Packing kids' lunches...

[iJenny]

So DS is in 1st grade this year and they haven't finished building their cafeteria yet, so it's packed lunches every day. I need some ideas as to what to pack for him to keep him from getting "bored" with his lunches.
(note: no peanuts/peanut butter allowed at the school for obvious reasons, besides, DS HATE PB lol weird kid)

So hit me with those great lunch ideas ladies!!

[Paula]

Well, besides the obvious various sandwiches, what about: cheese sticks, fruit cups, pudding, jello, carrots and ranch dressing

[AddictedScrapper]

Paula named a good bunch. How about yogurt with granola

[Nikki Epperson]

My oldest likes wraps - and you can do tons of variations on those. :)

[kscwgirl]

abby loves wraps too.

[Libby Pritchett]

Well I realize it isn't practical for every day, but Kendra *loves* lunchables. It's a special treat when she gets one of those in her lunch box.

She also loves tuna mixed up in a bowl with a little mayo and a side of crackers.

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread because we'll be looking for some new ideas this year!

[lizzyfizzy]

maddie likes to bring sushi. (doh) go-gurts are a Godsend, pretzels, wraps, pita pocket sandwiches, even like leftover pizza is a hit, chips and salsa, make the sandwich on two lil hawaiian rolls, bagel sandwiches (mine adore this!), we'll also do our own lil lunchables! so many ideas jen, we can talk more today. write a note on cam's napkin...he'll feel so special. :)

[lizzyfizzy]

sometimes we even say screw the sandwich and the kids will just have lil meat and cheese roll-ups with all kinds of other finger foods.

[iJenny]

I'm actually going to make little notes for him on the computer that are blank for me to fill in. I'm going to put his favorite things on them like turtles and stuff from my digi stash that I know he loves. :)

[Laura_A]

ham and cheese on those hawaiian roles are a huge hit with my kids. Also, Craisins are good, cheese sticks, gogurt, fruit cups... lots of options... making me hungry.

[BrattyMeg]

Mine LOVE cheese sticks, chips and salsa, pretzels and cheese dip (I just put squeeze cheese in a little container), bagel sandwiches, wraps, dd likes tuna or crab meat lol, cheeseits, poptarts, animal crackers, sometimes my oldest just takes a boiled egg or two along with her other stuff,

[lizzyfizzy]

love that note making idea!!

[Amber1279]

Anthony has a milk allergy so it really limits what he can take in his lunch (and buy from the hot lunches) So he has a lot of the same things and not very creative.

Hotdogs & Chicken Nuggets are his favorite (I microwave them in the morning and put them in the lunch bag) I have also done cut up leftover chicken, meatballs and porkchops.

Then usually it is a bag of chips or crackers of some kind

His fruit choices are: oranges, apples, applesauce, pineapple, grapes, sometimes watermelon if it is in season.

Veggies usually come home uneatten LOL

For treats we have done poptarts, cookies, fruit snacks, fruit rollups, granola bars, mini muffins,

Oh - and a note on the Jello .... Anthony's melted so that might not be a good idea ;)

[Chels85]

i always had Ham sandwich w/ mustard, and a lil bag of chips... healthy huh? lol

[LenaGardner]

I don't know if you are into putting this much time into it (some days I am and some days I'm not) but here are some of the bento lunches I've done:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/bellagypsy_lena/5.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/bellagypsy_lena/1-1.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/bellagypsy_lena/4.jpg

Once I started packing Nathan bento lunches, he stopped coming home hungry!

[DawnMarch]

I was just looking at Bento lunches. Your are beautiful!

[becca372]

I actually put this link up on my classroom blog for parents to get some ideas (my students eat lunch in the classroom, and many of the lunches from home are SOOOO unimpressive--seriously, so much junk!)...don't know that it'll work, but maybe I'll inspire ONE family to try something different...Quite a few of the recipes are nut-free as well, so that's a big benefit. And, I'm sure you're aware, being at a nut-free school, but be really careful with granolas, etc, as they often contain nuts or are processed with them (I worked in close contact with the nut-free K classroom in our building the last two years, so it's something I'm hyper-aware of).

anyway, here's the link: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/family/specialfeature/backtoschool_food_sf/

[lizzyfizzy]

I don't know if you are into putting this much time into it (some days I am and some days I'm not) but here are some of the bento lunches I've done:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/bellagypsy_lena/5.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/bellagypsy_lena/1-1.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/bellagypsy_lena/4.jpg

Once I started packing Nathan bento lunches, he stopped coming home hungry!

ahahahaha! those are gorgeous. if i didn't have 3 to do everyday and a job, i'd be all over that!

[stayawake]

my daughter (3) loves it when I make her "pizza dippers" - little bread sticks, cheese sticks and pepperoni cut into little sticks, or pepperettes, to dip into tomoato sauce.

Also - does anyone do soup anymore? Or maybe that's just for cold weather! It's about the only way I can get my girl to eat lots of veggies, but she'll eat anything in soup-form. Soup and bread with cheese is a great lunch.

To do a 'different' type of sandwhich, you could try and sandwhich press that seals the edges. You can make your own pizza pockets with it, ham and cheese is delicious, I love mozarella with garlic powder, chicken breast, feta, tomato and olive, roast beef cheddar, onion and mushroom... all of these are great cold after they have been toasted. :)

[lizzyfizzy]

yes, we totally have the little thermos' that we do soup in during the cold months. the kids beg for it!!

i think i'm gonna get one of those lil sandwich presses!

[AddictedScrapper]

The sandwich press is awesome!

[Susan Bartolini]

I love those Bento boxes. So cute. And I am always one that loves an appetizer platter (with lots of little choices).....so I am not surprised that kids love it too!

Susan

[Julie Billingsley]

Lena, love those Bento boxes! So adorable! Can you tell me about those little heart crackers/cereal? I want some!!

[LenaGardner]

http://www.genisoy.com/hostedstore/images/products/detail/008100.jpg

They are Geni Soy Smart Hearts (http://www.genisoy.com/HostedStore.LassoApp?-ResponseLassoApp=detail.lasso&ID=d8a9a96b7beafcb3) I buy the lightly salted and the white cheddar :)

[EveRecinella]

Those boxes are so cute!! I am not sure yet what I will pack Sophia. Most likely a sandwich of some sort, fruit, carrot sticks and some sort of snacky thing. She gets milk provided for there so no need to send a drink.

[cindyg]

While reading the posts to this message it started bringing back memories....As a teacher I have seen some STRANGE lunches brought to school - lol. You can tell when parents haven't gone to the grocery lately and had to get a bit.....creative....when packing their child's lunch. I've seen candy bars for lunch, one kid would often bring lunch meat in a baggie (cause "we're out of bread"), heck one girl brought a can of corn for lunch one day - yep a can of corn and a pouch of KoolAid.

[jessica31876]

I love those little hawaiian rolls. I usually get sandwich pepperoni for them though. Chicken is big in our house so that might work. You could make chicken soup, chicken fingers/strips, cut up chicken with cheese chunks....do a vegie lunch like carrot strips and celery and a choice of two dips since no peanut butter maybe ranch and cream cheese and then have some apples and grapes and bananas with yogurt and caramel to dip

[maryinaz]

Lena - where did you get the containers for those bento lunches? My boys are very, very picky, but maybe I can get them to eat better if I pack their lunches in a more fun way. TIA.

[Sue Setiadji]

I actually put this link up on my classroom blog for parents to get some ideas (my students eat lunch in the classroom, and many of the lunches from home are SOOOO unimpressive--seriously, so much junk!)...
anyway, here's the link: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/family/specialfeature/backtoschool_food_sf/

Ive bookmarked this one - working in a preschool is also an eyeopener - some are really creative and others very uninspiring. The bento style lunch boxes are great ideas and they can include all sorts of things - left over chicken wings, tuna, celery, seaweed, cherry tomatoes, fruit, cereal, dinner leftovers. My kids love corn cobs - super quick in the microwave!
You can never send too much fruit and fresh crunchy veges - if you remove the chips and crunchy noodles and all that packet stuff they are going to eat the fruit and veges with a little persistence. Most kids will eat the other stuff first so I find the best way to stop that is never send it - believe me it works!
Ive also noticed that lunch boxes are usually more interesting at the beginning of the year than at the end - I guess we tire of them and need the holidays to regroup! Our local library has a great range of cookbooks as incpiration and they are free to borrow for up to 3 months.

[rach3975]

I haven't ready all the responses, but buy him one of those insulated hot containers, and then you can also pack things like pasta or soup.

Also, there was a suggestion of Lunchables earlier. We sometimes do "Make your own" Lunchables. I look at the boxed, kid-friendly lunches for ideas, then pack my own version with healthier alternatives.

You can tell when parents haven't gone to the grocery lately and had to get a bit.....creative....when packing their child's lunch. one kid would often bring lunch meat in a baggie (cause "we're out of bread

Okay, tell me people aren't laughing at me! DS won't eat sandwiches, so I pack lunchmeat in a bag all the time!

[maryinaz]

Okay, tell me people aren't laughing at me! DS won't eat sandwiches, so I pack lunchmeat in a bag all the time!
Me too, I never liked sandwiches as a kid (I still have to have one on a sub roll not plain bread) so my kids don't like them either (although they will eat bread plain!) - my kids live on deli meat, cheese and PB and crackers with some grapes thrown in, for lunch every day.

[MelindaH]

I haven't heard that we are a PB-free school ... yet ... so Blake will get PB&J most of the time, with bananas/apples/grapes or a fruit cup, a yogurt cup or pudding cup, maybe some carrot sticks sometimes, and probably a couple of cookies if we have them. (We'll switch it up with a turkey or chicken sandwich meat sandwiches). He eats a LOT ... so I'm worried he's going to be hungry after whatever I send. At Head Start they provided the food and ate at the tables and he could take more if he wanted ... won't work that way now. :(