Creating Soulful Lunches

This time of year, parents everywhere are thinking about getting kids ready to go back to school, or trying to figure out how to squeeze everything into the day. Lunch is one of the things that tends to get put on auto-pilot, due to time constraints and other lifestyle priorities.We wanted to know what school lunches were like at your house. For example, do most people pack a lunch for the kids? Do most kids eat lunch provided by school?  For people who pack lunch, what are they most concerned about?  So, a few weeks ago, we asked parents with at least one child at home to take a survey about their preferences for school lunches, and the results were loud and clear:  parents want home-packed lunches for their children, and they want lunch to be flavorful.63.4 percent of the parents who took our survey said that they prefer to send their kids off to school with a home-packed lunch,and nearly 72 percent said they consider flavor and taste over ease and convenience when preparing lunch. Less than one-fourth (23 percent) of respondents selected ease and convenience over flavor and taste as being more important.While misperceptions persist about Southern-style cooking, our survey shows that a majority of parents are interested in preparing soul food lunches for their children.  Not surprisingly, almost one-third(29 percent) said that they believe soulful lunches could be a lot of work.  However, 25 percent said that they have prepared a soul food lunch for their child before, and 82 percent said that they WOULD.  Nearly half (45.8 percent) thought that soul food lunches add "variety,” and only 10 percent thought that a soulful lunch would be less healthy.We want families to enjoy a tasty meal every time they sit down to eat, especially during lunch-time, and we are committed to helping you to get the flavor you want with quick and easy resources to turn any ordinary lunch into a Southern-style experience.  Join us here for a regular discussion about soulful lunches.  Stay tuned.  We'll share more survey highlights, as well as tips for ways to prepare easy and flavorful soulful meals for the family.What's in your family's lunchboxes this week?  Do you have time-saving tips for other parents?  Let us know in the comments.