school lunch packers, looking for different ideas.

[fortheluvofpooh]

we are getting tired of the usual ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly or fluff. Please share what you send for your kids lunches.
Thanks
Lori

 

[RooRach0906]

Pita bread with ham and lettuce. Get a thermos and send either soup or speghettiOs. Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Peanut Butter and Bananas, Peanut Butter and Fluff... all I can think of now but if I think of more I will post them.
Hope this helps

 

[simonsmom]

hot dogs in a thermos,rolls in a sandwich bags,and ketchup packets
pepperoni,cheese,crackers
cereal,a bowl,and they buy the milk

 

[littlbugmom]

Peanut butter sandwiches
Turkey sandwiches
Cheese rolled up in a flour tortilla
Peanut butter and apple slices
String cheese
Laughing Cow cheese w/crackers
Pretzels, goldfish, variety crackers etc...
Applesauce cups
Pudding cups
Fruit cups
Yogurt or Gogurt or Danimals Smoothies
Roasted almonds
Cookie
Mini Reese's

 

[J'aime Paris]

Love putting soup, casseroles, mac n cheese and such in the thermos.
Also send cold pizza.
Summer sausage, cheese and crackers.
tuna salad and sticks of celery to eat it with.

 

[dzorn]

Cheese stick
two fruits
crackers or pretzels
PB& J
Carrot sticks

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Cream cheese with strawberries on bread

Mix the cream cheese with blueberry jam, spread on bread, add strawberries

apple butter with apples

 

[dizneechic]

Hard Boiled Eggs - whole or sliced.

Roll Ups - ex slice of ham rolled up w/ cheese, slice and they look like pinwheels. Since we have bento boxes, I pop in a few toothpicks to hold them together.

Chicken Nuggets - cook them in the toaster oven before school, my kids love them cooled off.

my horrible alternative - hot pockets, cooked that AM, wrapped in foil and eaten cold. My oldest loves this, esp the ham and cheese or pizza one.

Grilled Cheese - again cooled, sliced, and eaten cold.

 

[sk!mom]

This week's lunches for DD13...

Monday- caesar salad with grilled chicken- I put the lettuce in one container, grilled chicken, croutons and parmesan in seperate baggies. DD tosses it at lunch. an orange.

Tuesday- small individual cup of nacho cheese, baked tostitos, baby carrots, strawberries.

Today- Thermos with a chicken strip and sweet potato fries, broccoli, blueberries, ranch and ketchup packets.

Thursday- Thermos with leftover potato soup, grilled cheese sand., blueberries.

Friday will probably be- Turkey on whole wheat, cantaloupe, carrots or broccoli.

Other things she likes-

Peanut butter on whole wheat
Leftover pasta or other soups in thermos.
Bean dip with tostitos
Black Bean Quesidillas or a bean cheese burrito in the thermos
Bagel with cream cheese
Homemade Blueberry muffin, string cheese

DD always drinks water.

The thermos for hot things and spending a fortune on fresh fruit are the secret to getting DD to eat a healthy lunch. She rarely takes chips or desserts.

DD always takes water to drink.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

DD8 has taken the same lunch every day. I don't know how she doesn't tire of it but she doesn't. She takes a PB&J, whale crackers, a piece of fruit (this does change) and 2 Fig Newtons (or strawberry) and a small juice box. Everday. The only excetion is if I make pasta salad but then she wants a PB&J after school. Thing is, she isn't a picky eater. She will eat all kinds of things at other meals and on weekend, but that is her school lunch.

DD15 doesn't have a lunch this year so she keeps granola bars in her locker. She also grabs fruit that she can eat quietly in a class.

So those 2 are easy. Actually DD10 is easy too, she also doesn't seem to tire of PB&J but I like to give her some variety. Her variety comes in a thermos like PPs have said, or, her favorite, pasta salad. Cold noodles, veggies and Italian dressing. Her favorites are red peppers, onions, cucumbers, tomato, garbanzo beans and black olives. She likes a little parmesean cheese sprinkled on top. The lunch lady has said to me she doesn't know how I get to get my kids to eat that. They BEG for it. I didn't think that was unusual but I guess where they go to school it is. They also love veggie dippers. Cut up veggies and light ranch for dip.

We also spend a fortune on fruits and veggies but they love them, they are good for them, so I can't compain. (DH and I love them too!)

 

[tjmw2727]

I try and vary the breads; Somtimes I roll up the lunchmeat and cheese and serve in a hot dog roll. Or like a pp mentioned do something on a flatbread or tortilla, roll & cut it.

I also do my own "lunchable" type thing with lunchmeats, cheeses, fruit & crackers. Nutella on whole wheat tortilla sliced like a quesadilla or rolled up is fun for a healty sweet treat.

Freezing the bread and making the sandwich in the am on the frozen bread makes a nice fresh sandwich at lunch. I also find it easier to make the sandwich on the frozen bread! (Not recommended for hot dog rolls or tortillas though)

My youngest loves cereal for lunch, just fill reusable bowl with lid will the cereal and pack a milk box ! I often pack a banana and OJ for a traditional breakfast for lunch!

My oldest loves salad so I just throw together various greens and pack leftovers from the evenings dinner in a separate container so she can combine later.

I always include a raw veggie and a fruit and then don't worry so much if they got on a pb & J run.

They love any cold vegie and dip - current favs are snap peas and slices of english cucumber. I often make a "trail mix" at the beginning of the week and try to vary it from week to week. Granola, cereals, nuts (if your school allows) seeds and something sweet.

For some reason my kids don't like "thermos" hot meals so I don't bother because they have a nice seleciton of hot meals at the cafeteria. They buy lunch about once a week.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

We do bento boxes with small bits of different items, not always japanese. hummus and carrots, rice balls with fake crab meat, black beans with salsa and a bit of salad dressing and chips. Tuna on wasa crackers, broccoli and cauliflower with a dip of some sort. Summer rolls with red chilli sauce. Sushi. Tabbouli and yogurt. Greek yogurt and fruit. Dry cereal and wasabi almonds. Nuts and small whole wheat bagel with cream cheese. Cheese chunks. Roast beef chunks with Horseradish sauce. Chicken salad. Banana with chunky peanut butter to spread on. Pineapple chunks with Ham chunks. Thin sliced pizza squares with veggies. Pasta salad with antipasto stuff. Tomato, mozzarella balls and basil.

 

[mickeylove2]

My dds favorite is tuna- on crackers, pita bread or whole wheat potato roll
carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatos, broccoli and cauliflower with ranch or hummus, pickles, they now have these cute little sweet gerkins pickle cups that my girls love, apple slices with laughing cow cheese, pepperoni chesse and crackers, tostitos with salsa, grapes, orange slices-although clementines are preferred, turkey or ham and cheese roll ups- rolled in a spinach or tomato tortilla spread with a little ranch and sliced, imitation crab meat with a little old bay, that's all I can think of right now. Basically anything that I can pack they are fine with. I love the idea of a Bento lunch, it makes lunch time more fun for little ones. Oh, and my girls love to dip!

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

My dds favorite is tuna- on crackers, pita bread or whole wheat potato roll
carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatos, broccoli and cauliflower with ranch or hummus, pickles, they now have these cute little sweet gerkins pickle cups that my girls love, apple slices with laughing cow cheese, pepperoni chesse and crackers, tostitos with salsa, grapes, orange slices-although clementines are preferred, turkey or ham and cheese roll ups- rolled in a spinach or tomato tortilla spread with a little ranch and sliced, imitation crab meat with a little old bay, that's all I can think of right now. Basically anything that I can pack they are fine with. I love the idea of a Bento lunch, it makes lunch time more fun for little ones. Oh, and my girls love to dip!

I stared collecting the boxes a couple of years ago. They are so stinkin' cute!

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

We do bento boxes with small bits of different items, not always japanese. hummus and carrots, rice balls with fake crab meat, black beans with salsa and a bit of salad dressing and chips. Tuna on wasa crackers, broccoli and cauliflower with a dip of some sort. Summer rolls with red chilli sauce. Sushi. Tabbouli and yogurt. Greek yogurt and fruit. Dry cereal and wasabi almonds. Nuts and small whole wheat bagel with cream cheese. Cheese chunks. Roast beef chunks with Horseradish sauce. Chicken salad. Banana with chunky peanut butter to spread on. Pineapple chunks with Ham chunks. Thin sliced pizza squares with veggies. Pasta salad with antipasto stuff. Tomato, mozzarella balls and basil.

Oh wow, I would love your lunches for myself. They sound yummy.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

THANKYOU to everyone for your helpful ideas. Grocery store trip today so I am hoping to get some stuff. Can't wait till the farmers market next week for veggies and fruit.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

oh and what on earth is a bento box?

 

[mickeylove2]

http://www.cookingcute.com/bento_boxes_and_accessories.htm

Here is a link to get an idea of what they can look like. Basically they are a sectioned box, you can put fruit in 1 section, pasta, veggie and dip. REAL Bento boxes are Japanese, but I've seen some sectioned glad bowls that serve the same purpose.

 

[HunnyJar]

I love, love bento boxes. I have had one since I was a little kid. They have such great designs now. One of my favorites has Hello Kitty. You can find some on Amazon and eBay if you don't have a Japanese market in your area. They really are fantastic, though.

 

[dizneechic]

We use the bento style boxes from laptop lunches.

We're on our 3rd year of use with 2 and 2nd year of use with our 3rd. They get used 4x a week (the other 5x per week) and are still going strong. We have a 2nd set of inner containers and just swap those out each day. What I love about them is I rarely use the lids on the inner containers so you just open the box and everything is ready to eat. My kids are the type that if stuff is in ziplocks they eat one bag at a time, usually dessert 1st, chips 2nd and what ever time remained allowed for the actual "meal" portion. With the openness of the LL boxes everything is open and ready and they have more time for eating.