What do you pack for your kids' lunches? Post your ideas here!

[ErinC]

Be sure to buy a "good" thermos. Not saying you didn't, but a couple of years ago, I bought some thermos's at Walmart, that had M'& M's printed on the outside (they were cute), but they don't work worth a cent. So spend a little more to get a good thermos, those usually will keep the food a a decent temp.

 

[dawnball]

My DD is gluten free also, and that does indeed present special challenges. Next year her lunch will have to be dairy/vegetarian too, since she'll be attending a Jewish preschool.

I'm big on bento boxes this year. I got some mickey head food storage containers from the disney store and I send one or two of them (connected with an elastic band if I send two).

In one ear I put a cupcake paper filled with veggies (cucumber slices, baby carrots, whatever she's eating that week). In the center I put the entree (mac and cheese, noodles with butter and canned cheese, egg white quarters, cheese sandwich, fruit and peanut butter, etc). In the other ear I put dip or a fruit dessert. Sometimes I send yogurt or little dip containers seperately.

Once in awhile the entree is veggie sticks with hummus or similar. Then I'll put fruit in one ear and veggies in the other. Hummus and some corn chips in the middle.

Rice in the center, scrambled egg in one ear, fruit in another ear and some ketchup for dip.

Cheese sticks cut into shapes in the center, veggie shapes in one ear, rice crispy mickey in the second ear.

I usually send a shelf-stable milk along too.

If I'm sending snack that's in a seperate mickey head. Mickey-shaped apple slices with peanut butter
buttered waffle or pancake with syrup for dipping
cheese quesadilla
bananas monkey-style

 

[marcyinPA]

How do you keep things like yogurt cold?

TIA
Melodie

P.S. Thanks to the poster who supplied the Laptop Lunches link!

You can freeze yogurt and it will be ready by lunch. You can also pack it with an icepack, or freeze a juice box, and that will keep things fresh.

I send frozen Gogurts sometimes with my DS.

 

[TruBlu]

DS has 3 frozen Uncrustables (1 strawberry, 2 grape), a frozen Gogurt, a granola bar, and a small bottled water. Everything is thawed but still cold at lunch time.

 

[grlpwrd]

cooked food really doesnt necessarily need to be kept warm to be safe in the time it takes from heading to school and lunch time. The keeping warm is more for preference. Chicken nuggets would be fine even without a thermos from the time you put it into the lunch box till lunch time. Raw foods like lunch meats and dairy are more of a problem. I have seen many send milk in whatever(not necessarily an insulated thermos) to be had at lunch...although I wouldnt. Yogurts seem to do just fine. I can say that my kids complained that maccaroni and cheesewas inedibly cold even packed in the thermos. but they did fine with spaghetti and pizza warmed and in it. Chicken nuggets really wouldnt be any more dangerous than spaghetti.

Well, there is a lunch lady who posts here and she knows a lot of food safety - or at least she posted to many of these type of school lunch threads - and I distinctly recall her mentioning how food poisoning bacteria grow rapidly in the right conditions (warmth and moisture).

She also reminded us to keep 'cold foods cold and warm foods warm.'

My kids have an insulated thermos made of steel that Japanese people use as part of their bento lunches. (I bought it at my favorite Asian food store.) It keeps the food very cold or very warm depending on how we prep it.

Better to be safe than sorry...

 

[liveforthemagic]

Right now at DD's school, plastic containers are all the rage. They make little square ones meant for your sandwich, and little tiny round ones that would hold like 8 grapes, or 2 oreos...etc. Given that she doesn't eat much anyway, they are perfect for her portion size. Sometimes its all in the packaging.

She likes sandwiches, but won't eat crusts. So its a jelly sandwich or cheese sandwich with crusts cut off--gotta make it edible by cutting it into 4 triangles--not squares.

She loves strawberries--but wants them cut up into bit size pieces so they fit into the little round container.

Prepackaged pretzels that you dip into cheese are also a crowd pleaser--and I think you get 6 servings for $1 and the cheese doesn't need to be kept cold.

An apple cut into slices and then a little round container with apple caramel sauce or peanut butter.

Now in 3rd grade, she doesn't have a formal snack time anymore. But if you child seems to be running really low on blood sugar by the time school is out (mine does) then you can check with your teacher. She allows the kids to bring in a little snack to eat during morning or afternoon recess. I think its a great idea--hungry kids are probably not easy to teach.

My best suggestion is to take your little eaters to the store and ask them to point out what they want. Of course, you aren't going to buy everything they point to--but there are usually a few things that she shows me that are great for lunch.

 

[Nicolepa]

My 5 yo son is super picky. He doesn't like much of anything for lunch that can be prepared ahead. I was making peanut butter but he asked me not to because one kid is allergic and he wanted to be able to sit w/him.

So I started doing breakfast for his lunch. In the morning I make him oatmeal and put it in a 2 comparment tupperware. Oatmeal on one side, sugar on the other and then it gets heated up at lunch. I add in a muffin or two, yogurt a granola bar and dessert item (fruit roll up, pudding etc). He love the oatmeal and I can eat it for breakfast (he won't eat it for breakfast though).

I don't know what I will do next year when he's in school 5 days and no microwave (he won't do a thermos).

 

[sjms71]

I'll second buying a GOOD thermos. When I first went to buy a thermos I almost fell over at the price $15.00 for a 10oz thermos brand thermo. I bought it and bought the $3.00 one too. Well, the $15. worked great. I also, as another poster said put boiling water in it and let it sit for 10-15 min. It keeps food warm.

I have been making Quesadillas for my DD lunch. I just microwave a soft tortilla shell with shredded cheese and those salad chicken strips. Then I wrap them in foil. She says it does stay warm and she loves it.

 

[cccm]

DD is in third grade. For snack it is always a piece of fruit and water. She usually gets one of the following for lunch:

Pepperoni, stick cheese and crackers. Veggies and a couple of cookies.

Turkey or Ham sandwich w/cheese on low fat whole wheat bread, Goldfish and cookies. (I do a salt and a sweet)

PB & J or Fluffernutter, Goldfish and cookies.

DH ate all pepperoni one night, so I gave her olives with her cheese....she said everyone was making fun of her for eating them, but asked me to give them to her again.

I'll need to ask her about other kids and thermos. I wouldn't have thought about sending one in before reading this.

 

[sjms71]

Another mom at school was telling me she puts perogies in her daughter's thermos. I thought that was a good idea too.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

For my tech school classes in terms of lunch

Cash for the burger place down the street
Something that can be popped into a microwave and change for the coke machine

 

[mjantz]

Heres what my kids had today:

DD6-

-Pineapple chunks (reuseable container)
-chicken strips w/ ketchup packets (sent cold/last of the Angel Food chicken strips)
-edamame w/ sprinkle of salt (cold in reuseable container)
-4 dark chocolate Cadbury mini-eggs (reuseable container)
-1 juice box
-1 drinkable yogurt

DS9:

-PB on chocolate graham crackers
-cheese stick
-juice box
-sugar free berry applesauce
-1 piece of milk candy (Hello Kitty brand from the Asian market [I put Scooby Doo stickers over the Hello Kitty picture!!])

One thing I've found really helps me become creative with lunches is to run low on food. When I don't have my 'stand-bys', I have to get more creative about lunches. It does usually require me to do a little more work the night before but the kids appreciate the variety.

 

[mjantz]

Bumping this back up (no its not a double post!!) because I saw a great idea on another board about creative ways to send things to school. They recommended some of the fun Easter Eggs out there. I found carrot & frog-shaped ones at Target & Spiderman, SpongeBob, Shrek, Camo, Princess & Tinkerbell at Wal-Mart. A little girl at my kids school had Hello Kitty 'eggs' but I couldn't find them anywhere. Anyway, I thought they'd be perfect for raisins, dried cranberries, pretzels & other dried snacks. Now I just need to figure out a good way to store them.

 

[Piffle]

I think I found a lot of new ideas for my own lunch here!

For those of you who want to do something special on occasion, check out Cooking Cute. It has a lot of really interesting ideas. Not all of them are necessarily practical, but some of them are DARN cute. Even if it's something as simple as cutting veggies with little heart or flower shaped cookie cutters, it makes the meal more appealing.


Slight Thread Hijack:
Does anyone know if Mitsukoshi Department store in Epcot carries Bento boxes? I'm not looking for the flat, decorative ones you sometimes get in Japanese restaurants, but actual lunch boxes. I've seen some cute Disney ones on ebay and was hoping I could find something like that in person.

 

[MinnieMom]

I think I found a lot of new ideas for my own lunch here!

For those of you who want to do something special on occasion, check out Cooking Cute. It has a lot of really interesting ideas. Not all of them are necessarily practical, but some of them are DARN cute. Even if it's something as simple as cutting veggies with little heart or flower shaped cookie cutters, it makes the meal more appealing.


Slight Thread Hijack:
Does anyone know if Mitsukoshi Department store in Epcot carries Bento boxes? I'm not looking for the flat, decorative ones you sometimes get in Japanese restaurants, but actual lunch boxes. I've seen some cute Disney ones on ebay and was hoping I could find something like that in person.

I'm curious about this too. I'd love to find one in Epcot. If no one seems to know, I'll make sure I check when we're down later this month!

 

[hearts8701]

My Children Do Not Really Care For Too Much Bread So I Use A Cookie Cutter To Make Their Sandwiches And The 100 Calories Little Snacks With Either Chips Or Cookies Is Just The Right Amout For A Small Child

 

[theprincess]

mine kids like chips and salsa

 

[theprincess]

my kids like chips and salsa

 

[jakoky]

here are 3 different things my kids like that werent mentioned here yet(btw, packing lunches gets harder and harder the older they get as you run out of ideas, but my kids usually pack their own lunches now with me sometimes making something like these)
1- my oldest daughter is picky but likes a cheesestick cut so i can put a piece of pepperoni in with pizza sauce
2-my youngest daughter likes the above but with deli meat and lettuce or a tortilla wrap with peanut banana butter and banana in it
3-my son LOVES a tortilla wrap that i spread with salsa and cream cheese mixed together and then add diced green onion, shredded cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon...you roll up, refridgerate, then cup up into small sections...a huge favourite...

as for keeping food cold, they throw in ice packs and it seems to work...keeping things hot in a thermos, i always add boiling water first and i have bought 3 expensived "thermos" brand stainless steel ones, the plastic ones dont work at all


sharon

 

[DreamDelta]

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