Before I totally let this slide, several folks had asked about MyFavoriteKid's lunchbox items the other day.
Well, what you have there in 'dem little boxes are:
orange slices
cherry tomatoes
grilled chicken strips
and edamame (soy beans)
Not that you couldn't figure that out on your own.
What you guys really wanted to know, was what was in that there baggy, which would be a mixture of:
nori (seaweed) wrapped rice crackers, tamari flavored, I think
...plus some of these teriyaki nori strips...
..along with a bag of some of your standard issue "fruit snack" gummy things, that are basically made of, well...CRAP.
Here's another one of MyFK's lunch boxes for you, just because ya' really care LOL...
PLAIN steamed green beans
PLAIN pasta
shrimp
cherries
more of those sicko gummy snacks
and these absolutely nasty tasting chip thingies that he loves and I can't even get close to the smell of:
NASTY.
N.A.S.T.Y.
And those aren't even the right flavor, dudes. The "good ones" are spicy garlic, which you think might mask the stinky shoe smell, but somehow it enhances it.
For the record, I do not "get" my kid to eat a healthy lunch. What you are seeing above is a fine example of MyFK's issue with mixed foods. Allow me to illustrate. MyFk WILL eat a grilled beef patty, plain noodles, cheese, and tomatoes...but he will NOT eat lasagna. All. Ingredients. Must. Remain. Separate. MyFK is sooooo bugged by combined items, that certain foods can't even touch each other on a plate.
Last week I showed MyFK a brochure about a really cool summer camp experience that he is finally old enough to go to this upcoming summer. He'd be gone for 5 nights, so it would be his first big camp-a-long thing (up until now he's only gone to summer daycamp). He looked at the pamphlet and completely ignored the photos of the kids jumping creeks and learning archery. All he had to say was that he was totally freaked about that fact that he'd starve to death. Then he asked if I could send lunches every day.
MyFK doesn't eat PB+J, burritos, tacos, sandwiches, any most of the stuff most kids like. Some kids you can get to try anything if you provided a sauce to make it more intersting, but not my kid. He'll take his broccoli plain, thank you very much. Nothing gets dipped into sauces except for french fries into ketchup, or strips of steak into a little "jus". I mean, I cant even pour syryup on his pancakes. It has to be in a separate little dish and he has to dip into it. If we go to a restaurant, he probably wont eat off the kids menu, but will order grilled salmon. He'll eat oysters, but not a baked potato. The kid is a total trip.
So again, I dont get him to eat anything. This is the way HE eats! And totally missing out on his mom's culinary talents too, I must say (I actually went to culinary school and was a professional caterer!).
So there you have it.
Nothing connived or scientific here.
If you want to see an example of that, look here at the lunches of someone who goes really nutzo with the little plastic boxes. Check out this example, found at VeganLunchbox. Very healthy, and I admire her creativity and dedication, but....
It's a little too "Martha" for my blood. And we aren't vegan anyhow (although I used to be).
All I have in common with the VeganLunchBox lady is the assorted little containers to keep things nice and separate ;-)
11 comments:
Beautiful lunches, even without tigers. Well. Maybe especially without tigers. Though I do admit to making odd little creations out of food to please my short bosses.
What, you didn't have time to cut the nori strips into little flower stems and leaves and mould the shrimp chips into flowers? You must be lazy, my friend (number one reason to hate Martha: for making parents feel guilty for buying trail mix for their kids rather than making homemade trail mix and lovingly toasting each nut separately. Ugh).
I love that he eats shrimp and shrimp chips in the same meal, even. But it sounds like, for all the quirks, he's making pretty balanced choices.
There are lovely lunches and quite nutritious compared to what my kids will eat. Well, I take that back; Nick will eat anything -- sushi, Thai, mexican, broccoli and he begs for salmon when we go to Whole Foods. The other two? They think that Cheezits satisfies their daily dairy requirement.
But what I've learned is what I think you have learned: you can't get excessively invested in what your kids will and won't eat. You can't make them eat, and we've always had much more success waiting until they're ready to try something instead of "making" them eat it. Of course, this lesson was sped along by the fact that my oldest would projectile vomit if a food he didn't like passed his lips.
What a healthy eater!
There is something to be said for his not wanting food mixed, he's certainly eating well.
You can make my lunch any day!
Hey Bon, my kid would live on Double Noodle soup and pasta for the rest of her life if she had her way. Lunches are usually one of those, with V8 Juice, mini tomatos and today the last of the bag of Cheetos. She wants the bag so she can shake out the dust, lick the remains off the silvery side and spread the bag open like a reflector and "tan" during recess. Sheesh...
Michael
I keep thinking it's my biggest failing as a parent that neither of my kids will eat PB&J. Or Bananas. I thought these were universal kid foods! But don't give up, help is on the way in the form of raging hormones and growth spurts. Max (the pickier of the two, by far) will now try new things and will occasionally eat what's put in front of him without remembering he doesn't like it until he has scarfed it up. And then he can be found standing in front of the fridge 10 minutes later stating "I'm hungry."
Be careful what you wish for!
If FK loves shrimp chips, consider making "fresh" ones for him. They're much better than the packaged version. My mother would make them as a special treat. They start off as plastic-like discs and transform into chips when you dunk them in hot oil. Hmmm...hot oil. Maybe not such a good suggestion. But they are yummy.
Karen the Dancing Lurker
Any kid who eats shrimp crackers and seaweed rice crackers is OK by me! Yummy! now off to find a snack....
Your kid eats waaaaaaay better than I do!! The school nurse lectured me today on my steady diet of frozen pepperoni pizza. It was only a little embarassing...
Good for him for making the healthy choices.
A few years ago I was setting the table for a holiday dinner at my then in-laws. Mom-in-law handed me the stack of plates and a small pile of little saucer-type things. "Put these at T's place instead of a plate," she said. When I asked about it, she said that her 45-year-old son did not like for his food to touch, and it was easier to give him a bunch of little plates than to watch him struggle to keep the foods from touching each other. I made sure to sit far enough away from him so that he didn't have to watch me mix the corn into the mashed potatoes and spread cranberry sauce on my turkey.
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