School Lunches For Your Kids

[Wish Upon A Star]

My DD and DS end up taking the same things week, after week. Either peanut butter and crackers or peanut butter/jelly . . .They will not eat tuna at school and they both HATE eggsalad. DD on occasion will put up with salami or turkey, but DS is a pain in my butt.

I don't think peanut butter every day is a good thing . . .so I'm looking for new suggestions for the upcoming school year since school is almost out (June 20th).

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[cgcw]

This is a thread for my DH. He was just complaining that he's tired of packing DS8's lunch because it seems like he never eats anything out of it. My DS can't eat peanut butter because of an expander in his mouth so that eliminates about the only sandwich he'll eat. We do buy Lunchables when they are on sale but only the pizza and nacho chips. My DS won't eat any of the others. One of his favorite things is left over pizza (cold - yuck!) and ceasar salad. We just put the romaine lettuce in the lunch with a separate container of the dressing and he mixes it together when it's lunch time. His 1st grade favorite was a cheese sandwich with mustard, every day of the week. Unfortunately, he's burned out on them.

Good luck. I'll watch for other replies.

 

[CamColt]

Oh please, give us ideas!!!
DS#1 is in school. Every day he has a bologna & cheese sandwich, except Fridays he buys pizza.
DS#2, is not in school, and is extremely picky...worse than DS#1. Lunch everyday is a piece of bologna, mozarella cheese, a piece of bread(hardly eats it) and Gerber vegetable crackers...EVERY DAY!
DS#1 is allergic to peanuts so that does limit us, but still. Im getting bored making the same thing, I cant imagine eating it over and over.

 

[CEDmom]

I feel your pain. My DD is in preschool only 3 days a week and I sometimes go crazy thinking of things for her. She is a good eater so I have that going for me but her school is peanut free so I can't fall back on that. I find that she does better if I send several small things like cheese sticks, yogurt cups/tubes, cut up veggies w/dip, cold ziti w/sauce to dip (one of her favorites), cut up fruit etc. Sometimes I make cookie cutter sandwiches. If you're worried about things spoiling a frozen juice box will keep the lunch cold and be drinkable by lunch. Also, FamilyFun.com has some fun lunch ideas.

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

lol, I've been there. my older dd will eat a bagel and cream cheese for lunch, but very little else.

but what seems to be the thing to do in middle school is Cup o' Noodles soup. the girls bring it from home, get hot water from the cafeteria, and make the soup at the lunch table.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I love leftover take out food(usually subs,pizza and Taco Bell)

 

[Cinders]

Instead of a regular sandwhich experiment with different things. DH is currently taking roll-ups. I micro a soft taco shell then spread a flavored mayo, lettuce, cheese, and lunchmeat then roll it up and cut it in 3 pieces for easy eating. You can change the condiments, cheeses, and lunch meat so its something different every day. I've also used Pita Pockets and Flatbread too. Younger DS likes to take cottage cheese and chips. Sometimes he takes a bag of micro popcorn since the teacher has a micro in her room. Older DS use to take fruitsalad and a sandwhich.

 

[grinningghost]

My DD will be 14 soon, and I've been going through this since 1st grade. She is a very picky eater. Her lunch generally consists of: an orange, a water bottle, a bag of Doritos, and an applesauce or a can of peaches. She won't eat sandwiches. She doesn't like to buy lunch except pizza on Fridays.

She is the number one boring lunch kid.

 

[Evil Princess]

My mom ate peanut butter every day growing up. I was a picky eater, from kindergarten til 9th grade I ate peanut butter every day. We turned out fine

 

[disykat]

Lunchmeat and bread - every day. I try to mix up the breads and use bagels etc. but they freak and won't eat it. Fruits and Vegies come home uneaten so that's what they get for after school. They do like go-gurt, but not every day. Neither will eat cheese sticks. Both like jerky and juice boxes. DS#2 would love to get peanut butter, but we're peanut free at our house because of DS#1. I let DS#2 order hot lunch occasionally, but it's not an option for DS#1.

Keep the ideas coming - maybe one of them will work for me!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

My 2 are both in high school.

DD buys every day.

DS has a turkey sandwich, 4 (not 3 or 5) oreos, and a bottle of water. (He doesn't like milk and I won't let him have soda.) This is every day except Thursday when he buys pizza. If I run out of turkey, he'll take a fluffernutter.

Boring, but easy.

 

[elgerber]

My 10 year old son eats PB&J most days, but occasionally spaghettio-o's. My 7 yr old dd eats Easy mac every day. I found some great thermoses at Target that actually keep the food fairly warm until lunchtime.

Erika

 

[The Sweetness]

heres my #1 tip... MAKE THEM MAKE THEIR OWN LUNCHES. My dd 11 has been doing this for a couple of years. I let her negotiate what shes bringing as she goes to private school and has access to a microwave and enjoys Healthy Choice meals and occaisional leftover pastas. She is also allowed to get either a package of ham or bologna if she is tired of the frozen meals. She packs it, I check it, to make sure shes not o'ding on junk food snacks, an she eats it. Its a done deal

 

[Mskanga]

Boy and I thought my dd was bad.....at least she eats in the cafeteria everyday but when she takes lunch from home, it's always Wunderbar bologna with bread and doritos and a juice!

 

[GenePA]

My DS (17) is great about making his lunch. He'll eat just about anything and packs his own every day. He'll eat leftovers from dinner (mostly meats), lunchmeat & cheese, egg salad, chicken salad, a true variety....basically whatever he finds. He'll use bread, rolls, wraps, or just take the meat 'plain' in a bag. He'll even take a can of prepared soup....like 'Chunky'. He takes the can with the pop-top and eats right out of the can.....I find that weird but he likes it. He'll also packs a snack and a drink as well.

My DD (11) is getting good too....if DS doesn't pack hers, she'll do her own. She'll eat whatever is around but doesn't do the cans of soup....I don't think anyone does that.

 

[Deb & Bill]

My son (9) hates sandwiches and won't eat the cafeteria lunch. He eat a thermos of Campbell's Chicken Noodle (dry mix, add water) every day. Plus a thermos of ice water, chips of some sort, snack, maybe some carrots.

 

[nhrenee]

My DS is also very picky about sandwiches; no mayo or mustard. He likes cubes of ham and cheddar cheese, crackers and cheese (pepperoni too sometimes) or soup in a thermos. Ocassionaly he'll have a chef salad. He also doesn't like most of the school lunches; can say as I blame him though on that one
What about hard boiled eggs?

 

[MerryPoppins]

My two kids love flour tortillas with melted cheese on them, rolled up. Don't microwave them too long or they get crunchy.

They also like for me to buy a bag of breadsticks. If you split a breadstick down the middle (sort of like a hot dog bun) and put some squeeze pizza sauce inside, you can add pepperoni and string cheese to make what we call pizza sticks. We microwave them til they are a little melty and wrap them up. Kind of like cold pizza.

We buy a variety of crackers and cheeses or peanut butter. They sometimes take those. They also like fresh veggies or fruit and dip.

Soups and spaghetti do well in the little thermos things. We've done beanie weenies in the past, too. I've also heard of taking a thermos of chili with a hot dog inside. At lunch they fish out the hot dog and put it on a bun and eat the chili with it. Or how about chili and cheese with a bag of fritos, to make into a frito chili pie?

 

[Beanie]

Originally posted by Mskanga
Boy and I thought my dd was bad.....at least she eats in the cafeteria everyday but when she takes lunch from home, it's always Wunderbar bologna with bread and doritos and a juice!

LOL Kanga! My son will ONLY eat Wunderbar Bologna and he knows when it isn't that brand!!! I don't know how he knows, but I can never slip something different past him!!

My son is only in Kindergarten and each day he takes Wunderbar bologna, on bread with no crust, an apple and juice. Has been that way since he started school this year.

 

[Pam]

My son is finishing up 8th grade and he has NEVER bought a school lunch - he's been brown bagging it since 1st grade. (But I was the same way - I think I bought 2 lunches all of my 13 years of school!)