Improving School Lunches: It Takes a Village
By Amy Hemmert and Tammy Pelstring
Jamie Oliver, Rachael Ray, Chef Ann Cooper, Michelle Obama, these well-respected school lunch advocates are voicing what teachers like Mrs. Q have known for years: the majority of school lunch programs in the US are failing to provide healthy lunches for our kids.
We first became aware of the poor quality of school lunches back when our (now high school!) kids were little. While many parents, teachers, and other school lunch advocates were working to improve school lunch programs for the long haul, we decided to create a more immediate solution that would empower parents with the tools they needed to pack wholesome home-made lunches joyfully and with ease. That’s when we came up with the Laptop Lunches American bento concept.
Featuring 5 stay-fresh containers nestled inside a tray and a set of all-stainless utensils, our bento box allows endless healthy lunch creations from salads, to sushi, to wraps and more. Once packed with wholesome foods, the bento box can be placed inside an insulated mini-laptop case or sleeve, which will keep food fresh and intact until lunchtime.
Because we are strongly committed to providing inspiration and support, each bento set comes with a handy book of creative lunch ideas. And each week, we update our website with healthy lunch menus and photos that will keep your lunches fresh and stress-free. To help jump-start your back-to-school lunch prep, we’ve included a few of our kids’ favorite recipes here.
Egg Salad English Muffin: Add some pizzazz to your everyday egg salad. - Pile it atop a whole grain English muffin and add a lettuce leaf, some sprouts, or sliced tomatoes.
- Oranges can be cut in many ways, and they look great when packed with dark green broccoli, red bell pepper, and yellow egg salad.
- Your favorite dressing will jazz up the veggies as well.
Zucchini Sauté: This garden delight is one of our summer favorites. It’s best prepared when fresh zucchini, garlic, basil, and tomatoes are still in summer abundance. Be sure to try it before fall arrives in earnest.
Cook the wild rice per the instructions on the package. - Prepare the zucchini sauté.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet, then add 2 cloves of minced garlic.
- Sauté 1 sliced zucchini, 2 medium diced tomatoes until tender (but not mushy).
- Add ½ a can of cannellini beans and ¼ cup chopped basil.
- Stir to heat thoroughly, then add salt and pepper to taste
- Top with parmesan cheese and if you like it spicy, add dried, crushed hot peppers.
- Serve with sliced cucumbers in one container a handful of cherry tomatoes and blackberries in the others.
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I love the idea of the laptop lunches! My little guy starts full-day preschool in a week and there's no cafeteria so it'll have to be a packed lunch. It would be so convenient to send one box with him than a whole bunch of separate containers fighting for space (& to stay upright!) in his lunchbox!
i would use it for my boyfriend's lunches. i have some regular sized bento boxes for my lunch, but he needs more food than will fit in those. i've been using rubbermaid containers, but this laptop luchbox will be the perfect size!
What a great way to include leftovers in a kids lunch! And fresh food…not just a sandwich and fruit.
My son just started kindergarten and we're packing lunch to avoid what's served in his school. I'd love a laptop lunch system for him!
I've been to this website, and I LOVE all the lunch ideas. Some of them take a bit of prep which busy moms might not have time for, but some of them are quite quick to prepare. It's so easy to get stuck packing the same thing every day because your are too busy or too exhausted to be creative. This website is really helpful for figuring out how to pack a fun and healthy lunch differently every day.
Love laptop lunches!Have always wanted to have one.
Oh my goodness, I love laptop lunchboxes. I stare longingly at them every time I go to Earth Fare. I would of course give it to my daughter to use….but that wouldn't stop me from being jealous.
Unfortunately, I can't get to the website for some reason. Is the link ok?
I do something similar with my kids and small tupperware containers, but would love to have a system like this. I found that a lot of the bento type products don't have lids that snap and stay shut, or are terribly small. Having a good kit that stays organized would be a great thing.
I particularly like the smaller container which the girls could use for lowfat dressing or salsa for their salads, which now are often soggy by the time lunch rolls around.
The best thing is that systems like this help parents move beyond sandwiches and cookies and pack regular meals with good nutritive value, something I feel very strongly about. Kids just don't need all the carbs and sugars.
With twins, if I won one I wouldn't need to buy two 🙂 but would be compelled to get a second one.
I bought the laptop lunch box,and we use it. However, lunches don't really work the way those pictures indicate –lunch boxes get moved around a lot with kids, thrown into lockers, turned upside down, etc. Complex things can look pretty awful by the time your child opens the lunch box.
In particular, I tried to pack sliced roll-ups, since my daughter prefers those over sandwiches and I'd seen a beautiful picture of them in one of the little boxes. They were a total loss by the time she opened her lunch box 🙂
I love your site and if I won this I would use it for my lunches at work. I don't have any children but want to have portion control for what I eat. Thanks for what you do.
I pack bento-style lunches for my daughter (and have a blog – http://lunchfitforakid.blogspot.com) and I would love to add a laptop lunch to my box collection! They are a super cool product!
FYI, the Laptop Lunches website appears to be down right now (taking Labor Day off?).
I own two sets of laptop lunch kits, and I use mine every day at school – I'm a middle school teacher. We've got several other teachers who are very interested in the same concept and they love the laptop lunch set (even a teacher who spent many years teaching in Japan, where she ate from the authentic Bento boxes).
I've really enjoyed reading this blog. I am a teacher in a middle school and I've seen the poor choices they are faced with for the lunch they are provided. I also see what I believe are the consequences of poor focus and behavior in the afternoons. This year the choice hit closer to home with my son starting kindergarten. I think he would really enjoy packing servings of his favorite foods each morning.
My son just started school, and I want to do my best to pack him healthy lunches. This would be great!
Such a nice lunchbox! I'd give it to my husband, a college professor, who often doesn't have time to eat a "proper" lunch. And I'd make sure that, on the occasions I packed it for him, I include a note. 🙂
Oh, how perfect! I often pack a lunch (so I remember to eat!) and have been longing for a bento box for all my random foodblogger leftovers:) Those laptop lunches look pretty much like the ones I pack – and forget.
I have friends that swear by Laptop Lunches for themselves and their children. I'm dedicated to packing my own lunches for work, but LOVE the idea of smaller containers. I never quite grew out of not liking my foods to touch too much. My lunches tend to be 1/2 portions of leftovers paired with fresh, raw veggies and yogurt.
I'm not sure who would use it honestly! With three kids, plus two adults, all requiring a packed lunch, it'd be in hot demand! I think the divisions of the Laptop Lunch are great, too, for showing proper portions and divisions of meals amongst categories like protein, sweets, etc.
princessenoire@gmail.com
We are moving to a place with a very small refrigerator. I'd use a Laptop Lunch to pack a nice lunch for my husband; so he can grab and go without trying to find which tiny container is which. 😉
I'm having trouble with their links too! I don't think it's anything I did! Hmmm, that's weird though.
I love the idea of this lunch box. I am a graduate student and try to bring a lunch everyday instead of buying the not so healthy options at school that are so tempting. This would be a great help.
Katie
kkanakos699@g.rwu.edu
I would love one of these Laptop Lunch containers to pack my lunches. I have a lot of allergies to virtually everything, so I bring my lunch/dinner/breakfast everywhere I go, including familys' houses, friends' houses, parties, dinners, etc. and it would be great to have something convenient like this to pack it in!
I would use it for myself! Right now I have one and my son hogs it 😉
I took a photo of a co-worker's laptop lunch and shared it with my students in my Culinary Science class the other day. Her lunch packing strategy was to choose foods that would cover all 5 basic tastes and have a little astringency and pungency thrown in, making for a very satisfying and filling meal that comes in under a cool 500 calories.
I have been reading your blog Mrs. Q, and also BentoLunch and I am fascinated! The lunches where I work tend not to be very healthy, and often I can't find something I like. Rather than falling prey to the golden arches next door (boooo!) it'd be great to be inspired to make myself great lunches that are easy to transport, appealing, and filled with my favorite things! I'd love to win one but I think I'll definitely still buy one, especially because I'm like some of the others here, and I HATE my food to touch or mix around when it's not meant to- ick 🙁
Please keep up the amazing and necessary work, I wish you the best of luck xx
harmny_d@yahoo.com
This would be so nice to take when I go to the park with the kiddos. Lots easier than packing several separate containers!!
First time commenting. When I first heard about your blog on another blog, I added this to my google reader. It's a great blog, and I love reading it! Keep it up Mrs. Q!
These American-style bento boxes are so cute and I always thought they were interesting, because bento boxes are something I use often, but in a more organized style! I would use this so I can stop wasting little aluminum foils to put mixed vegetables (or other little food) in and put more side dishes and a dessert rather than having NO dessert! 😀
Ok, I think these are very cool! I know my son would want to use it every day instead of his normal lunch box or buying lunch.
My little girl is only 9 months old, but this would be great for packing her food all day for at her grandma's. Once she starts preschool in a few years, we'll definitely use it then. And, hey, I could use it for my lunches, too. ;o)
Great idea for packing an interesting lunch. This would work great for my daughter, she loves food. My son has a limited diet, he's a very picky eater with sensory issues, but we hope to get passed that some day. This would also allow me to pack his favorites, while not healthy, he could also get a variety of food he will eat. Great idea…
I love this idea. Right now I take my lunch in a plastic bag and anything that doesn't fit well in a tupperware container also goes in a plastic bag. This would eliminate so much waste for me!
If I had a bento box I would eat out of it every day! I think it would also encourage me to eat more home made food, which i am currently trying to achieve and as a college student, that's kinda hard to do.
Having had Japanese bento boxes at restaurants, i can't wait to try to be creative in my meals! I also like the sizes of the box, portion control!
I think if I couldn't do well with the bento box, or if i love it too much, I would also buy a set for my two younger cousins who eat school lunches and fast food galore.
I'm out of the house 11 hours a day and don't like my options to buy food at work. I pack my lunch in an odd assortment of tupperware, which gets bulky – would love to have a nice compact laptop bento box!
I've been eying the laptop lunchbag for awhile. I would love to win!
I love to pack my protein, fruits and veggies in regular storage containers. How lovely would it be to pack my lunch in an official bento box!
I'm a teacher and I've been looking into something like this for taking my own lunches to school. It will also come in handy in a few years when my own children go to school.
My boyfriend works nights and I struggle to offer him something healthy and satisfying to eat. I would use the laptop lunchbag to help me re-think a packed lunch.
I'm a long-time laptop lunch lurker! Last year I posted a link to our school's website to inspire parents to prepare healthy lunches for their children. Even so, I don't have one myself, so I'd love to win!
I have a thing for bento boxes, and have two of these Laptop Lunches sets (I have the pink ones in a black bag with a pink floral motif, R has blue…) I used to pack a daily lunch for my hubby for work when he lived further than 3 minutes away from work. These days, he just comes home for lunch.
I've learned that you have to stack the lunch box pretty full, if you want to keep things intact, even with an adult using it. Another option would be to have more "filler" in there, which is essentially lettuce and other things that fill up the gaps, so the food doesn't get jumbled around.
I warmly recommend the set, though, because it's big enough for an adult's lunch, or for a kid's lunch with a little breakfast or afternoon snack, too. Desserts belong with dinner in my opinion, if at all, so I tend to pack fruit with the lunches.
And the water bottle is great, because it ensures me my spouse drinks at least one portion of something else than diet soda at work… 😉
I would use this for my whole family (I'd need to get 4!). I think I'm very good about feeding my kids healthy foods, but not always great about packing a healthy lunch for myself. I think the separate sections would help me to ensure that everyone is getting healthy sides as well.
I have been looking into getting a bento system for us. I have three kids entering preschool but they all go at different times and the school does not provide lunch. I have one hour in between their classes to feed them. I was thinking of taking a bento each day and having a picnic.
I would love a bento box to bring my lunch on campus so that I won't be tempted to eat at the fast food restaurants for lunch.
I don't have children, but I work for a nonprofit in the food distribution/nutrition sector, and I could use this to educate clients on fun and easy ways to feed their children.
I just started grad school and need to pack lunch everyday, so I would love to have a bento box! I am in a healthcare field and nutrition is very important to me. I have a degree in health education and have also been a substitute teacher, so I love your blog and what you are doing.
I would love to win a laptop lunch system. I would use it for my child's lunch to school. What fun!
My daughter starts kindergarten next fall and a laptop lunch would be perfect for her packed lunch. Unfortunately our school district is waaayyyy behind in the school lunch movement so we will probably be lunch-packers while we work on changing the cafeteria offerings.
I would use this to package a perfectly portioned control lunch for myself. I recently had weight loss surgery and it's difficult to get things just right!
I love these. I almost ordered one this year for school, but didn't because the outercase was made in China. But then I regretted NOT ordering because no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find an insulated carrier that was made anywhere else BUT China.
I would love a laptop lunch! I currently have to pack lunch 2-4 times a week. I'm in my second year of college and am not finishing anytime soon so it would get plenty of use. Thanks for talking about the issues we all care about, Mrs. Q!
I love the idea of laptop lunches! If I won, I would use it myself. As a high school teacher, I love the idea of making my lunch more fun and healthy and modeling good eating habits.