School Lunch Ideas - Prior Lake,MN

I always make sure my daughter's lunch has fruit (her favorites are berries that she mixes with yogurt and granola (packed separately)), vegetables (frozen peas, carrots, peapods, etc.), and a dairy product (yogurt, cheese stick, smoothie, etc.), and a whole grain (either the bread of her sandwich or something else).

You may be asked to stay away from peanut butter - peanut allergies are getting more and more common and just the smell of peanut butter can send children into anaphylactic shock.

Here are some peanut-free items:
bagels, tortilla wraps, cut up hot dogs, meatballs in spaghetti sauce, tortellini, soy nut butter (peanut butter substitute), banana-honey sandwiches (sounds yucky, but really, really good!), egg salad, blt.... The list goes on!

I like this recipe book:

365 Foods Kids Love to Eat
Sheila Ellison & Judith Gray

Here are some recipes we've done -

Pinwheel sandwiches
Sliced bread of any kind
Sandwich spreads such as:
Tuna salad
Egg salad
Cheese spread
Jelly apple butter
Peanut butter substitute
Directions:
Prepare the sandwich spreads-the more colorful
the better. Cut the crusts off the slices of bread
and roll the slices flat with a rolling pin. Spread 1
tablespoon of spread on the bread. Starting with
one side, roll the bread up. Slice the roll into
wheels and arrange on the child’s plate.

Pickle discs
Two packages of Budding Corn Beef
One container of cream cheese
One jar of large pickles
Directions:
Take 6 pieces of corn beef and overlap them mak-
ing a line. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on
the line of meat. Take one pickle and place it on
one end of the corn beef and roll the pickle and
cream cheese meat slices together wrapping up
the pickle. Slice the roll into ¼ inch discs and
serve.

Vegetable flat -bread
1 cup carrots, washed peeled and grated
1 cup zucchini, washed, peeled, and grated
8 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp chopped oregano
1 tbsp soy sauce
Preheat oven to 350’. Place all of the ingredients
in a large bowl and stir well. Grease a
9 inch square pan. Spread the mixture into the
pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until light
brown. Cut when cool and pack for the lunch box.
12 servings.

I don't have school aged kids yet, but wanted to add that my kids love edamame. You can buy them in single serve packs in the kids' frozen food area of SuperTarget. My kids are not big veggie eaters and they both eat them without complaint. They can be served hot or cold. High protein, high fiber and soy!

J.- Our kids are not big on school lunch and generally take what we call "home lunch" . We always pack some form of fruit or veggie , if it is a hot veggie (our kids love broccli and brussle sprouts) we put it in a small thermos sometimes they take leftovers from dinner heated up and in a thermos I have even made mac and cheese that morning and put it in the thermos. Our kids are not big lunch meat eaters so they like to have banana ,pumpkin or zuccini bread if I have baked it. You can always think outside of the box because if it is healthy and your child will eat it and it fits in the lunch box go for it. I always ask for the kids input and have them help make the lunch so they are learning to be independant and they know exactly what is going in so there are no complaints. Good luck SAHM of 4

My DS likes to have his sandwhiches on a bun instead of bread. We use a thermos to send soup, mac-n-cheese, and sometimes leftovers from the night before. He also likes when I send him cold/hot cereal with the milk on the side. Homemade "lunchables" are always a hit, especially when he gets to cut out the lunch meat and cheese shapes himself.

We have had great luck with a thermos! They can take soup or if you heat it up with boiling water they can bring mac n cheese or even scrambled eggs with cheese. My daughter loves to have rice, broccoli and cheese in it!( FYI I sneak in pureed cauliflower into mac n cheese and scrambled eggs)

My son's favorites have always been PB&J or turkey and cheese sandwiches. I put in crackers and cheese, yogurt or pasta salads, a banana (always the first thing he eats lol) or popcorn for a treat. Other standards for lunches are carrot sticks, grapes, mixed berries, nutri-grain bars, etc.

We go with the simple stuff, like RyeCrisp sesame crackers, a cup of real cottage cheese, a handful of almonds, homemade fruit salad sprinkled with lemon juice for keeping away the discoloration. For dessert, a little bar of dark chocolate is nice.

I like to enclose a little note with a reminder of what we will do after school.