Lunchbox Ideas - Brooklyn,NY

My dd is VERY picky but she'll eat peanut butter on crackers ( I make little cracker sandwiches with the regular saltines. When all else fails, she'll eat a lunchable.

Hi. OUr son also does not like sandwiches. Some ideas:
- hard boiled eggs
-- crackers with peanut butter
-- whole wheat rolls
-- turkey slices
-- cold chicken schnitzel
-- cold chicken
-- pasta with olive oil and salt (good warm or cold :))
-- sliced veggies
-- sliced cheese
-- pita with hummous to dip into...
-- olives
-- cold corn on the cob

Make extra of what she likes at dinner time. In the morning, heat it up and put it in a wide mouth thermos. It will stay hot until lunch time.
I did that for both of my kids.
My youngest just graduated and we a re slowly learning how not to cook extra at dinner! :)

Cheese, crackers and lunch meat.

Have you looked into bento style lunches. http://honestfare.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/lunches-...
I put their faves in there. My kids like salami rolled up, fruit, little crackers, etc..

We have done tuna and crackers, ravioli, tortellini, chicken noodle soup, chicken nuggets or fish sticks with noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes as our daughter's main courses. She's not a sandwich eater either. Pair that with banana or apple sauce (she's not big on fruits and veggies but if your daughter is you have even more variety).

My daughter's pre-school couldn't heat up the lunches so we have those food thermos containers that you put hot water in first (for like five minutes) and then empty, dry, and fill with hot food. We have one that has a divided insert so we're able to keep the noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes separated from the nuggets or fish.

Let her pack her own lunch. That's the best way to ensure that everything in it is going to be eaten. You can make rules. For instance, "There has to be 1 meat, 1 cheese, 1 veggie, 1 fruit, and 1 treat." Then let her have at it. You might be surprised.

Get a thermos and a whole new world opens up with what you can send!! We use thermoses all the time with our 3 kids 13,10,7.

Leftovers from dinner the night before
Chicken nuggets with dipping sauce sent in a little container
soups
chili, send cheese in a baggie, crackers in a baggie
Nacho cheese ,send the chips in a baggie
Taco meat,m send the fixings in a baggie and a tortilla or taco shell
hot chocolate ,marshmallows in a baggie

You can make the thermos cold also
Send yogurt with granola and fruit in baggies
ice cream
pudding
fruit salad
salad and a dressing in a little container

Give her a bunch of options and let her pick what she would like. Take her shopping with you and have her pick out things she likes.

Happy lunch making!!

My kids don't eat sandwiches either so I only pack snacky foods as you put it. Lunch meat, cheese slices/sticks, fruit cups, pudding cups, chips, grapes, bananas, nuts, granola bars, frozen go-gurts, chips, cookies, etc. I put a few different things in every day so it keeps it exciting and it's not the same things over and over. They eat a decent breakfast and dinner so I'm not *as* concerned about lunch being super healthy. I'm more concerned that they will actually EAT lunch and not throw it away. They will also take something out for snack if they are extra hungry during the day. Don't feel like it has to be an actual meal, just stuff she will like and actually eat. Good luck.

Chilli
bean soup
Beans- we do great norther beans in the crock pot
Cheese sticks, either string cheese or other cheeses.
Lunch Meat rollup- Just put the good lunch meat in there, my son just picks it up and eats it.

Peanutubtter if you school allows that or peanuts/almonds/chia seeds etc..

Spreadable cheese and crackers
the option are endless

I also look at this site..

http://www.laptoplunches.com/healthy-lunches-bored.php

Good luck

Our daughter was not thrilled with sandwiches either. She would eat a Peanut butter sandwich every once in a while. She probably only ate anything from a school cafeteria less that 5 times in all the years she was in school.

She liked "unsandwhiches". Rolled up lunch meat. String cheese, lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers,

Roasted or grilled chicken pieces. Crackers, tortillas.
Salads, cut up vegetables, fruit, pretzels with peanut butter, almond butter, Cold leftover pizza.

You get the idea.. And most kids do not need their food heated once they are in school. They are starving, so they are all of a sudden willing to eat it "as is".

Each Sunday we would discuss what she wanted to eat for breakfasts that week and what did she want to take for lunch.. That way there was no question about what she could expect.

Since I've adopted the bento box lunch ideas for my son who has also been a picky eater, I've seen a whole world of change. The packed lunch is all clean almost every time :)

The idea is to get a little creative and make their fav food in lunch boxes look even better.
Here are a few sites that have very nice ideas:

http://www.meetthedubiens.com/category/bento-boxes

http://easylunchboxes.smugmug.com/The-Best-Lunchbox-Syste...

Hope this helps!