School lunch ideas

[dsilva51]

I buy a dozen bagel at our local bagel store and freeze them the day I buy them. (I slice them first) Butter them or put cream cheese on them when they are still frozen. Pop them in the kids lunch and they are defrosted by time they eat. (bread defrosts very fast!) They are perfect and taste like the day I bought them. You definetly have to freeze them right away. The quicker the better!

 

[Vijoge]

No Doubt! They dictate how much fat your kids can have?! What do the school lunches look like?!

OMG yes! The school lunches here contain way more fat than anything I could possibly send in the girl's lunches!

 

[dsilva51]

OMG yes! The school lunches here contain way more fat than anything I could possibly send in the girl's lunches!

Did you guys watch Jamie Oliver's food reveloution? It was fantastic! He's really trying to start a movement.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

And if you've ever watched that movie...can't think of the name of it, the McDonalds one..SUPER SIZE ME! He goes to school cafs too and the fat/calorie/sodium content was INSANE. And also kids usually come up and buy french fries, chips, cookies, and a snapple and THAT is their lunch. School lunch is just nasty haha. On the show they did have a school that had a nutritious organic type of menu, and that was it, it was green salads, veggies, wraps and the principal said the cost was close to what they used to pay for the other stuff.

 

[badblackpug]

OMG yes! The school lunches here contain way more fat than anything I could possibly send in the girl's lunches!

Apparently, our guidelines are the guidelines for the school lunches, too. The only other "goodies" that are available at the elementary level, are ice cream treats, and you must purchase tokens for them ahead of time.

 

[sorul82?]

I have the added fun of the "fat police." They dictate what you can and cannot feed your kids. No juice box larger than the toddler size. No chips, cookies, snack cakes, or puddings. Only certain types of yogurt and crackers.

Other than sandwiches and soups:

Celery with cram cheese or peanut butter (if you can)
Raisins
Sliced apples with fat free caramel dip (individual size)
Raw vegetable with fat free ranch dip (individual size)
Bagels with cream cheese
String cheese
Cheese cubes
no sugar added fruit cups
unsweetened cereal

I let my kids buy lunch on Fridays ....pizza day.... I guess the fat police have Fridays off!

Shouldn't that be whole wheat bagels and fat free cream cheese?

 

[Vijoge]

Shouldn't that be whole wheat bagels and fat free cream cheese?

Or fat-free cheese cubes, which are reeeeaaaallly nasty!

 

[bookgirl]

okay this isn't the actual article I read but this refers to it

It's probably no secret that school lunch tastes pretty gross. Feeding kids a hot dog, bag of pretzels, sugary fruit cup, and chocolate milk isn't exactly the most nutritious meal, either. But despite cafeterias' dubious dishes, there's one place I expected to offer even worse fare — jail. The nation's youth must get better meals than grown-up, hardened criminals serving time in the slammer...right?

Well, according to a story in the Herald-Citizen, when it comes to meal selection, jail might actually be the preferable choice.

Reporter Tracey Hackett covered the meals served in Tennessee's Putnam County Justice Center. According to Hackett, the detention center's kitchen gets about $548 a day to provide prisoners with meals, which roughly works out to about $1.83 per meal. Each inmate gets two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. A typical breakfast consists of a six-ounce container of gravy, a 2.5-ounce biscuit, scrambled eggs, a hash brown patty, pineapple slices, an eight-ounce glass of milk, and some jelly. "Dinner typically consists of a sandwich or casserole, two-to-three servings of vegetables such as mashed potatoes, whole kernel corn and green beans, cornbread, sweet tea, and a serving of fruit or a dessert such as a cookie or piece of cake," Hackett reports.


Currently I believe the cost to feed a child in the school food program is about $1 more than thier amounts. Maybe we should let the jail feed the kids, the inmates could cook and serve it on work details and save a lot of money while provideing better meals.

 

[Vijoge]

Currently I believe the cost to feed a child in the school food program is about $1 more than their amounts. Maybe we should let the jail feed the kids, the inmates could cook and serve it on work details and save a lot of money while providing better meals.

You might be onto something. Our school lunches consist primarily of things like corn dogs, (processed)chicken nuggets, (cold)french fries, greasy cheese pizza. . .

 

[pipermae]

And if you've ever watched that movie...can't think of the name of it, the McDonalds one..SUPER SIZE ME! He goes to school cafs too and the fat/calorie/sodium content was INSANE. And also kids usually come up and buy french fries, chips, cookies, and a snapple and THAT is their lunch. School lunch is just nasty haha. On the show they did have a school that had a nutritious organic type of menu, and that was it, it was green salads, veggies, wraps and the principal said the cost was close to what they used to pay for the other stuff.

Do any of you guys read blogs? If so, here's one that might interest you guys:

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

 

[luvmy3]

Here are some things my kids bring. They each have Thermos funtainers which are a life saver when you bring more than you buy. I always pack a fruit or veggie with dip to go with it.

We do not have a lunch ban on PB so I do variations on PB sandwiches that you could do with other spreads like nutella.
I do PB and banana roll-ups or PB and honey sandwiches. I have done english muffins with one half PB and the other jelly.

Here are things other than PB that we do,
the typical cold cut sandwiches
string cheese wrapped in turkey
bagels and cream cheese
cheese and whole wheat crackers
chef salad
hard boiled eggs
soup
ramen noodles
chef boyrdee meals
pizza
pizza rolls
baked chicken nuggets
baked mozz. sticks
mac & cheese pie (leftover from dinner)
deconstructed tacos with broken up shells or tortilla chips

 

[badblackpug]

Shouldn't that be whole wheat bagels and fat free cream cheese?

Or fat-free cheese cubes, which are reeeeaaaallly nasty!

LMAO! According to the school.........yes. These were just some of my own suggestions for things to send.

 

[SarahKate]

I'm loving all of the great ideas!!!

My two cents is not so much food ideas but how we're doing it. I've let DD8 pick and choose when she wants to take lunch over the years but starting this year I'm going to let her choose days when she doesn't HAVE to take a lunch so that we send her food more frequently. The junk they serve is just not acceptable.

Over the summer, Target (in their "summer" area) had these nice little lunch containers they were about $2.99 each. Very much the bento box concept....one larger section, a medium section and a small section. The compartments are fairly deep and the lid gives a pretty tight seal over the sections. It also has a reusable fork and knife "snapped" into the lid (which we usually don't use). I really like these containers so far, and they do well in the dishwasher on the top rack.

Another thing I am experimenting with and which is working well so far, is the idea of giving DD a "menu" of sorts. I have a table in Word where that has 5 columns one for each day of the week. There's a section for the main food item - tortilla w/ cream cheese and meat, sandwich w/ meat, crackers w/ meat, etc. It's a bulleted list and she just checks the one she wants. THen there's a section for fruit and veg, she has to pick TWO. In the snacks I have things like string cheese, 100-calorie bags, yogurt, or "mom's choice". She can also choose her drink, a bottle of water (and I'll sometimes throw in one of those fun fizz tablets for fun), juice box, or a Crystal Lite drink in a drink container.

It sounds complicated, but it's really not bad once the document is created. I give to her the week BEFORE and have her fill it out. Then that weekend I skim through her choices and buy whatever ingredients I need. This past week I customized it to have various tortilla wraps as choices because we happened to have those on hand. This coming week I'll change that based on what we already have and just buy what's necessary.


So far it's working great! The main part is just getting in the habit and sticking to it. But I think it really makes it easier especially when figuring out what to buy at the store. I can just look at her choices and plan from that, and she LOVES getting to choose.

 

[natenapril]

Just bumping this up since school is starting and I know I needed new ideas

 

[disfamily4ever]

We've always packed our son's lunch for school. Some of the, usual, items we put in his bag are

Various Sandwiches (different types of bread, meat and condiments, so he don't get bored): Whole Grain Breads, Sourdough, Peppered Turkey, Roast Beef, Chicken Breast, Spinach (no lettuce), Miracle Whip and the new mayo, Chipotle and Garlic and Herb, gives the sandwiches different flavors.

100 Calorie Pack Snacks or Crackerfuls Snacks

Whole Fruit or Fruit Cups (No bananas, they get too squishy)

Small Gatorade and Small Water Bottle

This is just an example of what he, typically, have. But, we keep different side items and always buy different types of fruit and veggie packs, so he has a variety and don't get bored.

 

[ohlas]

This particular child is so allergic, that even if someone eats PB and then touches them, or even touches a door handle and then this child touches, it could kill them. I personally, if my child was that allergic, I would not send them to school. Too scary!

Not to sound like a witch ,but why are we punishing the majority of the kids to make one child safe??? If he cannt be near peanut butter at all what about all the kids that eat peanut butter toast then come to school. or ride the bus with him.

Im sorry but this allergy thing has gotten out of control..

 

[ilovepete]

My kids don't go to school but we have picnics a lot so I made this list and put it on my blog. It has a lot of ideas on it if you want to look through it. Great ideas on here as well!

http://cookingformyfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/healthy-lunchbox-ideas.html

 

[ilovejack02]

So happy to find this thread . I finally decided to start sending DS8's lunch after today he told me he ate the bun from his sloppy joe today and apples slices . I have been debating since school started but when he got home and was was starving, I made up my mind.

I have been looking at lunch boxes for about two weeks, such a decision lol . Ordered it and now need to get a menu together or he will be eating PBJ everyday . LOL.

 

[fakereadhed]

Peanut allergy is an indicator of tree nut allergy risk and vise versa, I believe.

Not necessarily true.

I have a picky eater with his first lunchbox this year so loving the great ideas here!

 

[sorul82?]

This particular child is so allergic, that even if someone eats PB and then touches them, or even touches a door handle and then this child touches, it could kill them. I personally, if my child was that allergic, I would not send them to school. Too scary!

Not to sound like a witch ,but why are we punishing the majority of the kids to make one child safe??? If he cannt be near peanut butter at all what about all the kids that eat peanut butter toast then come to school. or ride the bus with him.

Im sorry but this allergy thing has gotten out of control..

My children often run through peanut fields and wear the same shoes to school.