Need Food Suggestions for MDO Lunches

Hi, I'm a MDO teacher and have two kids I pack lunches for. I've seen some good lunches and not so good lunches come to school. A hot soup thermos works great for keeping foods warm. Heat up some chicken nuggets and they will stay warm till lunch! I also send peanut butter in a container, with crackers and raisins for them to decorate and eat with. Other things I've seen my students bring are quesadilla's (sp) kids eat them cold! Especially with summertime coming food doesn't have to be hot. Celery sticks also with pb and raisins. Carrots with ranch. My son likes the cheese bites and pizza bites that you can get in the w-mart freezer section. Again, Heat it up and keep it in the thermos. It works great! Lots of kids bring their leftovers from dinner the night before which they usually eat well. It doesn't have to necessarily be "lunch food". I would suggest taking her shopping with you to pick out some new foods she would enjoy for lunch. Cucumbers with ranch YUM! I don't pack the same lunch for my kids because they don't eat the same foods. :( Ask her what the other kids bring that she is interested in. My son picked up peanut butter and honey sandwiches, that is something they both will eat.

Happy, Healthy Eating. Also, parents tend to send too much food for such small children. A small bag of potato chips (if that's something you eat) is too much for a lil kid. Open the bag and put 1/2 or even 1/3 into ziploc baggies. It lasts longer and won't be waisted.

My kids also like string cheese, applesauce and go-gurts. I buy the go-gurts and freeze them so they are really cold and mostly thawed out by lunch. These are delicious frozen at home on a hot day. My kids like it they can do it themselves and it's much better for them than ice cream!

As always, ask her teachers. They will see what she is interested in at lunch time depending on who she sits by.

My Mom used to buy a variety of meats and cheeses and use miniture cookie cutters to make neat shapes (stars, hearts, ect.) Since we eat with our eyes first maybe that will offer a little change. Gerber also makes meat sticks, they come in turkey, chicken or beef and these are perfect sizes for their little hands to hold. If her teacher can help you can do mac and cheese that you just add water to. Lastly, pigs in a blanket might work too.

Some things I used for my kiddos:
homemade lunchable--triscuits, cubed cheese and lunch meat
Mac-n-cheese (they didn't seem to mind if it wasn't hot)
Turkey wraps--to them a wrap is much different than a sandwich!

I love to go the Mrs. Baird's bakery outlet store. They're everywhere. That way, I get lots of different breads for REALLY cheap. For my son, just a different bread, like mini bagels, square bagel bread, tortillas, etc, seem to make lunch more exciting. I just fix them as I would any other sandwich, but they are something a little different.

My 2 yr old loves the Uncrustable frozen sandwiches- they come on grilled cheese, PBJ, and PB&honey on wheat. They're thawed and ready to eat before lunch time, however the grilled cheese one requests to be cooked. My son likes it uncooked, just thawed. Also, lunchables has little toodler lunch options that come in packs- turkey/swiss, PBJ, etc. I always sent a fruit cup, sandwich with crackers, goldfish, or carrots and ranch. Hope that helps!

Maybe you could try peanutbutter and jelly uncrustables in the refridgerated section or lunchables? They are almost always on sale at about $2 and come with a drink,snack and all the fixings to be creative in putting together her own lunch.

I pack two lunches everyday for my dd's to go to school. They really don't like the food at school, but get tired of pb&j everyday. I try different bread to make it a change. They love blueberry bread with nutella on it. They could eat that several times a week and not get sick of it. I also put yougart in their lunchboxes with a baggie of trail mix, and a cup of fruit. Sometimes I make sandwich wraps for them. I also make homemade lunchables with crackers, pickle slice, turkey, and cheese. I bought them a thermos for soup and spagetti O's for the occasional splurge. HTH

You can do cut up fruit with a yogurt dip add some granola to the dip and carmalized ginger (PM me if you want the recipe) or a peanut butter dip.

Veggies with a pestoish dip. Fruit salads, macaroni salad with Tuna and peas, crackers with cheese and fruit (or lunch meat),

I'll think of some more and post later!

http://www.mamasource.com/request/recent/76210/1204300223...

Someone posted a request pretty close to your's a couple days ago - maybe some of these 50 responses will be helpful to you :-)

My kids still love this and they are 11 and 14. Take a spoon ful of milk and put food coloring in it and stir it up. Suck the mixture up in a syringe and draw a picture or a message on a piece of bread. Then put it in the toaster. It is really a cool surprize and they look forward to lunch to see what I did. Just a fun thing to do, I hope it helps and you enjoy it as much as we do.

I have a 6 year old that is a picky eater. I make him a veggie sandwich (kinda like from Subway) I buy the wheat rolls and add lettuce and a little ranch dressing and pickles. He hasn't gotten tired of that yet. I also add some carrots, Grapes, cheese sticks. Other days I will make him a peanut butter sandwhich. I'm considering buying a thermo. Maybe make some spagatti, or buy the spagatti O's. I also pack a juice bottle and some roll ups. He doesn't like chips or cookies. Unless the cookies are fresh.
Lunchables were great too. Maybe change things up after a week. so she doesn't get tired of the same foods.Hope this helps.

Hi L., mom here and past teacher at a MDO as well- you might do a couple things- volunteer say a 5$ donation to also encourage other mom's in the MDO to contribute and purchase a mircowave for the program- also have your daughter help with packing lunch maybe the night before- get out the cookie cutters and use for the bread and the cheese- just fold the lunch meat- ALL KIDS love to use cookie cutters- fun eating! - maybe she would also like fruit cups if you take her and allow her to purchase them at the store-(making them HER choice!) one more thing - allow your daughter to have yogurt and maybe a cookie crumbled on top- let her choose flavor- - it's actually a lunch choice with some cheese and crackers at some elementary schools! Best of lunches to you.... hope it goes well......

Cookie cutters work awesome to spice up those sandwiches! Kids love the surprise of different shapes - works well with almost any kid of sandwich. Apple slices with peanut butter dip, sliced up hot dogs (organic!) with ketchup dip, and fruit salad varieties with mini marshmellows & toothpick work great too... good luck!

Have you tried using cookie cutters to make the sandwich into different shapes? My three year old really enjoys it and it seems to renew her interest in the same old sandwich. For my 20 month old, I send a small lunchable with crackers, cheese and meat. She isn't much of a sandwich eater, so this keeps her happy. I have found that buying them at the Dollar General saves quite a bit of money.