What should I pack for lunch for my kids on Passover?

If you are celebrating Passover, I hope you had marvelous Seders. We had two wonderful celebrations with family and friends, sang beautiful songs, drank delicious wine, and ate tremendous food. Our kids were more engaged than ever at the Seders, and retold the story of the Exodus beautifully.

At our house, lots of work goes into preparing for Passover: we change all the dishes and appliances in our kitchen, scrub the house from top to bottom, and we buy special food specifically for these eight days. This makes it easier to celebrate the holiday at home, but this morning we had to send our two younger kids to school with lunches and snacks that were appropriate for Passover’s dietary rules.

When Sheri and I were kids, we went to Jewish Day School, so we didn’t really encounter issues around lunches on Passover since we always had Spring vacation on that week. But my kids go to secular school, so they have school all week, and that meant lots of planning in advance. So I thought I’d share some of the things we did to get ready for Passover week at school.

New Lunch Containers

One of the silver linings of all of the cleaning is that you get to assess all of your disposable containers, Tupperware, and lunch boxes.  It’s great that at least once a year, you can make sure that all the lids go with the containers! It also is a great time to perhaps procure some new lunch gear for your kids. At Magic Beans, we have some great products by Thermos and Skip Hop for kids’ lunches. But if you’re in the Boston area, I’d also recommend Cambridge Naturals in Porter Square, where they also have a great selection of stainless steel containers that are perfect for kids’ lunches – especially if you try to avoid plastic like I do.

Menu Planning

As parents, I know we all have the best of intentions to be pro menu planners for kids’ lunches. And I know how life can get in the way, with all of the schlepping, laundry, and other chores on the weekend: to thoughtfully sit down at the kitchen table with the kids and figure out (healthy) lunches and snacks can easily fall by the wayside. But when it comes to Passover, planning is necessary because if you want your kids to observe the Passover dietary laws, you can’t send them with their usual foods and snacks. This is also a great opportunity to empower your kids to learn about the holiday, and the food rules, and perhaps to share some of your family traditions with others in their classes who may not be familiar with Passover. So here is a sample menu that we planned for this week.

Monday

• Thermos of Matzo Ball Soup (with some matzo crumbled on the side to sprinkle in for extra crunch)
• Matzo with left over Charoset from the Seder
• Fruit

Tuesday

• Matzo with Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon
• Homemade Kosher for Passover Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Wednesday

• Turkey Burger in Lettuce Wrap
• Steamed Veggies
• Potato Chips

Thursday

• Tuna Fish on Matzo
• Carrots
• Berries
• Macaroons

This Friday is the Yom Tov (the stricter part of Passover, in which some Jews don’t drive or go to work/school), but if they were going to school, here are some ideas for Friday:

Friday

• Yogurt with Fruit and Honey
• Kosher for Passover Blondie

I hope this menu is helpful to you, and maybe hopefully it will help me to a finally get around to doing this menu planning every week. Chag Kasher V’Sameach!

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