Sunday September 5th Brown Bag Lunches

The dawn of a new school year is always exciting, and can bring mixed emotions. The excitement of starting fresh is often accompanied by nervousness about the unknown. Who is my teacher going to be? Will my best friend be in my class? What will I take for lunch? I can help you with that last one!

Your Library has a huge selection of cookbooks, covering every type of food from appealing appetizers to zesty zucchini. If you love cookbooks, check out the 641s the next time you visit the Library! Within this section you will find a few books filled with recipes, tips and ideas for “brown bag” lunches, including the following.

The brown bag lunch: A collection of recipes and tips for the perfect portable lunch, by Susan Epstein

This book includes a chapter “For the kids”, and fun tips like: “Cut out sandwiches with cookie cutters. They are really fun to eat and take only a few extra seconds to prepare. Perfect for the kid who won’t eat crust.” Or, for extra fun, leave the “crust” bit on and make a puzzle sandwich!




Lunch munch, by Bobbie Kalman

This is a recipe book FOR kids, and has easy-to-follow instructions and lots of pictures. It includes seven menus using the recipes in the book. Kalman includes an informative section on nutrition, and explains why a healthy lunch is important. Browse the 641 section in the Children’s Department for more like this.



The brown bag lunch cook book: Great choices for healthy lunches in today’s fast-paced work environment, by Miriam Jacobs

Although this book is written for the “work environment” it’s equally useful for packing school lunches. A section of note is called, “The freezer is your friend.” It lists common lunch items which can and can not be frozen. Freezing lets you plan ahead and manage your time. It also allows food to defrost gradually in your lunch bag, so it’s ready for you at lunch time. Frozen food doubles as a cool-pack in a lunch box. Jacobs also advises you to plan ahead by making a weekly schedule for lunch meals, and planning your shopping list at the same time.

Allergy-free desserts by Elizabeth Gordon

This is one of many allergy-friendly cookbooks that may be found at the Library. With the majority of schools going peanut-free these are helpful resources for all parents. Gordon includes chapters on cookies, bars, cakes, pies, breads and “extras”.



The internet is a great source of lunch box ideas. There are numerous blogs devoted to the topic, including www.xobobox.com, which is written by Meg, a mother of two. Meg shares her menu ideas, passes along news about lunch box products, and advocates for environmentally-friendliness. For a visual feast follow some of the links to flickr photo groups in the “lunch box resources” section.

Canadian Living’s Web site (www.canadianliving.com) features an article by Dr. Joey Shulman: “Healthy lunch makeovers for kids: Tips for packing healthy lunch your kids will actually eat.” Shulman suggests keeping lunch interesting by trying different types of bread and alternatives like pitas and wraps. Visiting the health food store or bulk food section of your grocery store is also recommended, in order to stock up on things like dried fruit, yogurt-covered raisins and granola mixes which make healthy snacks. Having your child participate in grocery shopping and lunch packing is also suggested, in order to foster more interest in what they eat.

With these informative resources this school year will be the tastiest ever!

Joanna Aegard, Head of Virtual Services