OT-School Lunch Ideas

[KTSMOM]

I need help! My DD starts kindergarten next week (year round school) and I am going to be packing her lunches. Any ideas of what I can pack for her other than PB&J? Also, I have an ice pack to put in her lunch box, will that keep a cold cut sandwich cool enough? TIA!

 

[mommiepoppins]

I was going to post also. I need ideas
how about Vienna sausage cut in half with ketchup on bread. ( my mom made this when I was little) hot dog sandwhich. It sounds nasty however when I was a kid I loved it!

 

[emma'smom]

Oh....I know how you all feel! When dd4 started all-day preschool last year, this was the most stressful part about it! The school where she goes set up some parameters for healthy lunches (which I thought were over the top, emphasis was on organic-encouraged-not required, but didn't really disagree with as they were good suggestions and it cut down on any discussion/arguing with dd4 about unhealthy treats- they just weren't allowed and no other children had them either).

She has softpack lunchbox with a small flower shaped ice pack that we toss in every morning (we bought two ice packs so each one can be in the freezer ready to go on alternate mornings). It did keep things cool all day. I also bought a bunch of mini-rubbermaid containers w/lids to avoid using plastic baggies. Again, the school wanted small glass containers...but I thought preschool was a bit too young for glass and I couldn't find them anyway.

So a typical lunch would include:

sandwich (some examples)- cheese/bread, turkey/cheese/bread, whole-wheat crackers/spreading cheese (like laughing cow), PBJ w/bread,
crackers/pb in container so she could spread herself.

extras/sides (2-3)- cheese slices/cubes, those mini-bonnebell cheese rounds-which were sort of expensive, baby carrots or celery sticks, apple slices (sometimes with peanut butter on the side), banana, peach, plums, grapes (in a little container), goldfish crackers, snap peas, whole wheat mini-pretzels

Sometimes- leftover soups/casserole in a thermos- This was always a hassle though because I had to run boiling water in the thermos for several minutes to heat it up so that it would keep the food warm all day which I was always rushing to do in the morning.

Drink- School provides milk (organic) or filtered water

Here's the best thing we did:

I had dd4 draw a picture of each thing she likes to take for lunch on an index card. This gave her input in the whole idea of what to take for lunch. I also added a colored circle labeling system for each food group. I then labeled each card with a marker and laminated them. I stuck a piece of magnet tape on the back of each and we kept them on our refrigerator. Every night I would just put out the cards with ingredients we actually had in the house and she could pick 3-4 cards. One from sandwich/main dish and 2-3 from sides. She had to have each food group represented at least once. This way, she had ownership/choice for her lunches and I was also able to have some control over what went in them.

 

[karliebug]

crackers and cheese, yogurt, applesauce, try peanut butter with applesauce instead of jelly, ham and cheese rolled up and then cut like pinwheels, tortilla wraps with cheese or lunchmeat. my daughter loves soup or spaghettios in a thermos. I freeze juice boxes and put them in a baggie. they keep the lunch cool and thaw out by lunch for a cooler drink.

 

[cocodog]

Do the apple slices stay fresh for a few hours until lunch time? I have often pondered this for my children's lunches..........

 

[tatooed goofy]

A lot of times I would pack cheese, crackers, and some summer sausage. My DD will not eat bread sandwiches of any type. I would also pack some soup in her thermos. It did stay warm till lunch she said. Use a cookie cutter and cut a design out of her sandwich. I always put a note even if it says I (heart)U! She loves the notes more. If I forget, I hear about it. She just loves the notes. I would put crackers and a container of peanut butter for her to scoop onto crackers too. Veggies and dip works well too with the cool pack you have. Have fun! Congrats on Kindie!!

 

[emma'smom]

Sprinkle a little lemon juice on the apples to keep them fresh. I like the pinwheel idea. I tried yogurt...but the school has a policy to send back what isn't eaten (so the parent knows what the child has eaten for lunch). She would eat 1/2 the little container and the rest would come back dripping/oozing all over the place...we knocked yogurt off of our list for this reason. We do send cottage cheese however.

 

[hollyb]

Do the apple slices stay fresh for a few hours until lunch time? I have often pondered this for my children's lunches..........

Sprinkle a little pineapple juice on them. It makes the apple stay fresh all day long. YUMMY

 

[mom2my3kids]

I was also wondering this, my youngest starts all day preschool this fall for 3 days a week..I would love to hear more ideas..

 

[mommiepoppins]

My Oldes Dd 14 Loves Fresh Salid.

 

[barkley]

my kids realy like finger type foods at that age so some of the more popular items were-

veggies and ranch dressing (get the tiny reusable containers that the lids snap solidly on)

a peice of lunch meat (usualy turkey or ham) with cream cheese inside rolled up

string cheese (can also be rolled up in lunch meat)

bean burritos (heat the beans and fill the tortilla with it and the cheese-wrap it in foil to keep somewhat warm-seemed gross to me but the kids liked it)

"nachos"-a bag of tortilla chips and a thermos with warm refried beans sprinkled with cheese

for yogurt i stick with those "tube type" containers-they tend to eat all of it

ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins-sometimes we used 'craisins' instead-"fireants on a log" )

chicken nuggets (again it seemed gross to me to eat them cold-but they wolfed them down, so i cooked them in the morning and wrapped them in foil) with a container of ranch (i started getting smart and setting aside the containers that came with their happy meals-they used the bottled stuff at home and i sent the fast food containers to school ).

ds is a pastaholic-so i keep cans of chef boyardee on hand-nuke it and stick it in his thermos (the wide mouth type is best-just make sure you get a lunch box thats big enuf to hold it).

tortilla 'sandwiches'-the kids fill the tortilla with the ingredients (usualy veggies, maybe chopped up left over chicken and cheese) roll them up and off they go.

our superwalmart sells small containers (maybe 3 to a package) of apple slices with dipping sauces (carmel sauce is very popular but it's a once in a very rare treat, but they also have them with peanut butter)-they are actualy reasonably priced. they also have similar packages with baby carrotts and ranch dressing. i also get the small boxes of raisins, actual "fruit juice" fruit treats, and for cookies-i get the ones that are marketed to dieters-nabisco (i think) has these thin versions of oreos and other types that only have a very small amount in each bag-they have the same thing with wheat thins and some of the other crackers.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

You can also dip them in any lemmon lime soda or salt water. YOu can also buy apple slices already prepared but I think they taste funny. When DS was little he loved homemade lunchables. Like the store ones but you make them in a more healty style. You can get the three section containers of plastic wear. Put your meat (turkey or ham) & Cheese in one, Whole grain crackers in the second and a cut veggie or grapes or appple slices in the last in. Pair with a bag of pretzels and a healty drink for a great lunch.
Kids love wrapes, and a lot of non bread eaters like those.
Another good idea is to buy some really fun napkins (think dollar store birthday party items) and stick one in each day. I also would toss in an individual wet one but it came back home more days than not.
Drinks are so much easier now with 100% juices and milk in boxes. Many kids love the small waters too!!

I like the idea of getting her involved and even giving her some part of the job as her own.

Jordans' mom

 

[daksmom11]

These are great ideas! There was a great post on this very thing somewhere on the boards, but I can't find it. Maybe someone else would have better luck?

 

[mjantz]

My kids have to have a lunch packed for school (no kitchen) so I'm looking for anything I can.
DD is totally happy with a hot dog every single day. I've put PB&J, smoked sausage and lunch meat & cheese (not in a sandwich)
I love my 2 wide mouth thermoses. You can put chicken nuggets & popcorn shrimp in them as well as soup & pasta as mentioned above.
I found that 1 cold pack was more than enough for a lunch. I'm working hard to prepare lunches the night before & leave them in the fridge. Between that & the cold pack, they stay pretty cold. I do lunch duty on Mondays at school & everything seems to stay cold.
One thing that seems to encourage my creativity in regards to their lunches is the few days before payday, if you get my drift! I've done popcorn, chopped up meat from dinner, corn dogs, carrots & ranch dressing & lots more.
One thing I am going to do before school starts is make up a lunch 'chart'. It will have catagories for main item, sides, dessert & extras that may be needed like a spoon. I'm hoping this will help the kids start to pack their own lunches.
1 more thing, instead of plastic, disposeable forks & spoons, I bought some cheap tableware at the Target Dollar Spot (on clearance for .25/set!). The gaudy plastic handle was big enough for me to write our last name on. I think I lost 1-2 through the course of the year but it was still cheaper than disposeable plastic ware.

 

[brytorlyn]

I noticed alot of people suggesting peanut butter...that isn't allowed at the schools where I live because of allergies...I think from what I have heard in the news recentlythey are trying to stop it in all the schools in Ontario. Anyone else have this happening where they live?

 

[scraptoons]

Thanks for all the ideas!

On the PB....I can see the possibility of schools making policies not to serve it from their cafeteria.
Our school still serves it as an option. I know the schools have allergies listed on students' files. I would hope that they have a DO NOT SERVE list for the kids with peanut allergies.

However, our schools can't dictate what you can or cannot pack in your child's lunchbox.

Our district does has a policy that children cannot share or trade food with others.

There is always a teacher and a teacher's aid for each grade walking around the tables and supervising at lunch. Each time I went to eat with dd, I was very impressed with how they enforce all the lunch room rules.

That can pretty much takes care of someone's PB allergy from another child's home packed lunch.

 

[Accentuate+]

This site often makes the budget boards for money saving ideas but it also has some good lunchbox ideas:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/lunchboxfood2.htm

 

[XYSRUS]

My kids like to take dry cereal for lunch. Easy cheesy!

 

[Myrtle]

I used to buy cookie cutters and cut the sandwiches into different shapes. You can also get miniature cards at Wal-mart with a simple message on them for kids such as "have a nice day"; "dream big", etc.

Have fun with it. By the way, the freezer coolers work great. I have used them for about 10 years now.

Myrtle

 

[mommiepoppins]

I noticed alot of people suggesting peanut butter...that isn't allowed at the schools where I live because of allergies...I think from what I have heard in the news recentlythey are trying to stop it in all the schools in Ontario. Anyone else have this happening where they live?

My friend s dd class no penutbutter at all.....my dd pre k no one can bring in cup cakes it must be store bought to share with the class