What We Ate Wednesday: Starring My 11 Year Old
I’m not gonna lie: This wasn’t a banner day for my 11 year old. Too much sugar. Not enough veggies. I could go on. To be perfectly honest, part of me was tempted to scrap What We Ate Wednesday altogether and fake some kind of blog technical malfunction. But the whole point of WWAW is to give a real-life snapshot of what we ACTUALLY eat. And let’s face it, that’s not always kale and quinoa.
BREAKFAST
My son is a mad lover of simple carbs. He could exist on dry cereal and pretzels if I let him. So lately we’ve been talking a lot about balance and the importance of including protein and fresh food in each meal. So he had a mix of plain and vanilla yogurt, topped with a sprinkle of KIND granola clusters, and some sliced strawberries. And of course, a bowl of dry cereal (in this case, Envirokidz Gorilla Munch).
LUNCH
He is one tough customer when it comes to a lunch box. The number of foods he will reliably eat in a packed lunch has narrowed considerably over the years. He argues that so many foods just taste better at home. I get that–but it’s still frustrating. I especially struggle with finding fresh fruit that he’ll eat in a lunch box, so I frequently rely of fruit cups. In this lunch, he had a PBJ on whole wheat, pretzels, pears in juice, chopped kiwi, and a box of Horizon vanilla milk. He dumped the lunchbox leftovers in the sink before I could get an “after” photo, but he ate everything except the crusts of his sandwiches and the kiwi.
AFTER-SCHOOL SNACKS
Now that he’s a middle-schooler with a little more independence, he’s making some of his own food choices. He stayed after school to get started on homework and bought a small bag of Sun Chips from the vending machine. When he got home, he had a plate of cheese with ALDI-brand crackers and a sliced granny smith apple.
DINNER
Every month, I organize a dinner at the local food pantry/community center. Families from our elementary school put together a potluck dinner for those in the community who are in need of a meal. We had a big crowd and ran out of almost everything by the time the volunteers got a plate. So even though this little display of a buttered roll, green salad with ranch, mini cupcake, and scone looks like a sad dinner, it was pretty much all that was left, so I couldn’t fault him. (And I was psyched he chose salad with no input from me.)
BEDTIME SNACK
We got home close to bedtime after serving the dinner and helping to unload the food donations truck that comes to the community center each week. He made himself a “cracker sandwich” with two Wasa crackers, a slice of ham, and a piece of cheddar.
Next week: Me!
