Scoop: Send Your Kid Packing

You’re racing around the kitchen half-dressed, getting yourself ready for work and your kids ready for school—mascara wand in one hand and the mayonnaise jar in the other—when one kid announces she suddenly hates turkey, and the other insists he’ll eat nothing else. Enter Fantazimo Food, Inc., an Edmonds-based company that, since September, has been making fresh, nutritious lunches for kids and delivering them directly to schools (K-12). Founders Peter and Andrea Gradwohl were inspired by their three little ones, each with distinct dietary preferences. The Gradwohls collaborate with a registered dietician and local catering company Gretchen’s Shoebox Express to create simple, well-portioned meals, including options for vegetarians and those with food allergies. The paper-bag lunches ($4.49–$4.99 each)—whose biggest downside is the number of plastic containers used—include an entrée (a sandwich or wrap), fruit, vegetable, cheese or yogurt and bottled water. The super kid-friendly PB & J sandwich (cut mom-style, diagonally) is probably a safer bet than the veggie wrap stuffed with hummus, purple cabbage and red pepper, but plenty of plain options abound. Parents can order single lunches or lunches for multiple days a month, with one day’s notice required to get your child on the delivery list. Now if only they’d deliver to the office.