Lunch ideas for school lunches

[squeaky_penguin]

I need some new ideas on what to pack my DD for school lunches. We normally do a sandwich, fruit or yogurt and some type of cracker (like Cheez Its). They are not allowed to heat up anything. What kinds of lunches do you pack? My DD is in preschool right now.

Thanks!

 

[momof3ds]

homemade lunchable: crackers, deli meat & cheese, yogurt tube, pretzels or chips and orange slices

Make your own pizza: naan bread or lightly toasted sandwich thin bread, pizza sauce in a dipping container, shredded cheese, pepperoni and some kind of fruit (they either assemble a pizza or eat the different parts separately)

Hot dogs: hot dog in a toasted bun (yes my kids will eat this at room temp or cold), fruit or celery and carrots with ranch dressing, chips or pretzels

spaghetti pie (leftover spaghetti with sauce and mozarella cheese baked in muffin tins) with a salad, ranch dressing on the side

 

[java]

The new hit for my boys are my homemade pizza lunchables.

On Sunday I make pizza dough- I bake the crust alone. Then cut into rectangles. baggie them up individually and freeze. Then package up home made pizza sauce- into little tupperware rounds you can also freeze these*I don't because with 3 kids in school they go through them quickly. Also package up cheese same way.

Then I just pull out a crust, sauce and cheese and they have a pizza lunchable. *sometimes I include ham for one as he likes that on his pizza too. I didn't know if they would go for it all cold but they did! Stuff comes home empty!

Just something to change it up a bit. I also do soups, wraps, crackers and cheese ect.

 

[jd4nati]

I need some new ideas on what to pack my DD for school lunches. We normally do a sandwich, fruit or yogurt and some type of cracker (like Cheez Its). They are not allowed to heat up anything. What kinds of lunches do you pack? My DD is in preschool right now.

Thanks!

Thanks to a tip on this board, I bought a good quality thermos for my girls this year. They take hot lunches most days. I pack the lunch around 7 am each morning and it is still hot at noon. The key is to preheat the thermos with boiling water prior to adding hot food.

I pack a lot of soup and chili in the winter. Pasta and rice dishes work well. We've also done hot wings and cocktail meat balls. A favorite is tacos. I put the meat in the thermos and pack condiments and a flour tortilla separate.

 

[java]

Thanks to a tip on this board, I bought a good quality thermos for my girls this year. They take hot lunches most days. I pack the lunch around 7 am each morning and it is still hot at noon. The key is to preheat the thermos with boiling water prior to adding hot food.

I pack a lot of soup and chili in the winter. Pasta and rice dishes work well. We've also done hot wings and cocktail meat balls. A favorite is tacos. I put the meat in the thermos and pack condiments and a flour tortilla separate.

OHH! I Love the taco idea I am stealing that one!!

 

[Disneychix]

wow, excellent ideas above.

I was just going to suggest a cheesestick and crackers in place of a sandwich.

 

[princess barbara]

One of my daughter's favorite is caesar salad with leftover grilled chicken on top. You can pack the dressing separately. A few years ago I bought an individual round salad container at the Container Store. The lid has an opening that you fill with dressing then you shut it closed. When you are ready to eat, you press down on the lid and it releases the dressing into the bowl and you shake your salad up. I'm not sure if they still sell them but it was like $6.00 and it's been through the dishwasher frequently and works great. I also pack an ice pack with this.

 

[Dancemomof3]

My kids may be a little different but they love taking salads and also apples and celery with peanut butter. Hard boiled eggs, main dish pasta salads, cheese and crackers (they like the Big Wheat thins) and pepperoni, pb&j on whole wheat tortillas and then sliced are also all popular. My oldest is all fruits and veggies all the time and my little one, well...not so much. I think I manage to pack them all nutritious filling meals though. We just pack everything in little Tupperware type containers in their lunch boxes.

 

[jd4nati]

One of my daughter's favorite is caesar salad with leftover grilled chicken on top. You can pack the dressing separately. A few years ago I bought an individual round salad container at the Container Store. The lid has an opening that you fill with dressing then you shut it closed. When you are ready to eat, you press down on the lid and it releases the dressing into the bowl and you shake your salad up. I'm not sure if they still sell them but it was like $6.00 and it's been through the dishwasher frequently and works great. I also pack an ice pack with this.

This is our go to lunch when I pack them a cold lunch. Going to look for this bowl over the weekend.

 

[shoney]

My ds13 takes lunch. Sandwiches, salads, bagel w/cream cheese, leftovers in a thermos. I also bought a bowl that you take cereal and milk in too. I really got it for his brother, but he won't take it.

DS11 only buys lunch. He won't eat anything that is packed ahead of time. Makes life much easier. Cheaper too!

 

[momof3ds]

Here, lunches are $3.00 each at school. No way are they worth that much and it would be $9.00 a day. I can pack cheaper than that.

We have thermos containers but they don't like soups or things at school. So, we use a bento style lunch tray system called planet boxes. I love them because it is one tray and goes right in the dishwasher!

http://www.planetbox.com/

They also like pasta salad with cheese cubes.

 

[minushka72]

We have the Thermos Funtainers and my DS (age 6) tkes in a hot lunch everyday. Warm by the time he eats it, but since he is so picky this works! We usually pack dinner leftovers from the night before, spaghettios, soup, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets w/ dipping sauce in a separate cup. ( He won't eat sandwiches and the school lunches are gross!)

 

[taymaesmom]

Thanks to a tip on this board, I bought a good quality thermos for my girls this year. They take hot lunches most days. I pack the lunch around 7 am each morning and it is still hot at noon. The key is to preheat the thermos with boiling water prior to adding hot food.

I pack a lot of soup and chili in the winter. Pasta and rice dishes work well. We've also done hot wings and cocktail meat balls. A favorite is tacos. I put the meat in the thermos and pack condiments and a flour tortilla separate.

I do this too! Dd takes a hot lunch most days. Alot of time its some type of pasta and she takes alot of leftovers. Her new favorite is to take sloppy joe meat in the thermos and the bun in a baggie then assemble the sloppy joe at school. Today she took a pork chop.

 

[momof3ds]

another few favorites:
Chicken snack wrap (like NcDonald's) - I use popcorn chicken or chicken tenders, a tortilla wrap or flat out bread. Lettuce and american cheese all wrapped together with honey mustard sauce on the side.

Most kids probably would't like these but we make vietnamese spring rolls at home so I will pack 1 or 2 with dipping sauce on the side, a fortune cookie, crunchy lo mein noodles and fruit.

 

[squeaky_penguin]

Thanks for some great ideas.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

If you pinterest there's been several pins with TONS of ideas. You guys might want to check that out.

 

[mjantz]

My DD loves little bento-like boxes. She can pack a TON of food in these little boxes.

Also, you can do bulk PB&Js and freeze them. The trick is to spread the PB on both insides of the bread and then put the jelly in the middle. My son use to do this & it worked great. Pulled one out the night before when he packed his lunch & they were fine the next AM.

 

[rosiebean2]

My kids (ages 6 and 7) just decided, out of the blue, that they do not want to eat meat because it is 'mean' to kill animals for food. I have no idea why they decided this, lol. I am a huge carnivore. They used to LOVE nuggets and sausage and pepperoni, etc. Only one friend is a veggie, everyone else at school eats meat.

But since December, they have stuck to their vow to the point where one of them spit out a bite of corndog (it was a soy dog) because they didn't realize the 'hot dog' wasn't meat. Same kids used to BEG to eat school lunch. He scolded me the last time I had him eat school lunch because he was forced to eat meat (hamburger vs. chicken pasta were the choices that day).

They have been eating a lot of PB&Js, pasta with veggies and cheese, pasta with tomato sauce, fruit salad and cheese sticks and bread, hummus and veggies, and beans and rice mexican or indian style. They will eat tofu if it's hot but not cold at lunch (they can heat up food but do not like to wait for a turn at the microwave). They love veggie soup, but again, do not want to heat it up (I guess I should buy a thermos for each of them).

I recently discovered that they enjoy 'breakfast' for lunch. I'll pack a big container of cereal, and they buy white milk at school to eat with it...and they'll eat fruit along side or yogurt.

The good news is there is more bacon for the hubby and I on the weekend when we have our big breakfast .

 

[pigletto]

Thanks to a tip on this board, I bought a good quality thermos for my girls this year. They take hot lunches most days. I pack the lunch around 7 am each morning and it is still hot at noon. The key is to preheat the thermos with boiling water prior to adding hot food.

I pack a lot of soup and chili in the winter. Pasta and rice dishes work well. We've also done hot wings and cocktail meat balls. A favorite is tacos. I put the meat in the thermos and pack condiments and a flour tortilla separate.

I do this as well. Ds prefers mostly leftover dinner items so I always just make sure there is extra soup or spaghetti etc for his thermos. A quick standby is peirogies as well ( I just boil them in the morning, cut them up a little and put them in the hot thermos). I do also wrap the thermos in paper towels. It's soooo cold here that I find that just help keep it a little bit warmer until lunch.

 

[mombrontrent]

My DD6 is also a vegetarian and LOVES her bento box. She takes it everyday. It has a bigger seection on the bottom and two smaller sections in the top. I bought little bento size conatiners that she can take small things in like raisons, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds (she HAS to bring these everyday) ect. She takes orange slices, berries, mini bananas, carrot sticks. She likes to take rolled up slices of "vegetarian bolonga" stuck with a bento pick and dipped into a little container of mustard. She will take salad or a half PB&J sandwich. Basically she finds whatever she likes and stuffs it into the bento box.