Looking for a particular post or topic? Search here!

Where My Readers Are From

Flag Counter

Who's Reading HFM Life

Thursday, February 20, 2014

How often do you give your kids money to buy food from the canteen?


When tiredness and laziness get the better of me, there will be no lunch boxes for Alycia and Sherilyn. I will give them RM2 each to buy food from the canteen during recess. 

Alycia and Sherilyn are not simple girls who would accept  anything that is packed into their lunch boxes.  Due to time constraint, I can only prepare simple snacks like bread with strawberry jam, marmalade jam,  kaya, nutella or peanut butter chocolate jam.  These are the only jams that Alycia and Sherilyn have approved and they would not accept any other types of jams.  Sherilyn loves seaweed slices with her bread too.

Besides bread with jam, biscuits and cookies go into their lunch box.  Occasionally, edamame beans make a place in their lunch box, but that will depend on their mood. Alycia does not want edamame beans as she says she does not have enough time to eat them, duh! 

I have other easy to prepare snacks in my mind, which I used to give them when they were in pre-school. They are cut fresh fruits, bananas,  steamed sweet corn kernels, steamed sweet potato and hard-boiled eggs but the 2 fussy pots say that they do not have enough time to finish these kind of snacks. Hard-boiled eggs are messy and dry, that's what they said.

I know they would be delighted to have nuggets, sausages, SPAM meat and fries but in my house, these are forbidden food.

So, this means that besides bread with jam on Mondays, biscuits or cookies on Tuesdays, buns on Thursdays, Wednesdays and Fridays would be canteen food day. Sometimes when they tell me that they are sick of bread, bun and biscuits, they get money to buy canteen food for 3-4 times in a week. This makes all of us happier! :)

How often do you give your kids money to buy food from the canteen? And how much?


6 comments:

Chris said...

I understand your frustration as have gone thru this myself too. Worse scenario is that in primary school there is no cafeteria, so everything has to be from home. Once very 2 weeks, there would be pizza and that was for fundraising. Anyways, would your girls like some leftover from dinner in a thermos for lunch? Or leftover pizza which my kids love to eat cold. As well, jam sandwiches can be made ahead of time, wrap in Saran and not in baggies, and frozen. Take one out before they leave for school and it will be nicely defrosted by lunch. Fried rice also does well in a thermos and have also learned to freeze portions in baggies (make sure no beansprouts as they do not tolerate freezing, but peas and carrots are fine), reheat before popping into the thermos. Hope my experiences help u.

Health Freak Mommy said...

Hey Chris, Sherilyn is quite acceptable to bringing re-heated overnight food like fried rice, fried noodles and spaghetti. It is Alycia who is really hard to please. She even rejects simple cakes. Basically, she only wants something that is easy and fast to eat.

Wow, I never knew that jam sandwiches can be pre-prepared, frozen and defrosted. I must try it soon

Thanks for your tips!!

Joshua & Bryant's mummy said...

U can make homemade nuggets, fish or chicken....... Can prepare beforehand, freeze n reheated when you want to pack their lunch.
Also, can make sweet potato balls, I dun freeze these though....... Steam them, mash them, add a bit of sugar ("I add 1-2 teaspoons per sweet potato) and plain flour (I use around 2 tbsp per medium sized sweet potato. ). Roll them in sesame seeds n pan fry. They are my boys favourite

Health Freak Mommy said...

Hey Shir Lin, I used to make homemade nuggets for the girls. That was when we had maids. I have not made these since our maid left. Too lazy coupled with no time to make them now, sigh! Your sweet potato sesame seed balls sound yummy!

Chris said...

Just thought of something as I saw my son eating one....granola bars! We can get them easily here but prob more expensive in KL, and not easily found. Google recipes for it...just oats, nuts, raisins , other dried fruit etc. Easy to eat on the go and packed with goodness.

Health Freak Mommy said...

Hi Chris, I have thought of granola bars and have offered them but none of my girls like it :((