Class Act: Smart Lunches for Back-to-School with Reggae Jammin

Four easy recipes and real tips for keeping lunchboxes exciting once the term settles in.   The first week of school runs on adrenaline and good intentions. By week three, though, that fades, and most parents are staring into an open fridge at 6:00 am wondering what can possibly go into a lunchbox that isn’t a repeat of Monday’s sandwich. That’s the season Reggae Jammin was created for. The range, snappy chicken franks and juicy burgers, is designed to go from freezer to table fast; the deeply seasoned Reggae Jammin Rotisserie Chicken is ready whenever you need it, which means most of the lunch-planning work is done well before the school-week rush even starts. “Back to school is really about routine, and routine is where a lot of parents lose steam by week two,” says Navron Henry, brand manager at The Best Dressed Chicken. “We created Reggae Jammin around the idea that a good lunch shouldn’t take a good hour to make. If the hardest part of the morning is choosing what to pack rather than cooking it, that’s a win for everybody.” Here are four recipes that pack well, reheat well and don’t fall apart by lunchtime, plus a few habits worth building into the school-week routine now, while there’s still time before the term gets away from everyone.

Meet the line-up that gets an A+ in Back-to-School. Reggae Jammin Burgers, franks and a rotisserie chicken that’s already done its homework: Four ways to pass the lunchbox test without pulling an all-nighter in the kitchen. Class is officially in session! (Photo: Travis Muschett)

  Real Tips For Packing Smarter Lunches Start the night before. Set an 8:00 pm cut-off for lunch prep. Washing grapes, slicing cucumber and portioning dry snacks into containers the night before saves 10 minutes the next morning, and keeps knifework out of a groggy 6:00 am kitchen. Cook once, pack three times. Franks are made for batch cooking, and the rotisserie chicken pulls double duty too. Buy it for Sunday dinner and there’s enough left for lunches through the week. Grill a full pack of franks on Sunday night alongside that Sunday chicken, and half the week’s protein is already handled. Compartments beat one hot dish. Kids eat with their eyes, so skip the single hot dish in favour of a compartmented container. Keep starches, fruit and protein in their own sections and there’s no chance for anything to go soggy against anything else.

Kennedy Williams, nine years old, is officially excited to be back at school, waffle breakfast burger in hand. “She loves picking out what goes into her lunchbox,” says her mother, Kenya Walker. “Once she’s had some part in choosing it, the box comes back empty.” (Photo: Travis Muschett)

Let them dip. Kids love dipping. Instead of dressing a wrap or saucing a protein ahead of time, pack a small container of BBQ sauce, honey mustard or ranch on the side. It keeps the texture of the main dish intact and turns lunch into something closer to an activity. Pack hot food hot and keep it that way. Anything with rice, pasta or chicken needs to go in steaming hot, not just warm, since it won’t be eaten for another four to six hours. Preheat the container first with a minute of boiling water, tip it out, then fill it right to the top. Packed that way, it stays safely hot until the lunch bell. Freeze a juice box. A juice box straight from the freezer works as a natural ice pack and is thawed and ready by lunchtime. Bread doesn’t freeze well once it’s already been made into a sandwich, so keep those fresh each morning. Let them choose. Handing over a little control makes all the difference. Kenya Walker, mother of nine-year-old Kennedy, sees it every day at home. “She loves picking out what goes into her lunchbox,” Kenya says. “Once she’s had some part in choosing it, the box comes back empty. I also try to keep at least one thing in there that’s familiar, because a new lunch and a new school day at the same time is a lot to ask of a child.”

The waffle breakfast burger, packed and ready to go. Two toasted waffles standing in for a bun, a hot Reggae Jammin Burger patty melted with cheese in between, easy to pack right into the bento box. Nine-year-old Kennedy Williams gives it two thumbs up.(Photo: Travis Muschett)

Four Lunches Worth Repeating

Front row material. Mini pizza bagels, a waffle breakfast burger, rotisserie chicken fried rice, and mac and cheese with chicken franks, four lunches good enough to earn a permanent spot on the weekly rotation. Pick a favourite, or let them take turns being the star pupil.(Photo: Travis Muschett)

BBQ Frank Mac & Cheese Slice Reggae Jammin Chicken Franks into coins and toss them into a hot pan with a spoonful of smoky BBQ sauce until the edges turn crisp and caramelised. Fold them into a pot of macaroni and cheese, then pack it hot into a preheated insulated container. The franks keep their bite far better than most add-ins, so lunch still feels worth eating by midday.

Reggae Jammin Chicken Franks Mac & Cheese. Coins of frank folded through a pot of creamy macaroni, the kind of hearty lunch kids need to power through a full day of classes and recess. The kind of lunch that gets requested on repeat.(Photo: Travis Muschett)

Sunday Roast Fried Rice Turn Sunday’s dinner into Monday’s lunch. Shred the leftover Reggae Jammin Rotisserie Chicken and fry it in a hot pan with day-old rice, scrambled egg, spring onion and peas. A splash of soy sauce and sesame oil ties it together, and nobody will guess it’s a repeat.

Reggae Jammin Rotisserie Chicken Fried Rice. Sunday’s chicken, shredded and fried up with rice, egg and whatever’s left in the vegetable drawer, tucked next to crisp carrots, a handful of grapes and a stack of chips for good measure. Proof that yesterday’s dinner makes tomorrow’s best lunch.(Photo: Travis Muschett)

The Waffle Breakfast Burger Grill a Reggae Jammin Burger and tuck it between two toasted frozen waffles, with a slice of cheese melted over the hot patty. It sounds unusual until the first bite, and it quickly becomes a regular request. Wrapped tightly in foil, it holds its shape all the way through the school run.

Waffle Breakfast Burger. A Reggae Jammin Burger patty tucked between two toasted waffles, sliced into halves and packed alongside carrots, watermelon and a scoop of caramel popcorn. Sweet, savoury, and gone by the time the lunch bell rings.(Photo: Travis Muschett)

Mini Pizza Bagels Split a bagel, spread each half with tomato sauce, and pile on sliced Reggae Jammin Chicken Franks or crumbled Reggae Jammin Burger before topping with cheese. Broil until bubbling and golden. These travel well cold or warm, making them the easiest fix for a morning with no time to spare. In the end, between the batch cooking, the compartments and a rotisserie chicken that’s already done half the work, the goal is a rhythm that works for your household: A lunch that gets packed without a fight, eaten without complaint, and doesn’t need reinventing every single morning. That’s how you get through, and actually enjoy, the school year.

Mini Pizza Bagels. A split bagel piled with crumbled Reggae Jammin Burger and melted cheese, broiled until golden and bubbling at the edges. Easy to pack cold or warm.(Photo: Travis Muschett)