School Lunch Idea ~ How to Keep a Sliced Apple From Turning Brown

I send apples with my kids in their lunches sometimes. But the truth is, when I send them they rarely get eaten. There is always some excuse as to why they didn’t eat it, but I don’t know, maybe the cookies in the lunchbox next to them are too appealing, or they don’t want to get it stuck in their teeth when they take a bite.

It all boils down to us, as parents, trying to help our kids make healthy choices most of the time and when the healthy choice comes home in the lunchbox untouched it is time for a new plan!

So I got creative. I had tried slicing them for them, but they are yucky and brown by lunch, so they didn’t get touched that way either. I got to thinking, if I could keep the air off of them while still having them sliced and easier to eat that would be great! This works!

You will need

An apple

Apple slicer/corer

Clean rubberband

These apple slicers sure do make life easier, don’t they? We use ours all the time! (If you don’t have one, you can get them at virtually any store in the kitchen section)

Slice your apple, but before you remove the slices, carefully slide the slicer back off trying to leave it still in shape. If it doesn’t work, just get it off as close as you can. Now that you have the apple off the slicer, use your hands to shape it back into shape so it still looks like a whole apple. While holding it with one hand, wrap the rubber band around with the other hand.

Now you can put it in a baggie, or just in the lunchbox like it is. Sometimes some of the skin rips off when I do it, so you may have some small brown areas by the time it is ready to be eaten, but it sure beats a whole apple wasted because it wasn’t pretty enough!

Extras

Now at least some of the sections are being eaten. I love to include some peanut butter or even a little caramel that they can dip the apple in. Makes a yummy treat, but they are still eating something that is great for them too! Try it, maybe it will lessen your lunchbox battles too!