What do you pack for kids school lunches??
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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. thanks0 -
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?0
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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.
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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.0 -
Sugar cookies.0
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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 lol0
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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 preparation0 -
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!)0 -
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.0 -
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 them0 -
Also, have you considered making some trail mixes? Then you can assure she is getting protein and other nutrients by making a fun mix of foods. Dried fruit, nuts, semi-sweet choc. chips, granola... Also wraps might be more appealing than bread. Take a small tortilla, sliced turkey or ham, cheese, lettuce and whatever else lays flat and can wrap up. And you can do this with no tortilla and use your lettuce as the wrap. Its a GREAT snack.
I think encouraging your child's input is really important. Different strokes for different folks.0 -
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
I wish we did more of that! Now I see why my son has sat by himself sometimes at lunch
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AND.... one of my favorites is a "Power Bomb Burrito".
Honey Wheat Wrap
Nut butter of Choice (peanut, almond, cashew, sunflower, nutella)
Banana sliced length wise
raisins
HONEY
layer butter, raisins, banana and drizzle with honey. Wrap like a burrito to keep stuff from dripping out the bottom. It's one of my favorite hiking lunches.0 -
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
I wish we did more of that! Now I see why my son has sat by himself sometimes at lunch
That is so sad!0 -
AND.... one of my favorites is a "Power Bomb Burrito".
Honey Wheat Wrap
Nut butter of Choice (peanut, almond, cashew, sunflower, nutella)
Banana sliced length wise
raisins
HONEY
layer butter, raisins, banana and drizzle with honey. Wrap like a burrito to keep stuff from dripping out the bottom. It's one of my favorite hiking lunches.
YUM!! Sounds great!0 -
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
I was actually as shocked as you to see so many peanut butter sandwiches going to school. Since I was in school 11 years ago I remember every school (from Kindergarten to grade 12) I attended was completely nut free and every school in every town I have ever lived in has been nut free too - I even moved 3000 km from my home down (moved back there for 2 yrs) to another province and school system, and there is a zero tolerance for nuts of all kinds. No Nutella sandwiches for my son at school 0 -
I have a third and first grader and they don't eat much no wonder what you put in the lunches. They seem to spend their time just hanging out with the other kids. They always complain there in not enough time to eat but it is because they spend all their time talking.0
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I pack three lunches every day and I go for easy, easy, easy lol. Each one gets four things and then a water bottle of water.
-Sandwich (pb and jam for one and butter and jam for other two, which is the only kind of sandwich my girls will eat yuck lol)
-Fruit, usually an apple, banana or apple sauce
-Either a gogurt, pudding or jello
-Crackers, cookies or trail mix that I make
Nothing fancy but they always eat everything and it takes less than five minutes to put it all together!0 -
My 5 year old is in Pre-K and we have similar issues with not much lunch being consumed. I have learned that they really have VERY short amount of time for lunch, 20 minutes max, and when you put twenty 5 year olds at a table then there is a lot more silliness than eating going on! I've been having my son bring home anything he doesn't eat (unless it is like a banana or apple that would be gross in the lunch bag after being exposed) and then he eats the remainder of his lunch for an after school snack. He often will finish his sandwich, crackers, applesauce, etc when he gets home from school.
I also know my son just isn't a big eater in general so I try to pack very, very small portions of a few things to encourage him to eat different things. He usually takes a half sandwich (PBJ or Cheese), maybe 10 pretzels or a small bag of goldfish, and a fruit cup or squeeze applesauce. Once a week he gets a Lunchable (just the kind with crackers, cold cut, cheese, and two cookies) and once a week I try to get him to pick a school lunch to buy so he has the experience of choosing, ordering from the lunch ladies, and paying for his meal.
Also, you might try this website, Weelicious, for creative lunch ideas. She goes way above and beyond what I would ever consider for my kids but it looks fun and tasty! She even has a whole cookbook called Weelicous Lunches for parents struggling with similar issues!
http://weelicious.com/school-lunches/
Good luck!0 -
I sometimes cut up a couple types of cheeses and some ham and send it with triscuits or wheat thins. Then I would put in some orange slices, grapes, apricots, or strawberries (if I sent a whole orange, apple, or pear it would usually come back home in their lunch bags.) You can do this the night before if you like, if your mornings are a little rushed. Oh, in winter, soup was always a big hit.
Good luck.
This actually sounds nutritious for a kid.
to be honest, many of the ideas given thus far sound like they are just SUGAR and prepackaged unhealthy items. I don't eat "clean" or anything extreme but WOW...I'm genuinely surprised that MFP-ers are okay with their kids eating so many sugary snacks for lunch daily.
Stepping back because I am not a mom and don't want to get slapped.0 -
My kids are like that too. I think they're just too busy & distracted to eat much at school. So I just make sure they eat a good breakfast and have a big snack as soon as they get home from school.0
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I sometimes cut up a couple types of cheeses and some ham and send it with triscuits or wheat thins. Then I would put in some orange slices, grapes, apricots, or strawberries (if I sent a whole orange, apple, or pear it would usually come back home in their lunch bags.) You can do this the night before if you like, if your mornings are a little rushed. Oh, in winter, soup was always a big hit.
Good luck.
This actually sounds nutritious for a kid.
to be honest, many of the ideas given thus far sound like they are just SUGAR and prepackaged unhealthy items. I don't eat "clean" or anything extreme but WOW...I'm genuinely surprised that MFP-ers are okay with their kids eating so many sugary snacks for lunch daily.
Stepping back because I am not a mom and don't want to get slapped.
That is a VERY wise decision to step back lol
edit: had to separate the smiling face and the lol - it just didn't look right.0 -
look, there is nothing you can pack that they will always eat, because like other people mentioned they are simply distracted with other things.
I pack a Vegemite sandwich on wholegrain bread, some cut up apple or cucumber, and maybe some plain crackers. It's not exciting, but most times he'll eat at least some.0 -
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
There's a nut free table in the cafeteria here.
I'd love for them to buy lunch, but it's expensive, and by the time they'd be done with the line, they would have 10 minutes to eat... forget it, lol.
I'll definitely look into making some trail mixes after the Holidays though... but the time I sent them nuts (which they usually like), they didn't eat them either... I want to send green beans one day but they usually devour them so we never have any leftover. But leftovers usually work.. even if they often don't eat them.
I wish my kids would eat soup or spaghetti-o's etc, lol. I've done cheese/ham and crackers too... hit and miss.
Either way I'm glad it's just not my kids who don't eat...0 -
Kindergartener (lunch + snack)
1/2 a sunbutter sandwich (whole wheat) or 1/2 a turkey wrap (whole wheat) with spinach
(sometimes leftovers, like a small container of rice and vegetarian chilli)
a fruit (usually banana, lately it's been 2 clementines)
usually a cheese (string cheese or babybel)
either homemade trail mix (pumpkin seeds and raisins) or frozen peas (which are awesome, b/c they defrost and keep the lunch cool)
I pack water, b/c the school provides white milk.0 -
My 5th grader takes peanut butter sandwiches ( we switch between regular and chocolate) on wheat bread or a pita flat bread thing, fresh fruit, Greek yogurt.and a bottle of water to drink.0
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Try packing it together, let her make her own sandwich or ants on a log (use apples, they taste better than celery in this application, honestly, whoever thought of putting peanut butter on celery must have been high ... use another nut or seed butter if the school has an issue with peanuts) or something like that ... Kids are funny; for instance, my nephew won't eat buttered bread unless he butters it himself ...
ETA: Maybe have her buy lunch once a week, as a treat ...
Oh, are her friends regularly buying lunch? ... If so, she probably doesn't want to be "different" ...0 -
I've not read all the responses ... but..
What does your child eat normally, just at home, not for lunch? That's what I would (and do) pack for my 3.
Kid 1: (the uber picky one)
English muffin, cheese, pepperoni
yogurt (if you freeze it at night it's thawed by lunch)
sliced apples
salty snack
sweet snack
horizon 2% organic milk in a flavor like chocolate or strawberry
Kid 2: (eats pretty much anything)
flat bread or sandwich round (she likes less bread) with deli meat and cheese or PB&J
yogurt or cheese stick
a fruit like; apples, applesauce, orange, clementine, grapes, strawberries, pear etc..
a vegetable like; celery, carrots, snap peas, cherry tomato, bell pepper
salty snack
sweet snack
horizon 2% organic milk in a flavor like chocolate or strawberry
Kid 3: (eats a good variety, gluten free)
chicken leg, bacon, rolled up sandwich meat with toothpicks, gluten free jam sandwich, gluten free pizza
yogurt
a fruit like; apples, applesauce, orange, clementine, grapes, strawberries, pear etc..
a vegetable like; celery, carrots, snap peas, cherry tomato, bell pepper, lettuce
salty snack
sweet snack
horizon 2% organic milk in a flavor like chocolate or strawberry
she also gets an additional snack like:
cereal
rice cake
popcorn
chips
good luck.. I pack 25 lunches a week on Sunday... it's an art.0 -
My daughter is 6 and she is in after-school program as well, so I pack a loaded lunchbox so she has snacks for all day if she wants them. Her charter school also serves free hot lunch and has a salad bar, she has asked to do that a couple times. I told her she can have that even if I pack her lunch, I just want her to eat.
I usually make a sandwich (ham or turkey or PB on whole grain bread) and cut it in various shapes with cookie cutters. Then some type of chips or cheese puffs (either singe serve bags or a snack-size ziploc), jello or pudding cup or fresh fruit in season (right now it's clementines, in the summer it's berries or watermelon or grapes). Also in a little snack box: some crackers, a granola bar and a "snack fruit" - those little gummy "fruits" that are really just a candy.
Sometimes it comes back, 100% empty, sometimes 1/3 - 1/2 eaten. She is ALWAYS hungry the minute we get home no matter how much she at at school!!0 -
My 4 yr old gets pb&j sandwich everyday. Once in a great while she will take a cheese sandwich. And then usually gold fish & grapes. Sometimes an apple, graham crackers, applesauce or homemade oatmeal raisin "cookies". Usually a pb&j, gold fish & grapes though. I feel like she will be 30 yrs old still only eating peanut butter & jelly!0
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