Save money and help your budget with these healthy kids lunch boxes!

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As some of you know, we home school our kids and travel the country in our RV.  Since we home school we don’t have a real need for packable school lunches. A reader reached out to me to ask if I could do a series on healthy kids lunch boxes that are budget friendly and Paleo! She asked and we delivered! Something awesome came of this! We now have breakfast and lunch ready to go everyday! We just pull it out of the refrigerator, re-heat if needed (breakfast) and serve. This makes my life so much easier, especially since I am not a morning person and the thought of standing in front of the stove at 6:00am is not appealing! I prepare breakfasts and lunches once a week and have healthy, portable meals the whole week! My boys are loving this new routine because it means that they get their favorite foods everyday and they don’t have to wait a long time for me to get coffee going and cook their breakfast or lunch! They often help me make their lunches which cuts down on waste!

I bought a Goodbyn Bynto Food Container for each of the boys. I really like these containers because they lock tight, are easy to carry and they hold a good amount of food (even an adult could use it). In addition to the Goodbyn Bynto Food Container I bought clear plastic 2 oz Plastic Shot Cups with Lids for sauces, almond butter and dressings and Silicone Baking Cups for items that I didn’t want rolling around. The baking cups are great if you are going to be able to store your container without it tipping over. I found Small Bamboo Skewers at the local grocery store. These aren’t really necessary, but the kids love them! I cut the pointy tips off after the food is skewered so they aren’t tempted to poke each other with them! If it isn’t in the budget just leave it out! Another great (and cheaper) alternative to Goodbyn Bynto Food Containers is Ziploc Containers like the ones I use for the adult Paleo lunch boxes!

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All of our healthy kids lunch boxes are grain free, peanut free, soy free and gluten free. Some contain dairy. My kids eat cheeses, yogurt and yogurt ranch dressing! No, it is not perfect Paleo, but if it get’s my kids to eat their vegetables and is reasonably healthy, we are ok with it! Just like with our make-ahead breakfasts, we allow them to drink either a cup of raw milk or water! We occasional have fresh-squeezed juices as a choice with our lunches as well.

Meats used in this week’s healthy kids lunch boxes:
Applegate Farms deli Turkey
Ham (Leftover from a whole ham I cooked)
Applegate Farms Pepperoni
Thick sliced chicken breast deli meat

Fruits used in this week’s healthy kids lunch boxes:
Pineapple
Dehydrated banana chips (home made)
Blackberries
Strawberries

Nuts used in this week’s healthy kids lunch boxes: 
Nature’s Harvest Organic Cashews (found at Wal-Mart)
Accent almond slivers (Found at Wal-Mart)

Vegetables used in this week’s healthy kids lunch boxes:
English cucumbers
Cherry tomatoes
Carrots
Celery

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Breakfast can wait… No Prince, breakfast can’t wait!

In our house, we feel like breakfast is essential to having a healthy start to the day! There’s not gonna be grits and gravy, cheese eggs and ham. There’s not gonna be hotcakes smothered in honey,  just good, wholesome Paleo goodness.

No time to cook breakfast every morning? No problem!

One of the struggles we have is getting breakfast made in the morning. It is so much easier to make toast or cereal instead of eggs and meat. We came up with a prepare-ahead breakfast plan for our family and hopefully it helps someone else make better choices for breakfast.

On Thursday each week I write out our meal plan for the week. I ask the boys each week what they want in their breakfast the next week and I give them the chart below.  I make sure I have enough food for the four of us and for Patrick to take to work in his Adult Paleo Lunchbox. Our weekly grocery bill usually comes in right at $150.00.

On Friday I grocery shop. Doing it Friday allows me to beat the weekend crowd and still have time to go back and get whatever it is that I forgot to get over the weekend.

On Sunday night I scramble enough eggs for each child to have approximately 2 eggs a day for 7 days. I then cook all the meat they requested within appropriate serving sizes. There is usually a variety for the week.  We buy ground turkey sausage patties, all natural cocktail weenies (found at trader joes),  bacon and ham. I pack 2 eggs and one meat choice into Rubbermaid Takealongs Divided containers that I found at Target (6 pack for $5.00) and place them in the refrigerator.

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We were all really craving a spicy guacamole burger, but since we don’t eat bread or additives we couldn’t just go to the local burger joint and grab one! After I made this we didn’t feel like we even wanted to! It was DELICIOUS!! We made a version for the kids that left out the jalopenos so it wasn’t spicy for them, but my husband and I love the heat!   This picture and recipe of our spicy guacamole burger does contain cheese. While cheese is not acceptable for Paleo we do still enjoy it from time to time! My husband loves pepper jack cheese on his burgers so that is what he went with! We would love to know what you think of this fabulous grain free, gluten free, Paleo spicy guacamole burger!

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground beef (the best you can buy, preferably grass-fed)
Chopped fresh or canned jalopenos
Field greens
1 Avocado
1 Roma Tomato Chopped
1/4 Onion chopped
Garlic to taste. I use around 1 tbs, but we really love garlic!
Cheese (optional) (not Paleo)

Instructions:

Mix together beef and jalopenos.
Make into patties and cook in skillet.
In a separate bowl mix avocado, garlic, chopped onion and tomato to prepare guacamole. Set aside.
Place field greens on plate, Add beef patty and top with guacamole.
ENJOY!

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Did you make our Spicy Guacamole Burger? Did you love it? What would/did you change about the recipe? We love feedback! Let us know what you thought about it! Of course we hope that you LOVE it as much as we do and that your family enjoyed it! Be sure to subscribe to our blog via email for fresh new recipes straight to your inbox!

***If you want to see more DINNER RECIPES just click the DINNER tab under our website title and it will take you to a whole list of wonderful dinners that we make often at our house!***

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We had fun with this recipe! We want a pizza type dinner, but I did not want to go through the work of putting together a flour-less pizza crust so we tried the Meatza Pizza Crust! This is really simple and even the kids enjoyed decorating their pizza!

Paleo Pizza Meatza Ingredients:

Crust:
1 pound Ground meat (We used pork)
1 egg
Italian Seasonings

Sauce: We used Salsa Verde, but tomato sauce or marinara would work great too!

Toppings: Whatever vegetable you choose! We used peppers and onions and I added mushrooms and black olives on mine, but it is really up to you! Get creative with it!

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Instructions: 

Mix together meat, egg and seasonings.
You can make patties or spread out in a sauté pan and cover with a lid. (Flip whole thing when cooked)
Remove from pan when cooked and add sauce and toppings.
Place “pizza” on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until pizza is hot and veggies are tender!
Slice and serve!

 

Want to lose weight? Follow me on my weight loss journey! Check out my ABOUT ME page!