Super Easy Bag Lunches [Spiral-bound]

Maxine Sprague (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

This attractive spiral bound book is packed full of creative ideas that will inspire readers to make terrific bag lunches that are inexpensive, appealing and nutritious. The first half of the book offers tips for picky eaters, organizing your life, money and time saving tips and last minute shortcuts. There are wonderful breakfast ideas and suggestions for getting your whole family involved in making lunches. Safety is a concern with packed lunches and the helpful hints in this section will keep your bag lunches fresh and safe to eat. Lunches don't have to be boring and routine if you use the many free reproducible ideas for perking them up, including notes, poems, riddles, treats, lunch box treasures and smiles. If you want to be environmentally friendly and you love to sew, there's an easy to follow pattern for making your own cloth lunch bag. Maxine consulted Registered Dietitian, Alison Craig to evaluate the material and contribute a section with nutritional advice for concerned parents. This advice reinforces the book's theme of enjoying all foods while keeping a "moderation in all things" perspective on eating. The last half of the book contains recipes that are quick to prepare and sure to be kid pleasers. There are also great ideas for school snack days. Maxine encourages parents to involve their kids in the planning, growing, buying and preparing of food, by explaining the positive, even educational benefits of this involvement.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Every day for about 2,400 days over the course of their school years, kids eat their lunches out of a bag. This fact convinced Edmonton author and mother of three, Maxine Sprague, to write a book called Super Easy Bag Lunches. The book has sections on everything from organizing schedules to growing your own food. As well, it has nutritional advice and recipes for wormy dirt delight, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, marinated vegetables and other lunch ideas. -- The Edmonton Journal, "Tidbits," April 28, 1999

Yum-Yum! School Lunch "Your child will likely eat more than 2,400 bag lunches during his school years. If the lunches you pack are getting predictable, perk them up with ideas from Edmonton teacher Maxine Sprague, author of Super Easy Bag Lunches. Create a millennium bug with vegetables, cheese, raisins, dry chow mein noodles....string doughnut-shaped dry cereal on a licorice lace then tie the ends together to make a necklace....enclose a photo of your dog and write on the back, "Dear Johnny, I wish I were eating your lunch today instead of this dry old dog food. Love, Fido."....include a riddle. What did the tomato say to his friend? "You go ahead. I'll ketchup."....nutritional advice, lots of lunch ideas and recipes, such as Wormy Dirt Delight. -- Canadian Living Magazine, February 2000 Smart Solutions

About the Author

Maxine Sprague, BEd., is a parent, author and educator. She lives in Edmonton with her husband and three children. Super Easy Bag Lunches is her third book. Her previously published books include Creative Parenting Ideas and Activities and Positive Parenting Strategies. Maxine is a Master Composter and enjoys doing group presentations and seminars, for adults and children, on a variety of topics. She loves hiking, sewing, gardening, composting, travelling and spending time with her family and friends.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 160 pages
• Publisher: Learning Ctr Pr (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0969166524
• ISBN-13: 978-0969166528
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,498,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly Surprised, January 18, 2000

By 

Carol Schmidt, R.N. (Edmonton, AB) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Easy Bag Lunches (Spiral-bound)

I was pleasantly surprised when I purchased Super Easy Bag Lunches by Maxine Sprague. It's not just a book with bag lunch recipes and ideas. Starting with the the history of the Lunch Box, Maxine then gives us tips for the picky eater, organization and time saving shortcuts, safety practices for food preparation and ways to keep our lunches environmentally friendly including a section on composting. The recipe section is great. My kids especially like the recipe for Cowboy Cookies. If you have a family and are presently making lunches, this book is a must.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super Easy Bag Lunches, January 13, 2000

By 

Cheryl (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Easy Bag Lunches (Spiral-bound)

Maxine Sprague has done a fabulous job on this book. I was so impressed with it that I used it as a school fund raiser. My favorite sections of the book were "Time Saving Tips" (I never knew you could make sandwiches ahead of time and freeze them!) and "Lunch Box Smiles". I find myself going back to the book again and again for creative ideas and tips. I'd recommend it to anyone who needs to make bag lunches -- especially for children. You won't be disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My kids love the "Perk It Up" Ideas!, June 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Super Easy Bag Lunches (Spiral-bound)

My kids and I have had so much fun with this book! It's full of great organization ideas, composting tips, and wonderful recipes (i.e. Chocolate Pecan Turtles), but my favorite chapter is "Perk It Up"! My kids can't wait to check out their lunches to find the love messages on their orange, the Riddle Smile, the Cardboard Tube Surprise or any other of the hundred of fun, simple "Perk It Up" lunch ideas! Great Book!!