We all made it to the end of the week without packing any Lunchables, Doritos, or gummy-fruit-candy-thingies into our kids’ school lunches, right?
Even if you did sneak some Frankenfoods into that My Little Pony lunch box, don’t sweat it – there’s always next week. Don’t get too caught up in Paleo Perfectionism. Just keep moving in the right direction, and make it your daily goal to feed your family (and yourself!) healthy, nutrient-dense, and lip-smackingly good food.
To wrap up our five-day series on Paleo school lunches, here’s another drop-dead simple meal.
Friday’s Lunch: Hard-Boiled Eggs, Chicken Apple Sausages, Cherry Tomatoes, and Grapes.
Of course it’s easier to pack school lunches the night before, but sometimes we all get lazy or distracted after the kiddos go to sleep – Hey! America’s Got Talent is on! – only to find ourselves frantically scrambling around in the morning. But never fear: As long you have a few staples on hand, you can whip up this lunch in just 10 minutes.
Hard-boiled eggs – the quintessential emergency protein – are always in my fridge. You can make your own by following my instructions or, if you have it, the recipe for Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs in my iPad cookbook app. This is important: Don’t just boil ‘em to death. If you overcook your eggs, you’ll end up with an ugly gray-green ring around the yolks, and an unpleasant odor that’ll make your children the pariahs of the schoolyard. Perfectly-cooked hard-boiled eggs don’t stink!
Not interested in learning how to boil an egg properly? Then get yourself a bag of pre-peeled hard-boiled eggs at Trader Joe’s. Done and done.
Slice a few eggs in half lengthwise…
…and sprinkle on a bit of salt (and smoked paprika, if you’re feeling fancy).
While you’re making breakfast, toss a handful of pre-cooked mini chicken apple sausages into a hot, greased skillet to warm them up.
Rinse off a bunch of grapes and cherry tomatoes and arrange them in a LunchBots Quad.
The beauty of a partitioned container (like the Quad, Trio, or Duo) is that it can hold just about any combination of foods you can dream up. No grapes or cherry tomatoes? Try strawberries and celery sticks, or diced watermelon and baby carrots. If your kids aren’t fans of cold sausages, substitute cold cuts instead. Lil-O, my four-year-old, can’t stand hard-boiled eggs, but he’ll happily munch on the (cold!) scrambled eggs I pack in his lunch. I know – my son is weird.
There you have it, gang: five simple, kid-friendly Paleo lunches, brought to you by me and LunchBots. If you missed ’em, check out the lunch boxes from the rest of our series: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.
(Update: Here’s an epic roundup of all my Paleo Packed Lunchboxes!)
And this weekend, stay tuned for a groovy LunchBots giveaway!
