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

A friend of mine left her copy of this cookbook at our house, my 8 year old daughter just happened to pick it up and started leafing through the pages...my 6 year old joined her....I was cooking dinner and all I could hear was them saying, "this is torture...I'm so hungry...this looks so yummy...aaagh....mommy pack this in our lunch!." So after dinner, we went through it together as they showed me all the things they would willingly eat (almost everything!). Granted these are lunches that will take a little more time to prepare than usual, but if I'm making 2 lunches, I might as well make 4 (for my husband and myself). It all looks delicious and really healthy. Our first week is planned, I've made a shopping list and we'll see how it goes! I've already made 2 of the recipes for fun and they were AWESOME! My family is eating the granola bark for breakfast with milk and bananas and loving it. I even made more for a friend who just had a baby! I just bought 3 copies, one for myself and 2 friends. Plus, the writing is so friendly and interesting that I actually read it cover to cover and learned a LOT about nutrition and family eating. I'm looking forward to throwing away a lot less food at the end of the day!

Got it as a present for my 12 year old daughter who was bored with the lunches we were packing her. She loves looking at the pictures and planning out her lunches for school. She goes through the book and picks out a few recipes to make, then we shop for the ingredients together. She is able to make some of the recipes by herself, and I help her with others. She has tried many new healthy items since getting this book and has been named the healthiest eater among her group of friends (this is a child who used to be a very picky eater, would hardly eat any fruit or vegetables a couple of years ago). We can't always find the ingredients listed (like seasonal fruits), which is a bit disappointing for a 12 year-old, but part of eating healthy is eating local and fresh produce, so that's ok. I just have to talk her into making substitutions and remind her that she will still get to make the original recipe when the item is back in season. Best of all, I get to piggy back on her cooking creations and take some of the things she makes in my lunch bag as well.

The positives: This book is attractive. The pictures are nice, the layout easy to follow. The recipes are well written, simple, and clear. The author is clearly well versed in healthy eating and has a good grasp on what things will appeal to children. This is an excellent resource if you are a complete novice in the kitchen and new to packing lunches. It has a number of tips that could be quite handy. (I actually really liked the idea of cutting a bagel into thirds instead of halves and using the middle for another purpose; bagels are large these days; that was one thing I hadn't considered. I've been paying a premium to get mini bagels. I will make use of this suggestion.)However, if you are looking for fresh, creative ideas to switch up a well established lunch time routine; if you know that a healthy packed lunch should include a whole grain, a protein, a fruit and a vegetable, and what foods fit in those categories; if you are an experienced cook - this book will add little to you knowledge. It's "novel" ideas - switching white bread for a whole grain pita, getting out of a PB&J rut by using almond or sun nut butter instead, putting mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes and bread cubes on a skewer. I highly recommend making use of the "look inside" feature and checking out the table of contents before deciding to purchase this book as you may find, as I did, that your skills are well beyond what this lunch box book can offer.

Packing a healthy lunch is right at the top of things which hurt my brain when I think about summer coming to an end. This book is packed (no pun intended) with so much inspiration! My son has already gone through and marked his top choices. Not surprisingly, the section with the snacks and treats is filled with tags. Who can blame him?The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is that I haven't actually tried any of the recipes. I will say that I'm almost looking forward to the challenge of packing a healthy, kid-pleasing lunch now, thanks to this book.

We dove right in after this book arrived and tried the Peanut Butter Pinwheels, Oodles of Sesame Noodles and Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Cookies. All 3 were huge hits with my two kids (and me), as I expect the rest to be as well. Katie Morford has a clear, no-nonsense writing style and flexible, yet healthy, approach that makes this a charming and fun-to-read book. I really appreciate the variations and ideas (e.g., "Ten Petite Treats") provided throughout, in addition to the excellent recipes. For a small book it contains a lot of great information about nutrition, shopping ahead, environment-friendly containers and more. Another bonus is that despite the title, lots of the recipes will make delicious dinner dishes too. I only wish this book had been available 10 years ago when my eldest started kindergarten!

The book is ok. I do like the snack ideas, but I ultimately don't think it's worth the real estate on your cook book shelf. My main issue is an Asian based recipe called " "Me So" Happy Noodle Soup." Yes, I get that it's a play on "miso," but it just comes across as racist. Did no one at this publishing house catch this?? Yikes.

While this book is well-written, I found it contained very unrealistic lunch ideas for my 10 y.o. There were only 2 items he would even consider out of the whole book and he is not a very picky eater. Kale chips? Cobb salad? Seemed a little foo-foo for most kids. I eat really healthy and found the lunch ideas great for me, but I won't be using this for him. Good try, however.

Great ideas

I was so hoping this would be good ... if you can't have peanut/nuts in your school then half the book is useless, also the publisher chose a teeny tiny font that you can barely read. Having said that, I will probably refer back to it and try a coupld recipes, but like I said, I finally find a recipe without nuts to try, and then it's written in like 9 pt font. argh.

excellent condition