Likable Lunches and Sensible Snacks

Prevent the moans and groans of tuna or peanut butter and jelly every single day this upcoming school year and your child will be the one with whom everyone wishes to trade lunches.

Of course, lunch meats are pretty essential to the sandwich aficionado. Again though, sandwich does not have to equal boring. Instead of stocking up on only the usual ham, turkey and bologna, opt for something a little bit different next time you hit up the deli counter at Waldbaums.

Use pancetta, sopressta and/or pepperoni to make a hero with all of the trimmings. Stock up on some pastrami, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese to make a Reuben.

Naturally, there's always going to be that picky palate that wants a plain-Jane cheese sandwich. If that's the case, try introducing some alternatives to American or cheddar, such as provolone, Swiss and Muenster, and serve them between two slices of bread or with some crackers for a snacky spin on the old sandwich.

Let's shy away from sandwiches now, since they are generally the lunch option that tends to put people in a food funk. Visit Trader Joes where you can stock up on quick, frozen meals such as organic three cheese pizza, beef and green chile burritos, chicken pot pie and mini chicken tacos for the child with the ability to microwave food at school or the younger student who is home before the midday meal.

While sandwiches are responsible for the lunch funk, snacks are often responsible for the lunch fat. Trader Joes has plenty of options that are tasty and delicious, but are reduced in their amount of fat, calories, sugar and so forth. A full range of fat free foods make snack time easy. Stock up on kid favorites including blueberry blast yogurt candy, golden raisins, brown rice organic rice cakes, spicy smoked peach salsa and pretzel slims.

Since school is just around the corner, check out the A&J Met Food Circular for the area. Great deals await you on packable snacks like Calavo tortilla chips in sea salt or guacamole, Nabisco Ritz crackers (to serve with that cheese we were talking about earlier!) and the ever-popular Rold Gold pretzels.

Last, but certainly not least, you'll need drinks to keep kids hydrated – especially during the earlier parts of the school year when temperatures can still soar way up into summer numbers. Met Foods is there to serve you in this capacity as well, with items such as Apple Dandy apple juice, Gatorade sports drinks, Hershey's chocolate drink, Poland Spring water and Ssips iced tea, which are all available in the circular as well.