What do you pack for kids school lunches??

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  • RunConquerCelebrate
    RunConquerCelebrate Posts: 956 Member
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    I have the same problem with my son too. I figured out what the problem was, they eat lunch at 10:30 am and school starts at 730. He just wasnt hungry and it was usually on the days he would eat a big breakfast. So i just make sure to pack something he will at least snack on, even if he doesn't eat his sandwich or main meal. Have you tried asking her, there could be something she doesnt like, also have her help pack the lunch that way she can have input into what she would like to eat that day. Let her pick something different at the store each week to try new.

    Yeah the breakfast thing could also be an issue I make sure she always has breakfast before leaving the house. I will make sure to get her more involved
  • AusAshMommy
    AusAshMommy Posts: 845 Member
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    My kids 8 almost 9 & 10 pack their own lunches every night

    My 8 almost 9yr old packs a PB&J sandwich, some kind of fruit cup or fruit, and chips/crackers w/a juice box - more often than not the fruit comes home with the crackers/chips and sandwich being eaten

    My 10 yr old packs himself a ham sandwich w/mustard, the same fruit cups with chips/crackers his sister gets w/a juice box - and like his sister more often than not the fruit comes home

    Lately though everything is getting eaten - guessing they are eating it at their after-school program as a snack as opposed to the one they are offered.

    I am voting w/the keeping things simple.
  • RunConquerCelebrate
    RunConquerCelebrate Posts: 956 Member
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    My son's lunch today was a breaded chicken burger in a bun with lettuce and mayo, served with a side of a raw, sliced bell pepper, a handful of carrot sticks and a houmous dip, and a bottle of water. He also had a pot of peanuts and a pork pie, because he was out at a garden centre re-potting trees in the cold so I though he could use the extra calories. ;)

    Man I want your sons lunch LOL sounds delicious
  • waltcote
    waltcote Posts: 372 Member
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    Make em lunch!! How are they gonna learn!? I say let them steal lunch money for themselves!! :huh:
  • lilred806
    lilred806 Posts: 195 Member
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    I love looking at the lunches made by the 100 days of Real Food mom. She has neat ideas to make healthy yummy treats and ways to make them more fun. She also blogs about the difficulties of getting kids to eat. My kids are 5 and 2 so I don't have to pack lunches for another couple of years. I have friends who have found her site helpful. She posts her kids lunches daily I believe.
  • jfauci
    jfauci Posts: 531 Member
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    My kids never used to eat what I sent.....until they started helping me with the preparation. My son, who is 10 now, eats the same 2 lunches since 1st grade. He has yogurt, fruit, crackers and 1 lorna doone cookie or 3 slices of chicken breast (rolled up), fruit, crackers and a lorna doone cookie.

    My 12 year old is a little more flexible, but pretty much eats the same thing every day. Yogurt, crackers, a special K bar and those 100-calorie snack packs. Sometimes, she substitutes chicken breast instead of yogurt.

    My son will buy school lunch only when they have "breakfast for lunch" - which is french toast sticks, turkey sausage and fruit.
  • fat2strongbeth
    fat2strongbeth Posts: 735 Member
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    My son's lunches are always the same. Either turkey or pb&j sandwich, fresh fruit or applesauce, pretzels, and water. He also brings a snack to school which is always juice, goldfish or graham crackers, and fresh or dried fruit. He buys the school lunch 1-2 days per week.
  • nainai0585
    nainai0585 Posts: 199 Member
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    My son HATES sandwiches, even at home. He also ha ADHD and his medication causes appetite suppression, so he barely touches anything in his lunch. He is also underweight IMO too (50 lbs at 8 yrs old and 4'2") though his doctor doesn't seem concerned. This is what I have needed to do:
    - Every school day I pack Ensure. Different flavours each day and ones that have added calories and fibre. S has been told that as long as he drinks his Ensure, he does not have to eat anything else in his lunch, which is usually the case anyway.
    - 2 healthy snacks are packed, usually fruit, fruit cups (water only, no syrup), kolbassa. S will not eat brick cheese, string cheese, yoghurt (either frozen in the tubes or in the cups), etc. He'll eat it at home, but won't touch it in his lunch.
    - 2 treats, such as school snacks, cookies, chips, etc.
    - 1 bottle of water.
    I forgot to add that my son's school is completely nut free, so the sandwich I KNOW he'd eat in a heart beat (Nutella and white bread) he can't have.
    That's it. 9/10 the only thing he touches is his Ensure. Sometimes a school snack is eaten, but that is very rare. The past two weeks he hasn't touched anything in his lunch, so when he gets home, he must drink his Ensure - usually after school snacks is whatever he hadn't eaten at lunch time, but the Ensure is a lot more important IMO.

    There is no cafeteria and he doesn't eat the hot school lunches the School puts on once a month, so I don't even bother buying them anymore and he says he doesn't care about them either.
  • JilloftheDead
    JilloftheDead Posts: 296 Member
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    My oldest is just in pre-k, but we pack his lunch together. He has a thermos bottle for water, a choice of whatever fruit (he generally picks blueberries, bananas or clementines), a sandwich (ham, cheese mustard, tomato and lettuce being his favourite) and a "treat" whether it be a cheese string, a fruit snack, yogurt or some cookies.. it's up to him. Some days he eats everything, some days he hardly touches it.. his excuse is that he was too busy (playing/socializing) to eat and ran out of time.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    My daughter didn't like sandwiches too much. She usually brought soup in a thermos with a few crackers and a piece of fruit. Let your daughter help you pack the lunch. My son prefers to buy but I would have trouble trying to pack enough lunch for him. He is 5'10" and 188lbs of pure athlete (17 years old).
  • RunConquerCelebrate
    RunConquerCelebrate Posts: 956 Member
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    I love looking at the lunches made by the 100 days of Real Food mom. She has neat ideas to make healthy yummy treats and ways to make them more fun. She also blogs about the difficulties of getting kids to eat. My kids are 5 and 2 so I don't have to pack lunches for another couple of years. I have friends who have found her site helpful. She posts her kids lunches daily I believe.

    oh awesome I will check it out for ideas. thanks
  • MizTerry
    MizTerry Posts: 3,763 Member
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    It looks to me like peer pressure has kicked in. All of her friends may be eating the school lunches, so therefore she feels she would like them too?
  • serenalesley
    serenalesley Posts: 58 Member
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    My son's lunch today was a breaded chicken burger in a bun with lettuce and mayo, served with a side of a raw, sliced bell pepper, a handful of carrot sticks and a houmous dip, and a bottle of water. He also had a pot of peanuts and a pork pie, because he was out at a garden centre re-potting trees in the cold so I though he could use the extra calories. ;)

    Man I want your sons lunch LOL sounds delicious

    Yeah, my friends keep begging me to make them lunches, too!

    Other favourites are pasta mixed with pinto beans in a chilli sauce (or pesto) and some kind of chopped meat, or salad (hard-boiled egg and sliced sausage with honey-mustard dressing and croutons is one favourite, with mozzerella, peach and walnut with plum dressing and a torn bread roll being another). He also likes a thermos of soup with fruit and a yoghurt-coated cereal bar, or ham and cheese salad sandwiches, trail mix and a blueberry muffin.

    The trick is to make sure that whatever type of nutrition isn't taken care of in the lunches, is planned into dinner. :)
  • SexKittenlovesitrough
    SexKittenlovesitrough Posts: 486
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    be prepared for her just not eating...

    my daughter has a say in her lunches, she picks the bread, the spreads, what deli meats go on it, plus the sides...usually an orange and a jello lately...

    sometimes a yogurt tube, or apple slices with caramel...and it STILL comes back uneaten...

    why? because she's so busy visiting and talking during lunch that she doesn't have time to eat it all....

    so just maybe ask her why its coming back uneaten.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    Sugar cookies.
  • JilloftheDead
    JilloftheDead Posts: 296 Member
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    I just have to say, it's so crazy to me seeing everyone sending peanut butter to school! Nuts are practically outlawed in all schools around here lol
  • RunConquerCelebrate
    RunConquerCelebrate Posts: 956 Member
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    My kids never used to eat what I sent.....until they started helping me with the preparation. My son, who is 10 now, eats the same 2 lunches since 1st grade. He has yogurt, fruit, crackers and 1 lorna doone cookie or 3 slices of chicken breast (rolled up), fruit, crackers and a lorna doone cookie.

    My 12 year old is a little more flexible, but pretty much eats the same thing every day. Yogurt, crackers, a special K bar and those 100-calorie snack packs. Sometimes, she substitutes chicken breast instead of yogurt.

    My son will buy school lunch only when they have "breakfast for lunch" - which is french toast sticks, turkey sausage and fruit.

    Yeah definitely going to get her more involved in her lunch preparation
  • jonnyman41
    jonnyman41 Posts: 1,032 Member
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    my kids are grown now but at primary school 5-11 I would usually pack ham/chicken/beef sandwich (with salad) either in bread or a roll or a wrap, banana or other fruit, jelly with fruit in it (home made) or a yogurt and a chocolate biscuit bar of some kind. usually they ate it all but did go through phases when they didn't usually because they wanted to go out and play footy in the dinner break, rather than eat! Then they would eat it on the way home from school instead. Oh and would also have a cordial drink like vimto too or a little drink like capri orange.

    In winter they would usually take a thick soup or spaghetti hoops or similar in a flask instead of sandwiches.

    Not the healthiest by some counts but both kids have grown into lovely healthy men, (though on the slim side!)
  • RunConquerCelebrate
    RunConquerCelebrate Posts: 956 Member
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    It looks to me like peer pressure has kicked in. All of her friends may be eating the school lunches, so therefore she feels she would like them too?

    hmm not sure some of her friends bring lunch and some eat school lunch. But I am going to go back and have her help me in packing her lunch so that she can eat it and enjoy it.
  • RunConquerCelebrate
    RunConquerCelebrate Posts: 956 Member
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    I just have to say, it's so crazy to me seeing everyone sending peanut butter to school! Nuts are practically outlawed in all schools around here lol

    Yeah peanut butter is not banned from the school but if there is an allergy in the classroom the teacher ask that we do not send treats for the classroom that have peanuts in them

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