“Does a truly sweet job of helping parents pack more inspired lunches . . . recipes for everything from wraps and sandwiches to pizzas and salads.” —Publishers Weekly Best Lunch Box Ever is full of recipes, ideas, and strategies for packing creative and healthful lunches for kids, solving what is for many parents the most taxing of daily chores. Kids will love the scrumptiousness, while busy moms and dads will appreciate the quick and simple solutions for wholesome, balanced meals developed by Katie Sullivan Morford, a registered dietician and mother of three. The sixty-five recipes are easy, delicious, and—best of all—packed with nutrients for well-rounded lunches and snacks, including Deconstructed Caprese Skewers, Easy Cheesy Thermos Beans, Pesto Pita Pizza, Cinnamon Wonton Crisps, Parmesan Kale Chips, Crispy Applewiches, and more. “Katie Morford has dozens of interesting and sometimes surprising suggestions for easy, delicious, and nutritious lunch items that kids will enjoy—if parents don’t get to them first.” —Marion Nestle, James Beard Award–winning author of Unsavory Truth “This wonderful book is sure to get you out of a lunch-box rut, with inspiring, easy, healthful ideas for lunches that will put a smile on any kid’s face!” —Ellie Krieger, host of Food Network’s Healthy Appetite “Ideal for parents and professionals, this cookbook features winning lunch ideas for eco- and health-conscious households.” —Library Journal

A little boy can’t wait to get his first lunch box. ‘He imagines what he could keep in a lunch box and even dreams a splendidly illustrated dream in which he has a different colored and shaped box for each day of the week. A straightforward story about a rite of passage." —K.

Kids are constantly changing. They get taller, bigger, faster... and naturally, their food choices need to reflect this unique period of growth. What we feed our children can surely affect their health, wellness, and eating habits for years to come. But how do we do this? How do we create nutritious and delicious meals our kids will actually love to eat? It's easy! These 101 savory and sweet recipe suggestions, offer everything a lunch box could need, gobble down treats, crunchy snacks and mouthwatering mains, all easy to store and transport to school, and full of goodness. They are also great fun to make while bonding with your kids! And all the while, they'll be learning healthy eating habits and enjoying eating creations they helped make with their own hands. So take back control of the playground lunch! Reclaim the morning rush! Give these delectable recipes a try! You'll be so glad you did.

A little boy yearns for a lunch box, even though he hasn't started school yet.

A little boy yearns for a lunch box, even though he hasn't started school yet.

Longing for more than yet another limp salad? Tired of tussling with the kids over junk food lunch kits? Sounds like you’ve got the lunch box blues. J. M. Hirsch has the fix. But it isn’t a cookbook. Because when it comes to lunch, nobody has time to break out a recipe to bang out a brown bag special. Busy people need lunch ideas. Lots of them. And those ideas need to be healthy, fast, easy, affordable, and delicious. That’s what Beating the Lunch Box Blues is—an idea book to inspire anyone daunted by the daily ordeal of packing lunch. Jammed with nearly 200 photos and more than 500 tips and meals, this book is designed to save families time, money, and their sanity. Whether you want to jazz up a grilled cheese, turn leftover steak into a DIY taco kit, or make pizza “sushi,” Hirsch has it covered. And because the best lunches often are built from the leftovers of great suppers, he has also included 30 fast and flavorful dinner recipes designed to make enough for tomorrow, too. Crazy good stuff like short ribs braised in a Rosemary-Port Sauce, Hoisin-Glazed Meatloaf, and kid-friendly classics such as Turkey Sloppy Joes and American Chop Suey. With ideas this easy and this delicious, there’s no reason to let the lunch box blues get you down.