School Lunch Ideas Needed

I had peanut butter and jelly for most of my school life... it is a great sandwich and I still love it :)

Some other suggestions would be turkey or ham and cheese, either on bread or, as my daugther likes, it in a wrap with lettuce and tomatoes. You can make it so that he can assemble it too! My daughter LOVES that! She feels like the cook then!

Applesauce, yogurt, cookies (homemade), granola bars are all good things to put in as well!

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J.,

What about a small container of yogurt and a baggie of granola to pour into the yogurt at lunchtime?

Something my boys like is cold leftover french toast, cut into strips with a little container of maple syrup to dip in.

A fruit muffin, some string cheese, or cubed cheese and a juice or milk would make a good lunch for a Kindergartener (I help in my school lunch room and you would not believe the amount of food that is thrown away!)

A slice of cold pizza.

And one of our very favorites- Trail mix wraps
take a flour tortilla and spread with peanut butter-then add any of the following:
Jelly
Nuts or chopped nuts
dried fruit
sliced fresh fruit
dry cereal
Granola
Cream cheese
Honey
Wheat Germ
Choc chips or M & M's

Good luck and don't worry its ok to take PB & J every day if it makes them happy!

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My kids Love Peanutbutter Balls. They are healthy and filling! You could also put in apples, carrots, yogurt, Hummus,...

Peanut Butter Balls

3 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups honey
6 cups oatmeal
3 cups dry milk
1/3 cup flax seed

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then together. Form into balls. Store in freezer either the refrigerator or freezer.

Makes about 50 golf ball size balls.

You can also add raisins, cranberries, coconut, chocolate chips, or chopped nuts, really anything that you like. You can also roll the balls in cinnamon and sugar, or baking chocolate!

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PB & J can be healthy...just use whole grain bread and a good natural PB...then a real fruit preserves instead of the high sugar jelly (if you don't already do that, that is...)

Kids love repetition, don't they? ;)

~L.

We do Apples and peanut butter, Cheese and crackers, YOUR BEST BET IN MY OPINION IS TO GET A LITTLE THERMOS AT TARGET OR WALMART. WE SEND HOT CHOCOALTE IN THE WINTER AND LEFTOVERS IN THE FALL

Hi J.
I might wait till mine asked for something different. You could try a cheese and cracker stack.
A. H

Does he like cheese sandwiches? What about something like hummus (a middle eastern chick pea spread). What about getting a small cooler, it would probably keep his food warm for a few hours, and they're not too expensive. Does he like fruit and cottage cheese? or nuts?

I HATED sandwiches as a kid and my mom often sent me just bread and butter. I just didn't like cold food - still don't - and loved it when she sent me soup in a thermos. These days a lot of classrooms have a microwave in them, just be sure its a glass container and not plastic as that is carcinogenic when microwaved.

Good luck!

How about egg and cheese, grilled cheese, hot dogs, fried balogny and cheese?

What ever you do, just try to keep it balanced. Make sure he is getting all his vitamins/daily nutritional needs one way or another.

What about wraps with hommus and veggies like cucumbers, carrots and lettuce slice really thin? For their Sept. 08 issure Parents magazine had a few ideas for school lunches, you might want to try to find one at the library. You could also just do cheese on whole grain crackers with some sides. Wish I could be of more help!

you'd think he'd be getting sick of it...but my son is 15 now...and it's STILL PB & J in the lunch box!! haha
back in the day i'd try to make it different by cutting it into different shapes...once I made it on a tortilla and sliced it up into little "pinwheels"
if it's what he wants...and he's eating it...and it's healthy...then let him be repetitive! :)

I'm sure you want to him to eat as healthy as possible, but maybe he would like a lunchable every now and then. My son used to love those. If he is up for it, you can let him pick out which ones he would like at the grocery store and let him have one once or twice a week. And then through in some healthy sides. Also, would he eat cold chicken or pizza? I love cold chicken. Good luck!!

Hello, I had the same problem as you. My daughter is in the 3rd grade this year and for the first school year has decided that she want to take lunch to school instead of eating school lunch. So for the first couple weeks of school she was eating only ham sandwiches. I went and bought a lil bratz themos from meijers outlet for 5.00 and she loves it she uses it almost everyday so it was well worth the money. Im so glad i bought it. I put spagetti o's, ravolis, chicken noodle soup, Mac n cheese. Really its worth the Money:)

Have you tried cheese strings and crackers or a cheese sandwich? You could also try veggies and dip. My son also asks for the same sandwich every day and if that is what he wants, I figure, he can't be getting tired of it. I also give him one of those tubes of yogurt (the organic ones) and a small container of fruit like apples, banana, grapes, melon etc.

I send mac and cheese and leftover with my daughter in 2nd grade and she loves them... they dont care if its warm :) I just put it in a reusable container that my daughter brings back every day.

When he gets tired or PBJ, I would give him two options:
Make your own lunch or eat hot lunch. Let him make the decision.

I have a 4th grader who doesn't care for sandwiches or hot lunch at school.. I bought her a thermos for $4.00 at Meijer and she takes mac and cheese or soup to school. I heat it up really hot in the microwave in the morning and put the lid on and by lunch time she says it's warm. She's taken leftover spaghetti or ravioli.. even roast beef and potatoes.. Thermoses are really inexpensive. You should purchase one and then you will have many lunch options for your little one.

You could always pack some whole grain crackers and cheese cubes with some fruit. Or....you could make some cheese wraps. My kids love these things. Also, celery with cream cheese or peanut butter. As long as he is getting his protein with these items, he should be fine.

My son takes the same thing everyday too! I sometimes will put cream cheese on a bagel and cut it in half. They have mini bagels too. He likes it!