Lunch Suggestions

OMG ..everyone said lunchables, which I was going to suggest. Also, the "squat" thermos.. it looks like a bowl basically.. holds hot dogs cut into slices, nuggets like everyone said...
I have similar issuse with my stepsons. They stay with us on the weekends, and let me tell you nugget, hotdog, and pizza are always on the menu. Once in awhile I can sneak in a spaghetti and meatball.

Hi T. - Does you son like pasta? Try sending ziti noodles, (or any other shape that makes him happy) with sauce or butter in an insulated thermos. You can also do the same with mac & cheese if he'll eat that. I give my kids double noodle chicken soup from campbells. I drain out the soup and just give them the noodles. Have you tried any of the chef boyaredee items? How about the pasta sides from Knorr. It's usually in the aisle as the mac & cheese. They have all kinds of pasta with different sauces that you can make and put in the thermos. My duaghter is picky too. She'll eat something at home but if I send it for school lunch she'll throw a fit saying "I only like this at home, not school!" Hope some of these suggestions help. Best to ya. N.

Aaaahh...the lunch dilemma. I have bought this insulated small bowl and send my son with chefboyardee meals, left over hotdogs, nuggets from dinner the night before...fish sticks...pizza bites, stew, etc...it has been a saving grace as my son also does not eat sandwiches at lunch. Be creative an even ask him what he wants for lunch so that he will eat it!! Hope this helps.

Hi, everyone else is suggesting Lunchables. Great idea. I like the suggestion for the Insulated Thermos. I send at least 3 "hot" meals a week for my picky 9 year old. I make her favorite, pasta. I boil spinach, or broccoli in water. Remove it and boil the pasta right in the spinach/broccoli water. She doesn't eat red sauce, so I whip the pasta in parmesan cheese, and spoon it in the thermos. I send lightly buttered bread, a piece of fruit, and something sweet, and a Juice box. Dinner is as much a challenge. I have found many good snacks in the Baby Food isle of the Supermarket, I also make a Pedi-Sure Milkshake (Pedi-Sure & Ice Cream)If nutrition is the problem, these ideas are good. Sometimes I send last nights dinner for Lunch. I make homemade chicken soup (with peas, carrots, corn, rice, potatoes, funny shaped pasta, chicken broth, string beans (buy the frozen mixed vegetables, etc) Campbell's makes a huge variety of Soups! Soups are filling. (you can even add your own ingredients to canned soup, (pasta, potatoes, rice, etc) Keep on trying things (tomato soup cooked with milk instead of water), and a cheese sandwich on Potato Bread (yea, sometimes it's the bread that makes a difference). Try a sandwich on a Crossiant. Always try to be creative. Yuk to Bologna...try very thin sliced turkey, or ham. Shred some lettuce make a sandwich with very little meat, a pinch of lettuce and some shredded cheese. Make those sandwiches FUN!! Try making little sandwiches on Bisquits! Ritz Cracker sandwiches are fun! Pita Bread and those pita pockets (use your imagination to stuff those)!! I even let my daughter make her own sandwich for school sometimes! How great would that make your son feel!!! Let him participate in making his Lunch, and choosing the sandwich he wants! Let him choose "things" for his Lunch in the Supermarket, too...Watch how excited he'll become to make and eat his Lunch!

I worried about whether she was getting enough nutrients so I use to buy the baby food & (the desserts, I would spoon fruit on a small piece of pound cake add alittle whipped cream), I even enjoyed that myself. Try using cute little colorful containers with lids. Maybe he's a visual child? What about egg salad? Cheese and Crackers, Grapes cut into small pieces, Apples cut into small pieces, Applesauce, Pudding Cups, The list goes on.

I think I finally got my picky eater under control, with years of out-smarting her...Keep in touch!

Hi, I work in a school and often have lunchroom duty. Don't worry. Most kids in the lower grades (pre-k thu 3) ditch their lunches. There is so much going on around them that they just don't eat. Some have snacks in the classroom mid morning and just don't want lunch. I have told a few parents not to send such massive lunches as sandwiches, snack, juice, fruit, chips. The kids just don't eat them. A sandwich and juice is great with a small snack. These kids are in a rush to go outside and play. If your son will eat a yogurt, carrot sticks or celery, a cold drumstick, a cut up chicken cutlet or any other light meal it might be better. Please believe me I have never come across a child who lost weight or felt weak because he didn't eat all his lunch. Just look for the something he likes. Maybe he'd be like one of those meal shakes in a can. Please don't worry. The breakfast you send him off to school with is the most important meal he'll have till dinner with the family. Is he complaining about being hungry? Visit his lunch room and see what happens there. He is like alot of his schoolmates. Let him choose something he'll eat. Maybe a lunchable would make him want to eat more. Kids love those. They think it's a real treat. Your a great mom for being concerned but I really think this is a minor phase. The older kids eat their lunch with no problem (outside of trading). They are used to the noise and confusion around them.

Please don't worry. He'll be fine.

Good luck.

Hi T.
my 8 year old son is a very picky eater he's another one that only likes pizza burgers and an occasional hot dog. I send him with a bagel and chesse,or lunchables. let your son pick them out and try that or tell him what would he like on his bagel wrap it up good and send him on his way.i hope it works Lilian

Hi, I have the same problem my son is 7 and in the First grade and is a VERY picky eater, your lucky he eats the chicken nuggets and cheeseburger my doesn't but I found a way around it. I only let him buy lunch on fridays because it's pizza day and pizza is one of his favorite food. For the rest of the week I will send him baby carrots and pepporonie slices in two small containers. I found that he likes popcorn chicken with bb-que sauce. so I wa
rm up the popcorn chicken in the morning and he has an insulated luchbox. I send the pop corn chicken with the sauce in a different container so he can dip it. I do the same with noodles with butter. I warm it up in the morning and send it over with grated cheese on the side. I also will send him a bagel with butter and some grapes or fruit snakes. I make sure he eats a good breakfast about 20 minutes before he walks out the door and when he comes home from school he has a snake usually french fries and I will have it heated up and ready for him as soon as he gets home from school. I notice this works well for us. With the good breakfast and a good snack he's really not that hungry on the days he doesn't eat what I send for lunch.

When my son was as young as yours he was very very picky, so I use to send him with a baggy of dry cereal to eat and a container of milk... :)

Hi T.,
I was heating up chicken nuggets before my daughter got on the bus in the morning and put them in tin foil ... they stayed pretty warm as she had lunch around 11:20 at school. My daughter also gives me a hard time with the lunch meats but I showed her how fun the lunchables are and she liked them. It is just crackers and some lunch meat. For some reason that is DIFFERENT to them then you actually putting crackers and lunch meat together for them...I don't understand but I know she wouldn't eat it if I sent it not in a lunchable box. Hope this helps...Take care, Jen

what about luhcables. have u tried them? they arent that expensive, u can get them right in the grocery store and they dont have to be heated up. they are ready to go whenever u want to eat them. good luck and if my suggestion doesnt help, i hope u find one that does.

I would try sending lunchables....my daughter is sometimes the sameway at school. but she loves it when I send her to school with lunchables becuse she can put her lunch together herself and eat it the way she likes it. I just wouldn't reccommend sending him with the "pizza lunchable" becuse that makes a really big mess, I found that one out the hard way with the pizza sauce. I buy all of the lunchables for her to take to school, she just doesn't take the pizza one with her. there easy to put together and no need to heat up.and pretty easy to clean up too. And there healthy they have fruit with them and juice. completely healthy.

i hope i helped.

How about yogurt, or string cheese???

Does your son like just jelly sandwiches? Does he like some veggies that you can put with his lunch or some fruits? My oldest son, three, likes jelly sandwiches, but I recently found out he doesn't like grap jelly. He likes strawberry jelly. Banana is good, but does he get constipated. My boys don't, but they love it. I just found out that my second son, two, likes green papers that was sliced, pickles that wer sliced and tomatoes, but it was thin and sliced and broken up. He's a little if-y about that still. That is okay and to get them to try something new to makes sure they are really hungry and then you can tell if they like that thing of not and especially if they are picky eaters. Let us know how it goes.

Hi T.
My son likes chicken nuggets with ketchup. I buy the perdue dinosaurs and put the ketchup in a little tiny plastic container. I just heat then in the oven the night before. He likes them cold. Also the lunchables are a good option. They have mini hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza.
Good luck.
Pasta salad is another one my son will eat.
S.

Ditto on the lunchables, I would at least include that once or twice a week. My son loved them. In addition, there is one that has nuggets--you can heat up in the morning and I would place them in the thermos. It would keep until lunch

Try some lunchables my 5 year old loves them!! They have all sorts of fun stuff.

does he like cheese? cheese sandwhiches are good peanut butter & fluff is great. hmm i know my girls won't eat pbj but love butter instead of jelly. pack some good treats like carrots & dip or snack bars minds freezing here but there is alot of choices

Hi T.~

My 6 year old is a VERY picky eater. She won't eat sandwhiches at all, so in the morning I fix her easy mac and cheese and put it in a thermos or warm up soup and put that in a thermos (with just a little bit of the liquid) and she loves it. Have you tried peanut butter and fluff?

Oh, and sometimes instead of making sandwiches, I make her "sandwiches" on crackers which seems to go over well.

Good luck...

Lunchables are usually a hit!

In the meantime, I would suggest that while you're at the grocery store, you have your son pick out lunch foods and be involved with packing his lunches.

Good luck!

My daughter is difficult when it comes to lunches as well, we have found a few things that work, she has a thermous and takes mac and cheese in that, also she likes vienna sausages... they are so easy.... (they are canned hotdogs in beef broth with a pop top) I just send the can with her and she opens it at lunch... before she could shed ask someone in the lunch room to help her. Also shed rather have plain peanut butter sandwiches, or peanut butter crackers, I talked to her dr about that since I felt guilty sending peanut butter crackers but she eats them better.... he said shes still getting grain and protine the grain is just in a differant form. we also send peanuts so that she can munch on a few of those.... not sure if this will help if you son doesnt like pb.. Lunchables also work great, I make my own only I dont include the candy.

A thermous would give a lot of flexiblity though if he likes soups, casseroles, or mac and cheese.

HTH

S.

T., I have the same problem between the two boys. I hav etaken them to the store and spent over an hour in there one day just to see what they may want and with cafeful consideration and alot of negotiating, we narrowed it down to lunchables. Let them pick it out. I hope what little advice this is, it helps.
H.

My best friends mother use to send them to school with hot dogs. Use a thermos full of hot water and put the hot dog in it. You just a needle and thread it through the hot dog at one end so that he can just pull it out with out getting hurt. I always though that was a great idea.

I was having the same problem with my son. He has been doing this for a few years now. I've spoken to medical professionals and all have told me that as long as he is eating a full healthy breakfast and dinner and is gaining a reasonable amount of weight through growth spurts, I shouldn't be worried. So, he rarely eats what I give him so I include a half sandwich, an apple and a small juice box (he's ten) and whatever returns home (usually most of it) he eats during homework time.

Why dont you try lunchables. Tney have all diferant ones including chicken nuggetes, pizza, and cheeseburgers and they dont have to be heated up

My daughter was the same way. I started out with the Tyson Chicken strips warming them up in the oven first thing in the morning and then tightly wrapping them up in tin foil and sealing them up in a baggy. She started getting picky again so I tried Romain lettus and shredded sharp cheddar cheese in a baggy. She started to get pickey with that. So I started to send in her favorite cereal in a baggy. The school provided the milk. She started eating that. Now I fix her either peanut butter on toast or I get her the Turkey Ham on bread. I don't think she eats the bread. I had to try so many different things in order to find out what she likes to eat for lunch.

Hang in there, you will find something that he likes.

LUNCHABLES! They are prepackaged lunches and usually only need an ice pack, sometimes not even that. I used to send them with my fussy eater of a daughter all the time. They come in a many food choices and some even include a drink. Bring your son to the store with you and let him pick them out. They are usually found in the deli area, where they sell they hot dogs and prepackaged deli meat.