I am looking for lunch ideas for my middle schooler. He will not eat hot lunch because he doesn't want to wait in line for most of his lunch period. He has braces (so things like jerky, nuts, hard crackers and chips are out). He is also supposed to be on a low oxalate, low sodium, high potassium diet due to kidney stones (so peanut butter, chocolate, strawberries are out). Any ideas? What do your kids like in a packed lunch?
Thanks in advance :-)
Just pack him the same things he likes to eat at home. If that includes warm food, get him a nice thermos and he'll be good to go!
Bananas are high in potassium. So are prunes (don't laugh, they are as "sweet as candy" as my 11-year-old says). Yes, the prunes will stick in the braces, but it's not a huge deal if he drinks plenty of water and rinses after lunch.
But I agree with the person who said to see a nutritionist. You should not have to navigate all those dietary requirements on your own and a registered nutritionist should be able to give you whole lists of ideas. A single visit should do the trick.
Deli meat rolled up
Cheese sticks
Yogurt
Fruit
Veggies with dip
Chicken tenders with dip
Pasta salad with diced turkey & veggies (my son's favorite)
Goldfish
Teddy Grahams
Ritz crackers with sliced cheese
Mac and cheese - with tuna? (I love it, kids dont')
Spaghetti
Fruit
Meat cheese sandwiches and tortilla roll ups
Bean/cheese burrito (and/or use leftover meat from dinner)
Salads - with hard boiled egg and cheese cubes
I would ask a nutritionist or his doctor to make sure he's getting the right foods for his diet.
Ummm...
bananas? lol.
Turkey sandwich
Yogurt
string cheese
clementines
grapes
I'd have to know your kid better to make more suggestions. My 14 yr old just got braces too, and he LOVES snacking on nuts and jerky. No more is that allowed. So I do understand your difficulty. The above items would work if he likes them, but I hope others can suggest more because it would get old if he had the same items day after day.
Fortunately for me (I think), my son likes the hot lunch at school.
Sandwiches
Soup
Cheese and soft crackers like club crackers (with varieties he can have on his other diet needs)
Yogurt (my SD liked gogurt)
Hummus and pita
SS ate cold pizza
Homemade egg, tuna and chicken salad sandwiches. Pre -packaged individual make your own pizza (not so healthy, but once/week ok, but don't know about sodium), celery sticks with strings removed with cream cheese & raisins, hummus dip, or other dip , sugar snap peas, sliced cucumbers, sliced carrots (sliced thin), cherry tomatoes (yes, my kids eat all that stuff) all kinds of fruits - grapes, plums, peaches, apples, etc. (I stay away from fruit leather because it's loaded with sugar), cheese sticks. My kids like corn, but with braces? Pudding, jello, graham crackers, dinner rolls, That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Don't know about the oxalate and sodium contents, though, so you'd have to check. Someone mentioned bananas below, that sounds great.
