Food for kids…(what to pack for lunch, quick breakfast, and more…)
Posted on January 31, 2010 by Sarah in Breakfast, Food, Lunch, MealPlan, News | 14 Comments
If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me, “What do you feed your kids when eating Paleo?” I would be a gazillionaire… The short answer is, they eat what I make - and what I allow in my house. If you only have healthy options available in YOUR house, there will not be any need for arguing, negotiating, begging, or pleading. ALL the food in my house can be eaten whenever my kids want to eat it, there is no “special” food, reward food, or “dessert” food. If we DO have ice cream in the house, or chocolate, the kids can eat it. BUT this does not happen very often and if we want a dessert like ice cream we leave the house to get it. This way – it’s over, it’s done, and there are no crying fits for dessert after every meal. A big treat in my house is sliced strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries with a drizzle of honey and served with home made whipped cream or served in a bowl with almond milk.
Next big question I have been getting, what do I pack my kids for lunch? Pictured is what my 6 year old will have for his school lunch tomorrow. It’s a tupperware of chicken and hard boiled egg salad, carrot sticks, dried cranberries and pistachios, and mandarins. Sometimes school lunch will be deli meat, celery sticks, apple slices, and a dried fruit bar from Trader Joes. My 14 year old usually packs his own lunch of pastrami, celery and carrots, an apple, and cashews. Sometimes he chooses to eat hot lunch and comes home feeling like crap. He’s 14 and understands what happens when he makes his own choices.
Another question that often arises is how do we handle the need for a quick breakfast: My oldest is typically our breakfast guy. I teach early morning classes 5 day’s a week so my husband and kids are on their own most mornings. We buy a lot of already cooked bacon from Trader Joe’s that takes 30 seconds in the microwave, my son will scramble up a half dozen eggs, and then my husband packs individual tupperwares of eggs and bacon for everyone and they all eat in the car. Sometimes I’ll make a big batch of sweet potato and sausage hash that lasts a few days or I’ll make a giant frittata that we eat throughout the week. Hard boiled eggs are a must and I recommend always having a dozen ready to go in the fridge and you can see from my pics that hard boiled eggs do not have to be boring! : )
Also pictured is a bunch of after school snacks as well as food I always have in the car such as tupperwares full of nuts, dried unsweetened cherries, and pieces of beef jerky. I never leave home without a bag of beef jerky, dried blueberries, sliced apples and nuts. My kids are ALWAYS hungry when I pick them up from school and with food in my car there is never even a request for fast food. At this point my kids understand that fast food is horrendous anyways, in fact, my 6 year old got into a huge debate with his teacher the other day – his argument being that no one should EVER go to McDonald’s. She was teaching a health unit and mentioned that it is possible to find healthy choices at McDonald’s and that eating fast food periodically is ok… For those of you who know my 6 year old, you can probably imagine this conversation…
So, those of you with kiddos, you can make it happen!! Don’t be neurotic, but be strong. Remember, the food that enters your house is there because it was YOUR decision. If my kids go to a friend’s house or to a party, I DON”T attach a note to their foreheads reading that they cannot eat gluten or sugar, I just rest assured that 95% of the time they have real, quality food, and I SEE that they are healthy, active, and overall pretty amazing kiddos….
Woohoo – you answered my question – thank you! This is extremely helpful and I really appreciate it that you took the time to post the write-up and pictures. I have been pretty guilt-laden for a long time about my ‘double-standard’ of having ‘healthy’ food for me and ‘not-as-healthy’ for my kids. I don’t buy them full-on junk, nor desserts, but they have grains and sugar and I don’t. I’m going to make this transition although I am nervous about the back lash since my kids have already formed habits since they are 12 and 8. When did you convert your 14 year old and how did that transition go? Sounds like he’s a helpful and agreeable kid, so kudos!
Wow, within five minutes I got this post AND a similar post in my feed reader from Marks Daily Apple. Is there some kind of caveman underground communication network happening?
I’d also like to hear more about your teenager. My daughter is 13 and I can only convince her to eat maybe three paleo/primal meals a week. She has no problem eating some steak or a venison burger patty (or two), but isn’t as keen on vegetables. Most evenings she makes pasta for herself. Oh, and she has a bagel for breakfast every day even though I offer her eggs.
My kids are 12 and 14, and are not on board with Primal eating. I still buy them white flour and sugar (they bake), crackers, and pasta, even though I feel very conflicted about it. Dinners are Primal, but they might add to what we make; for instance, tonight we are having meatballs and roasted broccoli, and the kids are making pasta to go with the meatballs. They make their own breakfast and lunch. My daughter has been a horribly picky eater her whole life, and we still have lots of power struggles over food. I try to educate and offer healthier choices whenever I can, but they are in the eye-rolling phase. It can get very frustrating!
This is a great post! Thanks. I have a 7 month old, so we are not yet at the stage where we are making meals for him besides formula and the like, but this is good stuff for the future.
To the two previous commenters worried about their kids’ backlash: what the hell? Aren’t you the grownups? Why are you worried about what a 13 or 12 year old thinks? Get rid of the junk in the house and tell them they are going to eat what you put on the table. Simple as that.
They may go on a hunger strike, but I don’t think it’s going to last very long.
Fantastic post! Thank you for sharing. Lots of great ideas and very motivating. Have you ever tried Larabars as an on the go treat/snack? They are great! I need to get to TJ’s to stock up. Haven’t made the hour trip in months. Thank again!
Sarah is so right, Amy. The kids will eat what is in the house and after a while the things they miss will be forgotten.
I don’t make mention of the meal when I serve it. I just put it on the table without and word and she and her brothers eat what they like (which is usually everything) and leave the rest for the neighbor’s chickens.
My daughter is 14 years old and her body is working against her hormonally. Acne, chubbiness, moodiness, etc. I offer her a totally paleo dinner and breakfast every day and she never complains because it’s what she sees me eating as of late. She doesn’t feel like I am asking her to give things up that I haven’t and knows I want her to be healthy. This small change (in just a few weeks) is helping her weight, her skin and her demeanor.
Hi Annika,
I understand your frustrations, and my only bit of advice would to only purchase and have available food that you WANT to have your kids eating. I refuse to have anything with gluten in my house, and like I mentioned in my post, if I CHOOSE to buy a treat like ice cream, there are no power struggles, we just eat it. Otherwise, I put the food on the table, and if my kids are hungry, they eat it. No arguing, struggling, or other choices. My 14 year old understands the health risks associated with eating non paleo food items, therefore he has no argument. If HE chooses to eat non paleo foods outside of my home, I by no means punish him or even tell him not to, but as he begins to notice more and more how much better he feels when he sticks to Paleo foods, he starts to make better choices outside of our home. Again, my advice is to choose not to make a bid deal about food. Offer what you have purchased and prepared and if you hear complaining, calmy say, “Oh, it sounds like you are unhappy with what’s for dinner. Well, this is all we have so if you are hungry, you are welcome so what I have made.” That’s it. They won’t starve, I promise…. : )
Hi Amy,
Like I mentioned to my post to Annika, I recommend not supplying the foods that you do not want your daughter to eat. I do not buy any food that I do not want in my house and my 14 year old son soon realized that what we have is what we have and he no longer notices or complains. Futhermore, expaining why we eat the way we do and getting the kids, younger and older ones too, involved in the meal preperation is helpful as well. Kids will not starve themselves, and if your daughter throws a fit, be gentle and understanding and say with a smile, “If you are hungry, this is what we have to eat.”
We only recently transitioned to the paleo lifestyle…back in November. I have an extremely picky 8 year old and 5 year old who is just as happy eating asparagus and chicken as he would be eating pizza! When we started, I printed out a couple ’short version’ explainations from the internet of why eating this way is best for our bodies. My 8 year old was very interested by it all. He felt a part of our descision, although it was ultimately up to my husband and I, of course.
We talked with him in the beginning about our eating choices and how hard it was for us too those first couple of weeks, but after a while he began to take pride in his good choices and it got so much easier! It is amazing to see him eating…and enjoying…so many foods that I never dreamed he would!!
Oh, and did I mention with the diet changes he was able to come off his ADHD med?? He is doing AMAZING!!! He will NEVER take them again!!
Hi, brilliant post, extremely useful. My husband has coeliac disease and our two girls are highly likely to develop it (30% compared with 1% for “normal” people) at some point in their life. We are extremely motivated to keep the whole family fighting fit and paleo is fitting well. One tricky aspect is with their nursery care, where meals are provided, and communicating their dietary needs without sounding whacky. The cook, thankfully is superb, and we supply them with the more expensive items, such as almond milk powder and gluten free products. A top breakfast for them is home-made chocolate smoothie – avocado, coconut milk and fat, banana and 70% cocoa powder – absolutely delicious.
I always have a supply of nuts, seeds and dried fruit on hand, and mostly (but not always) they don’t just squirrel out the fruit.
I’ll keep checking out this site for ideas in future, thanks
Lyndsay
PS my kids have never needed anti-biotics and I firmly believe that’s due to their healthy diet (and breast-feeding but that’s a whole other debate!)
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Great ideas and suggestions. I’ve been working on getting the good stuff in the babies. This will help.
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I am so glad I found your blog! I’m subscribing via bloglines right away. I’ve been doing Menu Planning Monday for a while now, and it has saved me so much time and energey – and money. But I haven’t really yet found a resource like yours to provide paleo recipes that are family friendly. We are having your meatloaf tonight – probably with some kind of a tomato topping, but that meal looks great!