Struggling with Ideas for Lunchboxes....

my daughter will eat anything wrapped in a tortilla, or that she can dip. i pack turkey or ham rolled in a tortilla with honey mustard to dip it in. she also loves baby carrots with ranch, and fruit salad. i just cut a few strawberries and grapes up with caned diced peaches or pineapple. i also buy ZBARS, a kids nutrition bar. they are soft and taste like a candy bar but have lots of good nutrition and they are organic and lower sugar than a nutrigrain bar.

I feel like we get into quite a rut with lunch too! We're peanut butter sandwich people pretty much every day as well. Hummus and pita chips is something I send in my son's lunch about 1x per week--if I do it more often, he eats much less of it. He likes roasted red pepper flavored hummus. Also, cheese and cracker stackers is popular as a surprise every so often. I put yogurt in every day. Apples w/ peanut butter for dipping is fun on occasion--though my son isn't crazy about the fact that the apples have a bit of lemon on them to avoid discoloration.

My three year old is going through a diced food stage--adds a bit of variety. She'll eat anything as long as it's diced up small (turkey, chicken, ham, cheese, carrots, bananas). At home, I give her a cocktail spear to pierce the foods and she'll clear the plate. I have the deli cut 1/4-1/3 inch "slabs" of deli meat to dice up for her--easier for her to handle than thin sliced turkey. HTH

If heating things is an issue because your kids don't have a way to heat something at school look at getting a thermos-like container. I use "funtainers" by the Thermos brand. I got them at Target but if you want more styles just google funtainers. Then you can heat up something at home in the morning and it will stay warm until lunch time. Great for spaghetti, hot dogs, cut up chicken strips (our version of chicken nuggets), any leftovers from dinner, soups, macaroni and cheese. Some other ideas my kids like are
-ham (or turkey) rolls (a slice of meat and a slice of cheese rolled together.
-Hummus and pita.
-Applesauce (it comes in all kinds of flavors now but can be high in sugar or high fructose corn syrup so read labels).
-Pretzels or Pirates Booty or Flat Earth Chips, or nutragrain type cereal bars if I'm out of more healthy options. Fruit Bu is also a decent option when I've run out of fresh fruit (it's fruit roll made with 100% fruit, organic, low in sugar).
-Pickles, cherry or grape tomatoes, any kind of fresh fruit
-yogurt or cottage cheese in little cups

I cant remember the books i just bought as they are downstairs and I am typing upstairs ;) ;). But if you go to books a million make it a day trip with the kids on the weekend its fun. Moving on... in the cooking section they have a million books for you on making fun lunches! It's awesome and so much fun for you and for them. Trust me when my son gets something out of the usual it makes me so happy that I was able to do it and not spend a ton of time on it, plus he gets a kick out of it! Also pampered chef sells this sandwich cutter thing many moms here would know what it is and I use it to cut and seal his sandwich actually that's what its called cut and seal. It's a fun new look to the traditional. I also use cookie cutters I have choo-choos and stars, and hearts, and etc. Also the apple core remover from pampered chef is awesome. My son loves it because he says the other kids seem impressed with a whole in his apple. Again a spin on the traditional.

Just do a quick internet search using "quick and nutritious lunchbox meals for children". You find more than you ever dreamed.

W.
Clarksville, TN

We had two different tuna fish recipes - one with mayonnaise and one with ketchup.

We made sandwiches out of leftover chicken thinly sliced steak, or meatloaf.

Instead of just PB&J, we had PB&banana, or PB& honey. Instead of jelly we used marmalade or other types of jams - blackberry, strawberry, etc.

Instead of the above with peanut butter, we made them with cream cheese. One daughter liked the jams with cheddar cheese.

Sandwiches were made from meat babyfoods with pickles, lettuce & tomato.

Used omelets in sandwiches as well (egg sandwich).

-- fruits and veggies --
Everything and anything they like!
Apples, oranges, tangerines, kiwi, pineapple, peaches, apricots, grapes, applesauce, various melons, fruit salad, regular salad (which was always made different - sometimes even with the meal in it - like adding chicken, nuts, eggs, etc), raw carrots, broccoli, celery...

When combined with all the other lunch ideas, there was no end to the variety.

We made up a chart with all the different lunch ideas, and we all took turns preparing the lunches for everybody (I needed one as well) the night before and sticking the lunch boxes in the fridge (we had an extra one in the garage). Even by age 6, they are old enough to make lunches with a little bit of supervision. Later, when there were 6 lunches to make, when the younger ones had to do it, they teamed up with older ones so it went real fast.

My youngest is now 20. Since she has celiac and other food allergies, she still is packing her own lunch everyday. But now the variety and creativity that goes into her lunches astounds me!

for the older girls if they like pizza how about pepperoni rolls. celery sticks, peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
fruit cups are great. If I can find my book about other
more nutritional snacks and things i will send you another email. S. B

A Little About me;

I am a retired nurse with two boys ages 25 and 16 years old.
I am a new grandmother my grandchild is now a year old.

Alternating the bread on their favorite foods can help alot. I use tortillas for turkey and even PB& J rolled up and then wrapped in foil or plastic wrap.

Easy sides are applesauce cups, chopped green peppers were a surprize hit and baby carrots.

Tuna salad in tupperware type containers with crackers and a plastic fork can work for older children.

My daughter also likes the South Beach Living box lunches for emergencies (running late). I give them to her now that they changed the name from South Beach Diet.

A fun idea that I found online was for a "Monkey Sandwhich"....you take a whole wheat hot dog bun and spread peanut butter inside then stick a banana in. Also, for a change, my girls like me to get the whole wheat Italian bread to use for sandwhichs instead of loaf bread, kind of like a sub sandwhich.
We usually do a fruit....they really like sliced kiwi. Broccoli and ranch dip, Mozzarella cheese sticks....for a special treat, sometimes I will make a "Smore" in the microwave and then stick it in the refrigerator in a baggie, this helps it set up quicker. With it being a little cold it doesn't make a gooey mess at the lunch table.:) My girls love when I do this. Well, hope this gives you a few ideas. Have a great week!

I use mini bagels with cream cheese for the sandwich many times-- my son attends a Jewish preschool so no meat is allowed in the facility-- has to be kosher dairy. I will put 2 pieces of bread with cheese in the toaster and make a toasted cheese sandwich-- it isn't warm, but he still loves it. Peanut butter with honey (or jelly) and tuna fish. I pack trail mix, dried fruits, string cheese, and teddy grahams.

Mel

You can try summer sausage with sliced cheese and crackers with a fruit cup side(peaches, applesauce etc)with maybe carrot sticks and ranch(they come prepackaged at walmart) my son always love chicken and cheese taquitos too, you can dice up some chiken and some shredded cheese, put ingredients near the edge of tortilla and roll tighlty like a fruit roll up, I usually roll them up in foil indivisually and heat in oven for about 5 to ten mins then pack in lunch box b4 leaving. We aet them cold or warm they are good either way, they can also be dipped in ranch or their fav kind of dipping sauce. Make your own trail mix as well(popcorn pretzels, marshmellows chex etc). Also visit www.kraftfoods.com this is a great website for cooking period