100 Zero Waste Kids Lunches, Day 5

Kale sesame salad, pan fried tofu bites, cheddar dill scone (place on a bed of two bacon halves if kiddo needs a little extra), and blueberries– get them while they’re still in season.

Today I prepared a sesame kale salad from 4 leaves of dinosaur kale. I roll them and then thinly slice them (the Brazilian method). Add a drizzle of sesame oil, spritz a little Braggs (or soy sauce if you prefer) and top with yummy sesame seeds. If dino kale is too strong for your kiddo, even after it’s been doused in salt and oil, try other kinds of kales or even collards which are fairly mild. Whatever it takes to get some fresh greens in.

The tofu is firm and I slice them to roughly the size of half a domino. Pan fry them on a cast iron pan drizzled with sesame oil. Brown both sides which deliver a crisp that is still soft on the inside. Sprinkly sesame seeds once they have cooled and pack them. You can prepare both in less than 10 minutes.

I’ve included some mini cheddar dill scones. Look for the step-by-step recipe in a different post. Enjoy!

Here is a close up of what the kale actually looks like.

100 Zero Waste Kid Lunches, Day 4

Posted by mrsinkredible

Pele loved boiled eggs (some days it’s mashed into egg salad). Even more than plain boiled eggs, he loves deviled eggs. He went through a spell when he asked me not to pack them because someone at school recognized the distinct stench of sulphur. Of course the 6 year old mind doesn’t grasp the science behind it– that smell can only come from one place. I was initially sad as it was quite easy to prepare deviled eggs on a Sunday and then just drop them in his lunchbox daily. That was kindergarten. This is first grade– the deviled eggs are back!

For this lunch the hard boiled eggs are resting on a nest of aioli. Salad is organic red leafed lettuce with dried dates, apples and an oli/garlic red vinegar dressing on the side. Bread is olive bread dipped in garlicky olive oil. And sliced raw carrots. Some of you may say, my kid will not go near salad. My mantra is, if they grow it, they will eat it. You can grow lettuce on your porch or your window sill in very shallow bowls, plates, pots. Pele started off with parsley. He saw our neighbor’s goats eating some and he couldn’t get enough! I’ve also added a couple of cubes of cheese with the carrots. For his fruit, we flow with the seasons and it’s pomegranate season in these parts. He doesn’t find eating the fruit at all tedious. I just make sure that he’s wearing a black shirt and sweats on these days.

Enjoy!

100 Zero Waste Kid Lunches, Day 3

Posted by mrsinkredible

Baked buttermilk chicken “finger”, curried macaroni salad, potato-kabocha latkes with a side of apple sauce.

Apple sauce! This batch was Jona Gold, Honey Crisp, and Mac.

100 Days of Zero Waste Kid Lunch Ideas

Posted by mrsinkredible

This is day one of a project that I’ve been excited to blog about. My oldest son is in the first grade and we have been packing Zero Waste lunches since preschool. At the start of each school year, my friends and I are all at a loss for ideas of what to pack for lunch. We share our ideas and then we forget them. I thought, if I could catalog our lunches (I say 100 because some days are just, “PBJ- we’re running-late-get-your-shoes-on” days) then not only would I have something to look back on, I could share my ideas with other stumped parents as well. I will keep a Zero Waste tag so those posts are easily searchable. These recipes/ gastronomical templates will be simple– as much as I love Bento art and cookie cut sandwiches, this Mama is on the run and I try to keep it simple.

Our primary lunch box containers are from LunchBot. It works for us. As a preschooler Pele (his www alias) did need help opening the containers so if that poses an issue with your DCP/Preschool Director, I suggest you look elsewhere. We own several now– Duo, Quad, etc. I recently bought one online and found the lid was mismatched and wasn’t shutting properly, the company was quick to replace it for me. Yes I know that plastics are now BPA free but my take on it is that someday, be it 20 years or 5 months, that Ziploc container is going to be landfill. I’m no Scientist but I just don’t trust that other things aren’t gradually leaching out of plastic onto my children’s food. Metal, on the other hand? I still use my grandmother’s cast iron and ceramic pots– my mother ate food from them and so have I and so far so good. Any leaching is taking place at a ridiculously slower rate. All that to say, I don’t pack my kiddos food in plastic.

So I though I’d share our, “Sushi” lunch with you first. Parents are always so impressed and think that it’s really labor intensive. The way I’ve laid it out, it’s anything BUT. I have no fancy bamboo equipment, don’t use any vinegars. Leftover jasmine rice cant be warmed up slightly. My avocado was not ripe today so I just used smoked salmon/lox. I’ve used avocado with cucumber on some days and salmon and avocado on others. When using salmon, because I heat the rice a tad, I always put Pele’s lunch container in the freezer for roughly 5 minutes, just to keep the sushi at a uniform cool temperature before I place it in his lunch box. I don’t use ice packs except with yogurt.

Enjoy!

Salmon “Sushi”, Monterey Jack Cheese chunks with pretzels for snack, fruit salad (melon, blueberries, apples, bananas) with a drizzle of Orange Blossom extract

Zero Waste, right down to the cloth napkin. Spork is from Life Without Plastics.com,

Lunchbox is designed by Soy Young. So far, so good– easy to clean if you keep the foil insert inside. Wish the handle wasn’t velcro, just a clasp would suffice.