Food Friday - Ode to the Lunchbox

from Kris B.

School started for me last Monday.  As I was sitting at the dining room table that morning drinking my coffee and running my day in my head, it dawned on me that that day, August 29, 2016, was my fiftieth first day of school.  I started kindergarten in September of 1966 at age 4.  I have been involved in education, on one side of the desk or the other, ever since then.  I spent thirteen years, including that year in kindergarten, as a public school student, three and a half years as an undergraduate, seven years as a graduate student and graduate teaching fellow, a year as a pre-school and elementary music teacher, and the last twenty-five years as a professor of music theory.  I posted something along these lines on Facebook on Monday morning.  One of my friends posted a comment that said, “Where is your first day of school picture?”  That started me thinking…

I remember a few first day of school photos that my mom took, maybe kindergarten, first, and second grade, but that’s it.  She was not a picture taker.  When my girls were in school, I did take first day of school pictures of them, but it never crossed my mind to either take one of me or even one of the three of us together.  When I read my friend’s comment I wondered what it would be like to have all of those fifty first day of school pictures.  Maybe if I’d known back in elementary school or junior high that my whole life would be spent in education, I might have thought to document it this way.  Sadly, I didn’t.  So, I had to rely on my less than vivid memories to help me “celebrate” this "golden anniversary.";

I thought about all the schools that I had attended, all the teachers that I had had.  I smiled as I recalled those that had truly inspired me.  I said “thank you” to those who had a part in shaping me into the teacher that I am.  I forgave those who made school miserable at times.  Names of friends who I haven't thought about in decades crossed my mind.  I wondered what happened Steven Leonard, the kid in fourth grade who threw up in class every morning that his mother gave him Carnation Instant Breakfast.  I lamented the fact that I kept in touch with exactly zero of my girl friends from high school.  I could have spent a long time wandering aimlessly through the past not sure where I was going or for what I was looking.  About this time, I happened to look at the clock and realized that it was time for me to head out the door.  Back to the present, to a time where I knew exactly where I was going and what I needed to be doing.

As I sat down for lunch that day, those twinges of nostalgia crept back into my thoughts.  Though first day of school pictures were not part of my start of school memories, other things were.  I remember getting new clothes, mostly dresses because I am old enough that girls had to wear dresses to school every day.  This was the case until I was in junior high.  I got new shoes, shoes that I had to take off as soon as I got home from school because school shoes were not play shoes.  I got new notebooks and pencils.  But, my favorite thing about the beginning of a new school year was that I always got a new lunch box.  They were always metal and came with a “real” breakable Thermos.  I had them with pictures of astronauts on them and Peanuts characters. I had one that looked like a mailbox and another that was red plaid.  My all-time favorite though was the one with Johnny Gage and Roy Desoto from the TV series Emergency.  Lunch boxes themselves have changed a lot in the last fifty years, but the fact that I still get a new one at the beginning of every school year has not.  And, neither has my preference in lunch box meals.

I do take leftovers from the previous night’s dinner or salads for lunch several days a week, but I have to admit that my favorite lunch is a tried and true PB&J, chips, fruit, and a sweet treat.  When I was little, my PB&J was made with Skippy peanut butter and grape jelly on white bread.  Now I eat it with homemade peanut butter and red plum jelly on preferably homemade oatmeal bread.  My chip preference used to be Fritos, probably because you got a free Frito Bandito eraser in the package.  Now I eat pretzel thins.  Most days I still eat an apple, though occasionally I branch out to another fruit.  Somewhere along the line I bought into that notion of an apple a day… And, my two or three Oreos or chocolate chip cookies as a sweet treat have been replaced by a small piece or two of dark chocolate.   If only I still had Johnny and Roy on my lunchbox… Though my food choices haven't matured much, my lunchbox has, sort of.

This year’s lunchbox is sort of like a Bento box.  I like the small compartments because they help with portion control.  Yeah…the need for portion control was not an issue for me fifty years ago either.

I am thankful that these day I enjoy my faithful PB&J most often   in my office by myself rather than in a noisy school lunchroom.  There are some benefits to growing up!!

And now its time for a confession…as I sit here writing this, I am drinking coffee and eating pumpkin spice Oreos.  Oreos may make their way back into my lunchbox this year!!!  

from Tracey G

This week Kris and I have been musing about school, the first days of, lunches, and so forth. Harry starts school on the 6th this year, just a few days away. Hard to believe summer has flown by so quickly, yet it really didn't feel like it went by that fast. It's a strange combination of perception this year! I would have to say it was a good summer, didn't do a whole lot of anything, but a lot of that was directed by Harry, so as long as he was happy, that's good enough for me! I think he really was ready for some unstructured kid time after a school year of nothing but structure and rigid routine. This summer was one full of lazy days - up late and sleeping in late, which I know he's loved every minute of! I even think there were a few days for him he never even got out of his lounge clothes - and I would bet my right arm that if asked him, those were his favorite days of all, lol.

But there is something to be said about gearing up for the new school year - and getting him ready for it always reminds me of all my years of getting ready for the First Day of School. The ritual of school clothes shopping was my favorite, of course, lol, my parents would give me a nice budget and let me go nuts - good times! We didn't use backpacks back then, they weren't a "thing" until college (and let me say I wished they were the thing when I was in Junior High and High School because that was a LOT of book juggling!). Why, I have no idea, like it wasn't cool to carry one until college, lol. Crazy.

The choosing of the lunchbox though was a big deal - that was something special to be sure. I don't remember when I stopped buying lunch boxes. Probably 6th grade if I hazard a guess. By 7th on up I ate school lunch because it was a la carte by that stage and way more fun than bringing lunch from home!  The funny thing is, I can remember my first few - of course they were metal (called "vintage" these days), and the first couple included Speed Buggy, I'm sure a Speed Racer one and maybe a Scooby Doo thrown in the mix. I remember 5th grade's for sure - Wonder Woman!! Only by that point it was an insulated vinyl material. But after reading the draft of what Kris had to say, I could have only wished I'd been able to have an "Emergency" themed lunch box - I was head over heels crushing on the character Johnny Gage from the time I was like 3 on up, lol. Randolph Mantooth (who played the character Johnny) was my first fangirl crush!!! And I'll never forget I wanted to be just like nurse Dixie McCall! (played by actress AND singer, Julie London - I remember when my dad told me she was a singer too, I didn't believe him until he pulled out her album!)

 But, back to the lunchboxes, I do remember that we had this crazy little lunchroom ritual when we brought lunch in my early elementary school (only grades K-2 if I remember correctly),  for some reason upon entering the lunchroom, we'd slide our lunchboxes on the floor to the table we were going to eat at! It was like lunchbox shuffleboard, lol. My metal lunchboxes took a beating...

In the shopping for Harry's lunchboxes I can't help be reminded of how much things have stayed the same (kid's favorite characters!) yet how much they've changed (materials!). I do have a hard time letting him pick his own, lol, I see the ones I like and it's like I'm a kid all over again and gently remind myself this is HIS lunchbox, not mine, so if he wants Miles From Tomorrowland over Star Wars, that's what it is. Even if I do secretly covet that cool Star Wars lunchbox... This year though, since he opted for a Minecraft themed backpack, we searched for a cool lunchbox in the same theme, but there weren't any to speak of. So, this year, it's a plain black one with lime green piping and handle. It's pretty cool I think - and it matches his backpack fabulously. And he likes it, that right there makes it perfect.

The items that go inside have changed quite a bit as well - where I had pretty much eaten out of my thermos (Campbell's soups were a favorite of mine), because I was one of those odd children that didn't like peanut butter and jelly. I just started liking it actually not that long ago, lol, and even now I prefer no jelly/jam on my peanut butter sandwich, but sometimes when the mood hits, sign me up for the addition of some yummy seedless blackberry-black raspberry jam! But anyway, there's so many cool portable lunch products out there these days! I love the drink/juice bags, I remember when the ONLY brand out there was Capri Sun - I remember when they came out, and let me just say that was well AFTER my school lunch days, lol. They became a camping staple for me, lol.

I have to confess, I love individually packaged items. Yes I know I could buy a big container of things and portion it out myself a lot more cheaply I'm sure, but what it saves me in time and peace of mind, I'd rather have those individual bags of Goldfish and pretzels! Not to mention the cheese sticks - not only the string cheese, but the colby-jack and cheddar! The applesauce pouches (and just about any fruit you can imagine in a squeezy container, lol) are a wonderful thing - no utensils necessary, no trying to open the little cup of the stuff - awesome, lol. I do get a few things that are less than the healthy route, but I believe in all things in moderation, so a little treat is nice to have occasionally as well to help keep the hum-drums out of lunches packed from home when you're a 7-year-old kid, lol. So he'll find the occasional Rice Krispies Treat square or fruit gummies - and maybe sometimes an individual package of chocolate chip cookies when I don't have homemade around for him.

What I do know is that there are so many cool choices out there - fairly healthy, and of course some that aren't so healthy but are guilty pleasures nonetheless - that would have probably had me taking lunch from home WAY more often than I actually did as kid! Kids these days (and adults who pack a lunch every day or almost every day) have a lot of fun choices to keep things fun and fresh in the realm of packing that lunchbox!!!