Food is eaten to provide energy to the body for work, health, and fullness of life.  Taking a few extra minutes to plan some “full of life” school lunches will bring blessing to children’s mid day meal.  The following are some ideas from my lunch menu:

• *Applegate (purchased by Hormel in May 2015) or Organic Prairie turkey, chicken, or ham sandwich with soy/canola free mayonnaise and raw cheddar cheese on gluten free or ancient grain bread like Spelt.  Read the ingredients for Applegate products.  Carrageenan (a thickener) may be in some of their foods.
• Salad made from romaine, green, or red leaf lettuce.  Add some finely chopped tomato with some homemade dressings like Ranch.  *Salad dressings are easy to make and can be stored in the refrigerator in a mason jar for one week.  There are many excellent recipes on the Web.
• Chopped fresh seasonal fruit like apples, pears, strawberries, peaches, etc.
• Banana with raw honey
• Leftover homemade pizza from last night’s dinner.  *I made a homemade ancient grain barbecue chicken pizza that was devoured.  I used Trader Joe’s barbecue sauce (in the glass bottle), mozzarella cheese, left over barbecue chicken, red onions and tomatoes from our garden, and cilantro.
• Raw vegetables like carrot sticks, bell pepper, and sliced cucumber in a sour cream ranch dip
• Cheese quesadilla with homemade salsa *my salsa recipe includes a few chopped tomatoes, about 1/2 tsp. salt, 1-2 minced/seeded jalapenos, about 1 tbsp. lime juice, 2 green onions finely chopped, and about 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Sliced raw cheddar cheese with rice crackers from Trader Joe’s or Blue Diamond
• A tasty dessert like Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (check out my recipe page) or Gluten Free Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from the back of Trader Joe’s Oatmeal bag.  *We now purchase only organic oats since oats are commonly desiccated with glyphosate.
• Sunspire chocolate Sun Drops in a snack cup
• Cup of nuts
• Organic *peanut (We enjoy https://www.onceagainnutbutter.com/shop/peanut-butter/peanut-butters-organic) , cashew, almond butter sandwich with favorite jam
• Some organic/GMO free potato chip chips (Our new favorite are brands made with avocado oil)
• Water, raw milk, or chocolate milk
• Banana bread with soy free chocolate chips
• Ice packs for cooling

Hope this helps!