The System for School Lunch Boxes with Lily Payen (Feeding Tiny Bellies)

Julie Fried (00:00.238)
Welcome back to The System for Everything Podcast, today’s system tip: if your child suddenly hates a food that they ate daily for six straight months, the key is to stay calm and absolutely never let them see the fear in your eyes. Today’s guest is Lily Payen from Feeding Tiny Bellies. She is a food blogger, wife, and mom to four boys, ages seven, five, three, and one. She has been blogging since 2021 and built

Feeding tiny bellies amidst the pandemic during a time when many parents and families were looking for simple meals and recipes for their little ones with few ingredients. Lily’s work focuses on responsive feeding, reducing pressure around food, and helping parents build practical systems that actually work in real life. Her new book, launching July 28th, takes that same approach and helps parents navigate feeding kids without turning every meal into a battle, negotiation, or second full-time job.

So today we’re focusing on one of the most persistent parenting pain points out there, school lunch boxes. Specifically how to pack lunches your kid will actually eat without overthinking every single bite, making a bunch of separate meals, or spiraling when the lunch box come the lunchbox comes home full. Thank you so much for being here today, Lily. I’m such a fan of yours.

Lily (01:19.639)
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

Julie Fried (01:22.456)
We’re gonna start as we always do with the system reboot. We’re gonna start a quick with a quick little reset to start our episode with some humor and humanity. because of today’s episode title, I have to ask, is there one tool out there that you have purchased that dramatically improved your lunchbox making skills?

Lily (01:40.527)
Tool. I’d probably I mean it sounds kind of silly, but I’d probably say a crinkle cutter, which is like so small, but it’s just something that just makes a difference to the way like fruits and veggies look to my kids, and they find it so interesting that food is food is cut in like a crinkle cut shape. So definitely that.

Julie Fried (01:58.035)
I I bought that crickle cutter because of you. Yes. All right. What is a task you always underestimate how long it’s gonna take you?

Lily (02:08.628)
Laundry by far. I’m always like, I’ll do it, you know, I’ll just run it and go do something else. And I’m it’s the eight PM and I’m still doing laundry ’cause with four boys there’s always laundry. So it’s a struggle, but

Julie Fried (02:15.692)
Yes. yeah.

Julie Fried (02:20.59)
All right, and what is the funniest thing that your your kids think you’re bad at?

Lily (02:25.92)
Funniest thing they think I’m bad at? that’s a good question. The funniest thing they think I’m bad at. Let me think. they think I’m bad at a lot of things. Probably I’d probably say drawing, because I think I’m a pretty good drawer at drawing and artistry, but they’re getting more into drawing, but they think that mine doesn’t compare to you. So yeah.

Julie Fried (02:50.486)
And now they now they have the real skills to see you don’t have

Lily (02:54.246)
I think I’m pretty good, but I guess it doesn’t match up with their standard, so

Julie Fried (02:58.478)
All right, everyone, you’ve met the personality. Now meet the powerhouse. Lily is the creator behind Feeding Tiny Bellies and somehow manages to make school lunch boxes feel creative, practical, and actually doable at the same time. And I have to say, I have actually followed your content since before I even had a child. It is something I mentioned in actually the very first episode of this podcast. My guest and I were talking about content we followed that we loved that we had no need for.

Lily (03:17.374)
Yeah.

Lily (03:29.13)
I love that.

Julie Fried (03:29.632)
And we were I I brought up your account because I didn’t have a child yet. I have been saving your recipes and ideas for years. And then when I started baby led weaning with my daughter Ellie, whose age is pretty close to your youngest, your content actually made the whole process feel just dramatically less intimidating. Cause so many people told me, go to solid starts, do this. And I was like, In what world am I making my baby curry? Like th their stuff was just so like

Lily (03:52.222)
Yeah.

Lily (03:56.971)
Mm. Mm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Julie Fried (03:59.669)
not food that I even buy, let alone that we like eat constantly. And yours was so like practical and it was so helpful. Your your menus, your tools, your overall approach felt very calm and realistic and So today we’re talking about lunch systems, grocery rhythms, getting kids involved, and how to make school lunches feel a little less like Groundhog Day. Here’s my conversation with Lily on the system for school lunch boxes. Okay, so I feel

like everyone who’s like a content creator out there has that thing that people instantly associate them with. And for you, it is these really creative and approachable lunch boxes that somehow feel both aspirational and realistic, which I think is very rare. Did you always enjoy making lunches or did this evolve out of survival mode as a mom?

Lily (04:52.672)
yeah, so I I’ve always enjoyed making food for my kids. But making school lunches was like a whole new wall role to me because you know, my sons, everyone was at no one started school yet. So it was when my oldest started school that I had to kind of transition into making school lunches and transition from, you know, food at home to packing it in a lunchbox, which may sound kind of similar, but they’re actually two different things. Cause you have to be thinking about okay, what actually works.

To fit in a lunchbox? What will stay fresh in a lunchbox? What is your kid gonna eat, you know, in a 20-minute time frame that is attainable within a lunchbox? So it was kind of a transition with that. So that was something that I had to kind of adjust to. And what I share is a lot of just me figuring out things through trial and error with that, but definitely wasn’t something that I just you know jumped out ready to do right off the bat.

Julie Fried (05:46.53)
I think a lot of people assume you kind of just wake up, spring out of bed with like a bunch of magical lunchbox inspiration, but realistically where do your ideas come from?

Lily (05:50.546)
Mm-hmm.

Lily (05:55.511)
Yeah, so definitely not magical inspiration. I’d say most of the in spool really comes from like what we’re eating on a daily basis, what my kids like, and figuring out how I can turn what they like into lunches. And some of my best work, I guess, or my most creative ideas has come from just me looking in the fridge, like, okay, what do we have right now? What can I throw together into a lunchbox to make something they can send to pack with tomorrow? So

just a lot of just working with what I have and trying to get creative with just basic pantry staples is kind of my biggest in spo, I would say.

Julie Fried (06:27.938)
Do your kids ever request something and you were like, no, absolutely not. We are not turning lunch into like a hibachi experience. Like, are they ever a requesting anything outlandish?

Lily (06:38.774)
Yeah, absolutely. If it were up to them, like every single meal would be, you know, appetizer, you know, a main, dessert, a drink. Like they would pick like the whole thing. But, you know, I try to accommodate their requests, but I let them know as well that, you know, I’m packing lunches. I’m not running a restaurant. So we try to kind of meet, I guess, halfway with what they like and what I can actually, you know, realistically pack.

Julie Fried (07:02.71)
Have you ever come up with an idea that you thought, This is just genius, they’re gonna be obsessed with it, and they just completely rejected it?

Lily (07:09.572)
that happens all the time. And I specifically remember my son’s first day of school. So my oldest son when he started kindergarten, I packed his lunch. I was so excited to pack his lunch, you know, it was his first lunch of the school year. I packed all of his favorites. I had like cute shapes and had the whole setup and it came back pretty much untouched, including like the candy. Like I put in a little chocolate that he loves. He didn’t even touch that. So that was when I got

Julie Fried (07:28.981)
gosh.

Yeah.

Lily (07:34.292)
I guess my wake-up call that, you know, there are so many factors that can come into play that, you know, affect how a child eats. So I definitely adjusted from that point.

Julie Fried (07:43.821)
You make lunches look so fun without, I believe, making parents feel like failures because there’s a lot of

content similar to yours in the same vein of like lunchbox content that there that I think feels can make people feel like major failures and yours is very like, I can do this. Heck yeah. And you even like make some of your own stuff. Like personally, do I think I’m gonna go out and make my own Oreos and Graham crackers? No, I don’t enjoy cooking that much. But like it I watch the video and I think

Lily (07:56.67)
No.

Lily (08:03.562)
Yeah, mm-hmm.

Lily (08:14.163)
Yeah.

Julie Fried (08:18.686)
I could do that. Like how is that? She makes that so simple. So, you know, you you make feel like they’re not failures even if they just send like a sandwich and chips. Like, was that an intentional thing that you tried to do or was that just something that came out of you making content?

Lily (08:35.476)
Yeah, absolutely intentional. You know, my goal with sharing lunch boxes was never to raise the standards for what lunches to be or should be, but more so just to share ideas to let people know that lunches they don’t have to be complicated, they don’t have to be elaborate, that you can make, you know, things that still include variety but are still practical and still doable for parents. So, like you mentioned, like the Oreos. even with that, like I I use like I think maybe five or six ingredients in that. So just something that

Julie Fried (09:03.149)
Yeah.

Lily (09:04.01)
You know, I’m never gonna sit there sending a 30 ingredient list for a recipe because I know it’s just not practical for parents. But my goal’s always to show parents that you can, you know, still incorporate variety, but in a way that’s definitely practical on a day-to-day basis.

Julie Fried (09:19.192)
Can you walk me through your lunch making rhythm? Like are you prepping at night? Are you prepping in the morning?

Lily (09:26.164)
Yeah, so I would say I prep about 90, 90% I would say, of lunches at night. And the reason for that is because I am by no means, and I mean no means a morning person. So if I can take something, if I can take something off my list on the morning, I will do that. And just mornings are hectic, especially busy school mornings. You know, trying to get kids dressed, making sure their backpacks are full with like all their items for school, getting there on time is another struggle. So

Julie Fried (09:37.013)
same.

Lily (09:53.663)
If I can take something off my plate, I will. And I feel like lunch packing was like one of the giv-ins that I could definitely take off my plate. So I usually will pack the night before. I’ll take that lunchbox and pop the whole thing in the fridge. And then in the morning, I’ll just take it out, put it in their insulated lunch bags with like an ice pack or something to keep it fresh. Or if anything needs to be reheated, I’ll reheat it in the air fryer quickly and they’re good to go. And I don’t have to worry about it. It’s like just one extra thing to check off my list of like 50,000 things to do.

on school morning, so

Julie Fried (10:25.322)
What are the MVP grocery items in your house, like for lunchboxes?

Lily (10:30.39)
So I love, I love just having like a mix of carbs, a mix of proteins and a mix of veggies. So like carbs like sandwich bread, tortillas, quackers, you can always like kind of interchange between those three. Protein, like some beef sticks, some deli meat, some boiled eggs. Again, I like to rotate between those. And fruits, just pretty much every fruit the supermarket sells, because my boys will eat down like every fruit like crazy. So I always try to like just buy a bunch.

Julie Fried (10:54.542)
Yeah.

Lily (10:58.08)
To rotate between and they pretty much they’re never gonna say no to fruit. Veggies is like another story, but fruits always eat yeah, always eat fruits.

Julie Fried (11:03.426)
Yeah.

Julie Fried (11:07.513)
I love when you do the little like deconstructed lunches and like little snack boxes. What make what do you think makes those work so well for kids?

Lily (11:16.052)
Yeah, so kids, and I love those as well because it makes it easier on me. But kids, they love control. Kids just love having a sense of control. And those deconstructed lunches give them that sense of control because they’re able to pick, you know, I’m gonna arrange things this way, or I’m gonna eat this much of this thing, or I’m gonna assemble this thing this way. So they’re able to have that full control that just makes them excited about lunches. And I feel like snack boxes, they’re just much more.

Julie Fried (11:19.885)
Yeah.

Lily (11:43.156)
I guess less overwhelming sometimes than like an entire meal because they see again different components that they can assemble however they want and it just makes them more excited to eat a lunch.

Julie Fried (11:53.882)
I love that. I think that that is just such a good tip that I will be a hundred percent using in the future. how do you avoid getting stuck packing the same thing like every single day without making life harder on yourself?

Lily (12:00.704)
Mm-hmm.

Lily (12:10.566)
Mm-hmm. So I love doing like kind of like I guess themed day lunches. So for example, like I like to do something, something sometimes called like wrap it up Wednesday, where Wednesday we’ll just do some type of wrap. So it could be like, you know, a turkey and cheese wrap. It could be like a chicken Caesar wrap, but it’s just some type of wrap that every Wednesday I’ll kind of alternate fillings, you know, for the boys based on what they prefer or what I have in the fridge. But it still gives some consistency with like, okay, every Wednesday is this thing that you like.

but still variation, like if I’m switching up the fillings, or I could keep even the same item and just switch up the sides. So you’re kind of giving yourself some structure, but still leaving room for variety to switch things up within that.

Julie Fried (12:54.293)
love that and I think that could even answer this next question but I was gonna say what are your favorite like shortcuts that still make lunches feel really thoughtful and I love that like having theme days.

Lily (13:05.59)
Mm-hmm. Having theme days definitely helps. But as far as I I guess being thoughtful for the kids, I think like thoughtful doesn’t have to be complicated. You know, you can use like I love using like food picks for my boys, like just having some berries and adding a little food pick to it. And they just love seeing that it’s like a nice little touch, throwing in like their favorite chocolate, adding in chopsticks, putting in a note, like using like the crinkle cutter we talked about earlier to cut up shapes. So they’re just like small little details that

Julie Fried (13:15.488)
Yeah.

Julie Fried (13:22.919)
Julie Fried (13:30.134)
Yeah.

Lily (13:33.972)
You know, make a big difference to them, but don’t take much effort for us.

Julie Fried (13:38.781)
I love that. how involved are your kids in choosing or do they even help pack the lunches as well?

Lily (13:47.371)
Yeah, so they’re involved, but not like completely. They’re not in complete control, I should say. So there could be a day where, yeah, or else who knows what would happen with that, but there could be a day where, you know, I I’ll pick the main and I’ll let them know that they can pick all the sides. there could be a day where I’ll give them a choice of like three mains based on like what I have in the fridge or the pantry, and they’ll pick out the main from that. So I don’t give them complete control, but I give them, you know, some type of element of choice.

Julie Fried (13:53.165)
Yeah.

Lily (14:16.246)
Cause again, like I mentioned earlier, kids love having control. But it doesn’t have to be like, here, here’s your lunchbox, go to the fridge and go figure it out. Cause they put like candy, popcorn, and just whatever in there. But I try to give them some structure so that it’s still like a balanced meal, but still giving them the opportunity to feel like they have some type of choice and saying what they’re packing.

Julie Fried (14:36.598)
Besides the crinkle cutter, what are your favorite lunchbox like tools or gear that you think like this is so worth it for someone to buy?

Lily (14:44.82)
Yeah, so I would say really, really all you need is like a really good leak proof, leak proof, heavy on leak proof. lunchbox. good quality lunchbox, an insulated lunch bag is really important with ice packs to keep the food fresh. Or if you’re someone who like prefers hot lunches, then a thermos or like a thermos style lunchbox. Those are really honestly all you need. Like the extras are fun if you want to add in things to

Julie Fried (14:52.868)
Yeah.

Lily (15:11.872)
You know, kinda make touches here and there, but a good lunch box, insulated lunch bag, and ice packs are all you need to keep food safe for your child to eat at lunchtime.

Julie Fried (15:22.582)
Your oldest son has a legendary lunchbox commentary. I often like you’ll post something and it’ll be like it in the evening and I’ll I’ll be just sitting next to my husband scrolling and I’m like, you have to hear what Feeding Tiny Belly’s l son said about this lunch today. so like what is the funniest or like weirdest feedback you’ve gotten from your kids about a lunch?

Lily (15:27.51)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Lily (15:35.542)
Mm.

Lily (15:44.831)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I always love just kind of talking to them after school, just kind of getting a sense of like what they thought about the lunch, what I can improve on. And I learned a lot through them just kind of talking through that. but I guess what comes to mind most recently, because my second son Levi is also in school this year, too. So I have two boys in school. my boys love brunch boxes, so like a breakfast for lunch kind of vibe. They love they love that. So they’ll eat breakfast any time of day. So I love packing a brunch box for them.

Julie Fried (16:08.181)
I love that.

Lily (16:14.286)
And I love incorporating a boiled egg because I just feel like it’s a good source of protein, just kind of throwing that in. But my boys are like so opposite in so many different ways, including what they like to eat. Miles will usually eat the yolk, which I feel like is a little bit strange. Like most people like maybe the whites if they’re gonna eat one part, but he loves the yolk. Sometimes he’ll eat the whole egg, but he loves his yolk. And Levi, he will never touch a yolk, he just likes the egg whites.

Julie Fried (16:29.674)
Yeah.

Lily (16:38.89)
So you know, I would give and I’d notice like repeatedly, like Levi’s never touching the yolks, never eating the yolks. So one day I asked him recently, I’m like, Levi, do you not like yolks anymore? Do you want me to stop packing yolks? And he’s just like, What? Why would you think that? I love egg yolks. I love it. Why would you think that, Mama? Just like I’m just like, Okay. So I feel like kids are just so unpredictable. So you never know what you’re gonna do. Yeah. I’m sorry.

Julie Fried (17:03.167)
a hundred percent. How do you that’s okay. I don’t cut that out. how do you personally avoid getting like discouraged when lunches come home mostly untouched if there’s days that they do? Yeah.

Lily (17:10.047)
Okay.

Lily (17:18.346)
Yes. And that happens a lot for me. So I try not to take it too personally. And I try to always keep in mind that there are so many factors that come into play as to why a child may not eat. And sometimes it has nothing to do with the actual food that you packed. So like lunchtime sometimes for kids is really the only time that they get to actually sit and like openly have conversations with their friends. You know, when they’re in their classroom.

They’re listening to the teacher. They’re not sitting there like chatting with their friends. They’re kind of focused on work. So when they get to lunch, like there’s so much excitement that builds up. They get to talk to their friends. They get to play. And sometimes eating is like on the bottom of their priority list. And they could just kind of get caught up in things and they’re not really focused on nourishing their bodies during that time because they’re so excited. And there are things I guess that we can do as parents to try to help, you know, alleviate that. But, you know, we kind of have to

Put into perspective that there’s so many factors that you know are surrounding them during that time. So I try to keep that in mind and to not take it personal, because sometimes again it has nothing to do with the food. It could be a food that my kid loves at home, but in the school setting is just like so much going on that they just can’t focus on eating. So I again I just try not to take it too personally and just to kind of work with my sons to figure out, you know, what we can do to alleviate that in a sense.

Julie Fried (18:40.685)
That is such a good perspective. And I know that I’m gonna need that one when that time comes, because we are at a phase right now where my daughter eats so well all day and then dinner time comes and she’s like, one bite, and it could be something she even just fully ate for lunch and she’s like, now. And I had to like take she is 17 months now.

Lily (18:46.238)
Mm-hmm.

Lily (18:52.214)
Mm-hmm.

Lily (18:59.584)
Mm-hmm. How old is your daughter again?

Okay, okay. Mm-hmm.

Julie Fried (19:06.121)
Yeah, so we are right in the thick of that like toddler, like, no, I just wanna play, get me out of this high chair, like autonomy. do you think that that parents tend to put too much pressure on themselves to like constantly reinvent lunch and always do something new when actually their kids don’t care?

Lily (19:10.623)
Yeah.

Lily (19:14.25)
Yeah.

Lily (19:27.444)
Yeah, I feel like for sure. And I feel like social media can kind of play a role in that. Like you’ll see yeah, you’ll see some curated lunch boxes that are just like so elaborate and you know, so detailed. And it can kind of make you feel a type of way, like, hey, should I be doing this as well? But like you mentioned, sometimes kids like things that are familiar and they like their routine. And if your kid likes the turkey and cheese sandwich, give your kid the turkey and cheese sandwich. Like there’s nothing wrong with

Julie Fried (19:33.262)
yeah.

Julie Fried (19:41.239)
Yeah.

Julie Fried (19:54.23)
Yeah.

Lily (19:55.369)
If you wanna incorporate variety, you can with sides. You know, you can give them different fruits, different veggies, let them pick out, you know, different dips to pair with their meal. But there’s no sometimes we feel that pressure to kind of branch out so much and reinvent the wheel when in reality, like you mentioned, our kids are happy with their routines and what they like. So there is ways to incorporate variety without kind of going crazy with it.

Julie Fried (20:16.044)
And I

Julie Fried (20:20.053)
yeah, and I think that also just like touching on the Pinterest thing you said in social media, like

I would like to see what that super curated, perfectly looking box looks like when the kid actually gets to lunchtime. Like, is any of that still safe? Is any of it still healthy? Like, is it good? Like, does it taste good even? Maybe it just looks good? Whereas like I I know for a fact your stuff actually tastes good. Like, ’cause I have your first cookbook as well. Like like w I know that it works in my home. And so I think that like I would like to see

Lily (20:36.278)
Yeah.

Lily (20:44.331)
Yeah.

Julie Fried (20:53.831)
what those lunches look like when those kids get to school, if they even make it to school.

Lily (20:57.908)
Yeah. And like you mentioned with that also, you know, it’s when you’re packing something, if you’re packing things that look great, but they’re not foods your child likes or eats, then it’s like, what’s the point? Like if you’re putting a sandwich your child hates, paired with veggies your child hates, paired with, you know, pretzels your child hates, then it’s like, what’s the purpose of yeah it’s balance and it looks balanced, but there’s no point if your child’s opening their

Julie Fried (21:10.508)
Yeah.

Lily (21:23.624)
lunchbox and they’re not excited to eat and they’re like, Okay, why did mom, you know, throw these things in here? So then keep in mind.

Julie Fried (21:28.563)
Yeah. Lunch school lunchtime is probably not the time to try out five entirely new foods your kid has never even seen before. do you have one like I absolutely cannot be bothered to think about lunch today, like emergency backup plan?

Lily (21:32.884)
Yeah.

Lily (21:45.663)
Yeah, so for me, I’d probably say honestly, like dinner leftovers. And I feel like we sometimes underest underestimate the power of a dinner leftover. And chances are if your child likes a food at dinner, they’re probably gonna be happy to see it in their lunchbox the next day as well. So I love just sending dinner leftovers the next day, or even like repurposing dinner. If you don’t want to send the same exact thing, like if you have some leftover chicken, you know, throw it in a wrap with some cheese, give a fun dip, and your child has something familiar that they love.

But like served up in a different way. So just using up those dinner leftovers and not feeling like you have to come up with something brand new every single day.

Julie Fried (22:21.585)
I love that and you were actually the first creator that I heard this tip from. Can you share your tip on the thermos and how to keep stuff in it hot still?

Lily (22:31.924)
Yeah, and I’ve seen, you know, a lot of people have told me, like, you know, they’re sending their kids lunch in a thermos and they’re coming back and the kids telling them it’s cold at lunch. But you have to preheat it. Like that’s the most important thing. You have to boil hot water. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You have to boil that hot water and let it sit in that thermos for a few minutes to just make sure that insulated, you know, surface is really getting warm. And then you add in hot food too. Like some people would do that, but then they’re adding in cold food.

Julie Fried (22:40.14)
Yeah.

Julie Fried (22:43.989)
It’s so easy, but I never would have thought of it.

Lily (23:01.44)
Like the thermos is not reheating, the thermos is just keeping the foods warm. So you add in that hot food, you close it immediately, and that should give you a really tight insulated seal to keep that food warm for lunchtime.

Julie Fried (23:14.391)
So smart. how do you handle weeks where life is just genuinely like too busy for elaborate lunchboxes? Like, does your kid ever go to school and we just don’t see it with a sandwich and a bag of granola?

Lily (23:31.241)
Mm-hmm. So I I try to honestly avoid elaborate lunches altogether. just because I feel like they just like the every season seems busy, right? Every day seems busy. some of them may take a little bit more effort, but most of time I’m like resorting towards like a lot of times I feel like my lunch boxes sometimes look a little bit more complex than they actually are. Like there was one time I packed like a waffle sandwich. I just literally took a sandwich and just

Cooked it in a waff maker and threw it and people are like, How did you make that? What’s the recipe? And I’m like, I just took a sandwich and put it in a waffle maker. But it’s like small little details that just make something look a little bit more elevated. But in reality, you know, I’m not doing anything too crazy. So I try to always keep every single lunch. If it’s something that’s gonna take me like more than 20 minutes to throw together, then I’m probably not gonna do it anymore. Cause I’ve learned my lesson the hard way with that. I remember a while ago, I

I wanted to be a little extra and I like packed like this perfect cute little lunch with my son. I did like the cutouts. I had like fun shapes. I had all his favorites. Not the first day of school, another day. I’m like, let me try this again. Let me try to do something super elaborate. And you know, he came home again, barely touched. Like he ate like one grape. And I asked him, I’m like, you know, Miles, you didn’t get a chance to finish your lunch. And he’s just like, no, I was just, you know, talking to my friends. I was busy. So I was like, okay. Like I spent hours putting this together for you not to even care about it. And it reminded me that like

Julie Fried (24:52.321)
Yeah.

Lily (24:55.53)
Sometimes like those specifically the little details, they don’t really matter that much to our kid as opposed to like some of those small little things that I mentioned earlier, like you know, a fun pick or chopsticks or a fun note. So practicality always wins over, you know, cutesy little shapes or things like that.

Julie Fried (25:15.123)
Yes, that is so smart. okay, if there is someone listening right now who wants to improve their lunchbox game without overhauling their whole life, where is the place they should start?

Lily (25:27.444)
Yeah, so for that I would say kind of like what I mentioned before with the theme days, I feel like that’s the best place to start. Like give yourself five themes, Monday to Friday. you know, Monday if you want to make it a sandwich day, Tuesday if you wanna make like a homemade lunchables day. And just start with pick one favor from each of those days that you know your child loves and just repeat those five things weekly. And when you feel like you have the capacity to change things, then you can like let’s say Wednesday’s like brunch boxes.

If you feel like, okay, I can go beyond pancakes, I can use like frozen waffles and you switch out pancakes for waffles. Or with a wrap, if you feel like, okay, my child loves turkey and cheese, but I’m gonna try, you know, a chicken and cheese instead. So I’m gonna switch out the fillings for the wrap. So you can kind of keep those same themes and still have that consistency, but then start incorporating varieties slowly as you’re getting a little bit more comfortable and as your child’s getting more comfortable, because your child may not even wanna.

you know, switch out that turkey and cheese sandwich. They may want to hold on to that if that’s your Monday day, which is perfectly fine. But if they’re willing, then you can say, okay, let me try to, you know, add in some more things. So switching out sides, but keeping those main core days will help just kind of take that stress off of you. Like what do I pack today? Okay, today’s wrap it up Wednesday. I know I’m gonna throw in a wrap and I’m gonna see what I have in my fridge to be able to put that wrap together. So I think doing that will definitely help with just giving structure without giving too much stress as to what to pack.

Julie Fried (26:27.702)
Yeah.

Julie Fried (26:52.961)
I genuinely feel like you have managed to make lunchboxes feel more playful and less overwhelming, which is not an easy thing to do. So before I let you go, can you please tell everyone where they can find you online and where they can grab the new book launching July twenty eighth?

Lily (26:57.062)
nein.

Yeah.

Lily (27:09.716)
Yes, so I am my handle is Feeding Tiny Bellies on all platforms and my website is feedingtinybellies.com. So there I share recipes, just different meal ideas that hopefully the whole family can eat as well and not just the kiddos. And

Julie Fried (27:23.156)
My whole family does.

Lily (27:25.11)
That’s the goal. I have two cookbooks. One of them is more focused and geared towards baby-led weaning. So if you have like a child and like that baby phase, starting solids, or even really just the whole family in general, those are meals that are safe for that age range. And then my new book that is coming out on the 28th is focused all on school lunches. And I have actually some of those like some example meal plans or like the theme days that I had mentioned.

to kind of give inspiration for that. So if you want, you know, the ideas kind of laid out for you with full lunch boxes, then you may find a source like that helpful. But that comes out on July 28th, and I’m excited about that coming book.

Julie Fried (28:05.887)
And everything will be linked in the show notes, guys. all the links to the products she talked about, as well as both of her cookbooks and her on social media. Lily, thank you so much for being here. This was such a fun conversation. And honestly, it has made me feel significantly less doomed about the many, many, many years of lunchpacking ahead of me. I love that your approach makes lunches feel creative and joyful without making parents feel like they need to perform more.

Lily (28:24.458)
Okay, so

Julie Fried (28:35.791)
motherhood at six thirty in the morning.

before I let you go, we have to do our system shutdown. And because this episode is all about school lunches, today’s fast five is the most stressful school lunch moments in TV and movie history. Number one, gossip girls somehow making yogurt and strawberries feel financially intimidating. Number two, the Simpsons School Lunch Mystery Meet. Number three, Boy Meets World, cafeteria conversations carrying the emotional weight of Congress. Number four, the deeply unsettling cafeteria.

Pizza in every 90s children’s movie. And finally, the You Can’t Sit With Us lunch in Mean Girls.

I think what I loved most about this conversation is that Lily approaches food and lunchboxes with so much creativity without making parents feel like they have to turn every weekday morning into a Pinterest competition. There was something really comforting about hearing someone say that systems matter more than perfection, that lunches can be playful and repetitive and convenient, balanced, simple, experimental, and sometimes literally just what you had time for today. Cause I think that’s true far beyond lunchboxes. The systems that

actually survive in our real lives are usually not the prettiest ones. They are the ones flexible enough to keep working when you are tired, running late, or packing lunch while someone is yelling that they’re missing socks. So if this episode made you feel a little less pressure to reinvent lunch, then I think we accomplished something today. You can find Lily and her new book linked in the show notes, and if you loved this episode, send it to the parent in your life currently staring at a fridge at 10 p.m. wondering what counts as a veteran.

Julie Fried (30:17.504)
See you next week.

Lily (30:18.483)
Mm-hmm.