School Lunch Inspiration

Hey J.,

List is an email I received from another mom, it may have some weird food ideas, but maybe it will give you some ideas.

Top 10 Packable Lunches Kids Love
They want to eat: Peanut butter and fluff. Cupcakes with squiggles. Zero celery.
You want them to eat: Turkey on whole wheat. An apple. Pretzels.

After dealing with back-to-school battles over homework and bedtime, many moms would rather surrender than fight over what kids eat – or throw away – in the school cafeteria. The good news: It's easier than ever to "think outside the box" when it comes to the school lunch box. It doesn't have to be a choice between what's "good for you" or "fun for you."

1. All-American Favorite
Kids love turkey. Try a half of a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with mayonnaise or mustard and you'll find only crumbs in the lunch bag at the end of the day. Add a small juice box or water bottle, baby carrots, and you've got a lunch that will get gobbled up.

2. Make Your Own Lunch
Pre-packaged lunches are loaded with fat and sodium, but you can make your own for less money. Invest in a few sectioned leftover containers (a small, plastic, fish tackle box will also do) to pack the food in. For mini pizzas: Arrange round crackers, shredded cheese, pepperoni slices, and a small amount of tomato sauce packed in doubled plastic snack bags.

3. Oodles of Noodles
Instead of sandwiches, send kids off to school with a plastic container filled with Sesame Noodles. It's an Asian-inspired pasta salad that's perfect to eat at room temperature. Make sure your school doesn't have a zero-tolerance policy on peanut butter, due to some children's allergic reactions. Try this recipe:

Quick Lunchbox Sesame Noodles

1 pound spaghetti or linguine, cooked
4 tablespoons parsley (or cilantro)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons cooking sherry
3 tablespoons white or brown sugar

Blend parsley and garlic in a food processor until fine. Add soy sauce, oils, vinegar, sherry, and sugar. Add enough peanut butter to make slightly thick. Blend until smooth. Add to pasta. Can top with chopped scallions, sesame seeds, and/or peanuts.

Note: Add a dash of orange juice if sesame/peanut sauce is too thick.

4. Fruit Kebabs
When it comes to pleasing kids, how things look often matters as much as how they taste. A child who won't touch a plain old apple might well eat a fruit kebab with chunks of cantaloupe and grapes alternating with mini marshmallows on a wooden skewer.

5. Mini Dinosaurs
Order low-fat deli meats -and cheese sliced extra thick; then use dinosaur or farm animal cookie-cutters to cut the slices into kid-friendly shapes. Pack with crackers or bread. Remember: Less is more. Children like mini-sized waffles and donut holes, so use the same concept in packing lunches.

6. Peanut Butter Power Balls
These are packed with protein; just make sure your school doesn't have a zero-tolerance policy on peanut butter, due to some children's allergic reactions. Try this recipe:

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk powder or soy protein powder
1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips
1/4 cup honey
Graham cracker crumbs

Mix all ingredients except the graham cracker crumbs in a large bowl. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll in crumbs and refrigerate (or freeze; balls will thaw by lunchtime).

7. Eat by "Color Code"
Cookbook author and lifestyle trainer Jyl Steinbeck of Scottsdale, AZ, has trained her own children to eat at least one orange, red, and green food each day. Let children make lunch choices according to color. Ask them to choose carrot sticks or a navel orange, green pepper strips or a Granny Smith apple, etc. Sometimes kids are more receptive to eating fruits and veggies if they helped make the selections!

8. Retro Jell-O
Remember the gelatin salad molds of yesteryear? You can adapt this 1950's classic for today's lunch box and sneak in some veggies without your kids even noticing. Just add grated carrot and tiny chopped pieces of celery to Jell-O; mold in small plastic containers.

9. Stuffed Apples
Scoop out the core from an apple; stuff with peanut butter, cream cheese, or other spread. Top with raisins or chocolate chips.

10. Post-it Lunch
Similar to eating by a "color code," this strategy encourages kids to think in terms of food groups. Together, make a chart with four columns and the headings: Sandwiches, Fruits, Snacks, and Desserts. Have children fill in each column with items of their own choosing. Then tell them that each day, you'll pack one item from each group. Remind them that they will be eating foods they chose themselves!

J. Z.
Independent Shaklee Distributor
www.shaklee.net/Z.

3 moms found this helpful

Dear J.,
I have a college kid who packs his lunch. He makes a "wrap" from a whole wheat tortilla and puts on meat and cheese, but it can also be made with PB and cream cheese or even PB with bananas or raisins, PB with jelly, maybe tuna salad. You can also make the wrap and cut them into little pinwheels. Put a little gel cool-it if you are worried about them getting warm or freeze little juice boxes and let them act to cool the food. They will be melted by lunch.
Don't forget fresh fruits (esp. cut up apples), baby carrots, raisins, bananas, trail mix, yogurt, cheese sticks, even healthy breakfast cereal like Total with redberries, put in a ziplock baggie.

3 moms found this helpful

Hello my two little ones are not in school yet but i have taken may food classes and have shared with other mothers and they have responded to me with what has worked for them.

Whole grain spagettie has been a hit buy a little thermas and heat the spagettin and the sauce hotter then usual, put in in the thermas, this is even great for left overs have spagettin for dinner then send it for lunch , you can even send a piece of buttered bread. Apple slices or carrots go well with this idea.

If you child like soup do the same with heating it up warmer then you would put it in the thermas and pack gold fish to go in the soup or just to eat with it.

Whole grain crckers with cheese slices, goes great with grapes i suggest you cut the grapes in half to prevent any chance of choking, put a little ice pack in the lunch box to keep fresh.

If the enjoy tuna or chicken salad you can aslo use whole grain crackers apple slices or grapes also goes great.

I have tons more but i do not want to write you a 10 page response please feel free to write me for more ideas.

A.

2 moms found this helpful

Hi J., I found out that a lot of times the kids will not eat their packed lunch because they want to eat what their friends are eating. If you can get a copy of the school's lunch menu, you could create your own version each day for your children's lunch. If the school is serving cheeseburgers, you could do the same. Bake some hamburgers the night before. Warm them up in the morning and add the cheese. You can get the packs of mayo, mustard and ketchup so they can use at school (if the school does not have it). Create a toss salad that your children will like. Let them choose what kinds of veggies they would like in the salad. Other ideas would be cooking spaghetti the night before. The fruit snacks are good to include as part of the lunche.They come in different kinds of cartoon characters,so your children can choose what kind they want. Other ideas are fruit w/ fruit dip, use croissants instead of regular bread for sandwiches & soft tacos w/chicken or beef. I hope this helps.

2 moms found this helpful

I tryed the 1 day a week school lunch and the rest packed last year for my son...his first year in Elem. School. Towards the end of the year I got tired of him bringing home half of what I packed so he ended up buying most of the time. So this summer he had to pack his own lunch for summer camp, and sure enough he ate it all! So we are going to go back to the 1 day a week school lunch and he packs his own lunch the rest of the week (with my supervisor of course). I think its good for him becuase he packs what he wants but also knows he has to get 1 thing from each food group....so he learns to be healthy! Well good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi J.,

Have you seen the web site Laptop Lunches? This site has great healthy/nutritious ideas for lunches. I just use it for inspiration -- I haven't ordered anything from it. In addition to the nutritious lunch ideas there is a 'quick-reference lunch ideas' section which makes it fast & easy to plan a lunch. I also like the great recipes and pictures too! The menu ideas are wonderful, check it out!

http://www.laptoplunches.com/ideas.html

Hope this helps!
E.

1 mom found this helpful

go to the Goodhousekeeping website. They have 30 creative school lunches for picky eaters posted there.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi, I also pack lunch for a pre-schooler. He hates sandwiches except for grilled cheese, and that doesn't work for school. I'll roll maybe 4 pieces of cooked ham and put them in a baggie, a few cheese cubes, always some kind of fruit [which he loves] mostly blueberries, grapes, pears sliced [so he's not so messy], and always something crunchy like a few potato chips or sun chips,cheese curls, or even peanut butter crackers. He eats it all. Poor thing doesn't care for even peanut butter and jelly. strange huh?

1 mom found this helpful

Hi J.,

That's a tough one, I will have 3 in school this year (K, 5th and 7th), I am counting the days!!! LOL The main problem that I have is that I get bored making the same thing voer and over and over again. They ask for the same things over and over again. Also, some prepackeaged every now and then won't do too much damage.
Mine like single packs of carrots or brocoli with a single serving of ranch dressing. We make our own tortilla chips, most times, and our own salsa or guacamole. i also get cherry tomatoes and other fruit and cut them up into finger foods. They also like cold hot dogs, rolled meats with cubed cheeses, salads, if you freeze a packet of dressing and the tomatoes, they can keep the salad cool.
My kids are kinda spoiled and prefer foods that Mom makes, so I have even sent in a very large smoothie that I made the night before. I stick it in the freezer overnight and pull it out the next morning, by lucnh time it is usually thawed enough to drink. It also allows you to sneak other foods in their favorite smoothies.
Try making shapes with the sandwiches, make it fun to look at and eat. Try including notes on napkins. Have fun with Lunch!!!
I hope this gives you some ideas.

1 mom found this helpful

All of mine began packing their own lunches when they hit 2nd grade; I chose the options, they made their own combinations. The strictest rule was only one juice box and only one pre-pkgd snack(ie: not chips AND cookies AND fruit rollups). The snack sized zip-loc bags are great if you don't mind taking the time to pre-portion things like goldfish crackers or pretzels or whatever. Little Gladware tubs are helpful too. I just put the stuff on the table and supervised--they were very proud of being that independent and couldn't believe some of their classmates had no idea how to make a sandwich. As for 'weird' food, take them shopping and pick out something different to try on a weekend, kind of a practice run for bringing it for lunch at school. Do a different culture--what do Japanese kids have in their lunchboxes, for example, and pick a country a month to try.

1 mom found this helpful

I recently made some tuna macaroni salad and my daughter took some for lunch with some ritz crakers. She loved it!!! and I also sent her a yogurt and a juice too... She loved it so much, that i was asked to make some for the summer camps end of the year program!!! you can use the freezer packs to keep it cool til lunch if they don't have any where to put it.

Hello J.,

I also have 2 school age kids going to school, 4th and 2nd grade. I do the same thing, let them get once lunch a week at school and they highlight on the calendar what they want. It gets tricky afer a while what to make. I try to make PBJ crustable sandwiches, maybe chicken salad (my oldest loves that) this is a can of chicken and mix it with mayo and put in sandwich. Sometimes you can take in a prepackaged Tuna kit, thats fun to have. Ham/Turkey cheese sandwich. Ham with cream cheese sandwich...chips and drink! Usually I try to have yogurt in it to give some diary suppliment, then a cookie or brownie or a special candy treat. Hope this gives you ideas!! I get tired after a while but try to make fun lunches for them~~whew! Best of Luck...S.

My son loves those soft pretzels. It's room temp by lunch but he still likes it. I also pack him lunchmeat and cracker. He likes yogurt (an ice pack or frozen juice box keep it cold). My friend gives her daughter spaghetti in a thermos to keep it warm. My son won't eat sauce and he likes it room temp anyway so I put pasta (ie gemilli, farafelle, etc) in a regular container for him and he loves that. Also, really weird I know, he likes frozen peas which of course are thawed by lunch but still really cold. I ask him if there is anything special he might like sometimes he gives me an idea but usually he just says whatever I pack is fine. He also only buys lunch once a week. Good luck.

I have 1 in middle school and 2 in elementary. I am lucky my kids love fruits and veggies. They like taking the Chef Boy-R-Dee raviloi or beefaroni. We bought little thermoses and we heat the food in the morning and it is perfect by lunch. They get so tired of sandwiches. They like tuna and salmon salad (made just like the can tuna). They take fresh carrots, cucumbers, fruit. I allow one junk snack .. cupcake, chips, cookies... etc.

Hi J.,

My 2 are starting 4th grade & 2nd grade this coming year. I do a mix of homemade & pre-packaged stuff for my kids. There's always either a sandwich or a wrap as well as a capri-sun juice pouch, but after that it's whatever I feel like! I try to always give them either a sting-cheese or a go-gurt for the calcium & then some type of fresh fruit that's not messy like grapes, banana, or apple. Sometimes I toss in a bag of chips, sometimes I don't so they never know for sure what's going to be in the bag. Same goes with dessert, I go for granola bars or I'll make cookies on the weekend.

We change up the sandwiches often: PB&J, PB and Honey, Tuna, Egg Salad (sometimes...it stinks!!). Sometimes we take flour tortillas and melt cheese between the two, cut them into wedges and they eat that. We always have a fruit cup or applesauce, string cheese, and a dessert. That could be anything...a cookie, pudding cup, etc...If they are complaining that they don't have enough food, then we usually add pretzels or carrot sticks. They buy milk at school. Those are just some ideas.

Hi J., I found out that most of the packed lunches I sent my kids to school with ended up traded with other kids or in the trash can!

I put the "lunch" planning back on my kids and it worked! I took them to the grocery store, had them pick out what they wanted, with some guidance of course and they helped pack their lunch the night before. It taught them how to shop, plan meals and prepare it! AND...they ate it! Because they chose and made it there was no more trading lunches!

Make it fun, they'll love it!

I send my son food that is sometimes a little different and I also package regular food a little differently -putting sandwiches in wrapmats for example. I wondered about whether or not he was sticking out from the crowd. I ate lunch with him one day at school and did see a variety of lunches from standard sandwiches to dinner leftovers to bought lunches.

Though I don't have any children in school, just a thought...

You could always try cutting the sandwich into different shapes. Even if it is the same sandwich it might seem exciting to your children that way to guess what they will have each day.

J.

One idea is to have the kids make their own kabobs. Using wooden skewers, provide them with a selection of veggies they like, chunks of cooked chicken, beef or tofu and cooked tortellini or other large pasta.

Another is to saute up some veggies and/or seasoned ground meat or veggie crumbles and use wontons from the grocery store to make dumplings. Create a dipping sauce and bring in small container. The kids will have fun making the dumplings too.

Individual pita or tortilla pizzas are good too. You can sneak veggies into the pizza sauce or toppings.