School lunchbox ideas? Budget friendly?

[LoveBWVVBR]

I think this is a good fit for the budget board. What do you guys pack for school lunches? I am so limited in ideas...turkey or PBJ, fruit, and a treat. I could use any ideas! My kids aren't the most adventurous eaters and of course I hate seeing things come home uneaten and in need of disposal due to the fact that they have been sitting in a lunchbox all day

 

[KTR]

My son loves sliced apples with peanut butter for dipping. Other than that just the same sandwiches you mentioned. My daughter only wants PBJ. I have other ideas, but they would work for more adventurous eaters.

Oh in the winter I send homemade soup in thermoses. My kids are big time soup lovers so if I have leftover from the night before it goes in their lunches the next day.

 

[Eureka]

A couple years ago my kids were not into sandwiches so I made them my own "lunchables." Small ziplock container filled with slices of baguette or a roll, turkey pepperoni or sliced grilled chicken, grapes, orange slices and pickles for my DS who likes them. Paper muffin liners kept things separate so they didn't get soggy. Then they got their normal treat and whatever else.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Mine are grown now, but some things they liked:
-oatmeal in a thermos, with fruit and peanut butter mixed in
-muffins (I tried to always have some in the freezer, and tried to incorporate healthy foods like zucchini, carrot, raisins, fruit, etc. in them). I'd put a frozen muffin in the lunch box and it would thaw by noon and keep the other food cold
-cut up vegetables with hummus to dip in
-tofu jerky (basically, marinated/spiced tofu that has been cut in strips and baked)
-they liked sandwiches better if I varied the breads, so sometimes they'd have dinner rolls or English muffins or rye bread
-wraps! spread with hummus, add some spinach, salsa and whatever filling you like
-salad with dressing in a separate container
-homemade "granola" type bars with oatmeal, seeds, chocolate chips, dried fruit, etc.
-what we call California salad rolls - fresh veggies cut in strips and rolled in dampened rice paper - if you put these in an airtight container with a damp paper towel on the bottom, they will usually keep until lunch (but they are a bit fragile) - send a container of dipping sauce too (plum sauce or peanut sauce)

TP

 

[Disneylover99]

Whenever we have leftover white rice from dinner, I put it in a pan with some oil, some soy sauce, a cup of mixed frozen vegetables (peas, corn, carrots) and I scramble in a couple of eggs while it cooks. It takes five minutes in the morning and it goes into the thermos. It always gets eaten up!

 

[bababear_50]

Hi
My observation have been that half of the store bought lunchables get thrown out),the homemade ones get eaten.

Everything in separate small baggies or in a container that has 3 or 4 portions.
Some of the things I see in grade 1-4 classrooms that get eaten are

cubes of meat/or rolls of meat
cubes of cheese
mini baby bells
sliced veggies or cubed veggies
dipping sauces/veggie/spinach/fruit
humus
cubed fruit
Pickles
pasta salad/tuna/3 bean/chicken

variety of crackers
mini croissants
small cut of pita bread pieces

Turkey pepperoni style sticks
Pepperoni sticks
Beef Jerky


Mini muffins
Rice krispie squares
Puddings
cookies/homemade
yogurt-minis
yogurt tubes
small baggie of pop-corn

Left over cold pizza
leftover cold spaghetti

Thermos
all leftovers seem to get eaten.


Kids love small bite sizes and dipping,they also love plastic knives to create their own stuff.

My school is "No Peanut Butter"environment.

Hugs Mel

 

[LovesTimone]

I am just going to jot down things I remember putting in DD lunch box also things I still use for my own today.

Breadsticks - the hard crunchy ones
Rolled, deli meat and cheese
Ritz cracker sandwiches - Use Ritz cracker or whatever you have, add in items like deli meat and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, Bacon, lettuce & tomato, mozzarella and plum tomatoes.
Ranch dip and raw veggies, make sure they are cut up small.
Grapes, strawberries, plums, apples, if you send cherries make sure to pit.
Fruit cups in juice, boxes of raisins, fruit gummies snacks, granola or cereal bars.
Pickles
Ramen noodles in a thermos, DD loved them, I would heat up to boiling and put in a thermos ( I did get a really nice one that would hold the heat and not leak) and they would be to temperature by lunch time.
Chicken noodle soup and crackers.
Gold fish crackers.
simple homemade pasta salad - not mayo style.
Lettuce wraps - filled with everything you can think of, chicken salad, turkey salad, deli meat and cheese,
Chips, crackers, pretzels,
100 juice boxes, or bottled water w/ flavoring package - you can freeze and they should thaw by lunch time.

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I would stay in the "easy" lane and just change up what you do. Buy a bunch of different preserves/jams for the peanut butter and throw in a jar of Nutella or the new Hershey chocolate nut spreads for change up, which is about the price of peanut butter (almond butter and sunflower spread are also great, but they are a little pricier). Buy multiple types of jams/preserves and then add a jar of Fluff (if you have a child with a sweet tooth). Then, have multiple "bread-like" options, including crackers, tortillas, etc. Then have some bananas and apples around for a topping (and some microwaved bacon if your kid is adventurous). You could make about 15-20 versions of a "pbj" just from these options, like...


Normal PB and Grape Jam
PB and Strawberry Perserves
PB and Orange Marmalade
PB and Apple Butter
PB and Sliced Apples
PB and Fluff
PB, Banana, and Fluff
PB, Banana, and Bacon
Nutella and Banana
Nutella and Apples
A PBJ Tortilla Rollup (or any option above rolled up)
PB crackers
PBJ crackers (with any of the J's), etc

There wouldn't be boredom b/c the same loved sandwich would be new and different every day...and no, you don't need to buy every option above, but just taking 2-3 of the options will open up so much variety just in the standard PBJ...

 

[LoriABil]

My son loves sliced apples with peanut butter for dipping. Other than that just the same sandwiches you mentioned. My daughter only wants PBJ. I have other ideas, but they would work for more adventurous eaters.

Oh in the winter I send homemade soup in thermoses. My kids are big time soup lovers so if I have leftover from the night before it goes in their lunches the next day.

My son loves this too! But his friend has a peanut allergy, so he always wants to eat "peanut free" so he can sit with his friend! We do apples in yogurt now (vanilla is his favorite). We tried almond butter once, but the teachers would not believe it was not peanut butter.

Also, I second the wraps idea! You can do lots of different things with them. I also make quesadillas. It is basically a grilled cheese with a folded tortilla instead of bread, but DS loves it. Sometimes I add a separate container of guacamole, sometimes not.

I can't wait to hear more ideas - as the mom of a "No PB&J" kid, I love new ideas for lunches!

 

[mombrontrent]

All schools here (Ontario) are nut free, not just peanut free but no nuts of any kind are allowed. Also anything that says may contain trace of nuts are not allowed or anything that was made in a factory that also makes products with nuts are not allowed. Add to this that we are vegan it makes lunch choices harder. Some other things I have not seen mentioned that my kids take are:

sunflower and hemp seeds
sesame sticks
waffles/pancakes wrapped in foil with a side of maple syrup or jam
tortillas wrapped with WOW butter (nut free spread) and fruit
tortillas wrapped with dairy free cream cheese and jam or strawberries
leftover pasta with marinara in a thermos
cereal with almond milk in one of those special containers that hold the milk and dry cereal separately

 

[msmama]

My son likes breakfast foods. Bagels, English muffins, even pancakes.

The only other thing we do that hasn't been mentioned is chicken nuggets (heated in the morning and send in a thermos).

I send small amounts of more things because he's a slow eater.

 

[Colleen27]

Both my girls have bento box type lunchboxes that make it super-easy to just toss in a variety of their favorite finger foods. Cubes of meat & cheese, crackers, pita and hummus, veggie sticks & dip, olives, hard boiled egg, berries, grapes, sliced fruit, etc. If you google "bento box lunch ideas" you'll get a lot of ideas of the sorts of things I pack, though being a mere mortal rather than Martha Stewart or a Pinterest Goddess I don't cut my kids' food into cutesy shapes.

 

[barkley]

I have a son who doesn't like sandwiches so that eliminates allot. there are microwaves at school so that helps, but when he went to a school without them I put preheated items to send in a wide mouth thermos.

I've gotten into the habit of when cooking dinner of taking a couple of servings and putting them into single serving freezer/microwave safe containers-so I always have about 5 or 6 containers of 2 or 3 different items at any time in the freezer so I take one out the night before to defrost and send it with him. his favorites are-manwich (sent with a bun to put it on), chili (sent with a small container of cheese, and some crackers), and hamburger helper. he's also taken chicken nuggets (you can fit several into a wide mouth thermos preheated) with a small container of ranch dressing for dipping sauce.

I print up the school lunch menu at the beginning of the month and have him pick out the days he will have hot lunch, and I've found that since he started doing this he's expanded what he will eat. at only $2.40 for a school lunch it's not much more than I can do a packed lunch for.

 

[O2H O2H]

I buy these at Target: http://www.amazon.com/Ziploc-Container-Divided-Rectangle-Pack/dp/B00HXCNQMW
They are great bc they don't leak. The big one will hold a sandwich or pasta salad, green salad with meat on it, etc. Smaller ones could hold dressing for the salad, hardboiled egg, dried fruit or nuts (or I have them make their own trail/snack mixes with what THEY like)

They also LOVE when I make homemade flatbreads, and put cheese and pepperoni in one of the sections, and homemade sauce in the other.

Sometimes they like things in roll-up form, in tortillas instead of bread, for a change. Or on a bagel. On surprising combo that they like is a blueberry bagel with peanut butter on it.

 

[indimom]

My kids use thermoses (I got the better quality ones from the camping section) and take leftovers from dinner. Soups, casseroles, steamed rice and veggies, the sky's the limit.

 

[Anniebrunt2]

Our daughter loves peanut butter and banana sandwiches
Cheese sticks are always good
Applesauce
Fruit cups
Beagles sandwiches or with just some cream cheese
Grapes
Ham and cheese sandwiches
Tuna and cheese

 

[scrapquitler]

Send a plastic bowl/tupperware container with cereal, buy milk or add milk from a thermos. My daughter used to love that.

Bagel with Cream Cheese

String Cheese, carrots & celery with dip

pizza (or pizza bagels or english muffin pizzas) my kid never cared if it was cold

fried chicken (always good cold)

macroni salad (prepared however your child likes it, mine liked it with chunks of salami, cheese, diced peppers, olives and italian dressing)

You can send a hot dog bun and a hot dog in a thermos of hot water.

When I was a kid, my favorite lunch was a thermos full of spaghettios.

hard boiled or deviled eggs

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

2 blogs I go to for inspiration

http://www.anotherlunch.com/search/label/EasyLunchboxes

http://easylunchboxes.smugmug.com/The-Best-Lunchbox-System/Lunch-box-easy-lunch-boxes/

I use the ziploc containers from the above poster and do the easy lunch boxes.



Another thing to add to the list is hummus and flat pretzels. My kids love these.

 

[Arkansan]

My kids like salads when it is warm out. I have special ziplock containers that have a special dressing compartment separate from the salad. They also enjoy Hawaiian rolls with ham and cheese. I usually put the ham and cheese in a ziplock bag and the rolls in another.

I also have nice Thermos containers so, occasionally, pack macaroni and cheese or soup with cheese and crackers. My DDs like the soup, but my DS needs more food than that. I have a feeling that this school year I will be making him two sandwiches! He has incredible metabolism--weighs less than 100 lbs, but has bigger feet than me and is often hungry.

 

[sherry7]

Subscribing to this for ideas...

DD is going to pre-K this year, and will need a packed lunch. I've always packed a lunch for her in the past for daycare, but it was refrigerated and they would heat things up. So, I need to come up with some new ideas for things that will keep with an ice pack, and can be eaten cold. I did buy her a wide mouth Thermos too.

We have a 3 section bento-style box. The main compartment is always her main entree, and the 2 small sections are packed with a fruit and a veggie.