Back-to-school time is creeping upon us, which means that it will soon be time again for bedtimes, homework, lots of new school supplies, and life falling back into more of a routine. One of those school time routines that Molly has grown to love is taking her lunch to school. While she eats the majority of her lunches as school hot lunches, she meticulously plans out her days of taking her own lunch to school at the beginning of each month when the school lunch menus come home.
Even though Molly tends to enjoy the school lunches, she loves deciding on what she’ll eat and then packing up her lunch. She tries to come up with lots of creative ideas to make her lunch fun, and I often find her grabbing out things like our special sandwich cutter (that turns a regular sandwich into two dinosaurs).
One of her complaints, however, is that she enjoys drinking milk with her lunch, but then that means waiting in line with the kids getting hot lunches just to get and pay for her milk. This means that, sometimes, she opts to take juice to drink just so she can head straight to her lunch table. She was very excited when we got to try out the perfect-for-lunch boxes, and other single serving situations, 12 oz Shamrock Farms on-the-go mmmmilk bottles, which include a choice of chocolate, white, and strawberry milk.
One of the recipes we made was the No Bake Energy Bites. Molly decided on a couple of modifications that she wanted to make. Yep, that’s right. She checked out the recipe and decided that she wanted to make it all on her own. To make that happen, we used regular flake coconut that was not toasted. She also decided on mini chocolate chips instead of regular ones. Lastly, she decided she wanted to add some chia seeds.
Molly’s Modified No Bake Energy Bites
Ingredients
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup flaked coconut
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup peanut butter (though any nut butter would work)
- 1 cup dry oatmeal
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl until well blended. These can be difficult to blend well, but I suggested to Molly that she mix it with her (clean!) hands when she was running into difficulty.
2. Roll mixture into balls. You may need to add another tablespoon or less of the nut butter, if you have too much difficulty binding dry ingredients together.
3. Chill the energy balls in the refrigerator until they are firm.
We thought that another fabulous addition to the lunch was fruit kabobs. To make them easier to fit in a small plastic storage container, we opted to thread fresh fruit onto 4-inch sucker sticks that we had. This also meant there were no pointed ends. Score!
In addition to the No Bake Energy Balls and Fruit Kabobs, we rounded out the meal with string cheese, a few crackers, and a 12 oz Shamrock Farms 2% Strawberry Milk. Although we are sharing the meal by showing it on a plate, these are all things that could be easily packed up in Molly’s insulated lunch bag with a cold pack.
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I like to pack a sandwich, piece of fruit or raisins, a juice box, milk, or water, cheese crackers or cheerios, maybe nuts or pretzel sticks.
tweet-https://twitter.com/LuLu_Brown24/status/625705557022932992
My son loves Greek yogurt, carrots, chicken fajitas, and a fruit cup!
Tweet-https://twitter.com/JewelWood/status/625709143802773504
I like to pack sandwiches or turkey wraps, veggies, fruits and water bottles
tweet: https://twitter.com/ElenaIstomina/status/625715039278903296
I like to pack fresh fruit, especially apples, yogurt and crackers for lunch. If I want a more substantial lunch I love to pack a turkey sub or chicken wrap!
https://twitter.com/yarbr012/status/625725040508563456
I like to add little notes of encouragement along with a Hershey’s kiss.
tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/625758092941217792
I pack: a sandwich, yogurt, fruit, chips, granola bar, veggies and a dessert
groogruxking40 @ gmail dot com
tweet- https://twitter.com/groogruxking40/status/625759120952406016
I like to pack cheese and crackers for my son.
I like to pack a cheese sandwich, a box of raisins and some fresh veggies with a dip. I also like to pack a frozen yogurt tube to help keep everything cool and it makes a great snack.
tweet
https://twitter.com/Kellydpa/status/625768672485867520
Little Debbie Snacks
https://twitter.com/willgriesmer/status/625777596521914368
I like to pack a sandwich/wrap, raw veggies, a piece of fruit, yogurt and water.
https://twitter.com/RachelGriesmer/status/626079860297961473
I love packing sandwiches with chips and hummus!
My kids like homemade cookies, they take after me! I usually make monster cookies or chocolate chip.
I tweeted: https://twitter.com/FireRunner2379/status/626537339045588992.
I like to an orange,carrots and usually some type of sandwich for my son….and he really loves kale chips too.
I like using pita bread for sandwiches and adding chips and fruit.
I like to pack Mac & cheese bites and mini chicken pot pie in my child’s lunchbox.
tcarolinep at gmail dot com
tweet-https://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/626958178123563009
I like to pack a sandwich or meat, cheese and crackers with a veggie and a gogurt and some fruit.
cshell090869 at aol dot com
tweeted
https://twitter.com/cshell202/status/626998682383069186
cshell090869 at aol dot com
I usually pack a sandwich or soup, vegetable (they love carrots/celery with ranch), fruit (oranges, grapes, melon), with a Thermos of ice cold water. For fun, at times, a Hershey kiss or other small candy. Thanks for all the ideas and contest!
I like pita sandwiches and fruit.
tweeted
https://twitter.com/rubylorikeet/status/627448778098737154
I love making lunch fun for my kiddos, they tend to eat it all if it is fun to eat, so bite size, fun size shapes or pieces! They love when I pack olives, and healthy sandwiches that are in a shape. I do veggies and dips, fruits and yogurts, bottled water. My kiddos are now 2nd and 6th, and they still look forward to finding out what Mom packed, and sometimes I also include a fun, loving note. My kiddos have food allergies, so this has always helped them look forward to eating, instead of it being a chore and uncomfortable. It’s helped them develop the right habits for eating and we don’t eat processed food. 🙂
Tweet: https://twitter.com/theamymichaels/status/627536325625925632
For my lunch I love eating salad, sandwiches, or leftovers! For sides I usually stick with fruit, veggies, yogurt, or pretzels.
i like to include yogurt and a granola bar
I like to pack turkey roll ups – a big hit with the kids!
Add crackers with hummus and fresh fruit.
thank you
Tweeted https://twitter.com/JalapenoMama/status/627972924042047488
I like to pack peanut butter and banana sandwiches, carrot sticks, and apples.
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/shala_darkstone/status/629994843817791488
We love to have salads with cheese sticks or a sandwich with all the fillings but not the bread. We try to have more veggies and less fruit with lunch but my youngest definitely has a sweet tooth.
I like to pack easy, paleo-ish, gluten-free items like these energy balls!!! Thank you for the recipe and giveaway!
I tweeted this:
No Bake Energy Balls @RealLifeAtHome + a giveaway! reallifeathome.com/protein-packed… #SweepstakesEntry
But I don’t know how to get the url! 🙁
Microwave MAC and cheese
My son loves yogurt, cheese sticks, fruit snacks or apple sauce in his lunches
https://twitter.com/susan1215/status/635190449389629440
I usually pack a sandwich, chips, apple and a cookie.
i like to pack a sandwich and some fruit
I posted a tweet here:
https://twitter.com/bellows22/status/637464113052954624
My boys like yogurt and fruit salad as part of their lunches.
tweeted
https://twitter.com/eswright18/status/639517038969421824
My son likes turkey and cheese sandwiches.
tweeted
https://twitter.com/thomasmurphy40/status/639652894531264512
I like to pack fruit every day, either a muffin, wrap with turkey and cheese or a mini sub with turkey and cheese and milk/juice
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
My kids like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
tweeted
https://twitter.com/aes529/status/639910258454986753
tweet https://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/639907758440095744
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
https://twitter.com/davisesq212/status/639934523304738816
I like to pack a PBandJ sandwich, juice box, water, pretzels, and grapes.
I love to pack turkey rollups and apples with peanut butter!
I tweeted
https://twitter.com/my4boysand1/status/639936793429831680
I love to pack sandwich, fruit and yogurt.
https://twitter.com/HappyTina0115/status/639962305472524288