Just Do the School Lunches?

Get a wide mouth thermos and put his pasta in there. You can also put chicken nuggets, soup, noodles, and anything else that needs to be kept warm in the thermos.
My daughter prefers left overs, so we make extra and send it to school with her the next day. Today she had pasta. Tomorrow she'll have meatloaf. Friday she'll have fried rice.
If he likes jelly on bread, send it. You want him to eat something!!
Send what he likes.
Don't bother with the school lunch -- it's a waste.
LBC

I know there are lots of books regarding healthy lunch options but in reality my kids would not eat most of those. For my son, I had to make jelly sandwiches most of the time (didn't like peanut butter). Then I would also buy lunch meat that was sliced thick so I could make him a homemade "lunchable" but with meat, cheese, and crackers he actually ate (and it cost less). Then he also buy lunches too. For my daughter, who just started school, I let her buy lunch some and when the choices are not items she will eat, I fix her either a peanut butter sandwich (only likes jelly on toast not her PB sandwich) or a cheese sandwich. She will also eat tuna but she's only 4 and not good spreading it on the sandwich and I think it would be too soggy to make it ahead so for now, she has limited options.

I have volunteered at my kid's school.

My tip:
Just pack what you KNOW your son will eat.
Because... if he does not eat... he will not have anything, in his tummy, from breakfast time and until he comes home. A kid, cannot function like that nor when hungry and without anything in their system. They can get, Hypoglycemic....

I have seen MANY MANY kids who do NOT eat their home lunches... no matter how hungry they are, BECAUSE what is packed for them is not what they like. Hence, they just go without food. That is not good.

Save your "healthy" foods for him at home and once he is home, you can feed him things from across the food-pyramid.

At school and for school, just pack what you KNOW he WILL eat.
If it is the same thing everyday, so what.
Main thing, is that he eats something, at school.
That is a long day to go... without food.
Sure the home lunch can be healthy. I am not saying pack junk food.
Just pack what you know, your son will eat.

Or yes, have him try the school lunches.

My son is picky. At preschool he ate the same home lunch everyday. So what. He ate. It was a sandwich. I explained to the Teachers. No big deal to them. You just EXPLAIN to your son's Teachers.

But at school... my son, now, is eating the school lunches. I know. He tells me and I am often at the school during lunch to help. My kids' school lunches ARE healthy. So of course, I don't mind my kids eating their cafeteria food.
So I KNOW he is eating, there. Not starving since breakfast and until he comes home after school.

Do not worry about making all fancy cutesy buffet home-lunches for him to take to school. Just be practical. Pack what you KNOW he will eat.
I have seen it all.... and all the assorted lunches Moms pack for their kids. But the kid does not eat. Even if hungry.
I even ask the kids why they are not eating their home lunch. And they say "I don't like what my Mommy packed.... I told her what I like. But I don't get that."

Main thing is that your son had food he will eat, at school.
Or a kid cannot concentrate or last, all day without anything in their tummy until they get home from school.

At HOME... is where you experiment and see, with your son, what he will eat for school home lunches.
Don't do this, at school for his lunches... until you know he will eat what you pack.

my kids aren't big on lunch meat either...but they DEVOUR chicken salad wraps.

take canned all white meat chicken....rinse it really good. "shred it up" between your fingers while putting it into a bowl.
add onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper and a little salt.
mix it with 1/2 mayo, 1/2 miracle whip.
put a strip in center( just off to one side) of a tortilla, and roll it up like a burrito.
cut it in half if you'd like (for some reason the kids say they taste better cut in 1/2) lol

nice thing is...you can make a weeks worth in one sitting, and they last all week!

I don't think I would let my son eat school lunches, but I also wouldn't be comfortable with him eating just jelly on bread everyday. Have you tried less traditional things in his lunch? My son doesn't mind cold leftovers. He gets mac and cheese, leftover pasta, leftover veggies, etc. He also likes cheese and crackers, or crackers with sunflower butter, sometimes PB&J with sunflower butter, yogurt, apple sauce, cut up fruit of any kind (grapes, apple, peach, melon, etc), cherry tomatoes, hummus and pita (he loves to dip), edamame, etc. Just try to be creative and give him several options.

Maybe invest in a system like the planet lunch box or the laptop lunch box and send a variety everyday. The nice thing about these is that you get to see what comes back each day and you might be surprised. My son has the laptop lunchbox and I love it. It has 4 containers in it and each day he gets at least 4-6 different things to choose from. You might want to check out weelicious.com for some good recipes and ideas. If you are on facebook you can find weelicious there too and she posts a picture of her son's lunch everyday, so you might be able to get some good ideas.

Use sunflower butter instead, maybe, and let the school know you are doing so in advance. Would they allow that?

Have you watched Jamie Oliver's programs about changing the quality of school lunches? Eye opening.
I fully disagree with your friend. The stuff they offer kids is not healthy or balanced. Chicken nuggets are made from bones and bi products after everythng healthy is removed. What kind of milk? Chocolate, strawberry or white. White loses out most of the time.
All this money saving junk they serve leads to obesity. I would have him brown bag it, and if he doesn't eat what you send with him, he'll be real hungry. Either he learns to adjust his taste buds or it'll be a long while til dinner. I wouldn't give him $ for school either except in an emergency or as a reward for eating what you give him. I'd practice at home. There are also those Oscar Meyer lunchmates. But again it isn't the most healthy stuff.

Try sunflower butter or soy nut butter (Trader Joe's carries both - DH's cousin's highly peanut-allergic daughter can eat either of them). Also maybe see if he'd like cream cheese with jelly as a sandwich. Will he eat cheese sticks or yogurt? You can partially freeze the yogurt tubes so they'll still be cold at lunch time.
good luck!

He needs a protein, so if you do jelly sandwiches, also send along a yogurt or cheese stick.
I hate buying lunch meat because it is so expensive. I like to make a large tray of baked chicken breast (split breast) then we might eat some for dinner that night and the rest I clean off the bone and use for chicken salad, chicken tortilla wraps or just put chucks of chicken in with some cheese and crackers for lunches.....like a homemade lunchable and sometimes with pepperoni too.
Along with some fruit, carrot sticks etc.
My kids also like homemade meatballs leftover (even cold if the school doesnt' heat stuff.
FYI - my kids do NOT like school food - not even on pizza day anymore. The veggies are canned overcooked and "yucky" per my kids.

Well, one suggestion is to use SunButter from sunflower seeds. If the school doed not have a nut restriction, almond or cashew butter is tasty. There is even soy nut butter, not the greatest, but my picky kid will eat it if it is with jelly
You can boost nutritional value and change it up to expand his horizons by using a healthy baked granola, sliced bananas, 9 grain bread, some ground flax seed, etc. Change only one small thing at a time.
My super picky kid at the age of four, ate such a small amount of things he was anemic and sick all the time. So, everyday we tried to give him new things, even the same one over and over, until he would try a bite. Trying one bite got him a sticker on his Reward Board toward the little Cars cars he loves. It worked but it took patience and a while! I also find kids will eat more stuff when they go to someone elses house. And at the grocery store, if the sample lady has it in a cute cup or on a toothpick, its like magic, lol!
Other lunch items that travel well...cold pizza (we make our own healthier), hummus and pita wth any sliced veggie he will eat, yogurt tubes frozen that thaw for lunch. Bento style lunches are great for picky eaters to give them little piles of bunches of stuff in cups/containers. The lunch balances out that way...I may send cheese cubes, pita triangles, cherry tomatoes and a dish of grapes or sliced apple. There are many websites with TONS of these ideas.
Good luck!

You can do sunflower butter - I think that is ok. My son, who was picky, had to have packed lunches until about 4th grade, when he started eating what everyone else did. I think you son will likely eat the school lunch if that is all he is offered though! Maybe try the school lunch and see what the teachers report.

Personally, I do not do school lunches. It's none of the school's business what you choose to send your child for lunch, so don't worry about it.

What do you feed him at home and why can't he take it to school? Send him what he likes so you know that he's not going hungry.

A friend has a child with peanut allergies. She buys a no nuts peabutter. Its in stores, more expensive, but might be an option for you :) Just inform the school that is what you use and maybe it will be fine.

We didn't do school lunches here, expensive and not really healthy. I agree that jelly on bread is not a healthy lunch but you can't get "in trouble" with school, you do not report to them. They don't get to tell you what your kid can and can't eat, except the peanut butter. Your son can take hot foods like mac and cheese, soup, etc in a thermos. Will he eat cold foods like yogurt, string cheese sticks, etc? He may not care for lunch meats, but what about dinner leftovers.

Taking a sack lunch doesn't HAVE to involve sandwich. You could pack a SNACK lunch....cheese and crackers, grapes, apple, banana, yogurt, juicebox, veggies and dip, even soup or macs and cheese Get an insulated lunchbox with an ice-pack and a little thermos for hot things. Be creative and let him pick from a variety of "snacks" that are all good for him to take in his lunch. If he is involved in the choices, he is more likely to eat it. As long as it is good for him, why worry about what school thinks....he's your child! Jelly on some really vitamin packed bread might be better than some of the lunches served in the schools. My kids never liked the school lunches. They took a sack-snack lunch all the way through highschool. The school lunches were yucky and expensive. As for him... what are is friends doing about lunch? Are they bagging it or taking school lunch? He probably wouldn't want to be the only one either school lunching OR the only one sack-snacking it. Anyway, the goal is for him to have a lunch he likes and will eat. I hope this helps!

Jelly sandwich fine... Kids are picky. I bought a thermos at target for kids lunches.. I put raviolis, spaghetti o's, chicken nuggets.. Even a lean pocket cut up in thermos. Sides I have are frozen yogurt tubes thaw by lunch, apple sauces, carrots, cereal bars, and crackers and cheese.
Best luck!
L.

There is a book, Healthy Lunch box or something like that with lots of ideas and recipies.

a jelly sandwich isn't fab, but if you pack side dishes that he likes ti should be fine, i doubt the school would even realize.

i have volunteered at a small school and was APALLED at what some parents sent. Cheetoz and a can of Mountain Dew is NOT a lunch for a 5 year old. Neither is whitebread, bologna the kid throws out, and a hostess snack cake. At least with that lunch they brought water to drink. Come on people, and I might give you a break ONCE if you run out of groceries or something came up but routinely??

You can send other things. Get a good thermos pck him a hot dog, mac and cheese, soups, leftovers, spagehetti and meatballs, etc. Eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt and fruit, bagel. Get creative. When my oldest gets school lunch he gets a sandwich....$2.50 for a sandwich!

I'm a lunch mom at school. I see some kids with the same food day in and day out but it gets eaten. Try a thermos but remember it doesn't really keep food hot but just warm. A lot of kids bring crackers and cheese and veggies or leftovers. You could try chocolate spread or cheese spread as well as jelly or honey. Try pita bread or wraps or bagels - at least that will change up the sandwich on the outside!!The school may have rules about what not to bring (nuts, candy, pop etc) but if he wants the same thing every day they will not have an issue with it.
School lunches are not great and are mostly processed meat which lots of parents don't approve of - nuggets, sausage, burgers etc so I would avoid them for now and experiment with home stuff.
Also remember that most schools only allow a max of 30 minutes to eat (ours have 22 mins from the time they come in to the time they leave, so make sure you pack stuff that he can open and eat easily!!)

I substitute teach a lot and there's a wide variety of what children bring.

If you don't want to send jelly daily, look at the menu and let him choose what days to buy lunch.

I see a lot of thermos's with noodles, soups, leftovers from the night before, butter sandwiches, etc.

My daughter loves salads. On days she didn't like tge lunch choice shed take salad.

Play it by ear. He might even try new things from the lunch line if his friends are doing it!!

Good luck!