School lunch ideas

[sorul82?]

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

According to The Biggest Loser, regular bagels and cream cheese are bad. But, have you ever tried to spread fat free cream cheese? It's like trying to spread silly putty.

 

[dismom301930]

I can't find the post now, but I am pretty sure I read somewhere in this thread about using little Bento molds for hard boiled eggs. Thanks for this suggestion! My DDs love hardboiled eggs and I just purchased two molds (Bear and Bunny) off of Ebay. They were very cheap and I think my DDs will love them, especially my youngest (6). Great idea!

ETA: While I was looking for the cute egg molds (above) I saw some other cute Bento stuff that looks pretty easy. I am thinking of ordering some vegetable cutters, some shaped cutters (for cheese, meat, etc.) and some food picks (plastic sticks that I would use for little kabobs). The shaped cutters are similar to cookie cutters but they would put little indentations for the details, like for the animal faces (not sure if that makes sense). These items are relatively inexpensive and are all washable/reusable. I would love to know if anyone has any experience making simple Bento lunches with these types of tools. TIA!

 

[mickeylove2]

These are some great ideas! What do you put on a sandwich with Nutella???

 

[apnep]

These are some great ideas! What do you put on a sandwich with Nutella???

My kids like Nutella with PB, or strawberries (my favorite for breakfast), or apples, and bananas are good too.

 

[PenguinWaiters]

I replied on the thread on the Family Board so don't want to repeat too much here. One thing I thought of that I didn't post there was pancakes. My DH will make up a bunch over the weekend and freeze them. I toss them into lunches and they are thawed by lunchtime. Both my kids eat those.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I've been having trouble with this. DD just started middle school and would rather take lunch because the lines are sooooooooooo long. She's in 6th grade so not sure if she will change her mind in 7th grade. I've been sending her to school with the frozen P&J smuckers sandwich and a juice. I also have her take cookies or cracker or gronala bar. I just dont think its enough food. Plus she stays for after school tutoring. After school program offer the kids a small snack and i have dd take something justincase.

My issue here is that its soooooooooo hot here. This week it will be over 100 degrees. I dont feel comfortable sending her with turkey or ham sandwiches. Last year we also did lunchables but she complained about the cheese feeling to mushy. We put an ice pack in her insulated bag. Her lunch is around 12pm. I dunno what else to send for lunch.

oh and they change classes so she is in and out of classes and at P.E. they dont dress until next month so they have their backpacks outside with them in the heat.

Any tips for those that live in areas that get very hot. What foods and snacks work best

 

[LisaR]

It's pretty common these days. We can't send anything with nuts, nothing can be made from scratch for fear of cross contamination in the baking items. It's not hard to do, just read labels and pay attention to what you sending. Totally worth it to keep a child's life save

Did I read that correctly? You can't send anything made from scratch for your own child to eat at lunch? I have to have misunderstood. I can't imagine every parent out there is baking the bread or rolling out tortilla shells for their kid's sandwich.

 

[Lovin' Disney]

Great thread. My kids don't start until next week, but it is great to have all of these ideas ready for when I go shopping this weekend.

 

[DisneyToddlers]

bump

 

[mrspopeye]

My kids love to have fortune cookies in their lunches. It makes for good table conversation. I also buy the little beverage size character, seasonal or holiday napkins when I find them on sale to have something special every once in a while. I write I love you somewhere on it and she has to find it.

 

[Kat&Dom]

My son just started kindergarten 2 weeks ago and his school is peanut free, tree nut free and sesame seed free. I have always fed him 12 grain bread and whole wheat bread - and now I am so stressed worrying about the ingredients in the bread that I send.

My biggest challenge for my son is him having enough time to actually eat his food. They have snack at 10am and lunch at 12:20pm but he is starving by the time school is done at 3:20pm.

I have been sending Cheese Whiz sandwiches cut in cookie cutter shapes. Carrot sticks, apple slices, orange slices, watermelon, yogurt tubes, cheese shaped fish, cheese crackers. I sent Kraft Dinner with hot dogs one day and he ate all the hot dog pieces and left the macaroni.

His school does have a milk program so he is on it. He is not a big milk drinker so I am hoping that he will get into it more. He loves water - prefers it over everything else. I have sent Apple Juice but he is not interested in it - he told me to only send water.

They do have the lunch program that runs 3 times a month. He gets his first hot lunch next week. It is Dairy Queen - 3 chicken strips, carrot sticks with dip, juice box and ice cream sandwich - it cost $4.85. The following week is one piece of Pepperoni pizza with juice box for $2.85 and the next week is Subway - choice of bread, meat and toppings with cookie and juice box for $3.75. So a total of $11.45 for "hot" lunches - not sure how Subway qualifies as a "hot" lunch. The milk program is $27 for 3 months - getting milk 3 times a week. On the days of his lunch program, I will send extra snacks just in case he is not happy with the items.