Need Healthy School Lunch Ideas for Increasingly Picky Eaters!

Hi J.,
We eat about the same it sounds like. By the end of the school year we always hit this doldrums too....My girls are 11 and 13. Some things that work well...make ahead on the weekend sushi rolls with veggies and tofu, little sized burritos and tortilla roll ups. Our fav for the tortilla roll ups are salad greens feta cheese any other veggies to be found with cream cheese spread in on the tortilla and toasted sunflower seeds with salad dressing of choice. Roll them up and slice them like sushi and they will last a couple days in the fridge. Another good one is pizza bagels. I am suprised by how much they will eat cold that we normally think of as hot food. I also got little plastic containers so they can take dips like hummus or ranch or make their own "lunchables" It is a challenge I know but good job!!! Healthy kids now mean healthy leaders later.
H.

1 mom found this helpful

Hello
I don't have any specific recipes, but I picked up some really cool kid-friendly and fun cookbooks at bookstores and honestly can't wait to start trying some of the ideas in them. You can get a really good deal on books at discount book stores like Half Price Books or order from Amazon. Good luck!

Here is a great website for bento box lunches. You may need to convert some recipes for whole organic foods but that shouldn't be to difficult. She takes alot of effort to make these lunches look neat too!
http://www.c4vct.com/kym/bento/

My kids are millk and gluten free so lunches have to be createv. We do the loeft over stuff to.
-Tuna noddle salid,
-soft corn tortia wraps with ham and veggies,
-Tortia chips with humas dip for a snack,
-chicken salid,
-a nice grean salid with all the fixings are good just add the dressing in a little bag so they can top it at school,
-we do our oun versian of lunchables. with rice crackers, ham, turky, grap tomatos, cheese, and some apple sauce on the side
-left over ribs adn bbq chicken
-frout salid
Thats all I can think of right now. Hope it helps

We pack our daughter with tupperware stuff to make her own burritos at lunch, we make the bean and cheese roll up but she can add at home or at school cheese and send salsa to dip it. You could do the same with a quesodilla and beans, salsa, and guacamole. We also do salami and cheese and crackers, veggies with dip, ravioli with sauce. Good luck, its hard to keep up variety in the lunch box.

Yeah, Try to bring the veg or fruit, granola bar, fish cracker, rice cracker, apple sauce, olives, tuna, chicken or salmon dip with cracker etc... I try to suggest to choice.

K.

My kids love yogurt with granolla and ground flax seed. As long as you pack an Ice pack or a frozen water bottle it should be good. I buy the granolla in bulk and send it in a reusable container, then my kids mix the two together. We also do Dried fruit and nuts(if your school allows them). Some of my students mom's send soup in a thermos. If your kids like cottage cheese you could send that and some fruit, in reusable bowls. Around Easter my kids even took hard boild eggs to school.
Good luck in your quest for healthy lunch alternatives.

Hi J.,
My kids aren't in school yet, but I found this cool book preparing me for when I too will be sending them to school with lunches every day. It called "Lunch Lessons Changing the Way We Feed Our Children" by Ann Cooper and Lisa M. Holmes. There are a lot of yummy super-healthy recipes in there. I also found a cool website with neat bento-box style lunch boxes (and a bunch of others) that might make lunch time more fun and interesting: www.reusablebags.com.

I hope this helps!
M.

My kids love the idea of a wrap and it mixes it up a little bit. I use a whole wheat wrap and put almost anything in them. My kids think they are great.

I am with you! I bought a thermos and that has beeb helpful. I can put healthy chicken nuggets, quesadillas, mac and cheese(am's organic of course!), and it really keeps them warm until my daughter's lunch time. I have done pb and j on a whole wheat hot dog bun with a banana as a hot dog. Also, pretzels and sunflower butter for a change. I hope this helps! L. E

How about lunchables? Not the ones you buy in the store but homemade. Cut up some lunch meat, vegetables, crackers, cheese, fruit and send some milk or have them buy milk at the school. They have plates that are seperated into different areas that comes with lids. These are perfect for homemade lunchables. It is fun to eat and the other kids will want to know where they can get them.

I read a blog that addresses just this problem...http://lunchinabox.net/

She makes bento boxes for her preschooler and husband. I'm not sure if your family is big into pickled eel and seaweed ( ;-) ) but the idea is similar - small, cute portions, packaged in unique ways. One of her favorites is a little egg press. Hot, peeled boiled eggs are placed in the press. The press is closed...and when the egg is cooled, it is formed into a little bunny face, or a smiley face...or whatever the press is. Check it out! She also has a link to a really cheap online store for all the materials.

Have the children help you decide and prepare. But some suggestions are: carrots, celery stix with p-nut butter, applesauce, mandarine oranges, granola bars, chex-type cereal, make-yourself lunchables, bagels and cream cheese (the mini-bagels are great for lunches)rice cakes with p-nut butter, low sodium pretzels, yogurt, graham crackers, string cheese. Mine have also always liked what we call mish-mash. It's a prepared mixture of whatever they like-cheerios/raisins/peanuts chex/raisins/peanuts, etc. Once made, I just keep it in an air-tight container and scoop out what's needed, when needed. It's always a great way to get the children involved in what we call the "preparing for the 'work-week' chores" on Sunday after church.
Hope this helps,
~Mary~

You didn't mention what your kids are picky about eating. There are a lot of good websites with wonderful ideas that used to use as a nanny of four kids. Check the web.

Hi J.,
Have you thought about wraps? You can make them using white, wheat, or spelt flour tortillas. You can put anything in them.
A few suggestions: turkey with a little cranberry sauce & lettuce,tuna salad,chicken salad with grapes, seasoned cream cheese and vegies of choice like thinly sliced bell peppers, tomatoes etc..., egg salad, melted cheese,etc...
Roll up left over pancakes spread with peanut butter and a dab of maple syrup etc...
Caesar salad, chef salad, or little containers with the makings of a salad they can put together.
Homemade soups in small containers with things you can put on top like grated cheese, nuts, little crackers,olives or whatever would go good with the type of soup.

Yogurt? Cut fruit and cheese? Bagle and cream cheese?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Hillbilly Housewife site! This link: http://healthy.hillbillyhousewife.com/recipeindex.htm might have something you find useful.

Good luck! :o)

K. W.

Hello, I also have a picky eater. We have resorted to peanut butter and crackers, individually packaged Tillamook cheese wedges, yogurt and fruit, such as cut up apples, grapes or strawberries. We send this all with an ice block to keep it cold. Good luck.

I have to share my new found discovery. If you want them to eat healthy stuff like its candy, try Special K Protein Meal bars! There are SEVERAL kinds and flavors, all packed with protein and vitamins, AND they actually taste like a treat. Look wherever they are stocking slimfast stuff, and you'll find them, or, in with the granola bar section on the cereal isle.
Do they like dipping bananas in peanut butter? Or are they tired of PeanitButter all together? LOL* If they still want peanutbutter, use HONEY instead of jelly. That way you're still getting all that PB Protein into their bodies.
And don't forget about raisins, or even cinn-raisin bread!

Let us know what you pick and what works! I'd even like to know. I pacdk my hubby's lunches every day and he has the same issues that your kids do! *lol*

Have you asked them what they want? Are they helping pack their own lunches? What do they see the other kids eating in school that they would like to try? You would just have to find the organic version. Kids who are involved in the prep of their meals, are more likely to eat their meals... and have a healthier relationship with food overall. Although living on a farm, you probably already do a bunch of that... and they are most likely very aware of where the food comes from. Please don't take any of this the wrong way. I don't mean to sound patronizing, and I think what you are doing is great. I am very excited to read all the responses and ideas.

I heard of someone who basically set up a menu of sorts. It was a list of options (or maybe even a photo board (for a toddler who was picky about breakfast)) and the child could in essence "order" what she wanted to eat. It reduced the headache and panic for parents, and gave the child a feeling of control over her meal. Again, maybe more of a toddler solution... but then I don't know your situation intimately.

We would make a lunch staple on Sundays in prep for the week ahead. My dad would ask us what we wanted, and as a family we would make a big batch of whatever it was (ie trail mix, fruit salad, mixed nuts, ants on a log, oatmeal rasin cookies, etc...)and it would be in our lunch everyday that week, or until we ran out whichever came first. It was a fun family activity and we knew we were getting something that we wanted. It was also one less thing dad had to worry about or decide upon in the morning. It made the rest of the lunch much more tolerable.

Good Luck!

cream cheese and varied meat wraps are fabulous! spread the cream cheese thin and layer meat thinly...roll one end small and tightly . wrap in aluminum and show them how they can peel away the aluminum to eat it. It is fun, easy and non messy!
Also try:
cooked yams and black beans wrapped (can add chix)
crm chz, turkey and cran sauce wrapped
curry chix and rice wrapped

hope that helps!

Hi J.,
Kudos to you for being seriously organic!!! My first advice to you would be get your kids good lunch boxes that will keep things cool. That way you can send yogurt, salads, dips, etc. When my kids were elementary age; they r now Jr and Sr at SKHS, simple things like carrots and ranch dip or a home made pasta salad was the back bone of their lunch.
Have you seen "Annie's Organics" web site??? They have some simple ideas for kid friendly foods.
I would love to know where your veggie farm is and r U open to the public? I grow some of my families food and prefer to buy local when I can, especially when it comes to what I feed my family.
Good Luck,
Vicki

I send plain rice cakes w/ a small container of peanutbutter, hummus, eggsalad, ect and a plastic spoon for spreading. Pretty much any kind of dip or spread that your kids like. Homemade trail mix(raw almonds, dried fruit, whole-grain cereal, ect.). Cottage cheese w/ fruit. Hard boiled eggs. Cheese sticks. Whole-wheat wraps w/ cream cheese and turkey. Cereal bars(Earth's Best are organic). Put container of yogurt in freezer the night before and add it to lunch box in the morning(my daughter loves to eat it like this!) Cliff Bar makes a great kid's energy bar called Z Bars.We usually do a couple of the above as well as 2-3 fruits/veggies(blackberries,soy beans,cucumbers,grapes,ect.) and we're set! Hope some of these suggestions help! Happy, healthy eating!!
Jen S.