Best Lunch Box Ever : Ideas and Recipes for School Lunches Kids Will Love by Katie Morford, photographs by Jennifer Martiné, RL : ALL AGES
UPDATE: Since this cookbook review was, in part, a confession of the many ways I feel I have failed my children by packing subpar lunches over the years and a proclamation of my determination to do better, I have decided to update this review, sharing my failures and successes and things I learned as I start the school year with a new game plan. Scroll to the bottom of the review to see what's new. . .
This is really going to be more of a confession than a review because packing my kids' lunches is a secret source of frustration and occasional shame for me and writing a review of a books of recipes for school lunches just stirs this all up for me! I came across the fantastic book trailer for Katie Morford's gorgeous new cookbook Best Lunch Box Ever and was in tears by the time it was over. I know I'm being hard on myself, but I think there are at least a few of us out there who absolutely loathe packing our kid's lunches five days a week and also secretly think that in failing to pack our children the perfect lunch we are ultimately neglecting them in a deeply fundamental way. Especially when we know that fabulous, nutritional lunches are being packed into sleek reusable containers then tucked into cute neoprene lunch bags on a daily basis by lots of other parents. We know because these people blog about it and post pictures of it. We know about it because companies sell a plethora of products to help us to not fail our children in this profound way. Gone are the days when you could send your kid out the door with a mini bag of chips, a juice box that would be warm by the time it was consumed, a sandwich in a baggie, maybe a ziploc if you were feeling louche, and a crumbly granola bar all rattling around inside a plastic Powerpuff Girls/Transformers lunch box. Gone are the days when you, the parent, could rest easy because you had no idea what other parents were putting in their kid's lunches. Gone are the days when you could feel successful because you managed to chuck a few prepackaged items into your child's lunch and get everyone out the door mostly on time. Gone are the days when you could push this failure to the back of your mind...
The thing is, I WANT to pack my kids a really great lunch. I always have. And, on occasion, I have done so. When my longtime vegetarian daughter was in high school, I used to make her these amazing sandwiches on lavosh bread with hummus and sprouts and carrots. I'd roll it up and wrap it in plastic and it would be a mushy lump by the time she ate it, six hours later. My youngest happily, so he assures me, ate half an apple with peanut butter on it and a side of pita chips EVERY SINGLE DAY of second grade. And he says he's ready to go that route again for third grade. My middle child is, well, pickier, although I guess you could say that he is more of a connoisseur about what he eats, finding a meat and cheese sandwich that has been in his lunchbox all day lacking in flavor and texture. A few years ago I bought Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook : Pack a Lunch thinking that I - or maybe even he - could find some interesting, tasty recipes that were easy to prepare (because some of the ingredients were pre-made) but I struck out again, realizing that it's not just what you make to go in the lunchbox, it's the lunch box itself that affects the end result. I can send my kids to school with cool leftovers or fancy sandwiches, but they only taste (and hold up) as well as what I pack them in. First, we dabbled in inexpensive bento boxes. I even reviewed Yum-Yum Bento Box : Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches, but I still couldn't find a sweet spot. I decided it was time to invest in some serious Waste-Free Lunch items from a really great website I found: reuseit.com, which is also where I also found some excellent reusable produce bags, freeing up a lot of space under my sink. Now, I think it's time to take it to the next level and make sure that these lovely, waste-free lunch containers are being packed into insulated bags with effective ice packs - not the bag of blue gel that I stored in a baggie when it started to leak.



Chapters focusing on the "main dish" include, "Stellar Sandwiches," "Salads Kids Will Love," "Pinwheels, Pizzas, Wraps, and Roll-Ups," and "Leftovers Made Over." She also covers sides, with everything from fruit and veggie ideas, crunchy extras and goodies. Best of all, there is a final chapter for after school "tide me overs." Finally, Morford provides some names and websites for purchasing those all-important lunch-box supplies, all of which can be found at the website I linked to above. A new era in packing lunches begins for me in two weeks when my waste-free lunch box purchases arrive soon and the new school year begins. For once, I am looking forward to making my kids' lunches!
8/17/13: LUNCH BOX PARAPHERNALIA I PURCHASED!
It took me two days and way more agonizing and thought that I probably should have given this, but I have placed my order with reuseit.com!



10/13/13: WHAT I PACKED FOR LUNCH
The first 6 - 8 weeks of school have gone pretty well and I feel like I have packed lunches I can feel good about on most days. There have been a few days when the boys forgot to get their freezer blocks and lunch box back in the freezer, but we managed. The red lunch bag is starting to show some smudges and I'll have to figure out how to clean it and the lid to one of the sandwich boxes cracked and I need to look into getting it replaced.
Son #1: Deconstructed Caprese, minus the tomatoes (P 42 from Best Lunch Box Ever), veggies, chips, an apple and a protein bar for milk break.
Son #2: Turkey sandwich, crackers, apple & PB, baby carrots and a protein bar for milk break.
Below: All packed up and ready to go. Or be forgotten on the counter...
Source: Review Copy