I need some ideas on what lunch and snacks I need to provide for my son who is starting middle school, next week. I've always paid for school lunch or we do fast food. I can do the basic sandwich, but that gets boring.
Tortilla wrapped sandwiches instead of regular bread.
Get him a thermos, pack soup or chili or use leftovers that he likes, spaghetti etc. from the night before.
Cut up fruit, use little lemon juice to keep from browning. When I cut up the fruit, my kids seem to eat more of it.
I also buy small containers and put ranch dressing in it. My kids dip carrots and celery in it.
Yogurt, there are lots of varieties.
Cheese w/ crackers.
Some schools have microwaves for the kids to use in the cafeteria..He can heat up leftovers..
Cold Pizza slices
Burritos
Tacos
Fajitas
Roasted or grilled chicken in pita bread.
Tortilla chips with homemade bean dip with cheese.
Hummus with tomatoes and pita bread
Peanut butter with pretzel chips
fresh veggies
fresh fruit
Rice with veggies and soy sauce
sushi
Salads
Meatloaf sandwich
Is he into cooking? Have him check out foodnetwork.com for easy recipes..
My advice is ask your son first before you start packing "weird food". My oldest is in the 8th grade now and I was trying to be creative with his lunch and he was totally mad. Everyone else always had a sandwich and some side snack with water or they bought milk from the cafeteria. He was being singled out and made fun of for my "creative" lunches. Kids usually don't care what they eat much, ask him first and see what he says.
Typically my son gets some sort of sandwich. Either ham, pb&j, peanut butter and banana (or marshmallows). At times I will purchase lunchables for him as long as the sodium content is not out of this world. He likes to take a small soda can (baby ones) like the other kids do so we make sure it is diet as a compromise. I try my best to have fruit in the house and give him some of that. Many times we pack him a yogurt or applesauce. Occasionally I will give him chips or something like that and for desert it is usually either a 100 calorie pack of something or as a treat a pkg of Oreo Cakesters or something like that. My other son loves chili so there are times I will pack some of that for him in a small thermos.
He's just starting Kindergarten so he does NOT get the soda but he loves water, which is easy. He seems to like the drinkable yogurt so I tend to buy the Yoplait "Diego" kids yogurt because there is not as much sugar as most. He bounces between devouring fruit and wanting pretzels or goldfish crackers so I tend to give him a choice if I can. I have even gone as far (during preschool) as packing a separate insulated container and put chicken nuggets in it. They are not perfectly warm but he has never complained about the temperature, just the source of the nuggets from time to time.
