I loved anticipating the first day of school: new shoes, new notebooks, new pencils, and a pristine box of 64 still-pointy, and memorably aromatic crayons. I never remembered my crippling anxiety about remembering my locker combination. Or tearing down flights of stairs to the gym, and back up again for algebra. I never thought about the social implications of lunchroom seating during the long, languid days of summer. Right now I am very glad that I never have to repeat that experience. Time passed, and as a responsible parental-unit, I loved shopping for their school supplies, new calculators and new shoes, and new back packs. It was only the night before school started that I confronted the real life horror: the woeful lack of organization in our lives.
While my young ‘uns were setting out their new sneakers for the morning, and frantically paging through the book that they should read weeks before, I would be peering into the fridge and taking stock of our jumble of foodstuffs. What nutritional and tempting combinations could I conjure that would actually be eaten? Once, when Mr. Sanders had been out of town for a very long business trip, we attempted to set a world’s record for eating pizza for every meal, for many days in a row. I understand that that sort of tomfoolery doesn’t set a good example nowadays. In those far off days I never once considered protein vs. evil carbohydrates. Ah well, live and learn. And they did.
We all have a friend like this. Mine is quite adorable and enjoyable, witty and smart. She reads good books, enjoys a good beer, she tells great jokes. She has wonderful fashion sense, has smart children and drives a hybrid car. She also makes meal plans. Imagine that. If you call her on a Sunday afternoon she will be roasting a chicken for dinner that night, and she will proceed to get two more meals out of it during the week. And she’ll pick the little bits of meat off the bones to feed to her ancient, fussy cat. Later today she will probably start rolling out meatballs for a huge homemade spaghetti sauce. She might even make her own fresh pasta, but I haven’t asked, for fear that it might be true. And she finds time to exercise.
When her kids were little she made healthy, colorful lunches with tempting comestibles for them to eat with gusto. Mine probably traded the bologna-on-Pepperidge-Farm-white-bread-with-yellow-mustard sandwiches for Twinkies. (Note: My son ASKED for bologna sandwiches – for years!)
While we are still leftover-dependent in this house, these folks know what to do about school lunch organization:Make Ahead Lunches
A handy guide to Sunday night preps: Lunch Stations
And at Food52, the ever-clever Amanda always has some really fab lunch ideas. Amanda’s Kids’ Lunches
This is the Spy Test Kitchen Annual Lunch Llist, which I haul out, shamelessly, every fall. Feel free to make your own spreadsheet, or PowerPoint deck, so you never have another moment of lunch ennui. The Test Kitchen came up with this flexible list of ingredients for packing school lunches a few years ago. It is just as timely today:
Luncheon Variations
Column A
Let’s start with bread:
Ciabatta bread
Rye bread
Whole grain breads
Hard rolls
Portuguese rolls
French baguette
Italian bread
Brioche
Flour tortillas
Croissants
Bagels
Challah bread
Crostini
Cornbread
Naan bread
Focaccia
Pita bread
If storing overnight, layer bread with lettuce first, then the spreads, to keep sandwich from getting soggy.
Column B
Next, the spread:
Mayo
Sriracha
Ketchup
Dijon mustard
Honey mustard
Italian dressing
Russian dressing
Cranberry sauce
Pesto sauce
Hummus
Tapenade
Sour cream
Chutney
Butter
Hot sauce
Salsa
Salsa verde
Column C
Cheeses:
Swiss cheese
American cheese
Mozzarella
Blue cheese
Cream cheese
Havarti cheese
Ricotta cheese
Cheddar cheese
Provolone cheese
Brie cheese
Cottage cheese
Goat cheese
Column D
The main ingredient:
Meatloaf
Turkey
Chicken
Corned beef
Bacon
Crumbled hard-boiled eggs
Scrambled eggs
Corned beef
Salami
Italian sausage
Ham
Roast beef
Egg salad
Tuna salad
Ham salad
Crab salad
Chicken salad
Turkey salad
Lobster salad
Tofu
Column E
The decorative (and tasty) elements:
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Basil
Onion
Avocado
Cucumber
Cilantro
Shredded carrots
Jalapeños
Cole slaw
Sliced apples
Sliced red peppers
Arugula
Sprouts
Radicchio
Watercress
Sliced pears
Apricots
Pickles
Spinach
Artichoke hearts
Grapes
Strawberries
Figs
Column F
Finger foods:
Cherries
Carrots
Strawberries
Green Beans
Broccoli
Celery
Edemame
Granola
Rice cakes
Apples
Bananas
Oranges
Melon balls
Raisins
Broccoli
Blueberries
Get out the tiny little Tupperware containers, find all the maddeningly elusive lids, and start chopping. Make yourself little Bento boxes of luncheon-y delights for every day. Shake up your routine, and experiment. Try chopped cornichons. Swipe on some chutney. Dust a sandwich with a handful of sprouts. Give up the Pepperidge Farm white bread and try Naan bread. And don’t forget leftovers! My son loved the Pilgrim Sandwiches that he made with some interesting combinations of leftovers from Thanksgiving, theorizing that everything tastes more delicious on a crescent roll, daubed with cranberry sauce…
Note: There are still nationwide concerns about cyclospora infections, so check your produce carefully. And just yesterday I read about a recall of frozen blueberries. One of our grocery stores has posted a list of recall items at the entrance to the store – modern due diligence. Cyclospora Outbreak
Felicity Cloake, a food writer for The Guardian Newspaper, suggested some unexpected food combos: kimchi and peanut butter on toast?
She also liked kimchi and sardines on toast. I will stick to leftover pizza, thanks.
Have an excellent school year. I hope nothing comes back to haunt you. Best of luck to the new trumpet player in the sixth grade as learns his scales, to the new first grader who is learning to read an analog clock, and fervent best wishes that algebra goes smoothly for all the art students.
“People lie when you ask them what they eat when they are alone. A salad, they tell you. But when you persist, they confess to peanut butter and bacon sandwiches deep fried and eaten with hot sauce, or spaghetti with butter and grape jam.”
― Laurie Colwin
