Lunch Ideas for School

Invest in th e laptop lunchbox. This is great and is set up like a bento box. It even comes with lunch ideas. Because of the compartments I can send little bits of things to keep her lunch healthy and full of variety.

cheese cubes, ham cubes, manarin orange pieces
fake crab meat with cilantro and lemon which my daughter loves, triscuits etc etc etc

The compartments are nice because I don't have to worry about packaging. they come NOW in fun colors and my daughter likes to help think of things to "fil' in the compartments.

You can get these at the Green home store in Oak Park.

My children like wraps (little chopped lettuce coated/tossed in salad dressing w/ turkey or various lunch meat and cheese in a tortilla). Or spread the tortilla w/ a savory/spiced cream cheese and lunchmeat. They like precooked (cold) quesadillas, pepperoni/cheese ritz cracker sandwiches or lunchmeat/cracker sandwiches, bagel bites, blueberry toasted bagel w/ peanut butter and jelly (son's favorite!), homemade pizza bagels/English muffins, Making banana or pumpkin quick breads, slicing and freezing individual slices, makes it easy to pack in a lunch. Although, not totally healthy, my daughter loves mini croissants (found at Costco in bakery section) spread with a little butter, slightly salted and served with a string cheese stick. I buy a package, butter and salt them, in advance then freeze them individually.

Usually the thermos comes out in the cooler months for soups, ramen noodle dishes, etc... Packed with a few crackers and a side of fruit, and you are good to go!

If you go to a GFS (Gorden's food service), you can buy a sleeve (50 or 100? - I don't remember the pack size) of 2 oz. souffle cups and the lids. Other places sell them but you have to buy a much larger quantity. These make it easy to pack little dips for stick pretzels, carrots, celery, graham crackers, packing salsa for baked corn chips, cut up apples with apple dip (yum!) small servings of raisins or trail mix, etc... I still wrap cup and lid w/ saran wrap so it doesn't pop open in the lunch bag.

My children's lunches consist of sandwich/main dish, one salty side or fun side dish (a carb), one fruit/veggie side dish, small bottle of water.

My children are good eaters and, believe me, I definitely "hear it" when I pack something that my children don't EVER want to see again. All ideas, above, have been "kid tested and approved!"

Hope this helps. Enjoy!

Hi,
My very picky eater, likes to take leftovers in his thermos to school. He loves having a hot lunch to eat without the hassle of waiting for the school lunch. Make sure that you get the thermos good and hot by putting very hot water in it and letting it set for 10-15 minutes then change out the water with more very hot water for another 10-15 minutes. He has taken just about anything that you can think of in his thermos. It gives him something different other than the sandwiches that he dislikes.
You can also check out http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26352602/ns/parenting_and_f...

Check out www.laptoplunches.com. Great lunch ideas on here complete with pictures.

Someone on another listserv posted along this as a resource: http://www.laptoplunches.com/LaptopLunchPhotos.html

I haven't perused it myself but it looked interesting and helpful.

When my daughter wants a change from sandwiches, she uses a small thermos and will take macaroni & cheese, soup or leftovers from dinner. I have also heated chicken nuggets & put them in the thermos. She is younger so eats lunch pretty early and says things stay warm. If we are in a hurry I also send the individual containers of applesauce. It gets her a fruit without needing to take the time to wash, cut, etc. I have also sent the individual cups of ranch dressing with carrot sticks. Some of the individually wrapped items can be expensive but I just watch for sales & stock up as it's an easy way to send something healthy if you are short on time. If you need to keep anything cold, putting grapes in the freezer and sending those in the lunch works to keep other items cold and is thawed to be a fruit for her to eat by lunchtime. Freezing a water bottle & sending that works the same way. My daughter also will take cheese & crackers. It is hard to come up with variety. Good Luck!

My son takes soup alot, just make sure you buy a good quality thermos (like Thermos brand) to make sure it stays hot (I put hot water in it for about 10 minutes before I put in the soup). We also do chips and salsa, veggies and dip-these can be the main course! Cheese and crackers, apples and peanut butter or Nutella, pasta, pasta salad. Hope some of these help.

My daughter eats very few things. I had trouble last year with making her the same thing, so I bought her a thermos. I make mac & cheese and put it in there and she eats that for lunch once or twice a week. Mornings are rough for all of us, so buy the Easy Mac. It boils in the microwave in three minutes. She also likes cream soups, but only when it's cold out. I send her with soup & crackers and she loves it. My daughter doesn't like the canned pastas in red sauce, but you could do that as well. I buy plastic spoons, so she can just throw it out & I don't loose any good flatware. Good luck!

You have some great ideas below. What about edamame? They can be eaten hot or cold. It is a healthy snack and I know my daughter loves them. Good luck.

My daughter is very picky, but we've gotten creative this year. We're doing breakfast for lunch so I'll send scrambled eggs or pancakes in her reusable sandwich container. Today I sent her a mini pizza (Market Day thru her school has great mini cheese pizzas that are frozen) We've done mini quiches in the past too. Good Luck!

If she eats hard boiled eggs, they are great for lunches. My son is also liking anything wrapped in a tortilla- chicken strips, anything- it just seems more fun to him in a tortilla. Instead of just PB&J, we've also been experimenting with things like PB and banana or pumpkin butter, which he loves. Or go a Japanese route with rice balls and things like that. There are a lot of bento websites with great ideas! Also leftover soup in a thermos for cold days or even leftover Chinese food has been a huge hit. He won't eat cold pizza, unfortunately, so those leftovers are for MY lunch!

as a kid i remember (also was a picky eater) my mom making soup in a thermos & sending it with me. was one of my favorite things! and great on a cold winter day too.

We used to give the kids peanut butter or cream cheese stuffed celery sticks. They also liked when we made sandwiches on bagals instead with thinly sliced cucumbers and sweet onion.

the grayslake library has some great books about new and improved school lunch menu ideas. Wraps, salads, soups, creative ideas. Loved it!

Hi S.,

I had purchased a couple of thermos's -(10 0z.) for my kids this year. They're in 3rd. grade and you do get tired of sandwiches daily. I've been told that they do keep the food pretty warm--i just put it in the thermos first thing in the a/m--before work/school. We've done some mac and cheese with ground beef/chili,meatballs and pasta, etc. on the cold side, we've also done wraps instead of sandwiches too. So that they don't get soggy, put the ingredients in separate bags/containers instead of all together and she can "create her own" good luck i know it gets difficult trying to jazz it up a bit.
J.