakfast helps concentration.
Proteins would consist of Milk and meat and grains.

The Kelloggs Frosted Mini Wheats has the same amount of protein per serving as a piece of breakfast sausage.