Ideas, packing school lunches and snacks

rossi02
rossi02 Posts: 549 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Thought I would reach out to others here trying find great lunch and snack ideas for the little ones going back to school. My son is starting kindergarten tomorrow and I plan to pack his lunch.. here's my main issue, his lunch time is 1:20 - 1:45. Rather late for 5 year olds in my opinion, but it's what we are stuck with. Due to lunch being so late, they've told us to pack a mid morning snack to hold him over. For snacks, they are asking to limit it to one food item and one drink. So far these are the snack ideas I have, but would love to hear of others. My son isn't a picky eater, and we were not made aware of any peanut or tree nut bans for the class.. however, my youngest has a tree nut allergy so we usually avoid stocking up our panty with nuts. Sun butter is preferred to peanut butter in our house, so I use that a lot.

whole wheat wrap with sun butter and half a banana.
flat apple slices with sun butter and raisins stacked together as a sandwich.
rice cake with sun butter (cut the rice cake in half to make it a sandwich)
whole wheat wrap with hummus and cheese

For actual lunch, whole fruits, cheese sticks and some type of sandwich.. my main concern is a hardy snack that will hold him over till lunch. My son's currents schedule has him eating a piece of toast at home when he wakes up, then breakfast at daycare at 8:30, then lunch at 12:00. I've spent the last week or so telling him how his schedule will change and that he needs to eat a bigger, better breakfast at home to prepare him for his day.

II'm sure he'll do great, I'm just a wreck at sending my boy to school and worried that he will be too hungry to focus.

Replies

  • rnhoppe
    rnhoppe Posts: 111 Member
    I use this site for packing my girls lunch. They had a snack list. Maybe some will work for you? http://www.momables.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/MOMables-Snack-Guide.pdf
  • tistal
    tistal Posts: 869 Member
    My kids love pb&j on whole wheat bagel thins, chicken tortilla wraps with cheese, cheese sticks, grapes, and those individual packages of Quaker Mini Rice Cakes. My son (who just started K this year) calls the chocolate ones cookies which makes me HAPPY! lol
  • angmarie28
    angmarie28 Posts: 3,076 Member
    I bought this food thurmus for my son so he could take hot foods with him too, today I packed him pizza bites with ranch, grapes, corn on the cob (he begged for the corn lol) and apple juice
    yesterday he had mac n cheese and banana chips
    ive made chicken sandwich with apple slices and peanut butter, carrots and cucumber
    leftovers

    but seriously the food thurmus was one of the best purchases ever
  • rossi02
    rossi02 Posts: 549 Member
    Thanks for the link! Will check it out.. and I may be on the look out for the thurmus as well!!

    Love hearing ideas from other parents, so please keep them comming.
  • leanne9876
    leanne9876 Posts: 301 Member
    What time does he start school, does seem like thats a bit late to keep little kids waiting for lunch.
    Our school has 3 eating times. At 10.30 they have a healthy snack it has to be either fresh fruit or raw vegetables and water only. Then they have morning tea at 11.30 and then lunch at 1.20.

    I googled healthy filling snack for kids and here are a few ides.

    Dip a banana in yogurt, roll it in crushed cereal, and freeze it for a tasty frozen snack
    Low-fat yogurt topped with granola and fresh or dried fruit

    Mini Sandwiches: Use crackers or cut-up bread--or give the kids a few slices of bread, lunch meat, and cheese, and a couple of miniature cookie cutters to make tiny, fun-shaped sandwiches.

    Make cookies and muffins with applesauce in place of some of the fat, and add oats, dried fruit, and whole wheat flour.

    Air popped corn and fruit and water

    Homemade pikelets are a great snack - easy to make ahead of time, they're filling and don't require any extra toppings.

    Carrots with Peanut butter Dipping Sauce
  • rossi02
    rossi02 Posts: 549 Member
    What time does he start school, does seem like thats a bit late to keep little kids waiting for lunch.
    Our school has 3 eating times. At 10.30 they have a healthy snack it has to be either fresh fruit or raw vegetables and water only. Then they have morning tea at 11.30 and then lunch at 1.20.

    I googled healthy filling snack for kids and here are a few ides.

    Dip a banana in yogurt, roll it in crushed cereal, and freeze it for a tasty frozen snack
    Low-fat yogurt topped with granola and fresh or dried fruit

    Mini Sandwiches: Use crackers or cut-up bread--or give the kids a few slices of bread, lunch meat, and cheese, and a couple of miniature cookie cutters to make tiny, fun-shaped sandwiches.

    Make cookies and muffins with applesauce in place of some of the fat, and add oats, dried fruit, and whole wheat flour.

    Air popped corn and fruit and water

    Homemade pikelets are a great snack - easy to make ahead of time, they're filling and don't require any extra toppings.

    Carrots with Peanut butter Dipping Sauce

    School starts at 7:45, and I'm not sure of the exact time of the mid morning snack. I assume that will be around 10:30 - 11:00. That will take place in the classroom, so the exact time may vary depending on the schedule for the day. School lets out at 2:45, so after lunch... they only have an hour left of their day and this also means no nap time.
  • Brizoeller
    Brizoeller Posts: 182 Member
    I am so glad you asked this. Mine starts preschool in a couple weeks and is a very picky eater. I'm always looking for healthy foods for him to eat or at least try. He always wants chicken nuggets and nutri grain bars. I love all the ideas so far!!! Thanks so muc
  • valerieschram
    valerieschram Posts: 97 Member
    I pack a lot of fruit (apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries). I also do dried fruits (mangoes, apricots, cherries). Sometimes, I will fill a small container with frozen fruit and a few dollops of yogurt. By lunch time the fruit thaws and the yogurt has been kept cold. I also pack baby carrots, slices of cucumber, and celery sticks. Luckily, my daughters are not allergic to nuts, so I pack mixed nuts too. Also, I have packed pita bread and hummus, crackers and cheese, and dry cereal.
  • alsunrise
    alsunrise Posts: 386 Member
    So you wrap hummus and cheese in a tortilla? My daughter just started K, and she's really picky, but in a healthy way. I was wondering how it would do to wrap a cheese stick with turkey pepperoni and then wrap it in a tortilla and let her have some marinara sauce to dip it in....

    the snacks she prefers is hummus and pretzels, yogurt, apple slices, and cheese, but they're allowed more than one item so we have an advantage.
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