ASK any mom who prepares a packed meal or ‘baon’ for her young children and she will tell you that there are two food staples that she will always have: hotdog and chicken. “You cannot go wrong with these two items. Paborito talaga ng mga bata,” a mother of four kids says. Another mom adds, “there are a lot of things you can do with hotdog and chicken. Iba-ibahin mo lang ang timpla.”
Most moms have taken to the concept of rice bowls for the lunch “baon,” where the main dish is simply put on top of the rice. They say it is easier for the children to eat. How can hotdog become a viand? Marie, a mother of three, says her kids love hotdog so she has done several rice toppings with hotdog… hotdog cuts with onions in barbecue sauce, hotdog with a little ground meat and spaghetti sauce (minus the spaghetti), hotdog with scrambled egg, hotdog with mushrooms, hotdog fried rice, hotdog wrapped in bacon. Along with the rice bowl, she adds a little cup that could be a salad (macaroni and cheese or coleslaw), potatoes (mashed or fried), fruit etc. to complete the meal.
As versatile as hotdog, if not more, for rice bowls is chicken. A lot of chicken recipes can be found in cookbooks and the Internet. And most of them are easy to prepare. There are chicken in barbecue sauce, chicken with apritada or menudo sauce, breaded chicken, grilled chicken, roast chicken, chicken sisig, etc. Donna, a mother of two, says as much as possible, she slices the chicken into bite size pieces, especially if it’s a rice topping, so her kids don’t have a hard time eating their lunch.
Most moms, especially those who work, appreciate anything and everything that make ‘baon’ preparation easier and faster. That’s why they like food delights that come in packs…pre-cut and/or pre-prepared.
Fresh Options Meatshop has Kiddie Goodie, a line of chicken and hotdog products that kids love and that can help make food preparation a little easier and more convenient for moms. Of course, the secret to these packaged treats is still the touch, flair and love given by each mom in creating delicious and different “baon” for their kids every day./PN
