The summer break is almost over and my daughter is due to go back to school soon.
Beyond clothing and books, an important part of getting ready is ensuring that she has the right tools to take the right foods to school.
As you know, we try to eat healthy and this is also true of most of the foods that she eats at school. However, it can be a daunting task to pack up healthy foods for school. Especially with a child like mine that actually likes to eat cucumbers, tomatoes and other perishable veggies and fruits.
To give a good picture of our challenges, you will need to know that her lunch bag is packed just before 0600hrs and the food has to stay fresh for at least 6 hours from that time. She eats at about 0900hrs and again around 1100hrs. Sometimes, she leaves some things until after school and eats them in the car on the way back. So, there needs to be a solution for keeping some food cold and keeping some warm.
Water
She has run through all of her water bottles now. It is either they break or she misplaces them. They look like this:
My criteria for choosing water bottles is that it must be easy to wash thoroughly. No parts should be a hard to reach or built in such a way that they are not easily dismountable. I do not allow straws because they are hard to clean and an easy vehicle for bacteria.
These bottles are built for water as I do not typically give my daughter juice for school. Juice will need a Thermos and that is something I do not have right now.
I usually buy these simple water bottles at Iponri Market. However, it is so difficult to find BPA free ones that have no straws, without walking around the market for at least 15 minutes, that I am going to buy them on Amazon this time. #Aintnobodygottimeforthat
Hot Foods
Source
We have had this (the pink one on your right) for 2 terms now. I bought it at Iponri Market and while they are quite good at keeping food warm, my challenge has been that it is a bit too wide for her lunch bag and school bag.
I am now going to purchase this model as it is longer and not as wide as the aladdin food flask.
It is a Thermos so I can still expect it to keep food warm. The downside is that it has no compartments, so that means that we will only do soups and one plate meals in them. Shouldn’t be a problem at all!
Dry snacks and Fruits/General Hold all
I have just purchased this. It is not even here yet, so I can’t take a picture of mine, hence the stock photo. There are 3 sections, one large one to the left and 2 smaller ones to the right. The bowl is leak proof from section to section so I can pack things like crackers, tomatoes, carrots and even a little yoghurt in there…all in different compartments at the same time.
It is quite easy to clean and also quite cheap at approximately $6.
Ice Packs
This is essential for keeping fruits and other perishables cold until my daughter can eat her snacks. I had to stop giving her bananas because they would just go soft and inedible in the humid darkness of her bag before lunch time. I have several ice-packs and move them from freezer to bag. These (pictured above) are the type I have. They are bendable which enables me to wrap them around the Ziploc bowls as I wish.
You can buy ice packs in most pharmacies. They typically have the ones in rigid plastic though…not flexible like the ones I use.
Insulated Lunch bag
To put all these things in, we have this bag which I bought online at Land’s End. This will then be placed in her bag…yes the current one is big enough to hold it all.
That is it for now. Cutlery is plastic cutlery that I bought from Ikea years ago. We are going through it one spoon and fork at a time. When it runs out *a.k.a all misplaced* I will buy another one.
When school opens, I will share with you what actually makes up school lunch.
