Lunch Box Ideas

Hi L.-

My son also got sick of the typical PB&J last year, so I went and bought some of those Gladware sandwich containers and sent cereal with him. He already was getting milk at school, so I just filled one of the containers with dry cereal, and he added milk at lunch time.

Hi L.,

I see you got a lot of good ideas already, so I'll be quick. I don't think I saw the following website listed yet from other posters:

http://www.laptoplunches.com/ideas.html

They sell reuseable lunch containers and stuff, too. But... there is a lot of really different ideas to make for lunch with photos included.

I've got the perfect site for you. It's www.veganlunchbox.com and this mom packed her son's lunchbox every day and took a picture of it and included some recipes along with it. The main page advertises her book, "Vegan Lunch Box", which I also recommend. When you go to the website, click on "Blog" on the left side of the page. That will take you to her blog where she has pictures and descriptions of her lunches. If you scroll down this page on the left side, you'll see archives of back blogs. Click on any one and you'll see her son's lunches every day.
The author of this site is vegan, but if you're a meat-eater you can just use real meats in place of her substitutes. It is a fabulous site that will have your creative juices flowing in the lunch department.
Enjoy!

www.lunchinabox.net

This is a Bento Box site. I thought it had some good ideas.

Good luck!

I just saw this article a couple weeks ago and thought it was great! If you can stop into a "Whole Foods" (don't know if there is one in your area), ,they have their Aug./Sept. newsletter that just came out and there are a few pages devoted to lunch ideas. They even give the kids "visual servings" like "a serving of rice is equivalent to the size of a baseball". I don't usually shop there but I just happened to go in and pick up this newsletter. I also checked the web-site and it seems they have a whole section devoted to "lunch time" ideas, too. It may be worth the look.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/schoollunchrevolution/les...

I enjoy making lunches. I love doing wraps (chopped lettuce w/ ranch dressing w/ turkey and shredded /sliced swiss cheese is a favorite). Bagel bites, cold quesadillas, pepperoni/cheese on a bagel or white bread, club cracker or ritz crackers and cheese/lunchmeat sandwiches (my son likes pepperoni and american, salsa and chips, or peanut butter and graham cracker dips. At the beginning of the school year, I stop at GFS and pick up 2 oz. souffle cups w/ lids so that I can put a small side dip in a lunch. My son even likes something like ranch dip with carrots or celery. One of my children's favorite sandwiches is a toasted blueberry bagel (frozen bagel) with peanut butter and jelly or you can try different spreads. Also, a package of Chicken Ramen noodles (on a day she brings a thermos/hot lunch) is really good, served with a piece of fruit and string cheese stick and you are good to go!

Good luck.

Look up bento boxes on Google. There are some super cute ideas!

Roll ham/or other meat with cream cheese and pickle spears, slice like sushi, give them chop sticks to eat them with. Give them cold tacos to assemble as they eat. Almost any food that they enjoy that is healthy can be made in to what looks like appetizer size bites for a quick eat lunch. Alot of ideas are on foodtv.com and familyfun. Or send them with a thermos full of ramen and an hot dog cut like an octopus(the ramen is the seaweed)

Hi, my son dislikes eating sandwiches. So last year I bought a thermos. It is a heavy duty one that I got at Target in the camping section. It fits great in his lunch box. I preheat the thermos by putting in very hot water in it and letting it set until the food that I am sending to school for the day is hot. I have sent soups, mac'n cheese, left overs. The thing I learned was when warming up the food, to do it slowly so that it got good and heated through. Usually he eats everything, but when he doesn't the food is still warm when he gets home from school. He loves having something different every day. He says its like school lunch but lots better. Make sure to send plastic ware or silverware to school with the request that they come home so that they can be cleaned and reused.

I love reading all these ideas! Here are a few favorites from our house:
- Yogurt w/graham cracker sticks & fruit to dip
- Hummus w/cracker sticks & veggies to dip
- Pinwheels (rolled up sandwich sliced into bite size pieces)
- Mini sandwiches (made with smaller bread rolls or small biscuits)
- Boiled eggs -- either whole or made into deviled eggs (can even throw in diced ham or chicken to make more filling)
- Big tortillini's (plain or with some salad dressing)

How about using cookie cutters to make sandwiches different, fun shapes? Your kids could help with the cookie cutters, too. I've also done the wrap ideas that I saw other readers suggest, which are fun. I've used Parent Magazine and Family Circle for other ideas, too.

Hi!
What about egg salad sandwiched between saltines or cheese, turkey and crackers so they can make there own little sandwiches. Bagel and cream cheese... a wrap with turkey or ham and cheese in it? Just a few ideas....good luck!

I don't pack lunches yet , mine are still at home, but always wanting snacks. They like variety and always want choices to pick their own snack. So what I do is buy the snack size baggies and fill them with dry cereal, crackers, dried fruit, animal crackers, nuts, craisins, raisins or anything portable. When they want a snack I pull out 5 or so snack bags and they get to choose what they would like to have.

Then I usually pair something with it to make sure they get everything they "need" out of the food. so I will grab a yogart, cheese chuncks, or peanut butter to boost their protein and hold them over a little longer for the next meal.

I eat with them and it works great for me too.

You could make your own lunchable with cheese, crackers, some lunchmeat and some fruit. We have also sent in cereal, ham rollups with cream cheese in the middle of them and bagels with cream cheese. You have to put the cream cheese in something else and pack a plastic knife. If you pack the bagel with the cream cheese on it, it gets too soggy.

I've always had the problem where the lunch period isn't very long, so anything that requires too much chewing isn't good.

Now I have 2 kids that have a 10 am lunch period! I feed them a good breakfast, they have a granola bar at 10 and when they get home they are STARVING! I asked if they could eat a snack in a class, just some pretzels or something and they didn't give me happy looks!

I second the mom with the Thermos idea. My son eats A LOT and the school lunches have never been enough. I bought a Thermos and he takes soup, mac and cheese, Mini hamburgers (White Castle from Sams), hotdogs, dinner left overs. Also, get some of the lock n lids containers. I send mandarin oranges, applesauce etc in those and they don't leak. I would highly suggest you NOT get generic containers though. I use a Thermos brand thermos and the Lock N Lids for the leakable things. It opens your options up to pretty much anything. Good luck

One thing my son is liking now are lettuce wraps with chicken in them. I just take a leaf of lettuce and wrap it around some shredded carrots and slices of chicken. He doesn't like mayo, but you could easily add that or some dressing. I got a little tupperware container that has a cold-pak built into the lid. You just put the lid in the freezer overnight and it keeps it cold the next day. I know a lot of kids like 'homemade' luchables too- some crackers, some cold cuts and pieces of cheese to put together themselves. My son also likes yogurt tubes, which I put in the freezer so they are thawed but cold by lunch time. We've been mixing these options up with basic PB&J and goldfish crackers, pretzel sticks, fruit cups, applesauce cups, grapes, strawberries, veggies and dip, apples, etc. He seems to like all of it and eats pretty much his entire lunch, so I think its working. Also, if you have a Trader Joes near you, they make these really great super healthy little cookies called Righteous Rounds that come in an orange bag. They are packed with fiber and other good things, little chocolate chips, low in fat, etc. and SMALL. I give my son a couple of those too as a dessert and he loves them- doesn't even know they are healthy!!

I noticed a lot of other people said to look at bento sites. We got a bunch of little bento box containers and my son LOVES them. He is the envy of the other kids with his interesting little lunch containers and the bento sites do have a lot of great ideas. We are pretty much totally weaned off of those little disposable plastic bags, so my son is now part of the 'waste-free lunch' that they are encouraging at his school. Bento rules!

Every now and then, make something according to their request. Make different shapes like a heart out of their sandwiches. Sent some fruit. Some kind of desert. Cook something one night and just observe and see what their reaction is and that will tell u something better on what they enjoy eating but keep in mind that health some first when preparing a lunch.

I recommend these resources...

http://www.llli.org/NB/NBJanFeb00p17.html

http://www.mothering.com/rediscovering-homemade-lunch

http://www.mothering.com/recipes/secrets-school-lunch-box...

http://www.mothering.com/natural-parenting-toolbox-health...

http://www.mothering.com/giving-children-more

Best wishes,
J.

Grayslake library has some really good books about creative lunches for kids. Check them out or at least your locata library. If they don't have you can request the item be transfered to your library.

Check out new EasyLunchboxes at www.easylunchboxes.com. This clever solution to the lunch-packing chore is the simple two piece EasyLunchbox container: The bottom has three compartments to hold an entree or sandwich and two side dishes. The fitted lid covers all three compartments in a snap. No more mismatched plastic container pieces to keep track of or wasteful baggies. Fits perfectly inside the roomy EasyLunchbox custom carrying bag. And there is still space for a drink, ice pack and more. This is the most affordable lunch-packing solution on the market. You'll be amazed at how much faster, 'greener' and easier lunch box packing will be! FDA approved. No BPA, phthalates, lead, vinyl, or PVC. Safe for dishwasher and microwave. Visit www.easylunchboxes.com. Press release here: http://tinyurl.com/yjwk4c4

Allthingsforsale.com They are great and Really helpful ! I was crating my first bento box item and could not read the package and they helped me decode the back it was GREAT! but it dose take a bit of practice to make things look good, but it soo much FUN! I have Shopped at Jbox as well but they are not as 1 on 1 feeling like Allthingsforsale.com is.

One suggestion would be if you are to get a bento box buy it in a set so you get all the items at one time. I bought from Jbox just the box and didn't know it needed a strap to keep it closed and used a rubber-band till i order a strap. Once you have the straps then you can mix and match and just buy the bento boxes and dress them up.

New items that i started to play with is:

It will make a rabbit out of Rice !!

http://allthingsforsale.com/1357-japanese-bento-accessori...

This will make flowers out of veggies!!
http://allthingsforsale.com/843-japanese-bento-accessorie...

This makes shapes out of Eggs (Take a bit of Practices)

http://allthingsforsale.com/749-japanese-bento-egg-mold.html

One of my favorites!.. I uses this even on my husbands lunch when i make it for him. I uses lunch meets and cut messages to him :-)

http://allthingsforsale.com/1263-ham-cheese-cookie-cutter...

There are a lot of Accessory to play with, i keep getting more and more and getting more creative with them.

Hope this helped.