Packing Lunch for School

How do you know he eats all of his sandwich when you send it? It is possible he eats two bites and throws the rest out. Did he say why he didn't eat his lunch today? Did it taste bad or was it food he doesn't usually like? Maybe he was just excited that you were there. It sounds like a pretty good lunch. Anyway, I live in Canada where we have to pack lunches because elementary schools don't have cafeterias. I use an insulated lunch kit and freezer packs and lunch is fine.

My kids have insulated lunch boxes and I put an ice pack in them to keep them cool. My kids eat lunch meat all the time and I think it's fine. Once or twice, they didn't eat the 2nd half of their sandwich and when I cleaned out the lunchbox when they got home, the sandwich was still cold (at 3 pm) from the ice pack. So I think at 10:50, it would be fine. And I would pack whatever he is willing to eat. I realize that healthy is best, but if I pack carrots and they end up in the trash, what good did it do? So, while I do *try* for some fruits, etc. I'm not super strict about it. My kids also pack chips. I focus on healthier foods for afternoon snack at home and dinner.

I buy the Caprisun style drinks and freeze them. I put them in the lunch box and it keeps the food cold, then they can drink the Caprisun. Sometimes it is not fully soft by lunch, but they just drink what they can.

If you use an ice pack any sandwich will be fine for 3 hours.

I'm more concerned about a 6 year old going from lunch at 11am all the way until 4:45 (almost 6 hours!) with nothing to eat. Why is lunch so early, why does he have such a long school day and why don't they allow a snack time?

Just put a freezer pack in his lunch, and they will be fine. It's only 3 hours, so the pack will keep the temperature.

My daughter took tuna salad made with mayo using an ice pack and never had a problem.

I got one of those soup thermoses from Target and I send macaroni and cheese or tortellini to school with my daughter. Sometimes she gets leftover pizza. Or I make a quesadilla in the microwave for her. Last year she ate turkey. Target and walmart had plastic containers that had an ice pack that rested on top inside a lip. I would use that to pack her sandwich in. She also likes to have ranch dressing with her veggies so I put that in a small tupperware and put an ice pack in next to it in the lunch box. they were selling those 2 for $5 at Target.

My son is 9 and my daughter is 6 and I've been packing lunches since they were in kindergarten. I put 2-3 ice packs in their lunch boxes and they always get milk, I even pack tuna sandwiches for my son. I have never had a problem of food going bad or the kids getting sick from anything.

That is crazy that they don't get a snack in the afternoon. I don't think my kids would survive without an afternoon snack. Poor kid!

Yes, it could go bad, and that's very dangerous. The ice pack can also shift, so it's not ideal even with that. I am not saying it would be bad for sure...but a big risk. (There was a recent study that found that a huge # of school lunches (packed) harbored harmful bacteria, even when parents thought it was safe.

Do you really know how much he's eating? You saw one day. Maybe you could ask a teacher? We always do school meals because they are better (balanced, etc). And I tell my kid to eat it or be hungry. He eats it b/c he's been there, done that when he's been hungry. On days when I pack a lunch? He picks at it and eats almost nothing until 5pm. I don't know HOW he survives doing that, honestly.

But be careful with school lunch, too. I would switch to white from chocolate milk, and only send things that are nutritionally going to do something for him. So, no chips. PBand J on 100% whole wheat? That's great!

I use this lunchbox and LOVE it: http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Gear-Ez-freeze%C2%AE-Collapsib...

You can buy them for $8.97 at Walmart. The middle blue part goes in the freezer overnight, and then when you put it all together, it stays fridge cold until after lunch. Be sure sandwiches go into baggies, since it will still sweat a bit. Nobody likes soggy sandwiches. :-)

Believe me, a majority of elementary children don't eat much of their lunches. I've been able to go eat lunch with my kids about 10 times and noticed every time that most of those little kids barely touch their food. It is sad, and disturbing, and it makes me wonder how they can concentrate on school work with grumbling tummies. Luckily my boys both have big appetites and eat most of their lunches. I have a 2nd and 3rd grader, my second grader has a later lunch and I send him a snack everyday that he gets to eat in between drop off and lunch. (usually goldfish, or pretzels) I wonder if your sons teacher might allow a snack. As far as the lunch, no a turkey sandwich, or egg sandwich will not go bad. My son has one of those "artic" lunch bags, and will take yogurt, and all kinds of fridge stuff, it never goes bad.

Make him whatever you want - the food will NOT go bad between 7:30 and 10:50. You can always stick an ice pack in the box if you're really worried, but I wouldn't be. I ate egg salad sandwiches every single day in elementary school and never had an ice pack and never once got sick (and lunch was a lot later - more like noon). He'll be fine.
Happy birthday to your son.

I pack whatever we had from dinner the night before...and keep it in frig overnight. I toss it in the insulated lunch box in the AM with a freezer pack.

My special needs kiddo I pack for will be 17 years old in just over a week (woo hoo!!!). In all those years, never an issue.

Best!

An insulated lunch bag and a reusable ice pack will keep it plenty cold. I do that for my daughter and myself. My daughter likes to take turkey and cheese sandwiches. I also pack a fruit and a vegetable. We have also have sent taco salad, Mac and cheese and soup. I have a small thermos for the hot things and it keeps it warm up until almost 4:00. I still haven't found a way to keep hot sandwiches like grilled cheese hot. Foil didn't work. I always tuck a little treat in for dessert and a little note. She buys milk at school. If you are worried if he is eating it or not ask him not to throw away his left overs.

We use insulated lunch boxes and ice packs. Hot food can be sent in a thermos or thermal bowl.

Throw an ice pack in his lunch box and he'll be fine. If you think the school lunch is better, it's probably not. A meat, veggie & fruit & chocolate milk? The meat is probably chemicals. The potato is not a veggie - it's probably flakes. The fruit was probably in corn syrup and chocolate milk - have you looked at the sugar content?

Seriously, you can do better. So I wouldn't worry. I just try to fill my kids up at lunch as I know the school lunches are awful. I know a sandwich, chips, a real fruit (apple, banana, etc) and a water isn't that great, but considering the alternative it's better.

He can't be in school until 4:45. Give him a snack in his back pack to take to after school care if they don't provide one. I'm in Frisco and every after school provides one. Again, not necessarily healthy, but something to tide him over then give him a balanced dinner.

Good luck & I'm glad you got to see the school lunches early in the year!

How do you know that he eats it all when you pack it? How do you know he doesn't just toss it out. My mom used to pack me lunch everyday (I was super skinny too-miss those days-lol) and I would just throw it away or leave it in my locker until it got disgusting.

Just saying.

And I have been on field trips or visiting school and I see all these wonderful lunches you parents provide and the majority goes into the trash. I'm sure it doesn't happen all the time but it does happen.

School lunches are just gross. I realized that when my oldest was in 1st grade and I chaperoned a field trip to the school district's kitchen facility. After that, I packed a lunch every day. If your son likes PB&J sandwiches, why not just pack those? Use whole wheat bread, low-sugar jelly, and the kind of peanut butter that doesn't have added sugar, and actually, that's a pretty healthy sandwich. Whole grains, protein, and healthy fats. Perfect! Add an apple, and you have a well-rounded meal.

If your son likes turkey sandwiches and would actually eat them, you could pack those, as well. The turkey sandwich will be fine for 2.5 hours. You could also pack leftovers from last night's dinner, if that's something he would eat and like. One of my kids isn't a big sandwich eater, so I'd just cut up pieces of last night's lemon chicken, include last night's bacon green beans and a dollop of leftover mashed potatoes, and she would be as happy as she could be. You could also try a thermos of soup, or other ideas like that. Whatever he likes and eats at home, you can adapt for his lunch.

Well I eat turkey sandwiches, with cheese and mayo even after 3 hours and with no ice pack. I like them better that way lol. Is he immunocompromised? If not then I would think that a sandwich with an ice pack in an insulated bag would be just fine. I have thrown an ice pack in my lunch sack and EVERYTHING in there (even things not directly touching the ice pack) is still cold, hours later. If the lunch sack is one of those ones that is shaped like a typical brown lunch sack, and you throw the ice pack in the bottom with the sandwich right on top of it then there should be no problems whatsoever.

If it were me, I'd ask your aftercare provider to allow your son to bring a small, healthy snack to eat in the afternoon. Many providers won't furnish a snack, but if a child brings one they should allow them to eat it. It's unreasonable to expect a child to go six hours without eating and there might be child care legislation to support that.

To answer your question directly-- sandwiches with mayo need either a cold pack in an insulated bag OR should be frozen the night before and allowed to thaw out during the day. Otherwise, yes, you do risk food poisoning/spoilage.

I pack my son a half-sandwich (usually sun butter and jam) , a fruit option, and a small snack bag with a crunchy snack (chips, veggie booty) and almonds, plus a thermos with about a half-cup of milk. I should add that they allow a snack earlier in the morning, so he had a portion of trail mix then to tide him over. (They eat at 12:15)

Also, consider how excited and talkative he must have been to see you today. He may do better when he is focused more on eating-- I'm sure he was just tickled that you came to have lunch with him. And don't forget to ask about a snack at 3 or so. That's WAY too long for a kid not to eat.

I took my stepson to the grocery store and let him pick out what he wanted (in moderation of course).
He ALWAYS went through phases. For instance we would pack up a homemade lunchable (ham, cheddar, Ritz) and a ziploc with some Cheetos. He LOVED LOVED LOVED fruit, so an apple would go into his box and a Twix bite size. He would eat that same meal for at LEAST a month.
Then it would switch to another snack, fruit and protein. He loved pepperoni, so that would go on for another month with some Ritz and fancy potato chips (funions, Doritos).
He preferred certain juice box flavors, so that is one of the reasons I always took him to the store for "his groceries", it made him feel special, and "what you help create, you embrace" (in other words, he was eating it cause he bought it)
He was not a fan of sandwiches because of the soggy bread issue.
Good luck, Godspeed, you only have 12 years left :)
~A.

Did YOU eat the school lunch? My experience is that they don't taste very good...at all. My son has certain days he asks to buy lunch, otherwise he is NOT interested. If I am running behind and need him to buy a lunch, I guarantee he'll come home starving, because he didn't eat it all.. And my kiddo LOVES chocolate milk, but mentions all the time that the school chocolate milk isn't that good. I imagine your son just doesn't like the taste.

Pack his lunch. An ice pack will be fine. I send hot lunches almost daily. I fill a food thermos with hot water out of the keurig when I get up in the morning. I heat it before we walk out the door at 7:40. I usually make it much hotter than if we were going to sit down and eat it. Dump the water, dry the thermos, fill it with food. My son eats at 12:35. He has never once complained about a cold or luke warm lunch. (He has complained about soggy chicken nuggets, so we changed the brand :) ). We cut up warm sandwiches and stick them in there, egg rolls, soups, pot stickers, left overs, mac and cheese, cut up burgers. You name it, that kid has brought it to school. Skip the gross school lunch and pack him one that he'll eat!

Please push for a snack sometime in the afternoon. That is way too long for a little guy to go without anything in his tummy!

I would use an insulated lunch box with a small ice pack.

Needs an afternoon snack!!

Pack whatever you know he will eat.
-Sandwiches (he can even assemble it himself, pack separately so bread
doesn't get soggy)
-Have him keep little snacks in his backpack like goldfish, protein bar etc
for break time
-put fruit in his lunch you know he likes. For instance, bananas, cut up
apple, cut up cantelope.....whatever he likes).
-fruit drink (I try to opt for apple)
-egg sandwich shouldn't go bad if you put an ice pack in there & buy an
inslated lunch bag (not box or paper sack)
-strawberries
-crackers, cheese & salami slices
-fruit roll ups
-fruit snacks
-a couple of little cookies
-chips
-bottle water (the little ones)

Updated

Pack whatever you know he will eat.
-Sandwiches (he can even assemble it himself, pack separately so bread
doesn't get soggy)
-Have him keep little snacks in his backpack like goldfish, protein bar etc
for break time
-put fruit in his lunch you know he likes. For instance, bananas, cut up
apple, cut up cantelope.....whatever he likes).
-fruit drink (I try to opt for apple)
-egg sandwich shouldn't go bad if you put an ice pack in there & buy an
inslated lunch bag (not box or paper sack)
-strawberries
-crackers, cheese & salami slices
-fruit roll ups
-fruit snacks
-a couple of little cookies
-chips
-bottle water (the little ones)

A freezer pack in an insulated bag is fine. School lunches these day are pretty bad so it doesn't surprise me he was not eating. Recently, schools have given up the "Michelle Obama healthy lunches." Just about all kids were throwing them out. A light bulb came on and realized all the mo ey going in the garbage. Went back to kid friendly meals.

I use a soda bottle filled with water as a an ice pack.. It should be fine.

We send my son with GF chicken in his thermos all the time. -for his we heat it, my hubby boils water lets it sit there for about 10 mins then puts the hot chicken in ...

You can do the same thing with the thermos on the cold side.. put it in the freezer over night and put the "cold" food in there.

But really I took lunch meat sandwhiches with just an ice pack, it should be fine.

I will say, the cafeteria food is not great.. too much sodium, He is much better with a home made PB & J from you.

Some kids are just thin. If he eats some and then eats better at breakfast and dinner, I wouldn't worry entirely about the lunch. You should talk to him about it. My DD wasn't eating and I talked to her about what she wanted, what I wanted and why. We meet in the middle. I give my DD lunchmeat often and put an ice pack in her lunchbox and it's often still cool by the time we come home if she didn't eat it.