We have a major milestone this fall – Luke is starting kindergarten! (I got teary eyed just typing that). I remember when he was born and thinking school was so far away but now it’s creeping up on us. I know he’s really looking forward to it and is excited to start at a “real” school. But I’m not ready. I’m being selfish. I want him to stay a preschooler for a bit longer. I like this age. Well, I liked all the stages from infant to toddler to preschooler. With every milestone (from starting solids to potty-training), it’s always been a hurdle. But I think this might be the biggest hurdle for me. Knowing he’s not a baby anymore.
Luke has been in daycare since he was four months old and I’ve always relied on daycare to provide the food and feed him lunch. His current daycare does a great job with their lunch menus, especially with vegetables. Luke loves chickpeas and broccoli! I’m just surprised because I don’t like either of those foods nor do I cook them at home. I guess depriving him of those foods help? Just kidding.
With kindergarten coming up, we have to make some major decisions – where he’s going to school, after-care, and what will he eat for lunch? So no matter where he goes to school, I still have to consider the types of lunches he’ll be eating. I know all schools offer lunches (and that’s convenient for me) but I want to make sure he continues to eat his fruits and vegetables, in addition to his carbs and proteins (he loves mac and cheese!) and consider all my options. Ideally, I would love to pack all his lunches and include a sweet note in each lunch. But realistically, that is not going to happen all the time. I’m sure I’ll find myself strapped for time or ideas on what to pack for lunch.
Because I’m a bad meal planner, I wanted to see if EatPakd lunches might be a good alternative to school lunches, or possibly add some variety to Luke’s weekly lunches, or use them as lunches while we’re out exploring. EatPakd is a meal delivery service, specializing in fun, nutritional lunch packs for kids. I signed up the for service and the ordering process was quite easy. You just pick the packs that are available for the week or make your own and they send the order your way on Sunday evening. The names of the packs were quite fun, too – “Hands Off My Nuggets, Nosh with Nolis, and Pizzadilla”.
Luke tried the packs last week and his favorite from the packs were the chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, cucumbers and dip, and brownie. Each pack comes with four items all sealed up. They’re packed conveniently so you can just throw them in a bag or take them apart and stack them in a lunch bag or tote. I found the fruits and vegetables to be very fresh when delivered. But with all fruits and vegetables, they will go bad if you don’t eat them on a timely basis. That being said, when you receive your EatPakd lunches for the week, make sure you plan to have your child to eat the packs that week. The pricing for a four-pack is $26 which comes out to be about $6.50/pack. I thought the portion sizes were good for Luke…he ate all the protein and dessert. He ate most everything in his packs, so it seemed worth it.
Overall, I think we’ll be using EatPakd as a supplement for certain weeks during kindergarten or even for our weekend adventures. The service was easy and most of all, it’s convenient for me. This saves me time with meal planning for weeks when I know I’ll be busy or out of town for work.
If you’re interested in trying EatPakd, you can use the discount code “SECONDCITYMOM” for $15 off your first order. The code will not expire until April 1, 2018. I would love to know what you think!
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Thank you EatPakd for sponsoring this post. All pictures and opinions are my own.