I got this idea last spring from “Do They Have Salsa In China”, and I’ve wanted to try it for, well, um, (adding procrastination points to my ledger)…a long time.  I finally got around to making a Picture Lunch Menu in August, with Page 1 pictured above. Page 2 has additional proteins, yogurt, fruit, veggies, etc.  Every Sunday night the girls sit down with their menus and we write their lunch selections on the family dry erase board that hangs inside our pantry door.  At first I thought it would be a lot of work to cook different lunches, but really, it isn’t too bad.  They are bringing home empty lunch boxes and I don’t have the guilt of feeding them Sunbutter and Jam sandwiches every single day.  Plus, I can add their selections to the grocery list the night before I go shopping, so I always have what they want on hand.  If you want to know how I “health-i-fied” kids’ lunch selections, keep reading after the jump.

Our selections are as follows:

Mac and Cheese with Hot Dogs: Annie’s Brand sells an organic Mac N Cheese without food dyes and preservatives.  I just add a little sour cream in the end to make it taste more like Kraft.  I’ve found a few different brands of nitrate free hot dogs and I’ve liked them all.  The girls have 2-sided lunch boxes so I can keep their hot food separate from their cold food, and they report their thermos’ keep their food hot. I searched high and low and found kid themed 7-hour hot thermos containers made by Fuel.

Plain Pasta and Cheese: The girls never choose this…they are odd about spaghetti, but they will eat fettuccine alfredo.  The 2nd page includes ravioli, and Whole Foods sells a brand they like.  I add in snack bags of parmesan cheese that they sprinkle on at lunchtime.  I’m trying to move towards non-genetically modified grains, after reading about their links to allergies and asthma and eczema…and hey, I don’t need any extra chromosomes in my food, thank you.  I can barely digest the ones I eat now.

Hard Boiled Eggs: We eat organic, free range Eggland’s Best.  They are yummy.  I’ve tried a bunch of brands and local eggs, but these remain my favorite.  Honestly, I absolutely detest hard boiled eggs, but the girls love them.  I could live on eggs cooked any other way, as will Greg, so we go through about 3 dozen eggs per week, making it my most expensive weekly grocery item.

Sunbutter and Jam: We’ve never been big peanut butter eaters, and then I tried Sunbutter.  YUM.  Plus, the added benefit of the peanut allergy kids being able to sit next to the girls at lunch.  No one has allergies to sunflower seeds…nope…no one.  I make our jam, but there are many brands that don’t add pounds of sugar or use fake sugar.

Turkey Sandwich: I don’t give a hoo about wheat bread.  My kids aren’t short on fiber and I can’t digest a lot of wheat.  It’s been genetically modified to the point it’s ripping our guts apart.  I find white bread far easier to digest, oddly.  Arnold’s Brand is lower on sugar content.  I may change my position on bread eventually, but for now, we eat a mix of wheat and white.  Even Wal-Mart sells nitrate free turkey lunch meat.

Pizza Bites: Amy’s Brand sells a preservative free, dye free, total fake food crap free pizza bite.  They are as bland as bland can be, so my kids love them.

Sushi: Yep, Sara still loves it, after all these years.  Give that girl imitation crab and avocado any day of the week.  I tried to give her real crab and she protested.

Chicken Noodle Soup: This is actually a representation of “Soup of the Week”.  I’m kind of a Soup-A-Holic.  I usually have one on the supper menu, so the girls are free to take the leftovers.  Kelly is staging a violent anti-celery protest this week, so don’t look to her to choose soup anytime soon.  This too shall pass.

Chicken Nuggets: Applegate Brand sells a chicken nugget free of everything awful, right down to processed soy.

Fruit, Vegetables, Yogurt, and Cheese Sticks: I’ve been able to find dye free, preservative free, low sugar versions of these items in every day grocery stores.  Moms are starting to talk with their grocery budgets, are food companies are hearing us.  They won’t make what they can’t sell, so my mantra remains: If we buy real food, it will come.