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Kid school lunch ideas

Luckystar2Luckystar2 member
Ancient Membership 2500 Comments 25 Love Its Combo Breaker
edited August 2013 in Pittsburgh Nesties
We are starting dd's new after school place earlier than I expected (will still be there summer program). We have to provide lunch (even during school year). No option to buy. I need some ideas! I dread making my own lunch so I am not looking forward to this! I hate planning meals and stress about making it somewhat healthy. So far my only idea for the main part is a sandwich: cheese sandwich, ham or turkey and cheese. We cannot do pb&j although dd doesn't eat that anyway. Other than that...I don't know what dd would really eat that I can put together for lunch. They also want you to do a fruit and veggie. The fruit is easy since dd loves fruit, but I don't really know what I can easily do veggie wise. Dd isn't big on veggies. I'm thinking lettuce and some dressing. Maybe leftover beans if we have them at dinner. That's the extent of her veggies!
Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Re: Kid school lunch ideas

  • And the new nest got rid of my paragraphs and I don't know how to edit!
    Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
  • Would she eat carrot sticks or other raw veggies with a little tub of ranch?  I assume they won't heat up the meals, so you need things that can be cold, right?

    Not sure if she'll eat all of this, but these are some of the things I rotate and combine for lunches for my kids that are cold:  cheese & crackers, cottage cheese, yogurt, hummus & crackers, string cheese, um...I'm blanking on other things.  I'll try to think of more!
    The Blog - Parenting: Uncensored


    imageimage

    Jake - 1.15.08
    Liam - 5.17.11
  • egpitt22 said:

    Would she eat carrot sticks or other raw veggies with a little tub of ranch?  I assume they won't heat up the meals, so you need things that can be cold, right?

    Not sure if she'll eat all of this, but these are some of the things I rotate and combine for lunches for my kids that are cold:  cheese & crackers, cottage cheese, yogurt, hummus & crackers, string cheese, um...I'm blanking on other things.  I'll try to think of more!

    She likes ranch but isn't a big raw veggie fan. She likes lettuce and cucumber.

    Oh and they have a microwave so they can heat stuff up but ask to not do microwaveable stuff everyday.

    And she loves yogurt and strung cheese so they will be options Im sure.
    Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
  • Gavin eats any of the belwo - I just mix and match:

    Sandwiches: cheese, jelly sandwich (you could even do cream cheese and jelly), cold cuts

    Cheese & crackers, summer sausage

    Yogurt

    Hot dogs - boil in the am, put it in a thermos of hot water

    And I know there is more, but it's not coming to me right now

    Sides:

    Carrot sticks with ranch

    Pretzels

    Fruit roll-up or cookies

    Applesauce or mandarin oranges, grapes, banana

     

    One of the things I found, after a few months, was that it's important to get them involved in packing. I always asked Gavin what he wanted when I was making lunch, but sometimes they will hellp you think of other options.

    I also found that, as frugal as I am, come April I totally "splurged" on letting him buy more than once - more like 3-4x a week! It just got to be too much, come the end of the school year - total burnout!

    Good luck and don't stress over this - there is enough other stuff to be consumed with with Kindergarten!

    image
    My three sons!

  • Thanks Clare! We plan on getting dd to pack her lunch. I definitely agree that keeping them involved is good.

    And I wish we had the option to buy but we don't :-( it's half day kindergarten and then she goes to an after school care place and they do not have a cafeteria. Although occasionally they do pizza days, etc where they bring in food. Next year when she is in first grade and at scho all day, I have a feeling we will be splurging here and there too letting her buy
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  • I got this idea from Pinterest and my kids love it. I make a home made lunch able. I roll up some lunch meat and put it in one section of a square Tupperware container. Then I add crackers, fruit, cheese and a small treat.
  • I hate packing lunches, when I have to we do a lot of fruit, cheese, individual jello snacks, crackers, yogurt. He usually wants ham sandwiches, and he also asks for Spaghettio's. I have a little thermos, and if I heat them to steaming in the morning, they're still warm at lunch.

    I actually found that spending the $1.50 on lunch is cheaper than what I spend to pack lunch, so it's not even splurging for me to buy it for him :)
    imageimage
  • Thanks for posting this! We're in a similar situation - my ds is going to start a new daycare in the next week and I wasn't sure what to pack. I really like the idea of getting the kids to help.
    Good luck!
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  • For the ones that can microwave I get those mini sandwiches from Target (chicken or hamburger) and they love those.  Then I do yogurt, leftover veggie (my kids do eat them) or frozen peas,  & fruit.  I think their lunch is the most balanced meal of the day. 

    Other "main" dish ideas are wraps, lunch meat, pepperoni & cheese, pizza, noodles, spaghetti os. Gets pretty boring after awhile.

    photo 332252f4-f278-4d48-99f9-c275d87c3339.jpg
    How time flies! Caileigh (9), Keira (6) & Eamon (3)







  • we sometimes send EJ with a quesadilla or grilled cheese.  I don't know if they heat it up for her but it is at least at room temp by lunch time. 
  • I just want to add that sometimes I'll send two fruits instead of a fruit and a veggie. The list of un-hidden veggies that my kids will eat is pretty short and I don't like to send food that I know will be wasted. I send carrot sticks and sweet potato chips and veggie sticks each one day a week. The other two days they get a second fruit.
    Heather Margaret --- Feb '07 and Todd Eldon --- April '09

    image
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