{"id":2172,"date":"2011-09-14T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=2172"},"modified":"2016-10-05T11:20:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T15:20:53","slug":"what-can-i-eat-for-lunch-at-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/14\/what-can-i-eat-for-lunch-at-school\/","title":{"rendered":"What can I eat for lunch at school?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Q.<\/b> What can I eat for lunch at school? I have to pack a lunch since the cafeteria doesn\u2019t have much in the way of veg options.<\/p>\n<p><b>A.<\/b>  A lot of schools are implementing farm-to-school programs (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/journal\/vj2005issue3\/2005_issue3_action.php\">http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/journal\/vj2005issue3\/2005_issue3_action.php<\/a>) and incorporating vegetarian products into school meals (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/fsupdate\/fsu20062\/fsu20062_schoollunch.htm\">http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/fsupdate\/fsu20062\/fsu20062_schoollunch.htm<\/a> If your school doesn\u2019t currently do either of these, here are some quick, easy and delicious ideas to pack for your school lunch.<\/p>\n<p>Sandwiches (put these on your favorite bread, whether it be a tortilla, bagel, pita or sliced bread):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>nut butter &#038; jelly (or sliced apple, banana or strawberry)<\/li>\n<li>veggie sandwich  (red peppers, cucumbers, lettuce &#038; tomato with hummus or vegan cream cheese)<\/li>\n<li>tofu eggless salad<\/li>\n<li>tempeh bacon, lettuce &#038; tomato with soy mayonnaise<\/li>\n<li>soy-based faux meat with lettuce, tomato &#038; onion with soy mayonnaise, mustard or hummus\n<li>falafel (homemade, purchase premade or purchase a mix) or with cucumbers, tomatoes &#038; tahini sauce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Soups (packed in a thermos to keep warm and can be homemade or bought in cans or aseptic packages; cup of soup products work also if you have access to hot water):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>minestrone<\/li>\n<li>lentil<\/li>\n<li>chili<\/li>\n<li>black bean<\/li>\n<li>tomato-basil<\/li>\n<li>corn chowder<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Salads:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>pasta salad (cooked pasta, broccoli &#038; carrots with vinaigrette dressing)<\/li>\n<li>taco salad (black beans, corn, red peppers &#038; cilantro) with tortilla chips<\/li>\n<li>sesame noodle salad (cold soba noodles with broccoli, carrots &#038; sesame seeds in peanut sauce) <\/li>\n<li>tabouleh salad (bulgar wheat, tomatoes, lemon juice, mint &#038; parsley)<\/li>\n<li>fruit salad (an assortment of cut up fruits drizzled with balsamic vinegar)<\/li>\n<li>raw vegetable salad (greens with a variety of your favorite veggies &#038; dressing)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other ideas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>bean burrito (tortilla with beans, rice &#038; salsa)<\/li>\n<li>brown rice with veggies &#038; tofu<\/li>\n<li>beans and grains (any bean-black, kidney, chickpea, etc and any grain-rice, quinoa, couscous, etc)<\/li>\n<li>noodles &#038; marinara sauce with veggies<\/li>\n<li>homemade vegan \u201clunchable\u201d-faux deli meat, soy-based cheese slices and whole grain crackers<\/li>\n<li>veggie spring rolls with peanut sauce (homemade or can be found frozen in some supermarkets and natural food stores)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Add a snack and\/or a sweet treat and a drink and you\u2019ve got a complete lunch. <\/p>\n<p>Snacks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>pretzels<\/li>\n<li>whole-grain crackers<\/li>\n<li>nuts<\/li>\n<li>trail mix<\/li>\n<li>veggies with hummus<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sweets:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>fruit (fresh, dried or fruit leather)<\/li>\n<li>soy yogurt<\/li>\n<li>soy pudding<\/li>\n<li>vegan cookie or graham crackers<\/li>\n<li>Clif bar or Luna bar<\/li>\n<li>muffins or other baked items<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Drinks (if you keep these in the freezer, they will serve as an ice pack while they thaw in time for lunch):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>bottled water<\/li>\n<li>juice box<\/li>\n<li>soymilk or ricemilk boxes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the words of a childhood friend, \u201cIt is more fun to talk with someone who doesn\u2019t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like \u201cwhat about lunch?\u201d\u201d -Winnie the Pooh<\/p>\n<p><i>Written by Corey Bivins while volunteering with VRG.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q. What can I eat for lunch at school? I have to pack a lunch since the cafeteria doesn\u2019t have much in the way of veg options. A. A lot of schools are implementing farm-to-school programs (http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/journal\/vj2005issue3\/2005_issue3_action.php) and incorporating vegetarian products into school meals (http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/fsupdate\/fsu20062\/fsu20062_schoollunch.htm If your school doesn\u2019t currently do either of these, here [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2172"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9780,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172\/revisions\/9780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}