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Lunchbox Sudoku: A Good Foods Co-op Guide to Mix-and-Match Lunches After we had our second baby late last year, I’ve found myself leaning into any household system that we can create to make our lives (at least feel) a little less chaotic. So, when our son started preschool this year, I got the guidelines from his school that required a well-balanced lunch- which meant it had to have a grain, protein, vegetable, and fruit. Of course this is what we generally try to do anyway, but there’s nothing like having a requirement slapped on you that makes you actually stick to it. So, here’s where our new system comes into play. We wrote down every food item in each category that we could think of that he would actually (sometimes) eat (he’s 2, basically everything these days is touch-and-go). We have this list on our fridge. Next to it, we have a spreadsheet with 4 columns, one for each category. We write the day of the week next to each row to keep it straight for the week. Each weekend, I look at our list of possibilities and what we have in our pantry, and just write out every day for the week. Kind of like a lunchbox sudoku, where I just pick things from each column and place them throughout the week. This makes it so his lunch is different every day, has all of his food groups, and takes as little brain power as possible from us every morning. These don’t have to be fancy. A tortilla with cheese, cucumber slices, berries, and a handful of whole-grain crackers can be lunch. So can leftover pasta with beans, peas, and an apple. We go to the co-op every Thursday and pick-up our local vegetables, and together we choose some grains, fruits, and proteins that he might want to eat in the next week. We think of this chart as a jumping-off point, not a rulebook. Some days your child will eat everything; some days they’ll eat the fruit and come home with everything else untouched. That’s okay! Feeding our kids is a practice, not a performance. Something that has really struck me recently is how lucky we are to have a local grocery store that has so many options for different dietary needs. We are a primarily plant-based household, so being able to easily get a variety of proteins is crucial for us. Also, our son’s new school doesn’t allow any nuts and we eat a lot of nuts! But having the options that Good Foods provides has made all of our switches to different products extremely easy. Anyway, I hope this helps take some of the mental load of lunch box packing off of your morning checklists. Happy eating! Emily Spencer Board Member
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