Just looking for some more ideas for school lunches. I have a 1st grader and wanted to see what some of you creative moms out there put in your kid's lunches. Thanks!
I put cute little notes " make it a great day mom loves you" in their lunches.
1. carrots
2. cheese sticks
3. apple slices
4. pretzels
5. crackers and hummus
Check out some of these websites. They have some fun and creative lunch ideas.
http://familyfun.go.com/back-to-school/back-to-school-lun...
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/healthy/ideas-kids-s...
http://www.cookingformonkeys.com/
http://www.goodnurture.com/kids/lunch_ideas.htm
http://family.go.com/food/pkg-school-lunch-recipes/
Possibilities for lunch are endless as long as you have all the right “equipment”! Good insulated lunch bag, thermos, Tupperware, ice packs, sandwich containers etc.
My kids will eat anything so packing lunch is easy. Variety is good with sandwiches/wraps. You can buy flat or pita bread, different flavors of tortillas (spinach, wheat, tomato, etc). My kids favorite sliced bread is Oatnut.
My kids like egg salad with tomato & cheese, turkey & avocado, cream cheese & jelly, chicken salad with cranberries & walnuts, or almond butter with honey. One of their favorite wraps is whole wheat tortilla, turkey, cream cheese & cranberries.
Honey wheat pretzels, trail mix, cliff bars/granola bars, dried fruit, cut up fruit in container, yogurt, string cheese, cut up veggies with dip or hummus, veggie chips with guacamole, or flavored rice cakes.
My kids love celery sticks with almond butter and raisins!
Leftovers from dinner are always good too. In a thermos you can put just about anything. Just warm it up that morning. My kids fav = chicken stir fry. You can even make mini pizzas on English muffins, warm them up and wrap them in dry wax paper.
Check this website out: www.anotherlunch.com
She specializes in "bento" lunches but she is super creative in what she does. It has given me many ideas for my kiddos lunches.
Hope this helps!!
Last year for first grade, my son really got into wraps! He loves ALL veggies so the more the merrier.
I've even bought the chicken wraps from Chik-Fil-A and packed a half for 2 days. I've also made my own--but in a pinch I pick O. up. I've also packed him pizza rolls, meatballs and ravioli in his soup thermos and he says it stays warm through lunch.
I have packed a lunch for my now 4 year old for daycare every day for over a year now so I can empathize with you on feeling like I am running out of ideas. Here is a run down of what I have packed:
corn chips & salsa or sour cream
veggies and ranch dressing as a dip
chicken nuggets
pudding cups
yogurt w/ whipped cream and dried cereal parfait
applesauce
dried fruit and fresh fruit
cashews & almonds
cream cheese & jam sandwiches (can not use PB because of a kid with a peanut allergy)
Veggie chips
Snyder's of Hanover pretzel sandwiches
string cheese
Laughing Cow cheese & crackers
Boca & veggie burgers on the new sandwich rounds
Tortilla w/ peanut butter, jelly and a banana wrapped up
Pizza pitas (pocket pita bread w/ spaghetti or pizza sauce, shredded cheese, veggies and sometimes pepperoni)
Hummus and crackers
Granola bars
Hope this helps! I am looking forward to new suggestions as well.
My favorite website is laptoplunches.com. Get a good Thermos and you can pack ANYTHING hot (ravioli, pasta, chicken, etc.) and for cold I LOVE the Fit N Fresh containers with individual ice packs. They keep sandwishes, cold pasta salad, fruits, etc. cold for a few hours. For the Thermos I have done plenty tests and just nuke whatever I put in there in the microwave until it's REALLY hot and then by lunchtime it's still hot but not burning hot...works great! good luck making fun, healthy lunches!!
this question has been posted a few times and there were some great ideas. If you type it in the search bar you can see all the other answers.I try to send protien so they stay full and good carbs and fruit so they stay energized and alert. I like goldfish, string cheese, zip loc snack bags full of wheat thins, apple slices, orange slices, dry cereal, cheese cubes, strawberries, grapes. Fruit and creal bars and granola bars. individual applesauce, and pudding. My baby likes when I send cold hot dogs - gross, but whatever. I buy the best quality I can and try to ignore how nasty they are! As long as i know my puddin is eating. Don't foget to send them to school with a full tummy too!
You've gotten some great ideas... I just wanted to add, keep in mind the amount of time it usually takes your child to eat. Some schools have short lunch periods, so if that's the case, try to choose foods that can be eaten in that amount of time. Also teach your child to open whatever packages or containers you send, so they don't have to wait for someone to come around and help, and then have even less time to eat!
I just came across a great recipe that I will be using this year. It is a roll up sandwich and you can use either a regular flour tortilla or a whole wheat one. The stuffing is peanut butter (crunchy or plain) mixed with a smashed banana. Spread this over the tortilla and then you will dice up an apple and sprinkle this over the tortilla then roll it up. To mix it up you can always mix in some jelly as well. I would then send this with some pretzels or a cheese stick and flavored water.
