Post ideas for school lunches here

[kpgclark]

I'm looking for some great ideas for lunches to pack for the children this year. If you have some healthy lunch ideas please post them here. I'd especially like to here about one dish/bowl ideas like pasta salads that your kids enjoy.

For variety I sometimes pack cereal in a bowl with some berries on the side. The kids buy milk and we call it "breakfast for lunch."

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

My DS likes a chef salad for lunch occasionally--lettuce and veggies with diced ham/turkey and cheese.

I send the dressing separately so it doesn't get soggy.

We also do salad with cheese stuffed tortellini and veggies mixed with italian dressing.

Good luck!

 

[mudnuri]

How healthy is PB & Fluff? Thats my DD whose 6 staple...5 days a week, its PB and Fluff, sometimes white, sometimes strawberry LOL...

DD whose 8 also LOVES Chef Salads for lunch! Her new lunch bag has a double insulated pouch for the container, and the small M&M ice packs work perfect. Her school has salads available everyday, so she gets her dressing there.

Brandy

 

[Ibelieveinfairies]

It's not a pasta/salad type lunch, but my DD loves to have cheese and crackers sometimes as opposed to the regular old sandwich. I laugh when I am packing her lunch...it's like a wine/cheese picnic w/o the wine...grapes, cheddar cheese and wheat crackers, strawberries, etc.

 

[kpgclark]

I do that type of lunch often. I call it a "snack plate." I put baggies of different things in their lunchbox. They think it is great. I usually put goldfish or other crackers, cheese and grapes.

I was thinking of doing some wraps for them this year but I can't seem to find a tortilla that is either the right size or that will hold up so things don't go splat out the bottom while they eat. Any ideas for wraps out there?

 

[mom2alix]

Did anyone get the latest Kraft recipe book that they send free in the mail? I just got mine and they had a really neat pull out section of lunch ideas that were pretty good for incorporating fruits and veggies. The website is:

www.kraftfoods.com

Once idea I really liked was sending a pita with 1/4 cup thin sliced cucumber, 3 thin tomato slices, 1/4 cup shredded cheese, and a small platic container with 2 tbsp veggie cream cheese spread and a plastic knife. The kid spreads the pita with the cream cheese, then tops it with the veggies and cheese and has a little veggie pizza.

They also had some neat recipes for lettuce wraps which would be a nice break from the standard sandwich as well as several ideas for add-ins to mac and cheese which would make good bowl meals.

 

[kpgclark]

That pita sounds great!

Just wondering, how much time do your kids get for lunch? Ours only get 20 minutes which I think is way, way too short. My son is the slowest eater on the entire planet.

 

[Lewski709]

Peanut Butter and banana, peanut butter and fluff (fluffernutter), pizza sauce with mozz cheese and pepperoni's on bread, cream cheese and jelly, jello sticks, string cheese, pudding, carrots and dip, raisins, left over meatloaf sandwiches. Are those helping?

 

[nkjzmom]

Notes....I always pack a lunch without a note from mom, sometimes even dad. Once I forgot to put the napkin with the sticky-note on it in the bag and I got a note back..."Mom, I really missed your note today. Love, Katelyn"

When Samantha was born I wrote out a few days worth of notes for my mom to stick in the bags.

 

[mommytotwo]

My SS liked-

Macaroni & Cheese
Spagetthi
Sandwiches
Soft Tacos
Ham & Cheese Wraps
Rice and Steak or Chicken
Hot Pockets

 

[Otto's Doll]

bagels and Cream cheese.
Also, my DS loves pancakes for lunch. While making breakfast for him, I will make 5 or 6 dollar size pancakes, and put them in a ziplock bag. Some fruit or cherry tomatos, a fruit roll up, and milk money and he is all set.
Soup in a tightly closed thermos is good too.

 

[eeyoreforever]

One of my kids favorites to take is pasta salad. I cook the tricolor rotini, mix it with Italian dressing, cucumbers, olives, ranch beans and cheddar cheese and then let it stand in the refrigerator overnight. They can't get enough of this.

They also enjoy taking soup in a thermos occasionally.

Other than that, just sandwiches, although my oldest dd likes to wrap her meat in a tortilla instead of bread. Wal Mart sells a bread called Flatout and it is good to use.

 

[miche61]

Absolute favorite for my kids is left over spaghetti!

Then we have the regular Jelly sand, PBJ, turkey.

Jello in their thermoses, corn (not the best they say), baked beans, any left over noodle item.

Carrots with dip, cucumbers, pickles are great too.

 

[MosMom]

I do funky pasta shapes tossed in a bit of butter and parmesan cheese. She will eat that cold like a pasta salad and loves it.

They make baby carrots packed in individual bags and individual servings of ranch dip.

Sometimes she isn't in the mood for a main course so I will do a snacking lunch with a cheese stick, carrots & dip, fruit cup, peanut butter crackers - This is one of her favorite lunches!

I will cut sandwiches out in fun shapes too and she loves that.

 

[chrissie123]

tuna & sweetcorn mixed with pasta & a little mayo always goes down well, with lots of fruit like a small bunch af grapes & a satsuma or a small banana & apple... Are your schools obsessed with the 5 portions a day fruit & veg like ours are??? we are not even allowed to send anything other than water or pure fruit juice in thier lunch bags.... Crisps(sorry chips) are not allowed neither is chocolate or candy or cake... sometimes it`s a nightmare but i suppose they are only trying to make the kids healthy.... What i do not understand is the schools don`t know what these kids are eating when they get home, or in the school holidays.. We have just had 7 weeks off for the summer break some of the kids are gonna be going through withdrawl, from the summer because its a case of grab something to eat(fruit what i don`t think so)get out & i do not want to set sights on you til dinner... in most cases they have eaten at some friends house & do not return until around 9pm... sorry but this is the scenario of the children i work with day in, day out... I am just so glad my kids do not live like this.....

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Originally posted by kpgclark
That pita sounds great!

Just wondering, how much time do your kids get for lunch? Ours only get 20 minutes which I think is way, way too short. My son is the slowest eater on the entire planet.

Mine gets 25 minutes, and that includes standing in line for hot lunch..Plus it starts at 11:00. I don't want to one up you, but I always thought that MY son was the slowest eater on the entire planet!!

I took him to lunch at his "new" school last May to get him acquainted with it. We bought his lunch, sat down and ate (he ate less than half before the kids started to clear their tables.) and watched as the other children dumped most of their lunches into the trash..They just don't get enough time, IMO. This was the last few days of school, so they would have learned by then how long they had to eat, I would think. I 'm afraid to go there now and see how much DS is actually able to eat in 20 minutes.. I would take that long to eat the apple they get..

I definitely wouldn't like it if the schools started to tell me what I could or couldn't pack in my kid's lunch. I would (have to) understand peanut butter because of other's allergies, but not anything else I saw fit. With my kid,( who takes multivitamins everyday), sometimes it is all I can do to get some calories in him, forget about a balanced diet!!

My DS4's favorite lunch is PB&J sandwich on honeywheat cut out in the shape of a circle with a large mouthed cup. It seals the edges and cuts off the crust (like the Smucker's Crustables-is that what they're called?-way too expensive, and white bread which we do NOT eat at all..) He eats them for lunch and breakfast!!

Ever since I have been packing a lunch or snack for my DS4 or DS6 I have included a Hershey's kiss...They don't get it, but I do..and this year when school started and I didn't have one, I was reminded by DS4 that I FORGOT his kiss....

 

[tiggerlover]

I love the breakfast for lunch idea, that is a nice alternative since DS loves breakfast.

One of DS's favorite lunches is a tuna wrap. Because tuna is kind of wet it helps hold the wrap together. Another alternative is to spread your wrap with cream cheese and then add your meat and lettuce and roll it up. Another idea is to use cookie cutters on the kids sandwiches so that they have some fun shapes to eat.

 

[Lars624]

My DS will take a baggie of tortilla chips & a little container of shredded cheddar cheese to make nachos in the school microwave He is a pain to pack lunch for becasue he doesn't like bread.

 

[elismom]

section in your grocery store.
They have all kinds of neat little things
DS favorite,s are
Mini pogos,mini eggrolls or springrolls
bagel bites (small pizzas)
mini sausage rolls,potatoe skins with cheese
Just cook then in the toaster oven and wrap in foilor
you could put them in a small thermos.

 

[grlpwrd]

* pizza - made the night before with bagels, pita bread, a tortilla, or English muffins
*sandwiches- served on crackers, in a pita, rolled up in a tortilla, or on English muffins or on a mini bagel
* nachos - with beans, cheese, taco meat, olives, sour cream, etc. (use thermos to keep toppings warm)
* sub sandwiches
* shake or a smoothie (freeze it a little)
* dip served with bagel or tortilla chips
* fruit and veggie slices dipped in yogurt, pb, cream cheese, or veggie dip
*homemade muffins - there are pizza and ham and cheese muffin recipes out there which is filling
*homemade hot pockets
*other homemade baked goods, like breadsticks and pigs-in-a-blanket

HTH