School Lunch Day 16: Burritos, and a sack lunch!
As you know, we normally pack in all reusable containers for school lunch. But for field trips the teacher prefers that they bring disposable, so that she doesn't have to worry about making sure the reusable bags and boxes make it home. But I couldn't just send a plain brown paper bag! So I started a tradition when my first set of twins was in kindergarten - I drew a picture on their lunch bag for field trips. I got some plain white bags instead of the usual brown, and a set of colored sharpies. I am not an artist at all, my pictures are very rough, but my kids think I'm the best artist they know and they are the only critics whose opinions matter to me!
My youngest two are now getting to go on those kindergarten field trips (the time is going way too fast!!), so I am excited to get to continue this tradition for one more year. The older grades don't go on nearly as many field trips (kinders go on one a month, second grade just three in the year), and I don't think they stay for lunch, so this might be my last year of field trip lunch packing for a while.
Today the kindergarten went on their first field trip - to a big farm with a pumpkin patch. So that is my simple drawing, just a fence, a big red barn, some green vines and orange pumpkins. So easy, even if you think you can't draw I'm sure you can do at least as good as me, and the kids love it!
So for these lunches - two for the second graders are packed in our usual EasyLunchboxes because they are just going to school. Two for the first graders are packed in all disposable bags.
The lunch idea:
I wanted something that could be easily eaten on the field trip, held in one hand and not fall apart or have a lot of little pieces to deal with. Burritos are perfect for that. You could practically just take it in your pocket. It's easy to make ahead, and personally I think they taste just as good cold as they do hot, especially if they have just simple ingredients (I don't think I'd like a cold steak burrito, but bean and cheese does just fine). I just buy organic canned refried beans, and I shred big blocks of cheese. I'll try to do a video one of these days about the rolling, but it's really quite easy - the trick is to not over stuff the burrito. Just a few spoonfuls of beans, a sprinkle of cheese. I microwave these enough to get the cheese melting into the beans and the tortilla nice and soft. Then fold the sides in, and roll.
What's in the lunch:
- Bean and cheese burrito: refried beans, shredded jack and cheddar cheese, flour tortilla
- Veggies: carrots, and two have tomatoes.
- Fruit: two have sliced apples, one has a banana, and one lunch bag has a whole apple
- Extra: a couple slices of homemade carrot & pear bread. And the two sack lunches have a box milk.
Tips and questions:
- Yes, the burritos really are eaten at room temp. (Note: I also made myself one, not pictured here, and I ate it cold, and it was great!) I noticed that the two wrapped in wax paper got a little soggy or doughy, but not bad and it didn't keep them from eating it. The two in the EasyLunchboxes were perfect - the fact that they are not airtight means that the lunch can breathe a little, so they didn't get soggy.
- I'm working on that carrot bread recipe - I'll update this post with a link when I have it.
- Someone asked how I slice the apples like that: I slice two flat sides off the apple, then cut those pieces in slices lengthwise. I don't know if that makes any sense. I'll try to do a video of that soon.
- Regarding the organic beans: I just want to say that I am not that hardcore about the organic part. Beans aren't on the dirty dozen and I'm not super concerned about whether the beans are organic. But I really try to not buy things that come in BPA lined cans. Trader Joes does not line their bean cans with BPA. But if I haven't gotten to TJs, and get groceries from a regular grocery store or Amazon Fresh (which, if they are in your area, you must try!), then the organic brands are the only ones that don't have BPA in their cans.
Products use in these lunches: (affiliate links)