When I was little, there was a formula for school lunches: main course, fruit, and a Third Thing. Bento boxes and the expanding palates of modern children have challenged the status quo, and lunch looks different these days. On a busy week, though, we fall back on the formula for our three boys, making a sandwich for each one and letting them choose a piece of fruit and a Third Thing on their own.
As an aside, the Third Thing has always annoyed me a little. At home, we rarely offer more for lunch than one plate of food, perhaps a piece of fruit if they crave something sweet after the meal. But the Third Thing? Strictly for the brown bag.
In a pinch, these are some lunch bag bonuses we can always make.
- Homemade trail mix. The advantage to this one is that it uses little bits of things left in the pantry that can't be used for anything else — a few raisins, a handful of sunflower seeds, or banana chips — and the children can mix it themselves from ingredients I leave on the counter.
- An artichoke. Baby artichokes are ideal, because they don’t have a prickly choke in the middle, and children aren’t allowed to have knives at school, a good thing, in my book.
- Bite-size homemade peanut butter and cheese crackers. This was one of my favorites when I was little, consolation since my mother refused to buy the pre-made, packaged version. They are much, much better than the pre-made packaged version.
- Another piece of fruit, because gosh darnit, you can never have too much fruit!
- Homemade cereal bars. You can put these together in minutes the night before, tossing in whatever you like in terms of nuts and dried fruit. I don’t use a recipe, but this is more or less what I do. I vary the nut butter, the sweetener, and the add-ins, depending on what's in the pantry.
Do you add a "third thing" to your lunch or your little ones' lunches? What kind of snacks do you like in your lunchbox?
Related: 15 Homemade Snacks for the Lunchbox
(Images: Anne Postic)
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I'm confused, if "the third thing" annoys you, and you think it unnecessary, why do it? Kid isn't going to starve with a sandwich and piece of fruit. I certainly didn't.
@cherrybomb You are absolutely right! :-) I was being a little tongue in cheek, and I actually think they often enjoy the third thing as a snack at a different time during the day, which is fine by me. It's sort of been a running joke between me and my husband -- we joke that the other kids will feel sorry for our children or that the teachers will think we're slack. But I'm sure it would be fine!
Based on what I remember growing up doing the hot lunch thing, even access to unlimited food did not always mean I was going to be full all afternoon. A snack is a good through to have to munch between classes and it's much better to send one from home than have to pick up something from the vending machine.
@Rhoswen I agree. Every now and then, I will pick one of them up and I'm the hungry one. If the snack is still there, I eat it! lol
I keep commercial granola bars for an easy "third thing" on time-challenged mornings. Cheese sticks and squeeze yogurt also answer well. A small container of nuts is also a good idea -- my child's favorite sandwich is cream cheese and jelly, so I try to fit a little extra protein into the "third thing." Tofu cubes with a little soy sauce and sesame oil was pronounced "a little weird, but good," so now that is in the mix but not too often lest it edge too much toward weird. Same with olives.
A few days a week, I make a salad -- handful of greens, Trader Joes peanut dressing, half a grated carrot and some cashews or almonds. This only became an acceptable option around 6th grade -- any younger and salad would come back home untouched.
Bagged lunches were never as nice at lunch as they are when you make them, especially in my youth of non-insulated lunch bags. The third thing is like a consolation prize for a sandwich with a thermos shaped dent in it.
I can't complain about my fancy bagged lunch now, but I still like the novelty of variety.
I consider a packed lunch a prime opportunity to teach my son about healthy eating. He chooses 4 components every day (plus I use a metal bottle of heavily-iced water as an icepack and a drink.) He picks one starch, one protein, one vegetable and one fruit in whatever combination he wants.
So, for instance, this week started with a Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich on Whole Wheat (sprinkled with cocoa powder) and a side of raw bell peppers. Tuesday was a ham sandwich on a roll with a side of kale chips and a cut-up kiwi. Thursday was seven-layer dip with corn chips and a clementine. Today was tofu and egg salad with lettuce on multigrain bread with a pear.
I thought of every conceivable choice for lunch, printed them onto magnet paper and then my son charts out his lunch for the week on the weekend. It sounds complicated, but actually it's just a matter of quick assembly.
The third thing is the best thing always. I give my preschoolers either a turkey cheese roll up on a wheat tortilla, a pb&j, or an English muffin pizza, a fruit pouch (they LOVE them), and the third thing is the goldfish or pretzels or veggie sticks. Even if its just a few pieces, it makes the whole lunch seem a little bit better to them. It's that third thing they always tell me about when they get home - Mama I had sticks at lunch!! It's worth it.
Now that my youngest step-child is in 4th grade, he makes his own lunch at our house. I have a list of suggestions for what to include (sandwich, cheese/crackers/pepperoni, etc) as well as some grab and go baggies with crackers and cookies and of course, fruit. His favorite "special" item to include is green olives. He will try to put the whole jar in a bag if we'd let him.