Snacks for School - North Hollywood,CA

The thermos soup containers work best if you fill them with boiling water while you are heating up the food to go in it. Then dump the hot water and add the food and close right away. Add a little extra liquid since when pasta sits around it absorbs liquid and then she might have a pasty big goop in her thermos instead of yummy soft mac and chees.

I have a funtainer thermos. We send hot stuff all the time. I cook mac and cheese in the morning while we are getting around, put it in the thermos right before we leave and it's still warm at lunch time. We live in Texas. It's still hot here too, last week it was over 100 degrees. My son has never complained of an upset stomach. It's no different than buying a warm school lunch.

mac and cheese for snack, i don't understand. my kids get mac n cheese sometimes for lunch, make it in the morning, and put it hot into a thermos. prior to doing this, i put hot hot water in the thermos, close the lid and let it stand until mac n cheese is done. this is so that the thermos is not cold when you put the hot mac and cheese in it. by lunchtime kids tell me it's still warm.

ive eaten mac and cheese cold before. it only has the tiniest bit of milk and butter in it and you can skip the milk if needed. i say send it in the thermos and she'll be fine even if it is a tad cold.

I think it should be fine. Also, does she have access to a microwave (via teacher, of course)? Kraft as well as several other brands make a microwaveable mac and cheese. My daughter LOVES mac and cheese. She goes to a small charter school and has access to a microwave. Also, there are containers of it already made.... if she doesn't mind it room temp., you can pack that.

Schools serve a "hot lunch" every day, so I wouldn't worry about that. As others have suggested, send in the mac and cheese in a thermos. If she's attending a public school, don't bank on access to a microwave. That would be a nightmare in the cafeteria.

Make sure to send in plenty of non-carby snacks and sides for her to have as well. I get that she's a picky eater, but she can't live on this throughout the day and feel "good" for a full day of learning.

I have a thermos type container (no water) that I put Mac and Cheese in for my daughter. I'll make up her lunchbox the night before and in the morning - heat up the mac and cheese in the container for 1 minute then send it with her. She would eat Mac and Cheese every day, too, so I supplement with the healthiest things she will eat - applesauce, pears, pickles, salad, granola bars, yogurt, etc. That way she gets her 'choice' and I still get a choice in the other healthy options. Same goes for snack - most of the time she wants a fruit snack or Bugles, but I also tell her she has to have pears, pickles or applesauce 1-2x a week.

She has never complained of an upset stomach as a result. Also, even though there are some of her 'favorite' options for lunch (chicken nuggets, pizza, spaghetti, etc), she told me earlier this week she wants to take her lunch every day!!! So looks like we will be making more noodles, pasta andd spaghetti than I had planned!

I would put it in a thermos. Do a test at home. Put the mac & cheese in the thermos and let it sit on the counter for a few hours.

Try it at home. Warm it up in the morning and put it in a thermos and have her eat it for lunch to see if she likes it. Or have her try it cold to see if she likes it. It's hard finding stuff kids will eat and not get bored with. I mostly send noodle type things with sauces for my kids. Warm it up in the morning and put it in the thermos. They've never gotten sick or complained it didn't taste good.

There have just been reports on TV about kids' lunches not being properly refrigerated or properly warmed - lots of bacterial issues and it's very dangerous. They were talking about sandwiches, cut fruit (whole fruit is okay) and cheese/meat, but it applies to tuna and lots of other things. So don't "hope" that it's okay.

You need a really good ice pack and insulated lunch bag, or a good thermos. Why do you think she will get an upset stomach from a hot lunch? Has she had problems before? Or are you worried it will spoil?

It's hard to suggest things that don't require temperature maintenance. However, in general, kids like to dip things in other things, so an apple to dip in peanut butter (unless it's a PB-free class) or veggies to dip in hummus (which has protein) or even ranch dressing, or fruit to dip in a healthy fruit dip are good ideas. There are plenty of segmented reusable plastic containers out there so you can put the different ingredients in different sections. Some kids eat string cheese as a protein source. If she's really picky, try to give her a number of things to choose from, but don't give in completely so that she's not eating anything healthy. A friend who is a kindergarten teacher says her classes have become very difficult the more processed foods and junk the kids are eating.