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Lunch Hero to the Rescue
I think it's a safe bet to say that school lunches can be a challenge.
While some moms make homemade nutritious meals an artform form (yes, Pinterest queens, I'm talking to you) some of us are lucky if we can get the kids things that aren't prepackaged. Most days my daughter’s bento if filled with either a sandwich, nuggets, carrot sticks, some fruit and chips but then there are days where I'm lucky if I can remember to send her with her lunch!
And don't get me started on school lunches. Ugh. I didn't believe how bad they were until I had lunch with my daughter. Besides being things kids generally don't like, bland and flavorless and too small a portion to even constitute an actual meal for a growing child... they are not cheap and certainly not healthy.
So I got to try Lunch Hero for a week, or rather my daughter did. But it was just as awesome for me. It's a simple enough idea. You order your lunches from a huge variety of selection and they are delivered directly to your child's school.
I'm not sure if there are similar services so to be totally honest I don't have a basis for comparison versus other services (if there even are any). I will say that not only did I really enjoy it but so did my daughter!
The idea of Lunch Hero is to make lunches easier on parents and also offer children with a variety of healthy food choices which I like because it makes lunch fun and that leads to kids enjoying it and ultimately making better food choices themselves. My daughter loves sushi and tuna but in 8 years I have never been able to get her to eat a tuna sandwich. Turns out the trick was to have it delivered to her school in a simple brown box and she tried it and loved it! She felt special getting a delivery at school too and what kid doesn’t want to feel special?
Lunch Hero also source all organic, natural, local and seasonal foods as often as possible to create lunches that appeal to anyone. The currently partner with Mangia Gourmet who are passionate about making healthy food everyday out of there cafe in Gulfport and make all of our delicious sandwiches/wraps/salads and they are working on partnerships with many more like minded companies.
What I enjoyed and what they is the choices. It is a virtual sandwich and salad bar. They have sandwiches, wraps even a humus meal! And you can customize everything from the type of breat to the contents and condiments. Take that picky eaters! And the sides have a lots of fresh healthy options (carrot sticks, fruit skewers which my girl loved and even other parents at lunch came and asked about), yogurt, and a lot more like traditional favorites like chips, crackers and popcorn but they are from healthier companies that again offer these options with better eating in mind.
The lunches come packed in sustainable boxes and wrapped in recycleable wax bags with cute designs from Snuppets, a local St Pete based company. While some kids may not appreciate the effort of a zero waste lunch my daughter and I did.
If you want Lunch Hero to step in and save your day one lunch at at time it’s easy. It’s s subscription service where you can select 2, 3, or 5 days of lunches each week (great plans for kids in part time preschool). And lunches are just $4.99 each! That included delivery. For something fresh, delicious and that will save you time I was actually very surprised by the price expecting a week's worth of lunches to be much more.
Now Lunch Hero is still relatively new. They are currently delivering to 10 schools and are working hard to reach out to more to offer Lunch Hero. They are also developing an app to make lunch selections even easier (though to be honest it was already pretty simple through the computer).
What’s even better than affordable, healthy lunches that make my life easier is their long term goal of being able to feed hungry kids over weekends and during school breaks where sadly many children are forced to go hungry. In Pinellas county alone 7000 children don’t have enough to eat. That is a staggering number and to know it is happening right here in our area is heartbreaking. They also want to encourage fresh eating and have eventually include educational programs to help build school gardens. And with visions of expanding throughout Florida and to other states Lunch Hero is saving lunch time here today and possibly tomorrow… the world!!! And with their plans for community service and help they truly are heroes!
So in summary:
Pros:
-I didn't have to pack lunch for a week!!!
-Free Delivery
-My kid LOVED it
-Supporting a socially concious company
-Extremly easy to use
-Affordable and even better my kid actually ate everything so no wasted food or money
-HUGE Variety of cold lunch option
-No commitment. Order what you want when you want and suspend or cancel anytime.
Cons:
-Costs more than school lunch (but actually gets eaten so not really a con)
-I'd like to see options for extra items for delivey for bigger appetites and possibly later in the day snacks.
-Not a lot of other cons. I really can't think of any as long as you get your order in in time for the next delivery.
To check out Lunch Hero on their website here and on Facebook here.
Learn more about Steffany813 & TBMG here. I was approached by Lunch Hero and asked to give an honest review of their service. While I did receive Lunch Hero in exchange for my review that in no way impacted my opinion. No links on this page are affilate links and all opinions are my own. Information and detials about Lunch Hero was provided by them. Reach me at steffany813@tampabaymomsgroup.com
