School lunch ideas??

So, our school that provided a decent hot lunch has just upped its prices and started focusing on salads and healthy options (for over $5 a day not including drink!!!). I’m all about healthy eating, but my kids are not going to be eating pricey salads for lunch.

Please give me some ideas of easy packable lunches!

School lunch ideas??

My kid eats the same every day - yogurt tube, healthy chips (veggie straws, etc), fruit, and I put Rice Chex but sometimes other low sugar cereal.

Check out Weelicious and 100 Days of Real Food for healthy lunch ideas.

School lunch ideas??

Sandwhichesw- PBJ, Hummus, Cold Cuts
Pasta (I get trader joes fresh pasta-- like the spinach tortelini etc or banza brand for more protein) and Soups in a Thermos.

School lunch ideas??

That is an insane price!!! Is this public school?!

Re: School lunch ideas??

School lunch ideas??

I think it just depends what your kids will actually eat. What do they have for lunch on the weekends?

Re: School lunch ideas??

we do jelly & sunflower seed butter
toasted bagel with butter
bagel with cream cheese
ham & cheese on flat bread
ham & cream cheese on flat bread
honey turkey & cheese
all in rotation according to what i have.

i sometimes will make them nuggets or pasta & put them in a thermos to keep warm.

either strawberries, apples, clementines or carrots as a side. sometimes i'll bake muffins with hidden veggies, or cleaner potato chips/ pretzels.

love the chex idea. forgot about that one.

i get the tiny organic milk in the box with a straw, and their water bottle.

School lunch ideas??

Dd really likes mac n cheese in her thermos. I buy Annie's by the case and add pureed butternut squash or carrot. She gets that with fruit.

Other days she uses her yumbox and gets yogurt, fruit, and a mini buttered bagel or cheese and crackers.

Re: School lunch ideas??

My oldest dd has eaten the same thing every single day since K and she is going into 3rd. Boars head low sodium chicken and boards head american cheese on peperridge farm bread She takes strawberries and a banana. I can't convince her ever take anything else.

My youngest takes yogurt, chicken cutlets, meatballs and pasta, tuna fish, cucumbers with hummus

We mostly just do water, sometimes I buy the organic kirland choc. milk boxes.

Message edited 8/31/2018 7:46:28 PM.

Re: School lunch ideas??

Uncrustables

Bagel with cream cheese or butter

Sandwiches...cold cuts, or just a cheese sandwich sometimes

Mac and cheese in her thermos

Pasta in her thermos

School lunch ideas??

I sent the following last year with my than 1st grader:
cream cheese & jelly
ham & cheese rollups- he doesn't like cold cuts with bread
chicken nuggets in a thermos
chicken noodle soup in a thermos
cut up hot dog in thermos
cucumbers/carrots/grape tomatoes with ranch or hummus

I also always send in fresh fruit (clementine, berries, grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew)

a healthy snack- yogurt, cheese stick, freeze dried apples or mango, veggie straws, whole grain goldfish

On Friday I pack a "junk" snack as a treat- 2 oreo cookies, fruit snacks, pudding cup, jello cup, brownie bites, entemann's mini muffins

Re: School lunch ideas??

Follow up question:

What size thermos? Is 10 oz good for pasta salad? I like those for dinner... so could be leftover easy!

Chicken cutlets would be good too.

Maybe my kids will be healthier because of this change!

Re: School lunch ideas??

Re: School lunch ideas??

School lunch ideas??

my 2nd grader is a pain LOL he doesn't like lunch meat, anything i put in the thermos for him isn't "hot enough" by lunch time, not matter what i do, the only school lunch that he likes is pizza day (and he's tried a few things....)
SOOO he ends up eating the same thing everyday- a yogurt, with some cheese and crackers or some peanut butter and crackers, plus a fruit (apple or strawberries) and some kind of snack like chips or cheez its or whatever. i feel weird sending the exact same thing everyday, but he eats it, its easy so whatever. i can't overthink it HAHA

Re: School lunch ideas??

Message edited 9/3/2018 11:26:05 PM.

Re: School lunch ideas??

I do soup in the thermos a lot, or pasta with sauce, or cold pasta salad with veggies. Along with other basics...like veggies and dip, crackers and cheese, fruit, etc. Our school lunch offerings are pretty gross most day, and not very much food AT ALL for the $2.75 they charge.

Re: School lunch ideas??

My dd is very picky so feel free to jazz up this list but I do

-shredded Mexican cheese rolled up in a quesadilla (you could add salsa and/or sour cream)
-chicken nuggets in thermos
-Mac n cheese (you could add frozen peas or broccoli florets while it’s cooking in the microwave); I add less of the cheese pack and then extra milk to it when I make it.
-bento box style: yogurt, pretzels, pb, apple slices

School lunch ideas??

dd is obsessed with the sweetened sunflower seed butter from TJ's with strawberry jam. She's 2, but goes to daycare everyday so I have to pack lunches for her as if shes going to school. I typically send her to daycare with that, with PB&J, or sometimes i take ritz crackers and put sunflower butter, almond butter, or PB on them and make little cracker sandwiches for her

She typically eats lunch with a squeeze fruit/vegetable pouch, a peach or plum, and a bag of those annie's homegrown bunny snacks

Message edited 9/4/2018 9:07:41 PM.

School lunch ideas??

Cold:
Pasta salad
Quinoa salad
Sandwiches
Yogurt with fruit and granola

Warm:
Oatmeal
Pasta with sauce, meatballs, veggies, beans, etc
Mac and cheese
TJs apps in a thermos (esp the mini pizzas)

My absolute favorite lunches as a kid were chicken cutlets with fresh string beans and mozzarella, tomato and basil on semolina. I was a weirdo.

Re: School lunch ideas??

My DS is 9 and he's super picky. He either has chicken nuggets or mac & cheese in a thermos. Occassionally I can get him to do a buttered bagel. Otherwise, he'll do Lunchables but they get expensive.

For snacks, I pack a small pringles container, whole grain goldfish, pretzels. That's about all he'll eat