School Lunches???

Along the lines of the laptop lunch is http://lunchinabox.net/. Her slant is decidedly Japanese, but she has wonderful ideas. She also reports on how each lunch goes lover with her preschooler.

Good luck!

-C.

http://health.discovery.com/centers/infant-toddler/recipe...

Try to go to this link. It has kid friendly lunches that sound very appetizing. Plus, they can help you make their lunches and get involved and have fun at the same time.

Hope this helps!

Hi T.. Here are some resources for you:

Top 100 Recipes for a healthy Lunchbox by Nicola Graimes
http://www.amazon.com/Top-100-Recipes-Healthy-Lunchbox/dp...

Top 100 REcipes for Happy Kids by Charlotte Watts
http://www.amazon.com/Top-100-Recipes-Happy-Kids/dp/18448...
http://www.charlottewattshealth.com/nutrition/

THIS RECIPE was terrific and I always keep these handy. I sometimes use almond butter or cashew butter, and I substituted the dry milk for a wholesome whey protein powder as well as reduced the amount of honey in the recipe. I also rolled them in Fipro flax (wholefoods) in addition to the wheat germ. here's the link
http://happythings.typepad.com/happythings/2007/03/peanut...

AND SOME FUN STUFF HERE
http://www.makeandtakes.com/pop-up-pancakes
p://www.makeandtakes.com/muffin-tin-mealtime
http://www.makeandtakes.com/frozen-grape-pops

Lastly, here's a link to a vegan mom who makes extraordinary lunches for her son which can easily be adapted to a meat eater's palate.
http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/search/label/shmoo%20lu...

Good Luck,
W.
from Mother Rising
http://motherrising.blogspot.com

Good Morning, T.,

I found a great website called LapTop Lunches. Here's the address: http://www.laptoplunches.com/ideas.html From this address you can link over to a photo gallery of different lunches. It's really neat to see the pictures. My boys are very particular about what they eat. So I let them view the photo gallery and pick out what they like. I haven't purchased any products from LapTop Lunches. I simply use the site to for meal planning.

Let me know if you have any luck with the info from the site.

Sincerely,
K.

Hi T.,

I was faced with the same challenge when my son began preschool and I have one word of advice:

http://www.laptoplunches.com/

This is a brillant site. They have a link to hundreds of bento box lunches. My son loves the bento box lunch. Take a look at the site - its pretty cool.

J

Rachel Ray has a great kids website too! Recipes are more for cooking together but lots of fun.

Hard boiled eggs, raisins, cheese, left over dinner, mac and cheese, egg salad sandwiches, peanut butter on triscuits, carrots and dip... the list is endless. Sometimes my son had a brown lunch - peanut butter on wheat, triscuits, and fig newtons... he wasn't much of a veggie eater. Send what he likes.

Our daughter loves, LOVES leftover dinner in her thermos. Invest in a quality thermos. She loves potatoes/cheese, leftover spaghetti, refried beans/cheese/meat with tortilla on the outside of the thermos for her to put together at lunchtime, cereal (put the milk in the thermos and cereal in a baggie), gravy with a piece of toast on the outside. Loves those things!

Hey T.,

What types of veggies, meats and fruits does he enjoy?

J. Z.
Independent Shaklee Distributor
www.shaklee.net/Z.

Hi T., my 2 sons are picky also. I have found that they will eat pretzels, gogurt yogurt tubes, juice, and a fruit/ vegetable. They will not go for pb & j sandwiches, or other "normal lunches". Just remember to put a mini ice pack in if you do the yogurts. Hope this helps. I'm going to see what other people put, it might give me new ideas! Good luck, K.

I have seen multiple posts regarding apple slices, and I have one more suggestion for including these in your son's lunch. As long as you are planning on adding a cold pack to the lunch, you could try putting a tablespoon or two full of prepared orange juice in with the apple slices. Like lemon juice, it keeps them from browning, and my toddler adores the flavor combination. I have to say I like it, too. And an extra treat can be to toss in a little cinnamon, too, if your son likes it. That will cause some brown coloration, though.

Good question. I have enjoyed reading the responses you have received so far.

A note about PB&J - find out if the school allows peanut butter first or not. Many schools are asking parents not to pack peanut butter because of allergies.

You can try apple slices (squirt a little lemon juice on them), crackers and cheese, string cheese, yogurt, soup, cream cheese on celery, and/or other fruit.

Try getting him involved so he already knows what's packed and has had some say in what he takes in. For a while my stepdaughter wanted brie and crackers...and we allowed it because it was better than chips. We've also done mini-subs for the kids - let them pick out their own meats and cheese and add the sub oil or mayo on a small roll and whatever veg they want.

Get him a "cool" insulated lunch pack so he's happy to carry it.

You can also get juice that is organic or has less sugar.

My son likes pasta, any kind, at room temperature without sauce, Trader Joes has apple slices that he likes and don't brown, and once in a while (he's not a big sandwich eater) a honey sandwich in the shape of something using cookie cutters. He also likes Ritz cracker with Lunchmeat. He likes lunchables but for the price I get so much more by just packing the crackers and meat that I buy separately. He likes cheese sticks, pretty much any kind of fruit, Morningstar vegetarian chicken nuggets. He's also not a kid who eats a huge lunch usually so I can pack lots of little things instead of one larger main item and he's happy. Good luck. And like someone else said ask him what he wants. He'll probably have some good ideas.

Some of the things that my kids like to eat for lunch are: tunafish, cheese sticks, apple slices, bananas, goldfish, carrot sticks, yogurt, dried fruit, Cascadian Farms organic granola bars (so yummy), and nut butter sandwiches.

My son is picky too. He gets: PB&J, Cheese&crackers, bagel & cream cheese, pepperoni dogs (sliced pepperoni w/ sliced cheese -american,swiss or parm on a hot dog bun), sushi. We use the whitewheat bread and rolls (100 cal with 5+grams of fiber)and the thomas' 100cal bagels. He also like's stuff in his thermos like: she-crab soup, ramen, mac & cheese. I just put what he normally likes for dinners in his lunch.

My mom used to make me pita roll ups with hummus and veggies or lunchmeat. Just try to make convenient variations of the foods he eats at home. Cooler packs and his Thermos have been my lifesaver. Good luck.

Hi! From a mom of four, my kids won't eat apple slices because they turn brown. Sometimes they will if I sprinkle Splenda on them, it's sort of a bribe, really. They LOVE lunchables, I put a lunchable, a container of yogurt, and a bottle of water and they're pleased as punch! They also like it when I make them sandwiches, but it's because my kids eat weird sandwiches, bologna and cheeze-it with a little marshmallow fluff and they're giddy. They like raisins in their lunch, definitely cheese sticks. You'll need to get a bunch of those little ice packs, they're on the dollar spot at Target right now, so you can't beat a $1 ice pack for school lunches! Then you can include yogurt or containers of milk.
Good luck!

Cookie cutters! My daughter only likes peanut butter and jelly, so I would mix it up occasionally and cut her sandwich out with a big cookie cutter. She also likes peanut butter and thinly sliced apples on bread as a sandwich. Apple slices are great; I buy the gala or fiji kind and they don't really get brown, and if sprinkle them cinnamon they make a really nice lunch treat. Ask periodically what they like in their lunches too. Sometimes my daughter would "forget" to tell me she didn't like something I was sending with her and really wasn't eating it, just throwing it away. Good luck!

My picky eater wanted lunchables but didn't like the cheese in one kind or the snack in the other. I made him our version of a "Lunchable" by getting deli meats that he liked sliced 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick then I would cut them at home to the approximate size of the crackers he liked. I did the same with the cheese. I would put it all together with snack and drink that he liked too. You can also use small cookie cutters to make more creative shapes (like hearts for valentine's day etc.).

have you tried Nutela? its like peanut butter. sold next to it. my picky eater loves it. what about apples and caramel. mine just has peanut butter or nutela sandwich and a snack like animal crackers or a granola bar. there are a couple snackables she liks too that we use as something different every once and awhile. shes a picky eater but picky eaters dont all not like the same stuff so i dont knoww. id take him shopping and see what he wants to try. also tell him that during lunch to see if he likes what the kids are eating that buy lunch. then those days that they make that he can buy and if he sees something a kid brings you can make it/get it too. my kids in 3rd grade now and i still am trying to find more options that dont need to be heated...it is hard.