Packing a lunch for school?

[MrsKey]

We're new veggies, my daughter and I.

She has been homeschooled up until now, but in January will be starting school at a Catholic school.

Their lunch menu has nothing, and I mean nothing, vegetarian on it.

So it looks like I'll be packing dd's lunch. But I need to know what works well for a school lunch. She won't have access to a refrigerator or a microwave ... so I need some good travelling ideas.

Thanks a million!

[tricia]

My dd likes applesauce, rice cakes with spread like apple butter, tahini spread, etc, veggie sandwiches with veggie meat, pretzels, tortilla chips, veggie wraps with hummous, veggie pizzas ( taste good cold), obviously fruit and some other stuff... those are my dd's personal faves.... if u want to pack something to remain cold u can get an insulated lunchbox with those refreezable ice packs in there...there are loads of ideas...i find i have more ideas and more of a varied diet since ive gone veg... i love it... and its only been a few mnths... more experienced people probably have more ideas...

[Erin Pavlina]

Emily is a creature of habit and loves her vegan bologna and avocado sandwiches. I pack a juice box in there (100% juice) and sometimes she gets veggie booty or other salty item. Rarely she'll get a treat.

I use an insulated lunchbox with a reusable ice pack. Wish they had these when I was a kid!

[Ckflew]

This brings back memories - My mom baked all our bread, and would slice up a couple of loaves and make sandwiches. She'd pack the sandwiches in sandwich bags and freeze them. The frozen sandwiches would thaw in our lunchboxes by lunch time. Our usual sandwiches were Peanut Butter and Jelly and Cheese with mustard (nobody was even vegetarian back then). I still bring sandwiches to work for my lunch - applesauce cups, soy nuts for a salty snack. The Vegetarian Lunchbasket (cookbook) has some good ideas too - all with the idea of portability in mind, including soups in thermoses. Some recipes are not vegan.

Colleen

[Doug]

I know this is a bit off topic, but I saw you mention dd. I assume part of that means daughter. What does the other d mean?

[Erin Pavlina]

DD = dear daughter
DS = dear son
DP = dear partner / spouse

And since we're here:
KWIM = Know what I mean
LOL = laughing out loud
ROFLMAO = rolling on floor laughing my ass off
NAK = nursing at keyboard

[Doug]

Thank you. That explains A LOT!!!

[MrsKey]

Thank you everyone!

The changes around our house are pretty startling and I'm sort of freaking out about the smallest things right now!

I appreaciate all of the simple ideas!

Peace,

[annie7]

The standard PBJ is always good, and you can change the types of nut butters and jellies. BTW (by the way) you can freeze the PBJ and it will serve as an ice pack while it thaws in time for lunch. Little juice boxes can be used the same way. We stick a bag of veggies and dip next to them and they stay cold right up to lunch. Other things: trail mix, dried fruit, dry cereal (my kid eats that like there's no tomorrow!), Since her food may be different than the other packers, really dress it up to look fun... stickers, etc.

[alexis]

My mom used to make big batches of things like veggie chinese dumplings, veggie lasagne and freeze them for my sister to take to school...she'd just cut herself a slice of lasagne and microwave it or drop as many dumplings as she wants in boiling water in the morning and stick them in a insulated lunchbox to take to school along with some fruit or juice.

[VOW]

If the lunches are 100% Vegan, you have less worry of spoilage than a traditional lunch. That's one of the GREAT benefits of the Vegan diet that I love! Food doesn't turn to science experiments in the refrigerator as fast as meat/dairy/egg concoctions do, and you can let stuff sit out overnight and not panic about salmonella!




~VOW

[tricia]

And if u do homemade cookies u can eat the batter without worrying bout crazy diseases...my most favorite part of being vegan......:p

[sarahrose]

I made chocolate chip cookies for santa, and me and the kids (I have one daughter, but my neices practically live with me) ate some of the dough raw. My husband said "yet another benefit to not eating dairy....". YUM!!! I LOVE cookie dough!
As to the question about lunches, my daughter loves pb&j on whole grain bread. Also, I cut apples in half, core them, fill with peanut butter, and make little raisin eyes and pretzel legs, then wrap in plastic wrap, or place in tupperware. Another favorite is french toast, cut into 'bars', and sent with a little container for dipping of maple syrup or jam, or apple sauce.....you get the idea. Here's how to make it: 1/4 cup cashew butter or almond butter, 2/3 cup soy milk, 1tbs cinnamon, bread (preferably whole grain) whiz all exept bread in blender. Dip on both sides, and fry. I have not yet met a kid who did not love this, and the dipping is fun. Also, when cooked, it gets a really cool swirly design on the bread from the nut butter.

[annie7]

I'm trying that for myself!! LOL:D

[tricia]

I 2nd that.... thats gonna be my late night video game playing snack.... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... im a kid at heart.... :)

[xmysticprincessx]

My mom used to freeze our juice boxes. They were usually thawed by lunch time.

If its really a concern with you, you may be able to ask if your daughter can keep her lunch in the teacher's room fridge or the friege in the food service area. I went to Catholic School for 12 years and also taught at one last year. They are usually pretty accomodating.

If you are not strict about organic only, then look around for more convenient things too, just to have them on hand incase you are running late. I know there are fruit cups out there, peanut butter in a pouch type thing, non-gelatin jell-o (i forgot who makes it... i know i saw some at aldi's, but i cant remember a brand name at a regular grocery store), some fruit snacks (fruit roll ups, stuff like that, but be careful because some have gelatin), granola bars, (some of) those little 25 cent bags of chips, and that's just off the top of my head. i'm sure you could find more stuff if you have time to go to the grocery store and check every single prepackaged thing that may potentially be vegan.

I remember that a girl in my class in elementary school would always have healthy foods. Fruit Leather was a HUGE hit. This girl always had to share it with the entire table.

[MrsKey]

Thank you everyone!

We're going to our favourite health food store today so I'll be sure to look for some veg*n convenience foods to have on had in case of "emergency".

Tomorrow is the big day - and dd has requested the ultimate comfort food - PB&J! :D

Thank you again!

[Wildflower]

My son started preschool this year. I wasn't going to send him to school until next year when he started kindergarten, but he has some speech issues that his pediatrician thought would be helped by going on to school and getting some speech therapy early. Anyway... we've packed his lunch everyday he's gone and PB&J always goes over well, with usually some fresh fruit or applesauce, he loves broccoli and carrots, so I'll send those cut up with something to dip them in. Raisins, nuts, vegetable soup he even loves to take salads sometimes... pretty much just whatever I have on hand. I keep a variety of small bottles of juices (apple, orange, tomato) to pick from. I let him help me pack his lunch in the morning, so he picks things he'll eat, and the lunches usually don't come home uneaten!

[MrsKey]

An update ... At dd's request I bought her a lunch bag from PETA that says "No Animals In Here". It is very cute. But I worried a bit about my not quite 8 year-old making a clear statement that she is a vegetarian. I worried about teasing and harrassment.

Turns out I was worried about nothing. Most of her friends are very encouraging and she's even met one kid in her class who is vegan and one who is an aspiring veg*n in a household of meat-eaters.

Part of it may be that she attends a private school where discipline is strictly enforced and harrassing and teasing is covered by a zero-tolerance policy. But I just think it is really cool that in a school of not even 750 students she's already met one vegan and one child who really wants to be a vegetarian but is having a hard time since both of her parents are meat eaters.

So I have to say I'm pretty psyched!

[annie7]

That's a great bag. I got one for my daughter, too! I also got her the book "Saving Lilly". It's wonderful.;)

[Erin Pavlina]

That's awesome!

We just moved to las Vegas and I just got through looking for a new preschool for Emily. They were very cool about the vegan thing. I'm so happy. But we'll see how they do in practice! :)

[GardenMomma]

I bought her a lunch bag from PETA that says "No Animals In Here"---

Could you post a link to where you got this? I tried looking through PETA's website and couldn't find it and I have a young man reading over my shoulder that would like to see what it looks like!

TIA,
Lisa

[MrsKey]

Absolutely Lisa!

http://petacatalog.com/peta/product.asp?dept%5Fid=9&pf%5Fid=AT210&mscssid= (No Animals In Here)


It is located in the PETA Catalog online under "PETA Kids" - incase the link doesn't work.

[annie7]

www.petacatalog.com
is that the same place? it was under petakids too.
~:>

[PikkuMyy]

What a great bag! I'm going to buy one for myself (yes, I know I'm a grownup). I often bring my lunch to school or on nature hikes I give for elementary kids. What better place to talk about vegetarianism than on a nature hike? (In a non-politicizing, non threatening, non-prostheletizing way, of course).

Emily