The LunchBox Project

"Chef Ann is one of our Food Revolution heroes. She’s proved that you can produce a freshly cooked meal for the same amount of money many schools are spending on processed, re-heat foods. Her new fantastic website has loads of recipes and tools to help you do the same and give kids in your school REAL food.”


- Jamie Oliver

Chef Ann at a school's newly created salad bar.

I know it's tough to think up of new lunch ideas that are easy to prepare and won't grow old in the stuffy lunchboxes in your child's book bag. Chef Ann has come up with a new website called The Lunch Box to help moms and dads combat that. You just have to register for free to be a member of the site and you will gain access to a ton of free menus and recipes for creating healthy yet yummy school lunches for your children. She's also included a massive video library that contains everything from culinary techniques to interviews about school food change. In the future, there will also be video icons embedded in recipes to guide the user to the pertinent technique to be used in the recipe! If you're involved in your school's PTA or simply want to play an active role in evolving your school's lunchroom, Chef Ann has also provided tools including evaluations, grant finding and writing tools, feasibility studies, case studies, Farm to School resources and more so you can consider and begin to take action to transform your school district’s food program from a highly processed to a scratch-cooking environment.

If you have additional financial resources, you can also donate to the LunchBox Project and Jack Johnson of the All at Once Community will match funds up to $2,500 to help feed all children healthy school food. Their goal is to reach $20,000 by October 15th so do spread the word around!

Fun food!

One of my best girlfriends is currently residing in Japan while her husband works for the U.S. government. Her kids get to go to the Japanese schools and wear cute little uniforms. Seriously, the cutest uniforms ever!! She did a post about how ALL the moms in Japan take extra time to make fun and cute little bento box lunches for their kids to take to school with them and how she had to learn how to do so as well. How fun!!! I remember perusing a Japanese store in Japan Town in San Francisco and they had the most delightful molds ever. Not quite understanding what those molds were for, I never got them. Until I started reading her post about bento box lunches did it dawn to me what the little pink and blue molds of Hello Kitty face shapes and bunny ears were for! Now, I'm craving another trip to San Francisco's Japan Town, just so I can buy a handful of those lunch tools. Check out this site for lots of ideas and pictures of Bento Box lunches!

In my favorite book, Totto-chan, the principal made it mandatory for each child to bring a box lunch that contained "something from the ocean and something from the hills." I love how simple yet awesome this concept is. Not only is your child getting a variety of options in his/her lunch, it is definitely a great way to ensure your child gets a well-balanced meal! For example, you could have salmon with creamed spinach over rice. Delish!!! Can you also imagine your kid's face when he/she opens up the lunchbox in excitement to see what today's creation is?

What do you do that's fun and exciting for your child's lunchbox?  

Healthier Food for your School + Kids!

Whole Foods Market is partnering with Chef Ann Cooper to provide healthy salad bars to schools all across the country. For now, they are starting with schools that surround their stores. If you live close to a Whole Foods Market, you can either donate to your local store for your school or help your school apply for a grant online. Also head on to The Lunchbox for more information, a video, as well as instructional downloads to learn how to start your own salad bar.

If you don't live by a Whole Foods Market, here's an idea to pack healthier snacks for your kids. Crispy Green has packaged freeze-dried fruit that come in the perfect size bags for your child to bring to school. It comes in Crispy Apples, Asian Pears, Bananas, Mangoes, Pineapples, Strawberries, Apricots, and Peaches. It's making my mouth water! I love how simple and modern the design on the packing is as well!