Best Lunch Box Ever: Ideas and Recipes for School Lunches Kids Will Love

by Katie Sullivan Morford, Jennifer Martiné (Photographer)

Best Lunch Box Ever is full of recipes, ideas, and strategies for packing creative and healthful lunches for kids, solving what is for many parents the most taxing of daily chores. Kids will love the scrumptiousness, while busy moms and dads will appreciate the quick and simple solutions for wholesome, balanced meals developed by Katie Sullivan Morford, a registered dietician and mother of three. The 65 recipes are easy, delicious, and—best of all—packed with nutrients for well-rounded lunches and snacks, including Deconstructed Caprese Skewers, Easy Cheesy Thermos Beans, Pesto Pita Pizza, Cinnamon Wonton Crisps, Parmesan Kale Chips, Crispy Applewiches, and more.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Parenting, Food and Drink, Childrens

156 pages, Hardcover

First published July 16, 2013

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a whim for easy toddler lunch ideas. It really isn’t meant for toddlers, but that’s not why I’m rating it so badly. Mostly this is dumb because it’s full of phony nutritionism pseudoscience like using nonfat sour cream and the conventional dirty dozen. Way too many cautions about calories for kids lunch, too. Also, I’m a pretty adventurous eater and hope my kid will be, too, but I suspect packing a tangerine and lentil salad is way more about looking like a supermom than actually providing a nutritious and tasty lunch for your poor kid.

[Abby Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so I'm not entirely sure how kid-friendly a lot of these recipes are (albeit I was a very picky eater, so maybe normal kids would do just fine with chickpeas, avocados, prosciutto, and dates...). But I didn't check it out for making kid lunches, I checked it out for making grownup lunches and I do feel like I'm inspired to try out some of the recipes. I am definitely in a rut and even though I'm not sure that I'll actually get up earlier to cook lunches in the morning (almost every recipe is "best made the morning before school"), I have some new ideas to try and (better yet) a guide for stocking the pantry with nutritious and delicious stuff to stick into lunches.

Some photos are included (maybe half the recipes or a little less than half). Also included: nutrition info including food groups and the importance of switching things up to include many different nutrients, advice on prep work that can be done on the weekends, tips for keeping lunch-packing supplies clean and ready, and recipes for after-school snacks to tide the wee ones over until dinner.

[Brandy Payne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping to find some quick & easy ideas for my Gr 1 & Gr 6 kiddos lunches … nope. I don’t think they’d eat ANY of this. And the author & I seem to have very different amounts of time and mental bandwidth on weekday mornings.

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m looking for lunch ideas for myself, so I liked a number of these recipes and other ideas for me!

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's be realistic. There is 0% chance that my child would eat any of the stuff suggested in this. However, I think I could really get into it. Grilled cheese made with gruyere and apples? Yes, please!

[Sha'Tisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't have kids so I can't say for certain but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have anything to do with a lot of these recipes; I, however, am a millennial and fuck heavily with several of these recipes namely waffle grilled cheese

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I checked this out for my full grown adult self, who hates cooking and packing lunches for the office, who figured it couldn’t hurt to take a look for some ideas. I was wrong about that. I won’t comment on how appetizing/appropriate the actual lunches would be for actual children, or how feasible they’d be for actual parents to make on a school day (which plenty of other reviews have addressed).

But any book of recipes that specifies hollowing out the bread of a bagel to reduce the calorie intake of literal children? I’m not on board with. Leave the destructive almond mom behavior in the ‘90s.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Lunch Box Ever: Ideas and Recipes for School Lunches Kids Will Love by Katie Sullivan Morford is the next stop on my quest to find easy, delicious lunches that my husband can take to work with him. Most of the recipes in this cookbook make two to four servings at a time, and are also easy to multiply or make repeatedly should you so desire. (It’s perfect for a parent who wants to feed multiple kids at once, or for me, since I want to share in my husband's yummy lunches.)

My criteria: the meal has to be easy to store and transport, easy to eat without any special equipment or instructions on the other end, and delicious. Bonus points for being something that can be made the night before and packed up in moments the next morning. This cookbook delivered in spades.

There are some recipes that are perfect for a lunch-sized sealed plastic container. There’s a sesame noodles recipe that was out of this world. Because it calls for 1/2 cup baked tofu pieces, I highly recommend making it for several days in a row so you can use up your tofu. Also, bake the tofu a night in advance, because it requires a little time in the oven. The sesame sauce from this one is just delightful–nutty, toasty, and a little bit sweet.

Another favorite is the curried quinoa salad. It includes dried cranberries, toasted almonds, and tangerine segments. Again it takes a little prep, so most of it is best made in advance. It’s also an easy recipe to multiply or make repeatedly, and it’s so delicious that I just loved having enough to have my own lunch of it at home.

Sandwiches are a staple of lunch boxes, and I expected the sandwiches in Best Lunch Box Ever to be good but not ground-breaking; sandwiches aren’t my favorite food in the world. Instead, the sandwiches are surprisingly delicious. I didn’t expect hummus as a spread to make so much difference in a cucumber-and-turkey pita. There’s also a sandwich made with smashed chickpeas and goat cheese that’s delightfully tangy and nutty. Homemade ranch dip made a great accompaniment to additional raw veggies.

All of the wonderful recipes I’ve mentioned so far are just the ones we personally tried out. There are plenty more that look fantastic. A chapter of sandwiches includes a smoked salmon sandwich, an ‘anything goes’ -salad sandwich (tuna, chicken, etc.), and a grilled cheese made with a waffle iron. A salads chapter includes a cobb salad, taco salad, and a slaw. Wraps and roll-ups include one I have to try: dates and cream cheese on lavash with celery and spinach. Also a ‘pita pizza’, and a sweet potato quesadilla. There’s a leftovers chapter that recycles leftover cooked noodles, rice, quinoa, etc. into salads, fried rice, noodle soups (to go into thermoses), and so on. A chapter of fruit and veggie sides includes various treatments of melon, berries, tropical fruits, and dips. “Crunchy Extras” is good for homemade granola bark, as well as cheese straws, cinnamon wonton crisps, and microwave popcorn. “Goodies” provides a few sweet extras for occasional treats, such as cocoa-dusted almonds, cherry oatmeal bars, pretzel cookies, and gingerbread mini-cupcakes. Obviously these are all just examples; there are plenty more recipes where those came from.

There are also afternoon snacks, as well as reminders of the various things you should include in each lunch, lists of good pantry foods to keep on hand, things you can make the weekend or night before. Also hints for keeping lunch boxes clean and hot/chilled, some nutritional notes, a list of lunch box-friendly fruits and veggies by season, and sources for lunch box supplies.

All in all, this cookbook is well worth the investment!


[NOTE: Review book (published 2013) provided for free by Chronicle Books]

Visit my site for a review that includes photos from our own cooking: http://www.errantdreams.com/2014/08/r...

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found out about this book while reading a review of "Beating the Lunch Box Blues," and since I enjoyed that one, I gave this one a read, too.

This is a more traditional "cookbook" in that it actually has lunch recipes in it, but its approach is similar. The recipes are simple and would satisfy a diverse palate -- again, I perused this for ideas for my husband's lunches, not for kids, and there's plenty here for adults to enjoy. None of the "recipes" has more than 10 ingredients or so, and most of them only have about 5. This book is also a little more health and budget-conscious than "Lunch Box Blues." Taken together, there's lots of inspiration to be had for lunches, whether for school, work, or the occasional picnic!

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another interesting book about brown-bagging a lunch. My five children would never have eaten most of these recipes back in the day, and I know only a few families now who can afford some of the more exotic ingredients.

Some of the recipes are appealing and would be great lunches for adults. The snack section does seem to focus on healthy tidbits.

One of the best features of the book is the fact each recipe tells you whether or not it can be successfully made in advance.

I'm glad this was a selection from my local library rather than a purchase.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like cookbooks with plenty of pictures. This book didn't have very many and the recipes represented by pictures were standards. I already know what a hard boiled egg looks like. Putting a sandwich in the waffle iron is not a revelation to me. I heartily recommend Beating the Lunchbox Blues over this book.

[Charlie Easterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This positively reeks of WASPy, upperclass PTA mom energy. Granted, that's also clearly its target audience, but if you're just desperately looking for ideas to shove in your kid's face, this isn't the place. This is more of a dream palace for folks thinking about what a perfect, nutritious, sustainable parent they will be. Unless you've raised your kid on grass fed, organic, whole wheat, etc. I can't fathom that they would stand for most of this stuff. Some of it's a little too frou-frou for me and I'm...old.

It truly reminds me of the uptight organic family that lived next door to me growing up who served unflavored, unseasoned popcorn as a special sleep-over snack and would, on holidays and birthdays, get so wild as to grant their kid access to a handful of dark-chocolate chips to treasure. This was a kid who desperately tried to convince the rest of us in the lunchroom at school that a bowl of room temperature couscous was a fair trade for PB&J It was, as a kid (and, honestly looking back, an adult) a culinary wasteland.

Look, I'm (in theory) on board with the basic concept here. I think reusable lunch equipment is great (though, Morford is absolutely kidding herself when she suggests that a cloth napkin is going to reduce environmental impact for her 6-year-old. That napkin is never coming home. It's not environmentally friendly when it gets used once. It's just high-brow disposable at that point). I completely agree that we need to redevelop how we feed kids. But I don't think that means feeding them deconstructed caprese and chickpea salads. I think that means getting them outside and buying peanut butter with marginally less sugar.

Anyway, three stars. I'd eat some of this. But honestly...not, like, a lot of it.

(You think I'm being hard on this, maybe so. But, honestly. There's a dish called "Love Salad" with a preamble about how much your kids will love you for feeding them heathy foods. The recipe? A heartstopping combo of lentils, fennel and raisins. Oof-da.)

[Joy Keil · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many items in here I want to try - didn't want to lose the title.

I don't think this will be super useful for daycare for toddlers, but some fun ideas non-the-less.
Peanut options could be substituted with other spreads, if needed/not allowed in the school.

[tiasreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no way my kids or any others I know would eat the lunches suggested in this book. I do, however, like several of the lunch ideas for myself and bought a used copy of the book for that purpose.

[Rita (RitaReadsTrash) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may not be a kid anymore but I'm excited to have some of these yummies

[oohlalabooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips and recipes!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic.

[Kristen Barenthaler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty of great recipes to change up the normal lunchbox menu. Most are relatively easy and can be prepared ahead of time to save on your morning routine.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are really simple yet great lunch ideas in this book.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I read this book to give me some ideas for snacks and lunches that I could make for myself. There were a number of ideas that I jotted down - as well as some that I came up with through reading this book.

The only thing that I wish it had were photos of each of the meals. There were a number in there, but not all of them which would have been nice. At least for the digital edition.

Definitely worth a read, especially if you want some healthier ideas for yourself or your family.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book includes some great recipes for an atypical lunch box. I didn't want to pack my daughter a pb&j every day for lunch, and this provided some wonderful alternatives. Granted, some dishes include extra work, but when planned ahead for, they are well worth it. I even found myself doubling or tripling the recipes and using them for family dinners (in fact, that's how we tested out some of the options to see what would later become lunchtime winners).

[Wareesha Tariq · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good cookbook that gives out great ideas for lunches. I recently started reading kids’ lunch cookbooks and it has been such a great hack for making my own adult lunches. All I need to do is take these ideas and make some changes with ingredients or make bigger portions of the listed recipes and voila! I have a great lunch ready to eat. This book works so well for lunches of all kinds! Kudos to the author for listing everything so clearly.

[Laurla2]

-again with my main cookbook pet peeve: there arent pictures for every recipe.
and what few pictures there are in this book - are REPEATED. yup. repeated.
they're at the beginning of each chapter, and then again next to the recipe! so most pictures are in the book twice. which seems like such a waste. i assume its more expensive to print more pictures since so many books skimp out on that. so if you're going to pay for those pictures to be printed, why print them twice? why not print other pictures?

-the only recipe that appealed to me was a fruit salad with peeled tangerines, chopped kiwi, and pomegranate seeds, and mint leaves, but i'd probably skip the mint.
-oh and it had a tuna salad sandwich that had dill and capers added to it, i've never tried that.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Healthful cookbook/lunch ideas. Thought this was a nice one to browse through for lunch inspiration, but you will need to plan ahead/make enough dinner for sufficient leftovers. See also ChopChop / Sally Sampson for more ways to get the kids involved with making their own lunches.

As with most cookbooks, I found it helpful to be able to borrow this from my local library rather than purchasing, so for those of you who are contemplating giving cookbooks as a gift, please do that first.

[Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with most of the other reviews. The recipes are beautifully presented and fun to look at. They're also fairly useless for school-age children unless your child is not at all picky and is willing to be a culinary adventurer. Many of the food combinations are a bit on the sophisticated side for young palates.

The recipes also err on the side of pricey and would be very expensive to make on a daily basis. I enjoyed the book and will be trying a few of the recipes out, but as a useful guide for quick, everyday school lunches it falls short of the mark.

[Ange · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like cookbooks with plenty of pictures. This book didn't have very many and the recipes represented by pictures were standards. I already know what a hard boiled egg looks like. Putting a sandwich in the waffle iron is not a revelation to me. I heartily recommend Beating the Lunchbox Blues over this book.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for putting some spark in boring old school lunches. We have made several of the items and they are big hits with the girls. Also, has very good and practical nutritional advice, as Katie is a registered dietician.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly loved the variety of teeny tiny containers the author packed her kids lunch items in. I also realized I'm pretty happy with the lunches I already pack, and I'm thankful I'm not packing them for a crowd.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough book--lots of details on specific foods and best types to buy, safest containers and where to get them, etc. I'm not sure many of the recipes would work for little kids or picky eaters, but definitely some yummy-sounding things that would make grown ups want to pack lunch.