Ideas for Packing Healthy Lunches

A.,
My lifesaver was buying a thermos! I detest packing lunches - I know, I know.....it's not that tough! - but I just do, especially making sandwiches! So I finally bought a little thermos and now I make soup or macaroni or spaghetti every morning. For some reason, it just seems easier to me, and my kiddos love having a hot lunch. Maybe it's easier because I don't have to think of five other things to put in there, since the hot lunch fills them up. One thing, I'm done. They've even taken pulled pork bbq in it with a bun on the side to make their own sandwich at school.
J.

A.-
Here are a few things I used to send with my son. My son does not eat bread/sandwiches. So, at 11 he gets tuna cup/lunch meat/egg salad, etc. Yogurt, cheese, water, some crunchy/salty item (he loves pirate's booty or veggie fries), fruit, veggie and sometimes a small sweet.

Whole grain corn Chips & Salsa
Hummus and Pita Chips
Bagels & Cream Cheese
Apple slices and pb
celery filled with pb and raisins on top (ants on a log)
celery filled with cream cheese
string cheese/cheese cubes
gogurts or yogurt
tangerines (Li'l Cuties), grapes (age dependent)
baby carrots, cherry tomatos, or celery and ranch dressing
Flavored rice cakes or plain with something to go on top (otherwise like eating styrofoam peanuts)

S.

My kiddos love anything rolled up in a tortilla. They think it's fun and call them "pinwheels", like "can I have a peanut butter pinwheel?" I have also rolled up turkey and shredded carrots with some ranch dressing.

Grapes travel well in lunches and every once in a while, I will tuck a cookie or two in there for them. They love the surprise of seeing it.

You may want to include the snack cup sizes of applesauce or fruit and we prefer pretzels to chips. You can also cut up some cheese into small chunks. Hope this helps!

When I used to pack a lunch for my daughter at preschool, I used several mini containers. Or you could use one container with several different compartments. The reason is because I think it makes it more fun to pack. "Now what should I put in this one.....?"

Some things I would pack were
turkey and cheese slices rolled together
turkey or ham cubed and cheese cubed
left over chicken from the night before

cherry tomatoes
cherry tomatoes and cucumbers in a little Italian dressing
baby carrots
fresh green beans or sugar snap peas with veggie dip

grapes
pineapple chunks
mandarin orange slices

crackers

I always packed a water, but every once in a while I would send a juice. I also put a sticker in her lunch.

She never ate everything. When I would pick her up she would either eat the rest on the way home or when we got home. I think there was too much excitement knowing that after they ate they would go outside and play. But after school she was famished and that's why she would finish it.

Raisin bread sandwiches with peanut butter or cheese.
Mini Bagels with cheese or peanut butter.
Plain noodles with different sauces your child likes to dip into..
Fruit salad.

Home cooked turkey or chicken cut up in small chunks that he can eat with his fingers, fruit he likes, wheat thins or something he likes.

leftovers from dinner the night before.

homemade mac and cheese.

slices of cheese, applesauce, dry cheerios.

How about peanut butter and banana or apple or honey & raisins vs. PBJ? How about making your own trail mix with your choice of seeds, nuts, etc. Change it and add something new or try different combos, different dried fruits, etc.

How about a wrap of meat & cheese or even make a small wrap with a vegetable tortilla. You should also be able to find recipes for granola. Make it a project for the TWO of you, not just you. The more you get kids involved in trying new things, cooking, making healthy choices, the better. THREE is the best time to start!

I also have some recipes for a peanut butter spread with crushed pineapple in it that my kids used to LOVE when I taught preschool. Odd combo, but good. GREAT on celery. How about a combo of p.b., honey & raisins or other dried fruit in some celery?

Lots of kids like edemamme, too (that spelling doesn't looks right). You'd be surprised at what kids will eat if given the opportunity to try it!

My son gets a half sandwich of the 98% fat free bologna and some
cheese. I don't know that he's ever eaten the bread, but they say he enjoys taking it apart to eat the bologna and cheese!
We use one single container and fill the other half with goldfish or some kind of cracker or pretzels. And also stick in some kind of fruit. Usually raisins but right now we're doing banana chips. We do dried fruit so it won't get all over his sandwich but that's because the fridge gets full at his school and I try to keep it simple to the one container.

J goes to MDO too and I let him pick between 2 or 3 different options. We don't send Vienna Sausages anymore because he thinks they feel cool and just sits and squishes them. I don't buy the food from the baby food isle I get them from the soup/pasta isle so they are more filling and more adult like. He can choose from single servings of Spaghettios, Mini Ravioli's, ABC's in Tomato Sauce, etc...they are getting to be better nutrition and have more goodness in them. I buy the Chef Boyardee, Campbells, name brands because I trust them. I put in a single serving of fruit like Mandarin Oranges, Pear Bits, Peach tidbits, etc...the teachers just have to drain them a bit and he can pick the chunks up by himself. I also add a cheese stick and a juice box.

Here's my thinking:

Food Pyramid: Grains 1 serving=pasta, vegtable1 serving=tomato sauce and some have bits of carrots in the sauce, fruit 2 servings=mandarin oranges and 100% fruit juice to drink, dairy=cheese stick.

I feel like it's a good selection that covers a lot of ground. I pop in a napkin and a plastic spoon and put it in a paper sack or his lunch bag with instructions that I don't want any food returned to me. There are tons of selections out there for single servings.

If you have one that doesn't like sandwiches, just send the meat and cheese separately like Lunchables. My grandmother used to roll up a slice and stick a toothpick in it and my sister loved it! I'd also look for fruit cups as well as fresh fruit. Sometimes the packaging is what's appealing to kids because they feel "big" if they can open it and such themselves. Also, my kids liked their "sandwiches" better rolled up in a tortilla instead of bread, too. We did PB and J, sometimes flavored cream cheese and a slice of turkey and cheese! Just experiment and even let your child help!

blueberry, or grapes
turkey
string cheese or drinkable yogarts
carrots

this is what my kids eat in the van when we are on the go.

crackers and cheese
cottage cheese
cut up apple slices
pineapple chunks
cut up chicken breast
vanilla wafers with peanut butter
yogurt drinks
cheese cubes from the block
boiled egg
fresh fruit cut up
trisquits with creme cheese
frozen sweet corn (it will thaw and be cold...my kids love it)
tortilla's rolled up with pb&j, pizza sauce and pepperoni, creme cheese a little cinnamon and sugar/thinly sliced apple...
carrot sticks
lean ham slices rolled with cheese

I do a lot of what the other mothers mentioned below (turkey/chicken chunks, vegetable and fruit chunks, dried fruit, etc.). I pack most everything into one container, and use a few silicone muffin cups to keep everything separated. Presentation has a lot to do with how my daughter will eat her lunch, so I make little kabobs on toothpicks with the chicken and cheese, vegetable or fruit chunks (chicken and pineapple - YUM!); roll a slice of salami around a small wedge of cheese, etc.

Even though it would drive most adults nuts, I've found that my daughter will ask for (and eat) the same thing for days on end and love it.