BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Cooking For Kids School Lunch Ideas

I appreciate this thread. Honestly packing school lunches is something I detest doing. So my kids usually go through the lunch line at school. But for the days when I do pack, you all have given me some great ideas. And my kids may actually eat them!

Just a side rant here. Our kid's school makes such a big deal about how nutritious their lunches are.(And they are!) They also want the kids to bring a snack to eat in their classrooms during the day. But it has to be a nutritious snack. Parents can come and eat lunch with their kid, but they cannot bring outside food like McDonalds, Subway, Wendy's and the like because of the nutritional guidelines of the school. So my rant is, if they are so picky on nutrition, then WHY does the lunchroom sport TWO Slush Puppy machines and they sell unhealthy snacks to the kids! Talk about hypocrits! This is an elementary school too! My SIL is PTA president this year, so maybe we can get something done about it. It just irks me, that's all! Thanks for letting me rant a little!

I say copy the lunchables ideas. Crackers and meat and cheese for snacks.

You can also cut up vegetables and put in a little container of dressing for them to dip.

Little premade cups of fruit, yogurt, pudding, flavored applesauce, jello, etc

Brightparis! Thanks for the nice post!

Hello Collier5! I know exactly what you mean about having a healthy lunch right next to the unhealthy stuff. Go figure!

Hey Robin! I love the idea of copying the lunchables box. And probably for a lot less than you�d spend on the box! Thank you!

If anyone else has school lunch ideas, please add them to our list!

I have a page on my health & wellness website with many healthy school lunch ideas

One of my more popular pages this time of year.

Y'all are not going to believe what my kids asked me to pack in their lunch for them - sushi!

I think I may have the only children in the world (well, the US at least) that would think to ask for that.

Obviously I'm not going to be using fresh Ahi Tuna, but they love the "Bagel Roll" that our restaurant makes. And that is easy enough to make and store - just uses smoked salmon, avocado, green onions, cream cheese, rice & seaweed.

I don't see my kids trading lunches with anyone!

There are some great ideas on here. I have a 5th grader that eats so much food, I just about end up filling up an entire paper lunch bag to the top. He has a bottomless stomach, so it's hard to find hearty yet healthy lunches for him.

Have any of you ever thought of using bento boxes? They're small but surprisingly filling. Also, a lot of the stuff you put in it can be prepared ahead of time. You can get an idea of what I'm talking about by looking at some bento lunches on Flickr..http://www.flickr.com/groups/bentoboxes/
Some people go crazy and make their bento lunches a work of art, but a nice variety of food is all you really need :P

I would have loved these when I was a kid.

There are two camps of kids in regards to bringing lunches from home:

1. Kids who don't want to stick out and bring anything different. They're the ones who would rather bring a PB&J even if they didn't like it.

2. Kids who don't care what other kids think and will bring anything they like to eat.

My son fell into category 1. My daughter fell into category 2. She loved the little bento box I bought for her, complete with little chopsticks. I filled it with steamed rice, kamaboko (fishcake), teriyaki chicken bites, noodle salad, pickled cucumbers, fruit, etc. Some of the other kids were envious; others wrinkled their noses. But she just munched away happily. Some days, I filled it with leftovers from the night before and tucked in some salad and fruit.

Sometimes, I included sushi rice, but never raw fish (ahi tuna or such) because of the lack of refrigeration.

She just loved that so much.

My son, on the other hand, complained when I made shaped cut-outs from his sandwiches because it "embarrassed" him. He was in kindergarten, for pete's sake! And he disliked the taste of the Lunchables but would rather bring that because the other kids approved. Can you say esteem issues?!?! And he was the oldest child!

Thanks for the useful posts above. I really liked joanj's idea about taking your kid grocery shopping. We can expect less fussy kids when it comes to eating, if they are allowed to pick up their own food choices.

Homeremediescures,

The link in your post is broken and goes to a blank page.

If you have another link that will provide information and tips for school lunch ideas, we'd love to see it.

In the meantime, are all of the school lunch makers having a nice break from making school lunches? Granted, I guess there's still lunch that has to be made in the summer, but is it a bit more relaxed?