Lunch and Healthy Snacks (Nut Free) to Take to School

Hi A.,

I have te same problem with my 5 year old and I am always looking for healthy ideas as well. one thing that seems to work for us is yogart. I send it in the lunch box with an ice pack. My son is also into fruit, so I try to send a lot of that too. a banana, grapes or apple slices I put a little bit of cinnamon sugar on the apples to keep them from being brown.

W.

A.,

Cheese is good for them, as well as crackers. Anything you might put on crackers too, would be good.

Maybe an avocado dip?

Veggie spears for the older, veggie shapes for the younger (circles - carrots, triangles and arcs - cucumbers, cheese squares, radish half moons, you get the idea)

Also, soynut butter and jelly 'dips' for crackers would be fun too, I think.

You might have to try these out at home to get them used to them, then maybe they would request them for their lunches? :)

If they are eating lunch meats (not saying they should - another story, you could try 'roll ups' with cheese.

Rolls might be an alternative too, to get them a little bread in their diet (don't think it's necessary, but hey!)

Really, anything you might eat at home, in different shapes and sizes, takes on a new persona when at school - other kids don't have this stuff. :)

Good LUck,
M.

My son also didnt eat sandwiches and my lunch/time-saver was gogurt. i'd take it out of the freezer before school and it would be sufficiently defrosted by lunchtime. His sides consisted of baby carrots and a few pretzel stix. Sometimes he'd have a sliced apple sprayed with lemon juice to retard the browning, in a tupperware container.

Just remember ... as my pediatrician said 'somehow they turn out ok,' when I'd complain about my picky eaters.

My daughter eats just about everything, but her school is nut free. I just bought her a little thermos and you can put ANYTHING in it. We sometimes put Mac & Cheese in it. Or soup... You can even put spaghetti in it!

Dear A.,

I own a preschool and before I implemented a food program some moms would send in left over dinners warmed up and put into a thermos. It is not uncommon for kids to not like sandwiches at that age. Some moms would put chicken nuggets in the thermos, soup, mac and cheese,etc. Pretzels, carrots sticks dipped in ranch dressing, goldfish, crackers and cheese, yogurt, are all healthy snacks. Most schools are nut free so that should help out. Ask the director if they are not nut free how they monitor meals. I am asking because preschoolers sometimes will grab food from their friends and that can be a disaster if a child with allergies gets a hold of something they shouldn't have. Just a suggestion. Good luck!

I freeze string cheese and go-gurts(not that go-gurt is really healthy) and toss them in the lunch boxes...they're still cold but not frozen by lunchtime...we also do apple slices tossed with cinnamon, carrot sticks with ranch dressing(or peanut butter...but you said no nuts...I don't know if you meant just tree nuts or all)applesauce cups,fruit cups, raisins and yogurt covered raisins, dried fruit(my answer to the fruit snack)and I also make banana,blueberry and pumpkin muffins but I make them in the mini muffin tins and freeze them(yeah, I love my freezer)and I pull out two and toss them in each of their lunchs(lasts longer/stays fresher this way). Also they eat cream cheese bagels, crackers with cheese, tortilla rolled with cheese and deli meat...

My daughter stopped eating her favorite veggie sandwiches a few weeks ago. So, I pack several small containers of fruits, whole grain crackers, cucumber slices, etc

Every so often I do pack a sandwich (especially when time runs short to find the containers and lids and then pack several different foods)- and when she's really hungry - she does eat the sandwich!

Kristen

My daughter was not a sandwich eater until very recently, so for the past two years she's been taking cereal for lunch every day. She, luckily, likes the nutritious, low-sugar kinds, and I alternated a variety of those. I included a thermos of milk along with a couple of extras such as fruit, carrot sticks, yogurt, cheese sticks...

My little one LOVES rice. One really filling lunch is to stir a thick soup (she likes beef stew) and some grated cheddar cheese into a bowl of rice and heat it up.

She also likes "onigiri" - rice balls with stuff on top. You might want to check out lunchinabox.net for some more ideas.

My kid' biggest meal choice is lunch meat roll ups. My kids wouldn't eat a sandwich for the longest time, so I would give them the meat and cheese and they would roll it and eat it that way. Another thing they love is crackers and cheese. Also for lunch try getting them a good thermosthat really keeps things warm and send them with mac and cheese, chicken nuggets or anything else that they can easily eat. Veggies with ranch dip is always a hit or fruit with yogurt to dip it in. I know that nut free iw really hard. My son has a peanut allergy and it is tough because peanut butter is an easy and healthy snack. Nut free is tough, not only is it a pain at home, but my son's preschool "mommies" used to coplain to me that because of Ryan their child wan not allowed to brig peanut butter to school. That really made me mad. How would they like to hear "because you child brought peanut butter to school, my son's throat swelled shot".
I know this can be the expensive choice, but try taking them food shopping with you. You can then suggest new things there and see what their reaction is. I know grogery shopping with the kids is not always fun, but it might be better to see if they will try something before you buy it. good Lucki

How about cheese, crackers, and apple slices?

Hi A.
I hope that their experience with school are fun and encourage learning.
Since I was a preschool teacher for many years I can tell you to give them what they have at home. If you serve crackers, give crackers, if you serve tuna on the plate, find a container they can open. Does that make sense?
Do not send a pkg of donuts? Kids don't share, or should I say most preschool teachers do not encourage sharing. Your child would have 5 donuts for lunch, and the teacher says what kind of mom does that?
The more they can do on their own the better so check to see if they can do what you send. Teachers help but there are lots of kids needing help so if they can do it they can simply start eating. Prepkged anything is hard for them to open, and they are used to one-on-one help, so unless you have a different situation than I taught they get restless waiting no matter how fast the teacher is trying to go. Also tell them to just put it all back in their lunchbox and you will clean it up. Why? it tells you what they ate and what they left. It tells you why they may be hungry and why they may not. It tells you what to send again and what not. Also it saves them alot of trouble cleaning up their space.
Just a few observations for my years of experience in class and with my own.
God bless you and trust they are having a great time learning
K. SAHM married 38 years 4 adult children 37 entrepreneur, 32 lawyer married with our first grandbaby, and the twin girls are 18 and in college after years of homeschooling.

Hi A.~
Try carrot sticks with some ranch dressing or celery sticks the same way. Cheese, meat slices, yogurt, hard boiled eggs and crackers are good ones, too. If you do the eggs, have them ready to eat by peeling them at home this way there are no shells to accidentally eat.
I never really had this with my children. They knew that no special meals were prepared and we all ate the same thing at dinner time. That is how my mother did it, and that is what I did, too.
Good luck to you.
J.~

I bought a little canteen at Target. My daughter won't eat sandwiches either. I send her with macaroni with butter, macaroni with cheese, a "brooklyn" bagel even soup. The canteen keeps things warm for 5 hours. So you heat it in the AM and it's still warm when he opens it at school. Good snacks would be a granola bar, fruit cups, applesauce - I send pretzels, cheez-its and even weight watcher snacks - I love weight watchers. Anyway, hoped this helped and good luck to you!

little yogurts, little fruit cups... cut up veggies... all work good.

When my kids went through that picky eater stage, I made little snack bags of things for them to combine on their own. I cut turkey slices into circles and cheese squares into circles and put some ritz type crackers into a bag, I also put ham or even the occasional bologna in different shapes with croutons, shredded cheese, string cheese, apple shapes, a smidge of peanut butter or yogurt for dipping, carrot shavings and celery pieces with ranch or spinach dips. I put tuna fish in a container with some sweet relish and a dab of mayonaise and let them eat it with a spoon or put it on the crackers too. If I had soda crackers in their lunch, I made squares so they fit the cracker better.

Sometimes,I would send a piece of toast, a small container of pizza sauce, and shredded cheese for them to make their own pizza. I don't agree with pepperoni as it's basically fat, but it does hold well until lunch. If I wanted them to have a veggie pizza, I put sourcream and small diced veggies pieces in with the toast.

Unbelievable as it seems, my picky eaters were the only ones to eat all their lunch and without complaint - or so the daycare/school reported! It's not so much the food as it was the ability to decide for themselves how and what to do with the fun shapes.

Good luck with yours! I hope this was helpful!

My son won't eat sandwiches either, so I heat up food and send in a thermos. The teacher makes fun of me, says most kids have sandwiches while my son goes to school with rice and steak for lunch. I also send 2 or 3 snacks, usually a yogurt, one fruit and either gold fish, crackers, little muffins, pretzels, or something along those lines. I toss them in a lunch bag with an ice pack.

Try making wraps or pinwheels (take a tortilla or wrap shell, put whatever on it, cream cheese, ham, cheese, turkey, lettuce) roll it up, and then cut into bit sized pinwheels. I make these as a snack for my extended family and most are gone before i even get the plate to the table! Also try cut up cheese, crackers, and sliced pepperoni or other meat. or tuna salad and crackers. yogurts, cut up fruit, cut up veggies with dip. even left over pizza (always a favorite)There are so many options and sandwiches don't have to be the staple of a good lunch. hope this helps along with all of the other great advise you have been receiving.