My 2 & 4 year old will be going to preschool 3 times a week.
I am trying to come up with some different lunchbox ideas for them so we can avoid doing PB & J, chicken nugget lunchables & lunch meat every day.
It can not be anything that has to be heated up or that has to stay super-cold (no fridge or microwave available to kids).
I know some of you creative mamas can help me!
Thanks! :-)
My kids enjoyed ham wraps, and pizza rolls as something different. Also, get a thermos and you can do spaghettios or mac and cheese, keeping it in the thermos will keep it warm enough for them at lunchtime if you make it that morning. Mini tacos are also an option….
If you can throw and ice pack or two in their lunch cooler you have it made. You can give them cheese slices and crackers, cheese sticks, yogurt cups or tubes, fruit squeezes (applesauce fruit blends in pouches you squeeze, but can be closed), hommus and crackers (or pretzels), cottage cheese and fruit, juice, chocolate milk, cold pasta salad. .. you get the idea.
Good luck!
someone else posted almost this exact question. If your kids will eat mac & cheese, soup, spaghettios, etc you can heat them in the morning and put them in a thermos they should stay warm for lunchtime. You can warm your the thermos in boiling water to help keep the food warm.
My kids love hummus. I put hummus and pita chips as an alternate to the lunchable craze (yes, they love them to pieces). I also think the pinwheel with thin sliced veggie and a creamcheese/vegetable dip are great (the cream cheese may scare you with the super cold thing though). My older son also loves sushi, so the rolls with no meat in them are a good alternative I will be incorporating this year (fingers crossed).
I am also pretty suprised at what my kids do/eat when not at home, so sometimes I include an all fruit lunch with yogurt and pretzles and they eat it! A pasta salad made with olive oil, not mayo has also been a fun side (wacky mac & tomatos).
Presentation is everything, so I try to include fun toothpicks or a fun napkin, etc.
For other ideas I have often been know to wander through Central Market to see what they are doing and recreate in kid style.
Hope this helps a bit.
Someone posted this link last week and I have loved it so passing it on!
When my daughter and son where in public school they got bored with their lunches so we used our imagination. My mom use to make the kids fairy sandwiches.
Make p.J. sandwiches and cut them in to 4 triangles. Sprinkle a little bit of cake sprinkles on them. The kids love their fairy sandwiches.
also we did fruit kabobs on pretzels or just in a sandwich bag. Green and red grapes with stick pretzels and colored marshmellows.
I recommend a thermos and an ice pack. The ice pack will help for things like cheese or yogurt, and the thermos opens up options like mac n cheese, soup, spaghettios, leftover favorites (spaghetti, etc.). We have also done quesadillas- either plain cheese, or bean/beef and cheese (and you can add salsa or ranch in a container if they like to dip) or ham and cheese quesadillas as an alternative to sandwiches. These taste fine even at room temp.
Check out the weelicious.com website. There are great ideas there for kid happy foods.
