Welcome to the first ever LUNCHBOX EDITION of Whip It Up Wednesday! This is where I'll share healthy(ier) peanut- and tree nut-free lunchbox ideas for your littles.
Peyton does not have a peanut or tree nut allergy, but I know a lot of schools enforce a peanut- and tree nut-free zone because of children who do. I take these allergies very seriously because they can be deadly, so I have been brainstorming ideas for Peyton beyond the basic sunbutter and jelly sandwiches (full disclosure: Peyton does NOT like sunbutter--but I do!).
Lately Peyton has been asking about Lunchables, and I'm not a fan. So I plotted a way to get her her very own "lunchable" without the fake cheese and meat and sodium and grossness.
I present to you: the pizza "lunchable":
Ideally, I'd like to make my own pizza dough, but in a pinch this is perfect!
The pizza is one half of a sandwich thin (you could pack both halves, but Peyton doesn't eat that much), red sauce (read the labels and avoid added sugar!), and mozzarella cheese. I pack a spoon for her to spread the sauce over the sandwich thin and she can make her pizza herself.
The containers with the pink lids are from the Spencer Clear Food Storage Set from Pottery Barn Kids (utensil set can be found here), and I ordered the Silicone Baking Cups from Amazon. The silicone cups are the perfect size to create a bento-box type feel with this particular food storage set.
The pizza Lunchables come with a piece of candy and juice, but instead I chose to include red seedless grapes, sliced cucumber with ranch dressing, and an organic applesauce cup. And Peyton brings her water bottle into school with her every day, not pictured here.
Overall, this has been a hit! Peyton took this for lunch every day last week, and I rotated carrots in place of the cucumber, and yogurt in place of the applesauce to keep things interesting. I was worried that it would be messy, but the kid is determined to make her own pizza without making a mess in the process, and it's teaching her how to prepare her food--so this is a multi-tasking lunch for the win.
You could clean this up even more by swapping the ranch dressing for hummus, making your own pizza dough, and swapping the applesauce for a piece of whole fruit...but I am grateful that Peyton will eat this and I am choosing my battles.
Kids are picky, I get it. But we can get creative in the kitchen to provide lunches for our children that foster healthy habits, teach independence, and introduce better food choices.
Happy Wednesday!
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