When I got this menu plan from the nice people over at Motts, it just seemed like a fun thing to try with my kids, not to mention a potentially time-saving solution to the school-lunch mad rush we go through daily. So I put the idea to my eight year-old daughter: if I get this stuff and make these recipes, will you try them and give me your opinion? After vetting the meal plan to make sure it didn’t contain any "gross" foods, she was on board, 100%.
Oh, and her little sister wanted in on the fun, too. She just happens to be in Kindergarten, though, which is great, except that in these parts Kindergarten is a half-day proposition, which means she brings only a measly snack to school, and not a full-blown lunch like her big sis.
However. In the spirit of fairness, she has been eating the same lunch (in a different setting) and has been taking Motts Fruitsations for snacks so that she can be part of the panel, as it were.
So here we are on Tuesday evening, with two Motts meals under our belts, and what do the most important people (the kids, of course!) think?
Big Sister: I liked the beef burrito (recipe here) today better than the tortellini yesterday, and I also loved the purple Motts (Blueberry Delight) the best. Did I have to dip my veggies in the Motts? Can you buy the purple one again?
Little Sister: I love them all! Can I have them for snack too? But Mommy, remember I didn’t like the burrito really. I only like cheese and sour cream. But I like the snacks (Motts).
Mom’s take: This is, to tell the truth, more work than I might normally go to every day for school lunches, but if we had made spaghetti for dinner on Monday then putting together the burritos for Tuesday lunch would have been a snap, so I can see that once you start to think about lunch in this way it will work out to be a time-saver. Plus, popping a Motts into their lunch bag for a snack is super quick and easy, and I know it’s a healthy treat that the kids will like (hitherto they have not been huge fans of the applesauce-like snacks, so this is a nice development!).
My older daughter doesn’t have access to a microwave for her school lunch (except on Thursdays when there is a parent volunteer – me – to operate the machines) so that is an issue as not all of the choices on this meal plan work well cold. For instance, Monday’s whole-wheat tortellini went in the thermos and I think it lost some of its lustre through dissipation of heat. I’m really excited about the homemade chicken fingers for Thursday, though, as I know she will be able to heat those up, and it looks like a really nice recipe.
All in all, I think this is such a refreshing take on cooking for kids’ tastes. The recipes are sophisticated enough (especially Wednesday’s apple chicken roll ups) for adults, but I know they will appeal to my daughters, as well. And although my particular girls didn’t go for dipping their veggie or fruit wedges in the Motts, it was only because they liked eating the Motts so much that there was none left for dipping!
Tune in on Thursday for our take on the next two days.