What did your kids take for lunch today

[lisaj68]

DD4 took her lunch to preschool this morning. She had:

PB&J on Healthy Kids Bread
Bag of pre-packaged baked chips (I buy the prepackaged to save myself time on portion control - lazy I know!)
Grapes
10-15 baby carrots
Aquafina sports top water bottle (8 oz size)
Raisins

For snack she had an apple

DD2 also took her lunch and she had:

Turkey and Amer. cheese on Healthy Kids Bread
Bag of prepackaged baked doritos
grapes
Aquafina Sports Top Water Bottle (8 oz. size)
Raisins
String cheese

For her snack she had a banana

It does seem like a lot of food for a 2 and 4 year old but they really do eat a lot I try my best!

I don't think that is a lot of food at all. It is all very healthy and even the chips are baked. Good job!

 

[FoundMyPrince]

pbj sandwich
applesauce
jello
.15 for milk

 

[CABBYJ1118]

My kids knwo that whatever they don't eat should come home. They usually (especially the older ones) save it for an afterschool snack at grandmas.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

On a good day:

turkey on whole wheat with muenster, pickle and little bit of mayo or
pb & j (low sugar j, organic p) on whole wheat
baby carrots
apple
organic chocolate milk
pretzels or goldfish

Bad day:

Homemade chocolate chip pecan waffle (they eat it dry)
pudding (vanilla)
apple
cheez its
hershey's chocolate milk (when I run out of the organic stuff)

Bad days are when I run out of bread or bagels and have to scrounge Ironically my kids would call the Bad Day a Good Day!

I have to add that any one of those is eaten as a snack in the morning, they usually just grab whatever's on top for snack time. I try and make it the apple, but it squishes the sandwich sometimes...

 

[pearlieq]

I'd buy 1 loaf of bread for what? $2.50
Peanut butter for? $2.50
Then she needs a drink box? $2.00 (for a case on sale)
Oh, and a small bag of chips: $4.00 (dorito's snack bags)
and a little something sweet oreos snack packs: $3.00
for a total of $14.00 per week (about) not including the one time purchase of sandwich baggies and a lunch bag.

if we get cold cuts and cheese it's more money...

But most of that (bread, peanut butter, 24 pk of Chips, bag of Oreos) will last longer than a week for one kid, which brings the cost down.

If buying works for you and fits the budget, that's great, but if you ever need to save a few dollars, packing lunch is usually a lot cheaper than you estimate.

 

[mominwestlake]

My kids always complain that they don't have enough time to eat their lunch. They have 20 minutes and need to get in a line to buy their milk. Many a day they bring something home that they didn't have time to eat.
2 of my kids won't eat bread and that makes it tough to pack. 3 of my kids don't like lunch meat. I let the highschooler pack her own but I pack the other 3 lunches.

Any ideas for non-bread lunches that are healthy? And that includes bagels and wraps.

 

[labgeek]

My kids take their lunch about 50% of the time. Usually when I have a normal work schedule and can fix it in the morning.

Usually DS takes: Roast beef on white whole grain bread (no cheese or condiments), a bag of baked chips (I get a big box at Sam's Club of like 30 mini bags), a sf ff pudding or gogurt, sometimes a banana, and water. I send the little sf fruit punch water flavor pouches from wal-mart sometimes.

Usually DD will take tuna on bread or bun, carrots/lf dip, baked chips, and fruit cup. Maybe a yogurt if she doesn't take one of the others. And water. Sometimes she will do spaghettios in a thermos or soup on a thermos. If she does that she just takes water and yogurt or fruit or carrots.

It doesn't really save me any money packing lunches, but it's just healthier.

 

[labgeek]

I accidently bought a 6 pack of applesauce cups that wasn't "no sugar added". I looked at the label when I got home and it has 19 grams of sugar, which is the equivalent of 5 teaspoons of sugar. If I am going to give my child that much sugar, I'd rather give her a treat that she will see as a "treat" like a cookie, rather than give her fruit that is supposed to be healthy.

I haven't decided if I will throw it in the trash or donate it some where. I mean really - who needs 5 tsp. of sugar in an applesauce cup???

Anyway, for lunch today, DD8 brought some tuna salad and some whole wheat Ritz crackers, a cheese stick, a snack size bag of baby carrots and sugar snap peas, 1/2 apple & 1/2 orange all sliced up in a bag, and a thermos of water. Sometimes a Yoplait yorgurt will make it's way into her lunch box, too. She also loves a salad as long as I slice some olives in it!

Once every 3 weeks or so, I might put a Hershey's kiss in with her lunch as a surprise. Love notes, more often than that!!

Rather than sending treats/desserts to school, or "sometimes food" as my children call then, some evenings we have dessert as a family, even if it is just a bowl of fruit or a couple of girl scout cookies.

What about baking with the applesauce instead of oil. I use it in the same measurements. If I need a half cup oil, I sub half cup applesauce. I do that all the time with muffins, brownies, breads, ect....You can cut back on the sugar in the recipe to account for the sugar in the applesauce plus save the fat from the oil?

 

[JamesMom]

So much food! Well for my 5yo preschool lunch he gets: peanut butter sandwhich on Whole Grain White, a piece of fruit (banana, apple or grapes) and 2 juice boxes (1 for provided snack and 1 for lunch). Thats it. He eats a snack usually yogurt and fruit when he gets home from his 5 hour school day.
I wonder how ya'll send cold meat sandwiches to school? They don't put there food in fridges and its probably 4 hours between packing and eating. Don't you worry about spoilage? Or am I crazy?

 

[rluey29]

I wonder how ya'll send cold meat sandwiches to school? They don't put there food in fridges and its probably 4 hours between packing and eating. Don't you worry about spoilage? Or am I crazy?

We just put ice packs in with any cold items that we send.

 

[labgeek]

We just put ice packs in with any cold items that we send.

Me too!

 

[loco4dis]

We're trying to let go of sugar, so today DD 13 had: two fat free ham and cheese roll-ups, Light and Fit vanilla yogurt, 1 low-fat string cheese, sugar-free Jello cup, low fat/sugar-free pudding cup, carrots, and bottled water. Oh yeah, and I'm "the worst mom in the world who packs the worst lunches in the world." (I'm pretty sure she'll thank me later…)

DD15 had Light and Fit vanilla yogurt, low fat cottage cheese cup, 100 calorie pack pretzels, carrots, low fat/sugar-free pudding cup, sugar free Jello cup, and a diet soda. She doesn't hate me, however, because she wants to look good in a bikini at WDW in June!

 

[loco4dis]

My kids always complain that they don't have enough time to eat their lunch. They have 20 minutes and need to get in a line to buy their milk. Many a day they bring something home that they didn't have time to eat.
2 of my kids won't eat bread and that makes it tough to pack. 3 of my kids don't like lunch meat. I let the highschooler pack her own but I pack the other 3 lunches.

Any ideas for non-bread lunches that are healthy? And that includes bagels and wraps.

Mine don't do sandwiches either. So frustrating! I send: low fat yogurt, cottage cheese, cold meat and cheese "roll-ups," homemade soup, pasta in a thermos (occasionally), peanut butter (or low fat meat and cheese cut up) and a few low fat whole wheat crackers (like Lunchables, without the 20,000 fat grams).

 

[Miz Diz]

I let my ds7 mark the days he wants me to pack lunch. He told me not to put more than 3 things to eat in his bag because he doesn't have time to eat it all.

He gets:
Ham and cheese or pbj on white wheat. usually Ham b/c he prefers it.
baby carrots or no sugar added applesauce, grapes, or oranges
sugar free jello
capri sun

I put an ice pack on top

He gets a snack in the afternoon:
bottled water and 1 of the following: chips, pnut butter crackers, cookies

 

[scrapquitler]

To the OP; that seems like a LOT of food for lunch to me! It also is a lot more processed stuff than I would send, and I would definitely NOT send Capri Sun, I only do 100& juice/water/milk for lunch, never the 'juices' with only a small % of real juice.

The main thing I was thinking about the lunch you mentioned is "what kid has the TIME to eat all those different things in the school cafeteria?"

Here is what my 11 yo DD had for lunch today: Ham and cheese sandwich (no mayo or mustard, she doesn't like them), carrot sticks and ranch dressing, black olives, a handful of grapes and about 6 or 7 mini pretzels, and water.

Thats pretty typical of a 'sandwhich' lunch. She also likes PBJ, or a bagel with cream cheese. Sometimes I'll roll it up in a tortilla and slice it instead.
Then either carrot or celery and ranch, plus grapes or an apple or an orange. Pretzels or rice cakes. She used to take popcorn sometimes, but the orthodontist doesn't allow it, so that is a no-no now.

If she doesn't want a sandwich, sometimes she'll take a couple hard boiled eggs or leftover pizza or a chicken leg. Occasionally she will go for a small salad and some yogurt as long as there is something crunchy and carby on the side (like pretzels).

 

[scrapquitler]

For the poster looking for non-sandwich lunches, I forgot a couple of ideas.
We had the one summer of day camp where someone had a severe peanut allergy and we were not allowed to send PB of any sort. And at that time my DD had tons of food issues (still does, but not quite so bad) and PBJ was the ONLY sandwich she would eat (she ate no meat at all at that point), so it was tough.
One of the things we did was send her with a disposable (plasticy paper Hefty brand, I think) bowl, a plastic spoon and a ziploc full of cereal. Since milk was provided as part of lunch, she ate a bowl of cereal those days instead of a sandwich.
Other ideas:
*Get a thermos and send warm food: macaroni and cheese, pasta and sauce, boiled hot dogs, soup, casseroles, etc.
*chicken wings or legs
*Macaroni salad with italian dressing (add veggies, chunks of meat and cheese or tuna according to what your child will eat).
*Salad (put the dressing in a separate container).
*Any dinner leftovers in a plastic container (if your child doesn't mind them not being hot).
*Hard boiled eggs

 

[rparmfamily]

Mine also prefer "home lunch" (as they call it here at our school in Hawaii) because the home lunch kids get to sit down and start eating but the line kids have to wait (in line LOL) so they don't get as much time. Plus, the line kids have to wait to be dismissed to empty their trays but for some reason, home lunch kids get to get up and go outside to play when they are done. (there are aides on the playground, which is right outside the cafe door.)

Home lunch kids don't throw out their lunches though, so whatever I packed always comes home. At first it annoyed me (eww gross!) but I like it now because I can see exactly what they ate. AND they usually eat the leftovers on the ride home from school.

I also use a big cooler thing in their lunchbox, that seems to help.

 

[memobrien]

My dd(5) takes almost the same lunch everyday. her school is nut-free. So it basically consists of:

Soynut butter and Jelly on 9 grain bread
string cheese
milk
melon (sometimes this is applesauce, or grapes, or some other fruit)

Parents take turns bring in the snacks for the week. We have to follow the schools snack plan. So there are certain things allowed or not allowed. Basically the snacks are fruits and veggies. Sometimes mini-bagels with cream cheese. or cheese and crackers.

maura

 

[maleficent1959]

DS takes a four-section bento-style lunchbox. Today he took: mango chunks, sugar snap peas and red pepper slices, a Babybel cheese w/ a little box of raisins, and Teriyaki chicken. Iced tea to drink.

 

[Lady V]

My kids had turkey on wheat (the double fiber bread-no mayo or mustard), mandarin orange fruit cup, sugar free vanilla pudding cup, caprisun 10 calorie drink...for the class room snack time they each take a baggie of little carrots.
Normally they get the big thing (like sandwich), some kind of fruit or veggie (orange cup, banana, little tomatoes,), and then something fun (goldfish, pudding, pickle) and a drink. My son who is eight also takes one extra thing (cottage cheese cup, piece of cheese)