What do you pack in your kids lunches?

[Erin Pavlina]

Emily is going to start pre-school in a couple of weeks. I want to send her with a nice variety of lunch items so she's not bored like I was as a child.

What do you all pack for your kids lunches each day?

[Emily]

rice cakes with peanut butter are great.

Emily

[CarlaJ]

I don't have kids, but I pack lunches for myself at work every day. Here are a few things I like:

1. Wheat bread with peanut butter and jelly (I use organic for both)
2. Baby Carrots, Cucumber, Green Pepper, broccoli
3. Blue Corn Chips
4. Wheat Pita with Hummus, Cucumber and Sprouts
5. Fruit of course :)
6. Leftovers (If someone can heat it up for her)
7. Peanuts or Mixed nuts (if she is allowed to bring peanuts to school)
8. Newman's Own "oreo's" (I forget what they're called exactly)
9. Soy Yogurt

I guess that's about it for me. I'm sure most of these mom's and dads will have some great ideas.

Carla

[sophie]

muffins (you can freeze these), simple fruit salad, dried fruit, crackers with hummous, leftovers, pizza, muesli bars........

[Emily]

I should probably take back my suggestion of rice cakes with peanut butter since in a school setting there are so many peanut allergies.

Emily

[Erin Pavlina]

Okay, but how do you keep the cold stuff cold and the hot stuff hot?

[Sylver]

Hi Erin! You can keep cold things cold by buying a lunch size ice pack. It's not very big and it does the job. These can be found in the aisle with the lunch bags and sippy cups. Hot things, I guess in a thermos? A lot of lunch bags are now made to keep things cold as well. As for what to pack? Fruits, applesauce or fruitsauce, fruit cups, pretzels, muffins, crackers, veggies and dip, raisins, dried fruit, jam and saltine crackers, and breadsticks. Things that can be dipped or spread are fun for kids, makes it more exciting. Hope this helps! Take care.

[Erin Pavlina]

Yes, that helps. I'm so excited to be packing a lunch for her. I want her to have plenty to eat and not even look at what the other kids are eating.

[Sye]

I was a vegetarian several years before I was married, after that, I guess I got busy and lazy. Now 4 kids later, I want to eat right again, I feel better and morally I feel better. Anyway, my 9 year old wants to go Vegan with me. I am proud of her but worried she is doing it because I am doing it, though I guess that doesn't matter, I should just be glad. I am not worried about me getting what I need, but I am concerned about a growing girl who is very skinny anyway. I know it's healthier and better for her, I just need to get in the mind set of doing it.

I really appreciated some of your ideas about lunches. That is what I am really worried about. I am so glad she can eat peanut butter, the old standby. Do any of ya'll use any protein drinks in the morning? The ones I have tried to use in our smoothies just taste like powder even though it has dissolved.

[CarlaJ]

Erin,

I know a couple kids that go to school walk in and put thier lunch containers in either a "hot" box or a "cold" box. Or something like that. This way the teacher can help them heat up the hot box food when lunch arrives.

Most kids have the option of putting their lunch in the refridgerator, and also the option of using a microwave (which of course the adult does for them). You should check out Emily's school and see what they do there.

[Erin Pavlina]

I already asked them this and they said they cannot heat or refrigerate anything. :(

[rain]

They have vegan fake meat too if you want to go that route.

[duckie1978]

Sounds like those schools with the facilities to keep their students foods cold and reheating them at lunch go above and beyond anything I have ever seen at a school. Unless you have a VERY strict case why you need special preparations (refrigeration, heating) you are not granted these perks. I have never been to a middle or high school that does that or even heard of that. I would have LOVED to go to that school, I hated bringing in foods with those hard cold packs that only kept part of my salad cold. If I had those options I would have eaten so much better!

[narcease]

My daughter takes soup and spaghetti-o's type things to school a lot in a thermos. She's at a Montessori school, where the children are required to set the table before eating lunch, so she's got a bowl to pour things out into & all appropriate silverware already at school.

If you fill her thermos with hot (from the tap) water and let it sit for a few minutes before putting the food in it will make a tremendous difference towards keeping the food hot (using the energy from the hot water to heat up the thermos instead of sucking the heat out of your food).

I always make sure to pack one protein-source, one fruit, some grain and, in our case, dairy, as I'm still just transitioning my family into a vegetarian diet.

Finger food, or things kids have to put together themselves are always a hit (like packing a spreadable jam in a little container for her to put on the crackers herself). Depends on the lunch situation, how much time they have, etc.

[Erin Pavlina]

Narcease, those are good ideas. I like the idea of packing something she can put together herself. She's at the stage where she loves spreading things.

Just an update to this thread... we did not start Emily at preschool like we planned. I didn't think she was quite ready. But I'm keeping all these ideas in mind for when we do.

[rain]

I love the idea of a thermos and the hot water idea too. I will have to do that this winter for when i make my homemade soups :D

[veganerd]

i recently made this for my daughter one afternoon when we were nearly out of food before we went grocery shopping so i had to get really creative :)

i made a veggie dog but instead of ketchup and mustard i used peanut butter and jelly and instead of the veggie dog i used a banana. its really good and fun to eat. my daughter loves them and now always asks for them in her school lunch!! i have to admit that i love them too.
for kids with smaller mouths it might help to cut the banana in half lenghtwise so that it is not so thick.

i would like to think that i invented this :D but im sure someone somewhere does it too.

just thought i would share.

[Bette]

Veganerd, ever since I told my husband about your peanut butter and jelly bananadogs he has made them every day to have with his cup of tea in the afternoon. However, he strays into the realm of Elvis and fries them. He says this makes them even better and wanted me to thank you for your brilliant idea:D

[veganerd]

i cant say that ive ever heard of frying a pb&j sandwich but i have eaten deep fried bananas at a thai resturant and they were really good. but glad he is enjoying them. :D