Book Review

Vegan Lunch Box: 150 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love!
By Jennifer McCann
Reviewed by Tammie Ortlieb

Jennifer McCann is the Martha Stewart of vegan lunch boxes. Okay, let's just leave out the vegan part for a minute. That's actually just a side bonus! Although, yes, every recipe in this little gem of a book is totally vegan. To us busy moms, this means no stressing our brains trying to convert, no figuring out how to make the treat without key ingredients, and no wasting time flipping through a book searching for the one or two appropriate recipes. Just pick one! No, the real treasure here is the fact that your child can attend a full year of school without too many lunch box repeats.

And McCann makes everything so pretty and fun. Kids love this stuff! And moms will love it, too. Lunches are simple to make, colorful, cut in fun shapes, lovingly put together, and contain food, real food. McCann also incorporates the colorful, reusable Japanese bento-inspired box to add an element of love-you-this-much-ness. Check out Laptop Lunch System at www.laptoplunches.com. Your child will definitely be the envy of every school lunch victim.

As for the recipes themselves, I had my kids each choose a lunch and we "enjoyed" a few afternoons of pretending to go to school. My youngest was easy enough, going for the picture right on the cover of the book. Lunch number one at the Ortlieb house, then, was flower shaped Nut Butter and Jelly Cutouts, baby bananas, carrot and celery sticks with Easy Ranch Dip, and Back-to-School Chocolate Chip Cookies. The ranch dip is a new favorite of all! With a bean base, it is also packed with the protein that kids need to get them through those last couple of hours of class time. And we all had fun trying the teeny weeny bananas. I have to say that the best part of doing this review was trying new and different foods.

My teenagers get a bit tired of dragging Clif bars to lunch all year. Not that they don't like Clif bars, they love them, but not every day. McCann to the rescue for this lunch box challenged mama! Child number two went for the Sushi Rolls, Edamame, grapes, Botan Rice Candy, and soy sauce. Rolling the sushi was a great family activity that brought us all together for some interesting bonding time (you have to roll sushi to know what I mean here!). My other high schooler didn't want a lunch but begged me to make the Coconut Carrot Rice Pudding. Even my omnivorous husband liked this one. And he's a little weird about "vegan" type food stuff. My personal absolute favorite, which I intend to make as often as my family will have it, is the Tofu Fish Stick recipe. But the great tasting recipes are just another side bonus of this book.

The real reason to pick up a copy of McCann's book (and, yes, that's Jennifer McCann of the Vegan Lunch Box blog fame!), the real reason is at the very end after everything else. I remember the night before my oldest was to start school. We had the new clothes laid out, squeaky sneaks and all. We had checked the school supplies list, and checked it twice. We had the box of Kleenex the teacher had requested. We had the backpack packed and sitting by the door. Then I freaked! What would I make for lunch?! I called my mom in a panic. I always thought of school lunch as the basic peanut butter and jelly. That was fine for most kids, but MY kid is allergic to peanut butter. I had no idea what to put in that lunch bag. I was in tears.

McCann helps moms like me by including an allergen index at the back of the book. If your child is sensitive to nuts of any type, soy, gluten, or even wheat you will find listings of recipes you can turn to that won't send your child running to the school nurse. And these lists don't include just a handful of meals, but a hearty selection that will provide plenty of variety through the year. Thank you, Jennifer, for helping parents like myself to rest easy while our kids are sitting at that cafeteria table. Allergies are scary enough when your child is away from home.

And thank you for the eighty bazillion other lunch ideas. Vegan Lunch Box: 150 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love!, an endless resource of fun, food, and family is my new all time favorite resource for snack time, lunch time, hey, maybe even dinner.

Tammie Ortlieb is a freelance writer and adjunct instructor with a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology. She resides in southwest Michigan with her omnivorous husband, four veg kids, and small menagerie of pets. Tammie writes for various vegetarian sources, mostly on being okay with your vegetarian self. She's a book nerd, a research nerd, a health nerd, and a huge glass of soymilk half full kind of creature. Visit her blog at www.middle-agedveganchick.blogspot.com.

Sponsors: