Lunch Box Challenge Day 3: Snazzy Chicken Salad

I was surprised to ask several parents if their kids ate salads at school for lunch and while hot lunch serves a small salad not one of the parents that sends their kid to school with bagged lunch has ever made or even thought of making a salad. Why not? It’s possibly the quickest thing I can think of making and it’s healthy. I was one of those kids that packed their own salads nearly everyday for school, it was my favorite all time lunch. It was fun for me as I picked what went into the salad everyday. It became a game, pick different things, come up with new tastes, some of which really failed and others that were awesome. I used to put apples and raisins in with sunflowers seeds and sprouts , and yes I ate it all!

There is no rule on what goes into a salad either, so the possibilities are endless.  They don’t have to be bland or plain either, they can be fun. Salads are also one of the many lunches the kids can assemble themselves at school. It would really help if the kids  pitched in putting together this lunch box though as it’s tailored to their taste. Have them choose and put each ingredient into the containers.

Get snazzy with things and have some fun with this, make it colorful!

What you need for a Snazzy Chicken Salad:

Lettuce mix of preferred kind
Cheese of choice
Cooked Chicken pieces shredded or cut into cubes, strips. Great way to use up leftovers!

Favorite Salad dressing

Vegetables of choice-  Try to have the kids pick 2-3

• Tomatoes
• Sliced Cucumbers
• Broccoli 
• Peas, 
• Beans
• Sliced Onions
• Sliced Beets
• Cut Carrots

Place ingredients into separate containers. If you throw everything together the salad may become soggy by lunchtime so use separate containers. An ice pack would be handy to keep everything crisp and fresh as well.

Today’s Lunch Box Tip:  The entire reason behind this challenge is to get the kids excited about lunch again. Get them involved in preparing it. Have them pick out ingredients. Kids are more prone to being excited and engaged when you involve them into the process, which makes them even more willing to try new things and eat what’s in their lunch.

Keep up with the rest of the Lunch Box Challenge, there’s weeks more of fun ideas coming your way!