Fuentes - The best homemade kids lunches on the planet : make lunches your kids will love with more than 200 deliciously nutritious meal ideas

Finally, a lunch book with a focus on health! Laura knows how to take the panic out of making daily lunch and serves up ideas parents can actually manage. This book should be required reading! MELISSA LANZ, author of The Fresh 20 Cookbook Variety, lunch-packing tips, and food pictured how its actually sent to schoolthis book takes the guesswork out of how to pack fresh lunches your kids will love. KELLY LESTER, founder of EasyLunchboxes.com The Best Homemade Kids Lunches on the Planet is an invaluable resource for any busy parent who struggles with the day-to-day task of packing a healthy lunch. It is filled with strategies for shopping, delicious food combinations, and creative lunches with whole-food ingredients. AMY CLARK, founder of MomAdvice.com Laura Fuentes emphasis on real, fresh, kid-pleasing food gives parents plenty of healthy combinations for picky eaters. 100 Cummings Center Suite 406-L Beverly, MA 01915-6101 www.fairwindspress.com Visit www.QuarrySPOON.com and help us celebrate food and culture one spoonful at a time! All rights reserved. 100 Cummings Center Suite 406-L Beverly, MA 01915-6101 www.fairwindspress.com Visit www.QuarrySPOON.com and help us celebrate food and culture one spoonful at a time! All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Digital edition: 978-1-62788-025-1
Softcover edition: 978-1-59233-608-1 Digital edition published in 2014 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available Cover and book design by Carol Holtz Page layout: tabula rasa graphic design Photography by Alison Bickel Photography The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program. For my Abuela, who inspired my love for fresh food
I will always feel your presence in my kitchen.

I used to stare at the refrigerator every morning, waiting for food to talk to me and say, Pick me! Pack me inside the lunchbox! Unfortunately, the longer I stared, the longer the food stayed silent.

At the grocery store, I swear those brightly colored boxes holding premade lunches would actually speak to my daughter, saying I am fun! Youll love me for lunch! And dont tell your mom, but I have really bad ingredients! I remember the first week of my daughters two-day-a-week preschool. I was so excited to make perfect little lunches with fresh fruits and neatly stacked veggies. I also remember the disappointment I felt three weeks later when I didnt know what else to pack for her. The truth: I was stumped for ideas. Adding to my lack of ideas were food allergies to take into consideration. After extensive food journaling, I was able to determine that my little girl was allergic to disodium phosphates and chemical nitrates.

Fortunately, the easiest way to avoid these is to purchase real foods, including natural and organic meats, and become food label savvy. But at that point in my life, I had a two-month-old at home, I was sleep-deprived, and time was of the essence. While I could cook just about anything, I wasnt very organized in the kitchen (yet), so we were spending more money than I would have liked for healthy convenience foodsand I was becoming a short-order cook. By the time my oldest kids were two and three years old, they were both attending preschool a few days a week. Because they didnt complain about the same lunches being served often, I continued to do the same rotation of three lunches for them. Yet, inside, I knew I could and should do better.

One day, I ran out of sandwich bread, and I decided to use leftover pancakes from breakfast night instead. That lunch was immediately a hit with my daughter, and her excitement and request for more fun lunches was all the motivation I needed to do better. From that day forward, and for the past four years, Ive been giving kid-appeal to real foods, making my own versions of those store-bought lunches that kids like so much with fresh ingredients, and helping thousands feed their children better school lunches through MOMables.com. Along the way, Ive learned how to pack foods so that they dont become soggy inside the lunchbox, tested nearly every lunch container out there, and developed hundreds of recipes. I attribute much of my creativity to my two oldest kids being very picky eaters. They often refuse to try new foods and continue to be a challenge in the kitchen.

Most of the recipes I develop are my attempts at sneaking more nutrition into foods my oldest two will actually eat. My youngest, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He was born six months after I launched MOMables and, since then, has volunteered much of his time to taste-testing many of my recipes. Thankfully, he is nearly always willing to try something new! This book has many of my familys favorite recipes and kitchen shortcuts, so you can make lunches quickly and healthfully. I also share my tips on how to freeze, store, and repurpose leftovers, so that less food is wasted and you can stretch your grocery budget even further. Not only that, but youll also be able to use the recipes whether you have kids in kindergarten or high school, because the recipes in this book can be adjusted for portion size.

And, if you really want to go all out in lunch packing, you can be like my family and use these recipes for adults too. Theyre made for everyone! Packing a healthy school lunch should not be complicated. All you need are some great recipes, fresh ingredients, and the willingness to try a few new things. I hope that in the following pages, you find inspiration to make lunchtime a success!

In this chapter, Ill walk you through everything you need to know to get started with packing the best lunches possible for everyone in your family. From budget-friendly shopping tips to smart strategies for packing and creating healthful meals, its all covered here! Fresh is best. Thats what my grandmother used to say.

Whether you go to the grocery store once a month, once a week, or even once a day, you should purchase the freshest, most wholesome ingredients your budget can afford. If you have a farmers market, check out whats offered there, and use that as a guide to what you should be buying fresh, even at the grocery. The least expensive produce is always the one in season and not the kind that is imported from remote parts of the globe. I wish I could say that I have access to everything organic and that I do all my grocery shopping in one stop, but I cant. Unfortunately, I dont have a huge organic grocery section near me, a well-stocked farmers market, or a great selection of trusted brands at my favorite supermarket. Because of this, I pick and choose where I purchase certain supplies.

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