Hot Lunch Ideas for School

Mac and cheese (or is that a no go for the kiddie); chicken fingers; thick soup or stew; swedish meatballs with noodles (microwave a frozen entree size and ladle it in); chicken fried rice. Some folks might suggest filling the thermos with hot water and stuffing a hot dog in it...but I wouldn't do that for a kindergartener too good a chance of spilling. Any microwave meal that she loves is easy to nuke and put in a thermos. I always fill our girls thermos with really hot almost boiling water for about 5 minutes before putting in the food---helps keep it toasty.

My Dad remembers having baked potatoes in his pockets on the way to school to keep his hands warm. He said they would be warm enough to eat by lunch time. I imagine that old fashioned heating device still works today. If your daughter likes baked potatoes, that could be her vegetable course and the rest of the food in the lunch box would stay warm, too.

Kraft has some lunch ideas: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Budget/Lunches/BudgetLunches...

We also pour water from a boiling tea kettle into the thermos' and wait a few minutes, dump out, dry and then fill with the food. It stays warm for hours! My kids favorites: buttered noodles, lentil soup, chicken nuggets (include a little bin of ketchup or packets left-over from take-out); My daughter stuffed a pot pie into her thermos this morning and said it was super tasty!!

What about some soups or stews in a thermos? Do they sell little heater pads for lunch boxes, like they do for baking dishes? That might be one way to go, and then your options are limitless, depending on your daughter's tastes.