Learning and school lunch, best when served naturally!

It's September and kids are heading back to school. Even though this year is different for the majority of kids across the nation, one thing that remains the same is that kids still need a delicious and nutritious school lunch.

Many schools are now putting a pause on school-provided lunches and requiring students to bring packed lunches. This means more parents are faced with the chore of packing that daily meal to go.

Farmer Jonas’s kids are back to school as well in the Amish community. He let me know that they have always packed a school lunch every day for his children. So I asked him, “Hey Jonas, what do your kids take for school lunch?”

I was curious to know because the Beiler’s value healthy traditional foods. They also supply the majority of their food from their own farm. I thought he could offer others some fresh and healthy ideas to incorporate into their kid's daily school lunch too!

A typical school lunch for the Beiler Family includes:

• A meat, cheese, and tomato sandwich
• Homemade yogurt
• Blueberries, apple slice, or banana 
• Chocolate milk
• Homemade chocolate chip cookie

Simple and nutritious, this school lunch checks all the boxes!

The sandwich provides a healthy source of carbohydrates which is the preferred fuel source for active brains and growing muscles. Homemade yogurt provides a probiotic-rich source of protein for sustained energy. Blueberries, apples, or bananas the original “fruit snack”, and of course every school lunch is not complete without a treat like chocolate milk and cookies!

One thing stood out to me right away about the Beiler family school lunches, there are no pre-packaged foods! 

Oh the memories of opening my school lunch box to find treats like bagged chips and a “fruit by the foot.” I am sure those items did my health little good, at least they gained me some cool points at the cafeteria lunch table!

But in all seriousness, providing our children with real wholesome food is one of the best things we can do to help them through the long school day. 

The school day for the Beiler kids runs from about 8:00 am to 2:30 pm. The thing I love most about Amish schools is that they learn among mixed age groups in a one-room schoolhouse. The older children help and teach the younger children, and the younger children learn from their older peers.

When the kids come home from school they have no homework...ever! 

This is great, it allows for the kids to have time to play, do farm chores, and naturally learn about life outside of school.

I can see the whole learning process come full circle as the Beiler children participate in producing the food that they then eat in their school lunch. Children learn through all of life, and an equal amount, if not even more learning happens outside of the school walls. 

Learning, like school lunch, is best when served naturally, with simplicity, and of course some fun! 

By giving our kids the basic building blocks that nature provides, our children will absolutely grow, learn, and thrive this school year. 

Enjoy the food,

Sara and