Lunch Ideas for Back to School

Although not vegan, I purchased the book, Vegan Lunchbox at Whole Foods on Lamar last year because it contained some of the most wonderful lunch ideas. One of my favorites was a sunflower sandwich made out of a bagel with cream cheese (I chose strawberry cream cheese for my daughter because she loves pink) with fresh pineapple sliced and placed around the circle of the bagel like petals and then raisins (or sunflower seeds) in the center hole of the bagel. Another idea was making biscuits and placing the dough around a soy hot dog like a pig in the blanket. You can also get the spinach and other interestingly colored tortillas at whole foods for wraps. Sometimes I boil an egg and put a cheese stick in there too. Lots of luck.

http://www.veganlunchbox.com/gallery.html
This takes you to the pictures of some of the food she created for her child's lunchbox. Amazing.

You could try different breads/wraps. The different flavors may be enough to make them interesting. What about adding cream cheese with chopped veggies folded in? Maybe a taco-like wrap or a pizza-like wrap? Do they like egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad. They can be a good change of pace.

My son will start taking his lunch in a couple of weeks when he starts kinder. I figured we'd send stuff he eats at home as he usually eats his food cold anyway- chicken nuggets, chicken & rice, brocolli, fruit, ham or cheese sandwiches, leftovers from dinners he likes... He's a very picky eater, so we'll let him help with deciding what he wants to take. We'll probably try some new ideas on the w/e's to see if he likes it before sending it to school

Check out a new cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld called Deceptively Delicious. She has some great ideas not only for lunch but for dinners.

Try these ideas and some more on lunch at link below:
http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2010/08/12/...
Turn lunch into an adventure:

* Cut sandwiches into playful shapes with cookie cutters. Children are more excited about eating a star- or dinosaur-shaped sandwich because it makes the experience fun! Choose cheese or deli meats to replace breads and cut them into fun shapes, too.

Make lunch fun by including a dip:

* Yogurt is a great dip for fruit.
* Provide hummus for veggies.

I always get those individual cups of applesauce, I get the Mott's no sugar added. They are great a little frozen too. My son also loves baby carrots, they are great for lunches, and sometimes I will send slices of cucumber. You can also put cucumber in the sandwich. I stay away from the pre packages processed stuff, but I do use deli lunch meant for sandwiches.