Looking for School Lunch Ideas --Healthy--organic--low Prep Time

Hello,

It feels like it took me forever to get away from the qucik "grab a Lunchable" or make a pbj. But we finally did.

I use cookie cutters for a make-your-own Lunchables lunch. I buy ham, turkey & cheese, then cut the shapes out for my 5 and almost-8 year old. Then add sesame sticks, crackers, carrots w/ peanutbutter, etc. The scraps from the meat & cheese go into a tortilla, flatbread, or pita for the next day. They also like it when I cut string cheese smaller & wrap it in a slice of meat.

I cut apples, spray some lemon juice in them & include that in their lunch box, along with yogurt, peanutbutter, or cucumber & dill for dipping. Hummus works too if your kids like it. Of course any cut veggies the like goes well with a dip.

Glad sells small reusable but disposable containers that I use for the yogurs or dips. They last about a dozen times before I have to recycle & use a new one.

Also, cold, cooked chicken has become a recent favorite either in the pita pocket or cut for dipping.

One thing that makes it fun for the younger ones is including the larger, plastic toothpicks for grabbing and dipping. Less mess & more interesting.

17 moms found this helpful

Hello!
You have had some great responses. This past year I purchased for my kids a lap top lunch box. www.laptoplunches.com. These lunch boxes are great and you will be helping to reduce lunch time waste. It also comes with a book with some really great ideas for wholesome, earth-friendly lunches! It's an investment - about $35 but will use it for a very long time! No smelly lunch boxes here! And with the way the boxes are made, it's like a Bento box and you can pack several small items to give your children a variety. Best of luck!

16 moms found this helpful

Hi,
I commend you on wanting to stay away from prepackaged convenience foods, they are so bad for our children! There is a great book called "Lunch Lessons" by Ann Cooper. It talks about the basics of child nutrition, with an emphasis on organic and sustainable foods. Included is a great section of recipes for packing lunches. I highly recommend it. Good luck!
A. Schmidt, RD (Registered Dietitian)

14 moms found this helpful

I suggest checking out www.justtomatoes.com
They offer freeze dired and dehydrated fruits and veggies. They have snack sizes you can use for their lunches or on the go. For a better price you can buy in tubs and put in plastic baggies yourself.

They are delicious! My favorite is pineapple. They offer organic and have lots of recipes.You can eat these by themselves or incorporate them in everyday cooking.

Tell them C. Herrera recommended them. Call and they can answer any questions you may have. They are great there.

Good luck.
C.

www.bodybyshake.com

P.S. What I like about these foods is that they won't discolor or rot in the lunchbox (especially on hot days) like fresh foods will.

12 moms found this helpful

Have you checked out Larabars? My sister turned me on to them. Add some protein to the lunchbox, like turkey rolls, and you'd have a meal.

https://www.larabar.com/secure/index_.php

You might also try some of the freeze-dried fruit by Gerbers Graduates (in the baby food section). You'd have to put it in another container, of course, but it's way cheaper than Just Tomatoes.

That's my 2 cents worth! :)
T.

9 moms found this helpful

low prep time -- have the children help make their own lunches even the preschooler.

buy lunch boxes with reusable containers.

the children may not always want to eat the same things. preschoolers like finger foods, middleschoolers are definately finiky and may not want to eat much in front of their peers.

pickles, olives, edemame, pb&js, nuts (if not alergic), crackers & cheese, cold pizza, cold quesadillas, cold chicken, some kids will even eat cold pasta, think leftovers and what will the kids eat another day, celery w/ cream cheese or peanut butter, fruits

if you don't already have one, pick up a children's cookbook. ask the children and get them to buy in and help out.

one way to save on stress is to prepare the lunches the evening before.

have fun!

8 moms found this helpful

I haven't seen anyone mention yogurt yet. Stoneyfield farms has organic tubes or little cups Yo'kids. We just use reusable containers and the large tubs, we prefer Straus. Whole fruit has less prep than cut fruit. Baby carrots are already cut up for you. Boiled eggs are a favorite of my kids and you can boil a dozen or more one night and have them for a week. If you want prepackaged and snakc type stuff than you can find it at Trader Joe's and Whole foods but just because it is organic does not mean it is healthy. Sugar and white flour still have little nutrition in an organic pastry but they sure taste good.

7 moms found this helpful

http://lunchinabox.net/

This is a blog for bento lunches done with low prep time.
Lots of great ideas if you go back through the archives.

7 moms found this helpful

Not sure if this has been posted - you can freeze PB&J. Just make them and freeze them in a baggy - they will defrost by lunchtime. It's a geat time saver.

7 moms found this helpful

Even on a low/fixed income, I try real hard to prepare & feed us as healthy food as possible. I especially make a point to minimize processed foods. I love what I heard Gillian, from Biggest Loser say recently, "if it doesn't have a mother or come out of the ground, then you shouldn't eat it!" I think that is a great philosophy.

Here are a few things both my daughter and I eat and enjoy. Great for eating at home or on the go.

~ My girl has never cared much for jelly. However, she loves peanut butter w/ raisins. We serve it on a whole grain bread or tortilla. Some days we add shredded cheese and warm it in our NuWave Oven.
~ Fresh veggies w/ Hummus.
~ A really healthy trail mix of Pine Nuts, Raw Sunflower Nuts (both great sources of Protein & Fiber), raisins, mixed nuts, whole grain cheerios.
~ Nature Valley bars are really good. Some store brands offer almost identical products.
~ Dannon Natural Vanilla Bean flavored yogurt. They offer a large container (more economical). It's one of the few options in mainstream stores w/ out High Fructose Corn Syrup (which we avoid like the plague).

~*~ Just to add. Meijer's, for some time, has offer an Organic line. It seems every visit to the store I see more products they are adding. I really like that the prices are around the same or lower than popular brands. Just last week I bought Whole Grain waffles (which we eat topped with Dannon yogurt/bananas/real whipped cream)from this line. They were more than $0.25 cheaper than national brand that were on sale for $2.50.

6 moms found this helpful

I don't know if anyone else wrote this yet, but Trader Joe's has a lot of yummy, healthy pre-packaged snacks to throw in the lunches to go with the sandwhich or whatever. I like their "In the Raw" snack mix that has dried fruit and raw nuts. They come in single serving bags and my son and I both love them. They also have fruit leather, healthy cereal bars and p-nut butter filled pretzels that are also single serving size! Also look in the frezzer section for a ton of low cal, healthy frozen dinner options like shrimp stir fry. My family loves them.

6 moms found this helpful

I was able to increase my kids' vegetable consumption by packing a dip of some sort. Another favorite is hummous with vegies and pita bread.

E.

5 moms found this helpful

I know this is late, but.. I read through many great ideas that I'm looking forward to trying! One thing that my daughter loves for lunch is pasta salad. You can make it with whole wheat pasta and add in lots of veggies. This year my goal was to pack lunch foods in reusable containers. We have cut out juice boxes/pouches completely. I feel better about not creating all that extra garbage!

4 moms found this helpful

Check-in w/ your boys...sometimes it isn't up to you. Develop a "menu" for them. Ask the question, "what will you eat" or "what do you want for lunch". The answer might surprise you! My daughters would sometimes eat a breakfast item, & followup w/ a good snack after school. Sometimes a protein bar (they're swimmers).
I'm happy you want to try to avoid the prepackaged choices. Good Luck!

4 moms found this helpful

You have some great responses, but adding a couple more. My kids are young still, 1 1/2 and just turned 3, but they both go to daycar/preschool now. The older one likes little toothpick kebobs with chunks of cheese and meat and tomatoes, or even steamed veggies mixed in. Also graham crackers with pb spread on, or yogurt to dip them in. Costco has freeze dried apples, strawberries & bananas (I called them apple cookies and the kids LOVE them). String cheese goes in almost every day. Another good finger food is tofu - you can get flavored kids or chop up extra firm tofu into 1/2" cubes and sautee up with ample soy sauce and nutrtional yeast until slightly crispy on the outside (won't be like deep fried) - they like this hot or cold.

4 moms found this helpful

You might want to check out Whole Foods Market, I read that there is chef who is giving classes on making healthier lunches. I think the next class is August 16, and the cost is about $5. Good luck!

-K.

4 moms found this helpful

I didn't see this suggestion and it's something my kids loved. I would make homemade pizza dough using whole wheat flour for the crust made in our bread machine. You can also use whole wheat pitas. Then let the kids choose their toppings and create their own mini pizzas. You can do a bunch of these and freeze them. We made pizza's using low fat meats such as chicken or chicken sausages. Stay away from pepperoni. They can get creative with the spices and veggies. Then I would bake them and store them in the fridge for the next day and freeze a batch too. They enjoyed eating these pizzas warm or cold.

4 moms found this helpful

You have to be careful about putting nuts in the childrens lunches because some kids are highly allergic to nuts and some schools will not allow them in the children lunches.

For 6 year old, Safeway sometime has on sale Eating Right Carrots for 16 oz pkg for 10/$10. You can buy 1 package for a $1 you don't have to buy 10 packages. I buy this for my 2 year old granddaughter and she loves it.

Eating Right has a whole line of snacks for young one. The 12 year old is going to be a little harder because he is at the age were he is picky. You should sit down with him and discuss what he would like to eat that is healthy for lunch and you as a parent can say that is not healthy because that has too much (sugar, sodium, fat, etc) how about this instead. And hopefully he will say okay.

Now with your 15 month, I think Gerber has the snacks that melts in your mouth and they are banana cereal or something like that.

I hope that helps.

3 moms found this helpful

There sure are some great ideas here, I will use some of these ideas also as I have a very picky 8 year old in second grade,I run out of ideas for his lunch so I usually just let him buy lunch from school,which he doesnt eat all the time.So thank you for posting this questions as it will help me with some ideas also.

3 moms found this helpful

Hi M.,
While reading all the nice answers you got, I wanted to mention that I found it easier to get the hot leftovers, soup ect. into the Thermos by using a big canning funnel. You know the kind you would find at Osh for filling in hot jam. No more messy rims. I just fill it and close it! If you go for the hot lunches buy one of these. It makes the job of filling hot stuff into the Thermos so much easier. Also, I "preheat" the Thermos by filling boiling water into it. Good luck, A.

3 moms found this helpful

My daughter is 7 years old and in 2nd grade. She is already well educated when it comes to food and making choices. She loves pb and banana on a whole wheat flour tortilla or on organic graham crackers. I like to cut up her favorite raw vegies (she prefers them raw) ahead of time so they are ready for packing for the week. She also enjoys organic mac-n-cheese (Annie's) which stays hot in her thermos. I send her organic milk in her leak proof beverage thermos. Always read labels- you would be surprised at how many "healthy snacks" have high fructose corn syrup in them!

3 moms found this helpful

I was just wondering where in the world is there a Trader Joe's around here? I thought they were pretty much only in California.

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I am a professional organizer... as far as a low prep thing...
Try pre packageing or bagging things your child will eat on Sunday nights for a week of school.

Pickles
Olives
Cheese
Crackers
any snack cookie... I know their not so healthy
Chips

The in the mornings grab and go.... it's easy for you to pack and will be easy for them to learn how to pack their own lunch.

L. B.
www.GetOrganized.ws

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Watch out, the Larabars that one poster recommended now have a recall for peanut butter/salmonella.

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