Lunch on the Go!

stashed under the front seat of the car

So ever since spring, basically when soccer started, it seemed like we were always on the go during lunch time. While (some) adults can usually tough it out until whenever the next meal may occur, kid's have a bit of a harder time with this. Not to mention the fact that wherever we are when we decide to grab a bite, might not be what the children had in mind (ie. Liam). So that, plus that fact that it's cheaper, caused me to start keeping an assortment of snacks (we'll just call them "lunch" - let's not get started on the "snack food" issue) in the car in case the need should arise. It's hard to keep truly healthy food in a place where it's going to get hot, and possibly sit there for a long time, but here's what I've come up with for my "lunch on the go" bag: peanut butter crackers (rather than the cheese & crackers, which has less protein, and fake cheese), GoGo Squeeze Applesauce (so much easier than the little cups), fruit crisps (it's fruit, can't feel too bad about it), fruit snacks, fruit leather, kid-sized granola bar, lollipop, and usually there's a baggie of goldfish rolling around in the back of the car as well.

I keep 'em busy!

-I try to feed them organic where I can, when I can - trying to make it just a little bit healthier. I stock up on organic snacks usually when they're on sale, I think only the crackers and fruit crisps aren't. 

-There are two of everything in the bag, if they eat something I replace it as soon as I can. 

-If it's lunch time, the kids must eat the crackers first and applesauce, then can pick out 1-2 more things. 

-If it's snack time (basically afternoon only), they can pick out 1-2 items.

-If it's cranky-time, but we are out at a store, the mall, wherever - a snack can certainly make that activity much more bearable and save me some cash.

It's so nice not to have to stop in the middle of an activity to head home for lunch, and makes me feel better than if I was getting them nuggets and fries on the go.