What do you give your child for lunch to school?

anetap2000
anetap2000 Posts: 116 Member
edited October 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I need some more ideas.
What do you pack for lunch to school for your kids?
Most of the time I give my daughter sandwich witch some veggies, but I don't wanna do it everyday.
And it's sitting in her lunch box for 4 hours, so I can't give her anything worm.
And of course I want something healthy!
Thanks!

Replies

  • DietingMommy08
    DietingMommy08 Posts: 1,345 Member
    Bump
  • jamielise2
    jamielise2 Posts: 432 Member
    I pack applesauce for her, along with a small juice drink, sometimes sandwich or wrap, sometimes leftovers. She always gets Gogurt - which you can freeze and it will thaw just in time for lunch.
  • kidtechnical
    kidtechnical Posts: 146
    My kids get a sandwich, a drink, fruit and a snack like yogurt covered fruit or crackers. I don't worry about it sitting for 4 hours. The drink is usually from the fridge, so I think that keeps it cool for a bit, but I don't stress otherwise, my pack lunches never killed me as a child, despite my mums cooking! ;-)
  • fitnessgoddess17
    fitnessgoddess17 Posts: 125 Member
    My kids also like it when I include fruit leather (the natural no sugar added kind) , nuts, and health bars.
  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
    I found these need containers at my supermarket that you can freeze the bowl and put things like yogurt in them. I send those.

    My kids like salad so I sent those. I do have themos containers to keep things warm too. So I do send soups, and/or leftovers, too.
  • tabik30
    tabik30 Posts: 443
    I really wish id have taught my kids to eat healthy when they were little. They are 19 & 14 and I cant force the right choices on them. My son is still in highschool and I hate the school lunches he eats but we can't agree on anything healthy. To all of you w/ small children TEACH THEM EARLY and they wont have to go thru what all of us are!
  • FoxCarter
    FoxCarter Posts: 127 Member
    Salad
    Baked Potato (she really loved this!)
    Leftover Pizza
    Pasta w/ White Sauce

    Luckily, L.O. is not particular about the temp of her food. She has really been into salads lately. I have a variety of toppings to put on it: pepperoni, cheese, croutons, diced pepper, onions, hard boiled egg.
  • TluvK
    TluvK Posts: 733 Member
    My staples are string cheese and Gogurt. We don't have refrigeration either.

    I've throw in:
    - Homemade trail mix, almonds, peanuts, craisins, raisins, maybe a few chocolate chips.
    - peanut butter on celery
    - Healthy dry cereal like Oatmeal squares or Kix
    - Ham wrapped around cheese with a pretzel stick stuck through the middle
    - ALWAYS a fruit of some kind, most of the time, two kinds of fruit
    - PB & J on a blueberry bagel
    - quesadilla (tortilla and cheese, basically)
    - I've even done leftover mac and cheese

    EDIT: to add hardboiled eggs
  • MrsCupCakeBoyle
    MrsCupCakeBoyle Posts: 259 Member
    My 5yr Old
    Has A sandwich yogurt and a bag of fruit and no added sugar squash.
    Some days he will have a bread roll with fruit and yogurt raisins
    Other days he has cheese and crackers with fruit.


    Hes Diabetic (type1) so i have to supply his morning and afternoon snacks.
    He has a bag of fruit for afternoon no higher than a 10g carb
    and morning snack is a cereal bar no high than 15g carb
  • msmmrobinson
    msmmrobinson Posts: 42
    My 9 year old daughter and I pack her lunch together...usually a sandwich, fresh fruit (green apple or orange) and pretzels (she even weighs out her serving size) Oh and she always drinks water. It is her way of supporting me.
  • DizzieLittleLifter
    DizzieLittleLifter Posts: 1,020 Member
    Lots of different things. My youngest doesn't eat meat :wink: but my oldest does. Makes packing lunches a challenge.
    I make sure they have 1. protein, carb, fruit or veggy and a crunchy. Water to drink
    (*most things I make homemade and are left overs)

    Spaghetti*
    Ravioli*
    Turkey hot dogs
    chicken strips*
    soup
    hummus
    pita crisps
    boiled eggs*
    Mac N Cheese (annies)
    PB and Honey sand*
    Cheese sand*
    dried peas (farmers market)
    carrots
    dried fruit (bananas, cranberries, apricots)
    broccoli
    yogurt
    cheese sticks
    grapes
    strawberries
    cut up apples or oranges
    green beans

    Sometimes as a treat on fridays:
    french toast sticks
    grahm crackers
    pumpkin muffins
    annies choco bunnies


    I'm sure I'll think of more :laugh:
  • Teeladog
    Teeladog Posts: 157 Member
    My son eats the same thing every day (by his insistence and there are some battles that are just not worth fighting).

    PB&J sandwich (on whole wheat bread, no sugar added fruit spread)
    Yogurt of some kind
    String Cheese
    Soy milk

    I make homemade granola bars frequently so he will usually take that for a snack.

    My daughter insists on variety. We do send warm stuff into school - I bought a short thermos that keeps soup (for example) perfectly warm until lunch time (4 1/2 hours after it is packed). Here are some things that she has taken for lunch (not all at the same time, of course) -

    Chicken noodle soup
    Laughing cow cheese wedges and wheat thins crackers
    Mandarin oranges
    yogurt
    string cheese
    Oatmeal
    Apple
    Banana
    Soy Milk
    PB Sandwich (she doesn't like Jelly)

    Snacks have been all over the map: pretzels stuffed with PB, fruit roll-ups, cereal bars, various fruits, graham crackers etc.

    Seriously...the thermos keeps the food plenty warm so don't limit yourself to just cold foods. I bought ours at Target I think (in the camping supply section) for less than $8.
  • its_betty
    its_betty Posts: 104 Member
    My son's been bringing the same thing for years. He's 12 now. Sandwich (today was ham on a piece of baguette, nothing else); fruit (today was half an apple cut up). Maybe a fruit leather or a granola bar or a cheese stick, but he doesn't always eat those "extras". Ice pack in lunch bag keeps everything cold enough.

    Alternatives include carrot or celery sticks instead of fruit; "homemade lunchables" (triscuits with cut up turkey or ham and cheese).

    When he was younger, a half sandwich plus fruit for lunch (plus a granola bar or small yogurt for snack) was enough for him.

    He would rather go outside for recess than spend too much time eating lunch (which is why I cut up the apple for him--faster to eat). He eats a good-sized breakfast and has a snack (if he wants it) when he gets out of school.
  • Vegan_Chick
    Vegan_Chick Posts: 474 Member
    I put pasta in a thermos for them to take, make veggie wraps with hummus, and even make sandwiches with bagels for something different. Vegan Lunch Box is a great book to check for healthy ideas using a bento box (Laptop Lunch box)
  • Vegan_Chick
    Vegan_Chick Posts: 474 Member
    Oh yeah pita pizzas are always a hit too. Just add pizza toppings onto a pita and bake for a couple of minutes. Then wrap it up with tinfoil. My son loves that for lunch
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
    My kid is psychotically picky so we have to check the lunch menu each day to see if he is buying or taking. The school lunches here are really making an effort to be healthier and we eat pretty well most of the time so I don't sweat him having pizza and burgers now and then. When I pack it he gets a peanut butter sandwich, some chips or crackers, fruit and a drink. Often he just wants water.

    My teenager wouldn't be caught dead carrying his lunch. Plus, he's a big boy and an athlete. If I packed it, it would have to be like Emilio Estevez's lunch in The Breakfast Club. :laugh:
  • JS70
    JS70 Posts: 95 Member
    Thanks for the great ideas!
  • TluvK
    TluvK Posts: 733 Member
    I put pasta in a thermos for them to take, make veggie wraps with hummus, and even make sandwiches with bagels for something different. Vegan Lunch Box is a great book to check for healthy ideas using a bento box (Laptop Lunch box)


    I absolutely LOVE our bento boxes. www.Weelicious.com also has pictures and descriptions of various ideas for the bento box on her Facebook page.

    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.342399236608.194597.248062301608
  • sarahp86
    sarahp86 Posts: 692 Member
    WTF is a Gogurt?
  • TluvK
    TluvK Posts: 733 Member
    WTF is a Gogurt?

    Squeezable Yogurt

    Gogurt.jpg
  • _Amy_Budd
    _Amy_Budd Posts: 378 Member
    Every Sunday night I roast a huge batch of drumsticks, and wrap them 2-together in foil, and pile them up in the fridge. For lunch, each kid gets a 2-drumstick foil package, a yogurt, an apple, a small ziploc with pretzels, and a bottle of water. They love it. :)
  • nanodot
    nanodot Posts: 154 Member
    Primal kid lunches. :)

    A low-carb wrap with ham and cheese
    carrots or celery with peanut butter
    Roarin' water drink
    mixed nuts, or trail mix or dried fruit
    cheese
    fresh fruit
  • ahavoc
    ahavoc Posts: 464 Member
    I got my daughter a really good thermos, and I give her lo-cal soups. She loves them.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,050 Member
    My daughter is systematic in her eating so I usually pack either a natural peanut butter and sugar free jam sandwich on wheat or shaved turkey with light mayo, a mozarella stick, 2 honey graham crackers and either apple juice or fruit punch.
  • Captain_Mal
    Captain_Mal Posts: 945 Member
    My older son has OCD and ADHD so he gets a bit stuck on what he eats for awhile.

    Currently his lunches are as follows:

    Peanut butter sandwich - crunchy peanut butter only and cut in half
    Capri Sun Roaring Waters Tropical flavor or a small bottled water
    Fruit of some kind - usually a handful... strawberries, grapes or a small apple / banana
    Carrot sticks or pretzel sticks

    From time to time, he will want a small bag of cheetos or cheezits and sometimes I throw in a fruit roll up or pudding cup.
  • luvmybeebees
    luvmybeebees Posts: 681 Member
    Bump :)
  • jskaggs1971
    jskaggs1971 Posts: 371 Member
    Our big problem with kiddo's lunches is getting enough calories in her. She's a picky eater to start with, and would rather socialize than eat. We usually pack her something like the following:

    Turkey, roast beef, or chicken cold cuts.
    A few wheat thins or other crackers.
    An apple or baby carrots.
    A Capri-sun Roarin' Water.

    Most of the time, it comes back with some of the lunchmeat, a few bites of apple or carrots, and the drink gone. The rest does laps from the fridge to the lunchbox until it gets eaten or gets old.

    We bought her a soft-sided insulated lunch box, and we tuck a refreezable ice pack in it so the food doesn't go off. Luckily, her elementary school has a great "snack time" policy, where the kids get to have a snack in the classroom. For those, we usually send her with a Z-bar (they're like Cliffs Bars, but for kids), so she gets some good and reasonably healthy calories from that as well.

    I wish she'd eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but she doesn't like them.
  • mstawnya
    mstawnya Posts: 450 Member
    My kids pick one thing from each category

    Main Meal: turkey & cheese sandwich/rollup, P, B , & J, hummus & crackers, pasta
    Dairy: yogurt, string cheese, cheese slices
    Fruit: banana, apple, fruit cup, applesauce, veggies & dip
    Treat: graham crackers, rice krispie treat, fruit leather, cookie

    I find if I take the time to cut up the fruits and put them in a plastic container, they are more apt to be brought back home instead of thrown in the garbage at school.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories