packing a school lunch, a work in progress

My daughter started kindergarten a couple weeks ago. She loves it, but there is still plenty to get used to. For me, the biggest challenge has been packing her lunch every morning.

I had the perfect plan. I got everything for a waste-free lunch even down to the cloth napkins thanks to Etsy.com.

As someone who makes pizza dough by hand all day long, I was totally going to make everything from scratch, including the bread. Like I said, the perfect plan.

Well, hello reality. Look who just showed up!

As I unpacked the groceries on Sunday, I just stared in horror at my pantry filled with processed foods I had banned from my house long ago. Caramel corn rice cakes, store bought sliced bread, and jelly now sit on my shelves. How did this happen?

I’ll tell you how. I am a working mom just trying to figure out in the trenches how to make a healthy lunch that my daughter will eat. (Not because she is a picky eater but because her best friend tells her her lunch is gross everyday.)

I wish I could write that I will implement the perfect plan, but I won’t. My mantra as a mom has always been good enough and today I am reminded of that. Funny how I have to keep re-remembering that. This week’s lunch will be a compromise of homemade and store bought. That will have to be good enough.

I dug up an old recipe I posted last year listing 5 ideas for a brown bag lunch using pizza dough. I’ll make something from here for next week. Good enough, for now anyway.