The boys often help me decide what goes in their lunches each day and some days they even pack their own. They sit down with me when I am doing the meal plan to help me decide what will be in their lunch boxes each day. I created a little check off list that has a columns for the main dish, side items, fruits and veggies for them to check off what they want for lunches each day. They don't particularly like school lunches so we only do school lunch in a pinch.
Here are some ideas we use often in our house. Our basic lunch box has one main meal or sandwich, one fruit, two additional side items (one of which is considered "dessert" but may be just a graham cracker or a cookie) and one veggie.
MAIN DISH:
*Bean & Cheese Burrito - Warm up tortilla just a little so that it doesn't split when you roll it. Add warm beans and sprinkle with some cheese. Roll up. Wrap tightly in foil. Place foil wrapped burrito in a 300 degree oven for about 15 minutes or so to make sure it is thoroughly warmed. I then wrap this in a paper towel and place it in the kids insulated lunch box.
*Pizza Rolls - Using store bought Pizza Rolls, I warm up 4-5 per roll (per kid) on a plate in the microwave. Wrap these tightly in foil and place in lunch box.
*Pizza Bagel Bites - Bake according to directions. Wrap tightly in foil and place in lunch box.
*Meat Roll-ups - Take a slice of deli meat and place a thin slice of cheese on top and then roll up. Place in the reusable sandwich keeper. I make 2-3 roll up per child. {I like to take a slice of turkey, then a slice of ham, then a slice of large pepperoni or salami and then the cheese}
*Spaghetti - I use a thermos and left over spaghetti noodles for this meal. I bring water to a boil (either on the stove or in a bowl in the microwave) then add the noodles for a few minutes to warm them up (since they are already cooked). You can either stir in sauce at this point OR my kids also like just butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese sometimes too. Place some in the thermos (remember to let some warm water sit inside the thermos while you are making the noodles, this will help keep the noodles warm until lunch time) and be sure to pack a fork too or your child might be a buttery mess later!
*Almost any left over will work if you use a thermos to keep it hot/cold. Remember to let some warm water sit inside the thermos while you are making the food, dump out the water just before adding in the warm food, this will help keep the food warm until lunch time.
*Soup - In the colder months we eat a lot of homemade soups and I send the left overs in a thermos for the kids. Remember to let some warm water sit inside the thermos while you are warming up the soup, this will help keep the soup warm until lunch time.
*Taco Salad - for a quick dinner I often make this simple taco salad. It packs up well for the kids to take left overs for lunch. I pack the chips in a baggie and they can crush them at school and add the toppings at school. I pack the lettuce and tomato in a separate container as well. But the limited amount of assembly works well for school. Warm up the beans/meat mixture and store in a thermos. {One mom told me she does a similar thing but sends a small individual sized bag of Nacho Doritos and the kids add in the other ingredients right into the bag to eat. I have not tried this yet, but sounds pretty good!}
SANDWICHES:
Lefty has told me he prefers a sandwich without the bread because the bread gets too soggy, so I have tried a couple tricks over time that seem to help this matter (he will now eat a sandwich with bread, but still prefers it without bread). Trick #1 - I put the "soggy" stuff on the inside. For instance, put a little peanut butter on each side of the bread then put jelly on, this way the jelly never touches the bread, or with deli meat sandwich, put the meat up against the bread the condiments on the meat so that the condiments never touch the bread. Trick #2 - Whole grain breads tend to stay sturdy longer. Trick #3 - Wrap the sandwich in wax paper instead of a sandwich baggie, I read this somewhere before and I have no idea why it works, but it does.
*Peanut Butter and Jelly
*Deli meat and cheese
*Bagel sandwiches - use a bagel and top with your child's favorite sandwich toppings
Wrap sandwiches: - use a tortilla (for these sandwiches my favorites are wheat tortillas or spinach tortillas). Be sure to warm up the tortilla just a bit so it doesn't split when you roll it up. There are plenty of ways to make these, but here are a couple ways I make them. **Note: I stay away from too many tomatoes or cucumbers in a wrap sandwich, only because they tend to make the wrap the mushy sometimes.
1. Meat Wrap with Avocado - Take an avocado and mash it. Spread this on the tortilla. Top with some lettuce leaves (I prefer Romaine, but any kind would work), sliced deli meat, cucumber slices and colby jack cheese sprinkled on top. Roll up. Cut in half (my kids only eat a half at a time because the tortillas are so large)
2. Meat Wrap with Dressing - Spread a small amount of ranch or italian dressing on the tortilla. Top with some lettuce leaves (I prefer Romaine, but any kind would work), sliced deli meat, cucumber slices and colby jack cheese sprinkled on top. Roll up. Cut in half (my kids only eat a half at a time because the tortillas are so large)
3. Turkey and Bacon Wrap - Cook 4 slices of bacon and drain off grease. Lay sliced turkey and a slice of your favorite cheese (I use colby jack or pepperjack) on a tortilla. Place bacon strips on top. Roll up tortilla and fold up bottom to secure. Heat up a tsp of olive oil in a pan. When oil is hot, lay turkey wrap, seam side down in the skillet. Cook 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. Flip and cook another 1-3 minutes until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is browned. Wrap tightly in foil and place in insulated lunch box.
4. BLT Wrap - Mix together a little cream cheese and mayonnaise (about 1-2 oz of cream cheese and about 1 Tbls mayo). Spread this mixture on the tortilla. In another bowl, stir together 1-2 tomatoes (that have been seeded and chopped), 1 avocado, chopped (optional), lettuce, chopped (sometimes I use left over salad greens), 5-6 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon, and a little bit of ranch dressing. Mix this together well and place on the center of the tortilla. Roll up, cut in half and wrap tightly (for this I use plastic wrap) and place in the insulated lunch box.
5. Quick Veggie Wrap - Take a bag of mixed salad greens and mix together with your favorite dressing (my kids like ranch) place in the center of the tortilla. Roll up, cut in half and wrap tightly.
6. Cheesy Veggie Wrap - Another thing I like to do is spread a thin layer of Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese on a wrap tortilla or a wheat tortilla and then put some deli meat and cheese and even some sprouts and lettuce, then roll up, cut in half and wrap tightly.
7. Peanut Butter & Jelly Wrap - Take your tortilla and spread creamy peanut butter on it, then a layer of jelly. Roll up. You can serve it just like this or you can cut it into bite-sized pieces if desired.
Pita Bread Sandwiches: - you can use pita pocket bread for any type of sandwich. My favorite pita is wheat. Use your favorite sandwich toppings, or some listed above or some of these listed below:
1. Tuna Salad Pita - I make mine using canned (and drained of course) tuna, stir in a little bit of mayonnaise and some pickle relish. Quick, easy and not fancy at all.
2. Chicken Salad Pita - I use shredded left over chicken breast or rotisserie chicken. Mix together with some mayonnaise, a tsp or so of lemon juice, dash of pepper, handful of slivered almonds, 1 celery stalked diced. Place a little bit of lettuce inside pita pocket and sliced tomatoes if desired. Add in chicken salad. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
3. Taco Pitas - Using left over taco meat this is a great sandwich! I spread some sour cream (and sometimes a little guacamole too) on the inside of the pita. Fill with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, then the warmed taco meat. Sprinkle with cheese. Wrap tightly in foil.
4. Turkey and Hummus Pita - Spread hummus (we like the spicy red pepper hummus on this sandwich) on the inside of the pita pocket. Add in some cucumber, peeled and sliced, a tomato or two peeled and sliced, some deli sliced turkey and a little shredded lettuce. Top off with shredded colby jack or cheddar cheese (you can use swiss slices instead if you want).
SIDE ITEMS:
*Fruit - I always include a piece of fruit. Apples, orange, grapes, kiwi slices (be sure to place these in a small reusable container to keep them from becoming too mushy), banana. Bananas can get mushed up inside a lunch box sometimes so I don't do these very often. If you have some small reusable containers you can make a small fruit salad to put in the lunch box. Since my kids lunch time is only about 15-20 minutes of eating time I like to peel and/or cut the fruits to save them the time and hassle at lunch.
*Chips, crackers or pretzels - when serving a sandwich I always include a small bag of chips. I don't like to use the pre-packaged bags because they are always too many chips for my kids. I prefer to buy a large bag and divide up into our own small bags. My kids like animal crackers, graham crackers, pretzels, chips, goldfish crackers, ritz crackers (I serve these especially with meat roll ups), wheat thins... the list goes on.
*Granola bars - homemade or store bought are great in lunches.
*Fruit snacks - I have these on hand and throw them in for a little treat now and again.
*Trail mix (also known as Gorp) - homemade or store bought, this is a great perk-me-up item to put in lunches.
A favorite of ours is 1 cup of each of the following: Rice Chex, Corn Chex, mini pretzels, oyster crackers, cheese puff balls, M&M's. Mix all together and put into little baggies.
Since my kids love popcorn too, I will make some airpopped popcorn, add to it a little cinnamon/sugar, a few thin pretzel sticks, some M&M's and some Teddy Grahams. Mix it all together and put into little baggies.
*Cookie or other dessert - I will throw in one cookie or one small dessert item in the kids lunches almost every day. A dessert item might be a cookie or it might be a graham cracker or it might be a piece of small candy. I want them to have a mostly healthy lunch, but don't mind throwing in the special item too. I am fortunate enough to have good eaters so it doesn't bother me to give a small treat.
*Dried fruit pieces
*Homemade fruit cups
* Popcorn
* Cheese Stick
* Make your own jello and pudding cups. They are sometimes hard to find these days, but if you can find the yogurt cups with replaceable lids, wash them out (after eating the yogurt of course!) and make jello or pudding to fill them. I only fill them about half way or so because my kids won't eat more than that. Replace the lid and set in the fridge until ready to serve. If you can't find the yogurt cups with lids, you can purchase the Glad containers with lids in the small size for this, they work just as well.
DRINK:
I usually pack a water bottle or a juice box. I know there are complaints about some of the juice boxes being too full of sugar and I am careful of which ones I buy, but I am so lucky that my kids love milk and water that I don't worry too much about a sugary drink here and there. We are also lucky in that the school has a rack of free milk. These milk cartons are from kids who bought hot lunch but didn't open their milk, instead of throwing the milk away they are encouraged to put it on this rack and then other kids can drink it so my kids will often come home with an unopened drink because they chose milk instead.
If you freeze the juice boxes or water bottles slightly they will act as an "ice pack" in the lunch box and be thawed out perfectly in time for lunch OR try these, I haven't made any but they look easy and cheap enough to make several to have on hand.
I am linking up to Works For Me Wednesday - click here for lots of tips and ideas!
3 comments:
That's a great list of ideas. Who would get bored with all those options?
we only need lunches once a week (mondays) but come monday morning i am ALWAYS panicking about what to pack. Totally book marking this post!
wow - you went all out! Thanks for all the great ideas. We get so tired of sandwiches........now to get the kiddos to think outside the proverbial box ;o)
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