My 1st grader takes a packed lunch 90% of the time. Does anyone have any suggestions on something new I could pack for her? Im getting bored with the PB&J and turkey sandwiches, I can only imagine how she feels. Any ideas would help! Thanks Ladies.
The links are great!!! Thanks so much. Im going to sit with her tomorrow and see what she may be interested in. The ideas for making hot food in the morning would be so nice for her, however, we are up and out of the house by 5:45 am. I'll have to work on the babysitter for that one :)
I assume she is in public schools?? You could try: Ham roll ups they are easy, take sliced ham, spread cream cheese on it and roll it up.
I had to pack lunch for my daughter when she went to another child care place and we used to take a old medicine botle that was thoughly cleaned and boiled in hot water and cut little circles out of bolnoga and fold cheese into squares and add some ritz cracker and put in a capri sun or juice box for her. The luchables where about 2 to 3 bucks a piece and I could make this for less and she got the same thing and with the cheese and meat she wanted and the kind of crackers she liked.
Here are some sandwiches my kids love:
-Chicken salad (costco has a great canned chicken)
-Lettuce, tomato, mayo and american cheese on toasted bread
-sometimes when making chicken breast for dinner I will grill an extra piece and use it for their sandwiches the next day.
They LOVE potato bread too!
I make my husbands lunch, and sometimes i'll make chicken and avacado wraps, with flour tortillas, just to change it up a little.My daughter loves peanutbutter, banana and honey sandwiches.
Here's a good link :) http://home.ivillage.com/cooking/rushhour/0,,4k1,00.html
I assume you're wanting something healthier than Lunchables, also? HEre are some great links to sites with TONS of healthy kid meal ideas. Hope this helps!
http://www.mealmakeovermoms.com/recipes/recipes.html
http://www.healthykids.com/hk/category.jhtml?categoryid=/...
http://www.kidchef.com/cda/index.cfm
http://www.mothering.com/sections/recipes/recipes.html#br...
D. M.
perhaps many choices but in small containers-- like friuts, cut up apples,pears etc and carrots dip- veg. tray type- pretzels and goldfish are good low fat choices- how about other deli meats -maybe rolled up meat with side of cheese?
Hi Amanda,
You might want to try to alternate breads flavors --like honey wheat, sesame, poppy, rye, pumpernickel or use rolls, croissants or bagels instead of sliced bread. You can use a cookie cutter to change the sliced bread look. You can keep the leftover bread, add some seasonings, olive oil, & toast them for homemade croutons for a salad for you or your daughter. Try different flavored flour tortillas to make a wrap sandwich. Use different meats, alternate cheese types. I know that if you and your daughter prepared the lunch together, you will definately come up with some creative and delicious new sandwiches to try. I know my daughter and I look forward to preparing lunch together. And remember to always have lots of fun too!
You could try some bologna or ham or even skip the bread and roll up some salami and send it with some carrots and ranch. Rolled up sandwich meat might be more appealing than the everyday sandwich. Or a thermos with Chef Boyardee. When I was younger, my mom made me and my brothers subs and my husband's mother made him egg salad. Just some food for thought. No pun intended.
How about putting warmed up leftovers in a thermos?
Here's a few more links for you :-)
http://www.fabulousfoods.com/features/brnbag/brnbag.html
http://allrecipes.com/advice/coll/all/articles/46P1.asp
http://www.budget101.com/Bag%20Lunches.htm
Good luck ;-)
DO THEY HAVE A MICROWAVE AVAILABLE THERE?
IF SO, LEFT OVERERS WORK...
My son is 4 & in preschool. I give him hot dogs (warm them up real good in the am & then wrap them in foil- he says they're still warm) w/ ketchup, yogurt, left over pizza :) & PB&J. I always put some kind of fruit with it too. I find it to be easy.
I would try lunchables. They are great and some of them can be nutritious.
Good luck.
Mommy of 3 boys
S.
If you go to Kraft.com, they have various little recipes. I think it was that sight that suggested making a pizza out of a bagel. Hope it helps!
Check out Publix's website and click on "Aprons" it's a bunch of recipes; I'm sure they have a section devoted to school lunches.
The Palm Beach Post Food Section occasionally runs articles on lunch ideas, perhaps you could check out their archives just putting in children's/kids lunches in the search box.
The recipe book section of your library probably has book devoted entirely to the subject.
The Web is also an incredible resource for ideas, simply Google "Kids lunch recipes" or something to that affect.
Pasta salads are good lunches and can be made in advance and eaten throughout the week, black beans and rice was a favorite of mine when I was a school gal. Soups in a thermos with crackers and cut up vegies. Sprout and cheese wraps. Just some ideas.
Good luck with your search and keep us posted! :)
I also pack my 9 year old daughter's lunch. Have you thought about making a lunch meat wrap. Use tortilla shells for tacos and put either ham and cheese with lettuce shreds and tomatoes. Or add tuna fish salad. With crackers. I also add carrot sticks with ranch dresing or celery sticks with peanut butter. That way they are getting their veggies.
I know how hard it is to be creative for lunches. Both of my kids take their lunches.
One thing that my son loves is a grilled cheese sandwich. Make it in the morning and double wrap it in tin foil. Don't put it next to the ice pack, and it will still be warm at lunch time. Also try to get different types of bread, and don't forget the pita bread, flat wraps, and hotdog buns! You can make any type of sandwich on those and it is a little different. Or make a sandwich without the bread altogether. Just roll up the bologna and cheese in little roll-ups.
Other things I put in their lunches:
cheese sticks
carrots and ranch dressing
pineapple cups and other fruits
I hope I have helped! Good luck
Amanda,
I don't know if anyone mentioned this but i pack for my almost 6yr old boy, and I know its not easy, and prob will get harder, but i thought of something different. Hes not allowed to use a microwave a school but I bought him a thermos, cheap one at walmart, and got a can of chef borde *sp* raviollis, new ones, 99% ff and heated them up prior to school and he had that today for lunch. My sister packs her daughter soup in the thermos also, if your daughter is a soup eater. You could put some oyster crackers in a bag too for the soup. I have gotten to the point though in the past 2 wks or so of just buying the 1.50 lunchables that have dont have the drink or extra in there and then packing a juice box or water and some extra snacks. He seems to like that alot. Hope this helps a little! Good luck :)
