Best Lunchbox List

The search is over.

The best-ever lunchbox list is right here. No kidding around. Today I’m posting a week of kid-lunches, plus the grocery list that you’ll need to make it all happen (enough to cover three kids). This list contains 5 days of balanced, varied lunches, 5 delicious, crowd-pleasing meals. If you have staples in your home already like honey and ground cinnamon, which I included on the list, the cost is $4 per day, per kid.  

This list comes directly from my own kiddos - this is pretty much the “most played” list from their LaLa Lunchboxes. The lunches listed here are nut-free.

I use a service called Instacart for my grocery shopping and I love it! I can get groceries delivered to my house in under two hours, from multiple stores which is a huge bonus for pretty much anyone who has a life, let alone kids and/or a job. Ever realized you’re out of something at an inopportune time? Or that you have to get items from more than one store but only have time for one? Enter Instacart. 

Without further ado, here’s a super week of kid meal planning and you can instantly access the grocery list that you'll need to make it happen on Instacart. Now all you have to do is let your little ones choose this stuff with the LaLa Lunchbox app, which you can download for free throughout the back to school season! Here's a sweet bonus: Instacart has offered LaLa Lunchbox fans $10 off groceries plus free delivery (for new customers). Awesome, right? The discount will be applied at checkout. (scroll down to the bottom to immediately access the Instacart grocery list, already compiled for you)

Monday
I used to make my own hummus before the big kitchen accident. For now, I’m still a little appliance-shy and I buy hummus. Both of my daughters love hummus and it's a healthful and easy go-to food for lunch. 

Tuesday

Years ago, our babysitter made these delightful strawberry-carrot combos. My daughter fondly called them ‘lollipops’ and the name stuck. Years later, the kids are still psyched to eat these. (scroll down to save the lollipops image to download to your LaLa Lunchbox Food Library). For sandwiches, I'm happy to pack Applegate products in my children's lunchboxes (and to feature them in our apps) thanks to their commitment to antibiotic free, chemical nitrate-free meats. 

Wednesday

My son might single handedly be keeping the yogurt industry alive. This granola is his new favorite yogurt-topper.

Thursday

The shopping list includes a basil plant. Why? Well, my daughter has a total green thumb. Our basil plant is lush thanks to her and as a brown thumb myself, I get huge joy out of this, not to mention big, fragrant basil leaves whenever I want them. It's good to grow your own herbs and for some lucky folks, it's easy. My daughter occasionally munches on the leaves, which I find hilarious so I figured I’d pass the basil plant happiness your way. If you've got more basil than you know how to deal with, freeze the chopped leaves with olive oil in an ice cube tray! (thank you, Pinterest)

Friday

Friday’s lunch pulls together all of the leftovers from the week. Make pasta Thursday night and use up that bell pepper and those baby carrots. Throw in some basil. Add lemon zest. Boom! Deliciousness. The recipe is right here, and you can download the image below and add it to your LaLa Lunchbox Food Library. If your hungry little monsters have gobbled up the pepper and/or the carrots, pasta with basil and lemon is fabulous too. 

Download the images below and add them to your LaLa Lunchbox Food Library! 

Granola

Lollipops

Basil

Pasta w Carrots and Peppers

Want these items immediately added to your shopping cart and delivered in 2 hours or less? Voila, here's the Instacart list: 

Any other questions? Just shoot me an email: food@lalalunchbox.com, I’d love to hear from you!
-Gillian 

LaLa Lunchbox is FREE for the Back-to-School season!

Great news, lunch-packers! 

We've made LaLa Lunchbox completely free to download for the entire back-to-school season so that you and your little ones can get busy meal planning without even thinking about the cost to download. 

Tell your friends! And your friends' friends!

And click here to download for free immediately.

Happy back to school! 

p.s. huge thanks to our friends at Applegate whose support of LaLa Lunchbox has enabled us to make this app free until October 15, 2014! 

Lunchbox-Friendly Sushi

Let me put this right out there: DIY sushi rolls with the kiddos is a lunch that packs itself.

I've always been fascinated by sushi: the art of it, the buzz around it, the quest for the freshest fish, the accoutrements. I'm not able to indulge in any of it thanks to my fish allergy and I rarely take chances in a sushi restaurant with the non-fish items because even the slightest bit of cross contamination leads me to Benadryl. 

A couple of years ago, when we discovered that my eldest daughter didn't have the allergies that I have (phew!), she and my husband began a sweet tradition of going out for sushi as a twosome. At some point, a second tradition emerged and we began making vegetarian rolls of our own at home. My daughter (then in kindergarten) was completely enthralled by the DIY rolls and all things with seaweed. Her love affair waned for a long while but now it seems to be back. She and I went to the market together the other day and she specifically requested sushi rice and nori. I wasn't at all surprised to see it on her LaLa Lunchbox meal plan this week and was kind of excited for this lunch-making activity.

Making sushi rolls is one of those things that sounds involved. And messy. And hard. But I swear, it isn't. I was really feeling victorious about the whole thing until I realized that my littlest one was systematically removing all of the folded clothes from her dresser drawer as we were DIYing with nori. That was big fun. But I digress.

These sushi rolls really are an easy project to do with kids and you can basically put anything you want in them. We chose to fill them with egg and avocado. I explained it to my 3.5 year old sushi newbie like this: "First, we're making rice. Second, we're frying two eggs. Third, we're slicing an avocado. Then it's all about the rolling." 

Bam! It really is that straightforward. My kids overstuffed the rolls in their excitement, of course, and my son was a little taken aback by just how sticky the rice was on his fingers. But they were both proud as peacocks about these rolls, and completely excited to pack them in their lunchboxes. Two rolls, sliced into pieces, fit perfectly into an Easy Lunchboxes container – woot! 

Never made sushi rice before? Never fear. Here's how: 

Bring 1 cup of sushi rice and 1.5 cups of water to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the water has evaporated completely. Add 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar (unsweetened) and stir. 

To assemble the rolls, here's what you'll need:

• 1 package of nori (toasted seaweed)
• 2 TB rice vinegar
• 1 cup sushi rice, prepared
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 2 eggs, scrambled

Prepare the sushi rice and set aside. Lay a piece of nori on a mat and sprinkle lightly with water. My son likened it to rain drops. Spread the rice evenly on the nori, making sure to leave room on the edges (about 1/2 inch, plus more at the top for sealing). Place the avocado slices and egg pieces along the bottom edge of the rice and roll up the nori like a burrito. Seal the edges with wet fingertips. Slice with a sharp knife and enjoy! Makes about 6 rolls. 

See that cute little pink bunny thing below? It's a teeny container for soy sauce! 

LaLa Lunchbox Teams Up with Applegate!

We are so excited to feature Applegate on the newest version of LaLa Lunchbox!

Applegate products now available in the LaLa Lunchbox Food Library!

As a person with life threatening food allergies, I've always been a label reader. My mom is a cookbook author and food writer so food played an enormous part of my childhood. While I would never call myself a picky eater (I have enough restrictions because of my allergies!), I learned early about being picky when it comes to certain ingredients and meat was one of them.  
At some point in my adult life, the food world opened up to me in a whole new, magical way. I became more aware of what grows where, which nutrients help the body and in what way, what's potentially harmful and how to pay attention to my body's signals and pursue the foods that made me feel good. As they say, knowledge is power. I like to know about what I'm eating and now as a mom, I'm deeply invested in what I'm feeding my children. 

Along the way, I made the conscious decision to choose meats that are high quality, organic and humanely raised whenever possible. I believe in sound, safe, hygienic farming practices, respect for animals and the earth. For us, these choices are not a diet or a fad. These are issues that we have prioritized in our family. I reserve no judgement for the choices of others on this matter. But because of the choices that we've made for our family, we have long been fans of Applegate products. 

Applegate produces delicious, high quality natural and organic meats, sausages and cheeses that are free of antibiotics, artificial ingredients and chemical nitrates. I support this wholeheartedly. This is why I'm so excited to team up with Applegate and feature their meats and cheeses by name in our LaLa Lunchbox Food Library. Now you and your hungry little monsters have Applegate's delicious products available right at your fingertips and they can be easily added to your grocery list!

For those of you who already have LaLa Lunchbox, simply update the app and the items will appear in your Food Library - along with the 12 new adorable LaLa Monsters! For those of you who are new to the LaLa family, welcome! 

Win a LaLa Lunchbox Lunchbag!

Cute, eh?

We're giving away three of them! Why? Because LaLa Lunchbox wants to make your New Year's Resolution to pack a better lunch a reality. 

Here's how you can win one of them: 

• Like us on Facebook and post your favorite packed lunch to our wall (or your child's favorite) OR
• Follow us on Twitter and tweet your favorite packed lunch (or your child's). Please include #lunchbagFTW

Easy peasy.

Enter until Tuesday, December 18 at 8pm EST. One entry per person. Tell your friends and family!
We'll pick three lucky winners via random drawing on December 19. Stay tuned!

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a healthy, happy new year from LaLa Lunchbox!