School lunch ideas for real kids

[indimom]

Sandwiches: endless variety
Leftovers in the thermos.
Cheese. Crackers
Veggies and dip
Salads
Snack packs: endless variety
Pudding or jello
Yogurt
Granola bars
Hard boiled eggs
Probably a lot more I'm forgetting.

 

[wilbret]

My kids packed their own lunches from about 4th grade on.

So what did they pack?

 

[Minnesota!]

Kid #1, when he brings a lunch (eats off the share table most times ) it is usually a banana, a sandwich, and something crunchy.

Kid #2 prefers "healthier" - I made a vat of pasta salad yesterday that he will eat for the week. It has carrots, green onion, broccoli, pepperoni, white cheddar, and Italian dressing mixed in. Typically he will take a hard boiled egg, too, or cottage cheese, but I believe a sandwich went with today.

They like cold mac n cheese, cold pizza, sandwiches, pizza rolls (cold), etc.

 

[tvguy]

So what did they pack?

We always had peanut butter, jelly, tuna, lunch meat, braunschweiger and cheese on hand and cash if they wanted to buy a hot lunch. My daughter decided to stop eating meat when she turned 15, but amazingly, she says she missed having braunschweiger sandwiches.

 

[wenrob]

My kids pack their own. They’re lazy so they eat hot lunch 95% of the time.

When they’re on a roll with bringing lunch (usually the beginning of the year) they bring:

Homemade Lunchables- pepperoni, ham, turkey with cheese or cheese sticks and crackers or pretzels

PB&J or other sandwich. My DD likes to make roll ups with tortillas and cut them into pinwheels.
A fruit or veggie- apples, grapes, clementine, baby carrots, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers
A snack item-goldfish, crackers, pretzels, mini pack of chips or cookies
Juice Bag or Gatorade

The window for eating is short so they don’t like to bring things that take a lot of time to eat or need to be assembled.

I tried doing stuff in a Thermos but they complained things like Mac & Cheese were mush by lunch and things like chicken nuggets were hard. Any tips here?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

DD18 takes sandwiches 4 days out of 5. Every week, we buy 2 Bolio rolls from the Walmart bakery, and she takes half of 1 per day (Turkey & ham, sometimes cheese). The 5th day, she’ll take leftovers or a salad.

Edit: DD13 eats the school lunch every day.

 

[smiths02]

My kids buy lunch most of the time.
When we pack, it is carrot sticks (with lowfat ranch for the kid who likes that), fruit (just depending on what we have), turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread (usually just 1/2 a sandwich for the 6 year olds), milk (in a thermos that stays cool all day), and a small treat (like a Hershey kiss or fun size candy)
I also sometimes do carrot sticks, fruit, and homemade lunchable (Ritz, cheese, meat), and a small treat, milk

My middle school son does not enjoy milk as much so I will let him have a juice pouch of some sort and usually add a yogurt to what I would pack the smaller children (they don't like yogurt, he does, and I figure he needs a little more food). I might also add chips or goldfish for the middle schooler as he doesn't get "snack." His sandwich is full sized. The kindergarteners usually get goldfish as their snack.

 

[princesspiglet]

My daughter is a junior and packs her own lunch. She has certain "rules" she follows. Each lunch must contactin - 1 bread, 1 savory, 1 sweet, 1 fruit, and 1 snack for 7th period (2 pm). Today she packed a cinnamon raisin bagel with creme cheese, cheese its, red grapes and girl scout cookies. She also threw in some tootsie rolls and jolly ranchers for her 7th period sugar crash (her lunch is at 10:30am). Every day it changes, but she follows those rules. She also likes pb&j, pb& banana, just plan fancy bread like pumpkin or banana, any type of crackers like cheese its, Triscuits, goldfish, or potato chips, pretzels, bagel chips, croutons, etc. She loves all fruit except honeydew and she loves all sweets and candy! She will only eat raw veggies if she has some sort of dip with it like hummus or ranch dip. Usually, her after school snack is diced veggies and dip.

 

[Newcastle]

I’m surprised at all the mentions of PB&J. Around here, kids are not permitted to bring foods with any sort of nuts in them. Is that not a common thing? (we live near Toronto)

 

[wenrob]

DD18 takes sandwiches 4 days out of 5. Every week, we buy 2 Bolio rolls from the Walmart bakery, and she takes half of 1 per day (Turkey & ham, sometimes cheese). The 5th day, she’ll take leftovers or a salad.

Edit: DD13 eats the school lunch every day.

My oldest (22) is always at school or work and if she doesn’t take a lunch/dinner she tends to eat like crap so I portion leftovers for her in to go containers so she can grab and go.

For easy packing and easy to fit in lunchboxes or bags I have these Sistema Clip Its. My kids are older now but when they were younger it made it very easy for them to open and close. They have a great seal on them as well.
https://sistemaplastics.com/products/lunch/450ml-sandwich-3-pack1
https://sistemaplastics.com/products/lunch/400ml-3-pack1
These are perfect for “Lunchables”
https://sistemaplastics.com/products/lunch/small-split-lunch

 

[PollyannaMom]

I’m surprised at all the mentions of PB&J. Around here, kids are not permitted to bring foods with any sort of nuts in them. Is that not a common thing? (we live near Toronto)

Some of our schools completely ban it, but some just have peanut free tables in the cafeteria, and it's OK at other tables. (If there is an allergy in the particular classroom, they can't bring it in their snacks, though.)


My DS gave up on packing because he hates the texture of most anything after it sits in the lunch bag all morning. I just load the lunch account, and he buys. He says it's really not that much better, but it does take less time, so I guess there's that.

Packed lunch phases that did last a little while when he was younger:
apple, cheese stick, and ?? (crackers, pretzels, Goldfish...)
cold leftover pizza

 

[tvguy]

I’m surprised at all the mentions of PB&J. Around here, kids are not permitted to bring foods with any sort of nuts in them. Is that not a common thing? (we live near Toronto)

It just varies from district to district. Some ban peanut butter. Some set aside areas for those with food allergies to eat.
We had a high school intern with severe food allergies and her opinion was that by high school those with food allergies need to start taking responsibility for their own safety because once they get out of the school environment, they can't control what someone on the bus or office is eating. She had a severe egg allergy, and someone walked in the office with an egg McMuffin, and she knew she has to remove herself from the room because of her allergy.

 

[Poohforyou]

One of the things I sent a lot was deconstructed pasta salad. It was a container of pasta with Italian dressing and then small containers of stuff to eat separately on add in - olives, grape tomatoes, cheese cubes, salami, pepper and cucumber slices, etc.

Another very popular thing was a bagel and cream cheese with some fruit and other stuff.

My daughter definitely preferred a lot of different things in her lunch rather than a sandwich

 

[Kellykins1218]

I’m surprised at all the mentions of PB&J. Around here, kids are not permitted to bring foods with any sort of nuts in them. Is that not a common thing? (we live near Toronto)

Our schools offer peanut butter and jelly as a 2nd choice everyday.

 

[PollyannaMom]

My daughter definitely preferred a lot of different things in her lunch rather than a sandwich

That was me as a kid, too. I mostly bought, but on rare occasions when we had to pack for a field trip or something, I took things like hard boiled eggs or cheese and crackers rather than sandwiches.

I saw something recently (Pinterest, maybe?) that used those silicone cupcake "papers" to divide up a regular plastic container. That looked fun for kids!

 

[Kellykins1218]

LOL. Real Parents tell Real Kids......"eat what I put in your lunch bag".

Ha! So you think. As a lunch room aide, I can tell you without a doubt, that they aren't eating what their parents "think they'll eat." The 1st thing they do is trade (which they aren't allowed to do but all do)

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

one has a ham sandwich and a pickle, the other usually has hummus and pita, though will also do spaghetti, pasta salad, or some kind of bean salad. they both also get sliced veggies and a cookie.

 

[DLgal]

I’m surprised at all the mentions of PB&J. Around here, kids are not permitted to bring foods with any sort of nuts in them. Is that not a common thing? (we live near Toronto)

Nope. Mine are in middle and high school and by that point, there are no restrictions on what foods kids can bring.

In elementary, we were asked not to bring nut products, but they also provided a nut free table for those who needed it. Plenty of kids brought pb&j all throughout elementary. Mine did because he wouldn't eat anything else. He only started eating deli meats last year at age 12.

 

[tvguy]

Ha! So you think. As a lunch room aide, I can tell you without a doubt, that they aren't eating what their parents "think they'll eat." The 1st thing they do is trade (which they aren't allowed to do but all do)

Not disputing that. Or the hot lunches. We've done a few of those "trash can studies" and most of it ends up in the trash. But by letting/making my kids fix their own lunch, they have nobody to blame but themselves. And why on earth would they NOT be allowed to trade?

 

[neverlandsky]

I’ve learned not to pack much because it will either end up in the trash or traded.

So if it’s thermo day, it’s only 1 snack.
If it’s sandwich day, it’s 1 snacks & a fruit.
Always bottle water and roaring waters included.

Thermo: Salad, Soup, Pasta, Ramen, Leftovers, & Oatmeal.
Sandwich: PB & J, Turkey, or Tuna.
Snacks: Gold Fish, Granola Bar, Brownie, Cookie, Cheese Stick.
Fruit: Cutie, Grapes, or Applesauce.