school lunches

My son Jet started kindergarten this year and I'm already stuck on what to pack..

he has a sandwich, fruit, yogurt, crackers, cheese but usually come back home with them still in his lunch box....

he always request for me to pack him raw mushroom!!! he loves them, but obviously, he cant live off mushrooms

he and Harrison are extremely picky eaters and I've totally run out of ideas....

any suggestions?

 

raw mushroom huh?

I WOULD PACK WHAT EVER YOU FEED THEM AT HOME..

if its turkey.. than pack turkey..

my opinion.. lunch doesnt have to be a sandwich..

i would do turkey lettuce wraps..

vegies... / fruit..

go with what you feed em at home..

 

I agree with the PP. Stick as closely as you can to what he likes to eat at home. It won't hurt to put in some mushrooms, too!

 

thankyou for the suggestions....but he doesnt eat much at home either.

I dont know if its that im not buying the right food or if he's sick of the food im buying. I'm just out of ideas, i dont know what to do anymore...

 

You've probably already tried this, but have you asked him what other kids bring for lunch? Is there something he has mentioned he would like to try? My children sometimes wanted expensive ready made treats and "lunchpaks", which I managed to duplicate pretty well at home for half the price (or less). For example, potato chips (which are made from potatoes, after all ) are expensive in t he lunch paks, but I bought the jumbo bags on sale and just put a small amount in sandwich bags (the no-name zip up kind to preserve freshness). For the pizza lunch paks, I was able to buy the small pizza flat breads in bulk at Sam's and I used jarred sauce (which I put into little plastic sauce containers from Indian takeout which I wash and re-use)...add some pepperoni and shredded cheese in a lunch baggie, and voila! Instant pizza for much less than the same kit bought ready made at the Supermarket!

My children also really liked Sub sandwiches like they make them at various take outs around town. I bought up sub rolls in bulk and all the fixings for the sandwiches. Then, I'd slice the sub rolls into thirds for the younger ones (half or whole for the older kids) , put in meats, lettuce, onions and pickles (you could add mushrooms! ) and a little light salad dressing. Wrap it up well in foil wrap and down intot he lunch ba it goes! I often would freeze one juice pack and use it to keep perishables cold. I'd also include a thawed but chilled juice pack. This worked great because the child has a cold juice at lunch and thent he frozen one is usually thawed by then and htey can have another if thirsty, or have it at recess later.

Hope this is helpful!

Oh another thing my children loved was carrots and celery (you would, of course, include mushrooms for Jet! ) packed with some ranch dressing or other favorite (again using takeout sauce cups with lids, washed and reused))

 

QUOTE(Nifty @ Aug 4 2007, 10:00 AM) [snapback]356917[/snapback]
You've probably already tried this, but have you asked him what other kids bring for lunch? Is there something he has mentioned he would like to try? My children sometimes wanted expensive ready made treats and "lunchpaks", which I managed to duplicate pretty well at home for half the price (or less). For example, potato chips (which are made from potatoes, after all ) are expensive in t he lunch paks, but I bought the jumbo bags on sale and just put a small amount in sandwich bags (the no-name zip up kind to preserve freshness). For the pizza lunch paks, I was able to buy the small pizza flat breads in bulk at Sam's and I used jarred sauce (which I put into little plastic sauce containers from Indian takeout which I wash and re-use)...add some pepperoni and shredded cheese in a lunch baggie, and voila! Instant pizza for much less than the same kit bought ready made at the Supermarket!

My children also really liked Sub sandwiches like they make them at various take outs around town. I bought up sub rolls in bulk and all the fixings for the sandwiches. Then, I'd slice the sub rolls into thirds for the younger ones (half or whole for the older kids) , put in meats, lettuce, onions and pickles (you could add mushrooms! ) and a little light salad dressing. Wrap it up well in foil wrap and down intot he lunch ba it goes! I often would freeze one juice pack and use it to keep perishables cold. I'd also include a thawed but chilled juice pack. This worked great because the child has a cold juice at lunch and thent he frozen one is usually thawed by then and htey can have another if thirsty, or have it at recess later.

Hope this is helpful!

Oh another thing my children loved was carrots and celery (you would, of course, include mushrooms for Jet! ) packed with some ranch dressing or other favorite (again using takeout sauce cups with lids, washed and reused))


thankyou SO much, that was very helpful...he would love some of the suggestions im thinking. monday lunches are going to be easier and if the lunch bag comes home empty then i will let you know!!

thanks again.

 

You're very welcome!

QUOTE
if the lunch bag comes home empty then i will let you know!!


I'll be looking forward to reading how things go this week! Good luck!

 

Another thing you can do if he likes (like the lunch packs Renee was talking about) is to use cookie cutters on lunch meat and cheese, or even make a sandwich and then use the cookie cutters to make a certain shape sandwich. We also do crackers, cheese and favorite lunch meat. My girls like veggies and dip too (Hidden Valley Ranch actually sells snack size ranch cups that work great for this!). You can make "mushroom wraps" with a tortilla. Just use a lot of mushrooms, and then add some turkey, cheese and mayo (or dressing). Just make sure the mushrooms are sticking out so he can see them. maybe he is just a more visual eater. if it looks more appealing to him, he may be more inclined to eat it. Not sure about the peanut code in your school, but we were alos able to do wraps with PB, and then add whatever he likes. Fluff, raisins, bananas, jelly....anything he will eat.

 

your all wonderful!
I would never have come up with any of this....thank you all soo much!
we'll see how he goes.

 

cold pizza maybe with fruit

pitta wraps with cream cheese


urm can't think of anything else haha..


amanda

 

thankyou

 

My 10 yr old is super picky. I ended up investing in a wide mouthed thermos and send mac-n-cheese or beans and weenies or soup with crackers on the side. He will also eat tuna with crackers but the tuna has to be packed separate and he puts it on the cracker himself. He loves peanut butter on Ritz crackers, Pieces of roasted chicken and a couple of slices of french bread...just not as a sandwich (go figure?). Um, that's all I can think of right now. The funny thing is that although he is picky he doesn't like to eat the same thing all the time which makes for a very hard kid to pack for!!! Good luck

-Kimberly

 

I dont know where everyone gets these great ideas, he's gonna love me tomorow at lunch, we went out and did a huge grocery shop today so we are all set for lunches tomorow.

 

so he has a sub roll with mushrooms, cheese and turkey.
he had cheese, lunch meat and ritz.
fruit and yogurt.
potato chips and a chocolate snack.

he HALF ate the roll but everything else was gone! he told me he didnt eat it all because he was full!
YAAAAAAY!!!!!

 

:banana: :a_smil09: Great job, Mumma! You've just shown your son how good school lunch can be! Excellent!
P.S. And may I add, with a selection like that disappearing, he shows every sign of losing any "finicky eater" tendencies too. DOuble WAY TO GO! :drinks:

 

Wow!! Great going Mom!! I am hoping my 2 will eat lunch well like that when school starts here.

 

I also bought some of those wide mouthed thermoses and sometimes give my kids leftover spaghetti or canned ravioli in them. Especially on cold days, it's a nice change of pace for lunch. I also went to Smart & Final (a warehouse type of store here) and bought little plastic cups and lids to use for sauces like Renee mentioned before. Sometimes I put salsa in them and give the kids some tortilla chips to go with it. My kids are not big sandwich eaters, so it's sometimes difficult to think of well-rounded lunches to give them. They do like cheese and crackers, so I'll put that in sometimes instead of a sandwich, or I've also been known to put in garlic bread leftover from dinner the night before. They all like that. One thing I haven't done, but I think I will this year is put in the makings for Caeser salad. My kids all like that, especially Sarah, so I think they'd enjoy it in their lunch. I also give them leftover pizza slices on occasion, but my son doesn't like that. I found out recently that Trader Joe's has fruit and yogurt parfaits similar to the ones they have at McDonalds, so I was thinking something like that would be nice to put in their lunches. I could probably buy larger cups with lids and make up some of those myself.

 

i will have to get Jet a thermal cup when winter is closer.

 

These are all great ideas. I'll have to get some of those thermoses too.

 

QUOTE(fourznuff @ Aug 4 2007, 11:58 PM) [snapback]358194[/snapback]
He loves peanut butter on Ritz crackers, Pieces of roasted chicken and a couple of slices of french bread...just not as a sandwich (go figure?).

I am the exact same way. I like all the ingredients, I just don't dig sandwiches. Man I hope my kid isn't like me!

 

My boys are VERY picky with food. Last year for their school lunches I made multi-grain pancakes. I used apple juice instead of water to make it sweet. sometimes I used food coloring to make them look COOL. they loved having the pancakes in their lunches. They also liked mini rice cakes...the apple cinnamin flavor. This year they want grilled cheese sandwiches. we'll see how long that lasts!

Good Luck!

 

my goodness. i have no imagination! thankyou all SO much, lunches are great.

 

OK, the boys nixed the thermoses. Apparently that would NOT be cool for middle school. :lol:

 

I bnought the girls thermos's this year also and have put raviolo's mac & cheese etc.... altough they have only taken their lunch a couple of times this year, they love sandwich's when I use a shaped cookie cutter and apple slices with carmel dip( they sell the indvidual pack of those , along with carrots & celery and ranch dip. I have to mix it up because they get very tired of the same thing.