We are always looking for feedback on our bags, if you have received them and would like to share your thoughts please go to our Family Forum and take our survey!
What goes in the bags?
Our bags are designed to be nutritious, hearty, and kid-approved!
Variety is the spice of life, and we wholeheartedly agree. We construct varying menus each week, with each bag designed to provide 3 meals for 2-3 people over the course of a weekend. By including non-perishable staple items like dry pasta, rice, canned vegetables, and shelf-stable proteins, our bag recipients can use our food when it makes the most sense for their schedule.
Below you can find some sample menus of items we’ve included in our bags in the past.
Rice and Beans
- Rice
- Black Beans
- Corn
- Chicken
- Beef Ravioli
- Garden Vegetable Pasta
- Fruit Cocktail
- Applesauce Cups
- Dry Milk
- Cereal
PB&J
- Bread
- Peanut Butter
- Jelly
- Green Beans
- Chicken
- Vegetable Soup
- Pork & Beans
- Mac and Cheese
- Peaches
- Pears Cups
- Grits
Pasta
- Dry Pasta
- Spaghetti Sauce
- Peas
- Tuna
- Rice & Beans
- White Chicken Chili
- Applesauce
- Mandarin Orange Cups
- Oatmeal
Chili or Tuna Mac
- Mac and Cheese
- Chili with Beans
- Mixed Vegetables
- Tuna
- Canned Soup
- Southwest Chicken and Rice Pouch
- Pineapple
- Fruit Cocktail Cups
- Corn Bread Mix
We do our best to balance a few different priorities in each bag:
Nutrition
We believe in the importance of providing nutritious food to support healthy lifestyles.
We use the same system to think about our items as the Maryland Food Bank does in their SWAP (Supporting Wellness at Pantries) initiative. This takes into account the sodium, sugar, and saturated fat content of foods. They’re then categorized as green for “choose often,” yellow for “choose sometimes,” and red for “choose rarely.”
Our goal is to make sure that at least 50% of the food in each of our bags is green and never more than 30% red.
Variety
We want our bags to be something students look forward to receiving. Along with trying to create functional and thoughtful menus, we put in as much variety as possible. In addition to rotating through our four menus, we make sure to rotate individual items as well. For example, we alternate different types of beans, rice, vegetables, and cereals. We hope that this variety keeps things interesting and appetizing for everyone.
Kid-Friendliness
Our bags are designed to appeal to kids. We pack foods that are familiar and appealing to them like fruit cups, macaroni and cheese, and we like to include snacks whenever we can.
We also want to ensure that there are foods that children can prepare for themselves. Our meal bags include items which are “Ready to Eat” with no preparation involved as well as traditional staple items. This allows our recipients some flexibility with regard to meal planning.
Practicality
We want to provide as much food as possible in each of our bags. But it’s important to consider that they’re brought home primarily by elementary and middle school children. We aim for our bags to include about 10 lbs of food.
Additional Materials
In addition to food, Weekend Backpacks aims to provide families with additional information and resources to eat and live healthier. Whenever possible, our bags will include supplemental materials from either Tastewise Kids or University of Maryland SNAP Educators with recipes and ideas for healthy eating, like these Cooking 5 Ways ideas. Learn more about each and explore the resources that they offer by clicking below.
Can you find the heart in this picture? One creative student took their puzzle from the TasteWise Kids packet on heart healthy foods and created a portrait of their Community School Coordinator!