School lunch ideas!!

[babygrant]

My son started grade 1 today so I'm looking for school lunch ideas and recipes.

They are NOT allowed ANY kind of nut butter. Zero tolerance for it. That being said....my son LOVES PB&J sandwiches every day for lunch, so I'm a bit stumped. He does do meat sandwiches and I have a lunchbox with a freezer part, but I'm still nervous about the meat.

What kinds of things do you send for your kids at school?

[Amandamanda]

okay so this is probably not the norm, but my kiddos LOVE LOVE chickpea "mock tuna" salad sandwiches.
here is a good recipe- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mock-Tu...ad/Detail.aspx
it actually tastes pretty good.
i wasnt sure if you wanted to steer clear of things with mayo (like egg salad, which is another hit) because of the no refridgerated issue, but i found that as long as it stays in the fridge till school time, and then is eaten at lunch time around 11-12 it does fine.

[Amandamanda]

oh and another thing i was going to suggest is cream cheese and jelly. that might be a good subsitute for pb&j. you could do a lot with cream cheese- veggie cream cheese with cucumbers, etc. etc.

[Alyantavid]

deli meat & cheese sandwiches
bagel sandwiches with cream cheese and salami
ham, cheese and crackers
cream cheese, salami and crackers
egg salad sandwiches
wraps
anything warm in a thermos

I've never had issues with sandwiches not staying cold. I use either one of those plastic freezer things or a frozen water bottle.

[crl]

chocolate soy nut butter sandwich (they also make plain soy nut butter--ds doesn't like it, but maybe your kiddo would)
pita chips and hummus
cold tofu (cut into stars with small cookie cutter)
pumpkin or other quick bread with cream cheese sandwich

[rebyell]

Sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches? Since it is a seed, it wouldn't count right? I keep meaning to ask my daughters school this same question.

[zinemama]

My son won't eat either cheese or peanut butter. (He can, but he won't.) Kid gets hummus in a pita pretty much every day of the week. I get those mini whole wheat pitas from Trader Joe, make a batch of hummus ever week and we're good to go.

If I have the energy sometimes I'll make him a black bean/corn/red pepper/avocado mixture instead.

[BetsyS]

We often do (cold) cheese and/or bean quesadillas. Super easy. If you let them cool completely before packing, they don't get soggy.

Lunchable type stuff--meat, cheese, and crackers, all separate.

Bagels and cream cheese.

A huge hit here is mini pizzas--usually on English muffins, but sometimes on bagels. I just let them cool, then cut into bite size pieces.

[babyj]

My DS (2nd grade) won't eat sandwiches at all. He will eat hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs, chicken breast cut into chunks, plain cooked garbanzo beans, edamame, plain tuna etc. He will sometimes eat cooked meatballs and bagels with cream cheese (the mini ww bagels from Trader Joes). I envy Moms of kids who eat sandwiches. I resisted the laptop lunch box for several years but got it this year and have been super happy with it. The little containers (in the 2.0 version w/ more lids) work well for us. I showed DS the laptop lunch box photo gallery and he pointed to many of the lunches with things he would like to try. Good to look at for ideas. Yay!

I do use a frozen pack or a frozen yogurt tube or frozen water bottle to keep things cold.

http://www.laptoplunches.com/LaptopLunchPhotos.html

Good luck with finding what works for you.

[WC_hapamama]

Ask your child's school is sunflower seed butter (Sunbutter) or Golden Pea Butter would be okay. Both are produced in peanut and tree nut free factories... the latter is a Canadian product.

I use Sunbutter myself, both the creamy and natural versions, and it's very close in flavor and texture to PB.

Soy Nut butter is kind of weird and grainy... my kids won't eat it unless it's in cookies or hummus.

[monkeysmommy]

My dd eats rice with grated carrots and edamame mixed in, with a little bit of soysauce. She likes it cold. I serve it alongside some fruit and either a snacky thing like a granola bar or some snap peas. I also have the laptop lunch 2.0 and I really like it. I also ordered the set of extra containers which has a bigger container you can put in instead of the two smaller ones. Another lunch she likes is tostadas. I put refried beans in a smaller container and tostada shells in the big container, or smaller round tortilla chips work well. She puts the beans on with a spoon. My dd is weird about cheese, but you could put some grated cheese in a small container as well, and even chopped lettuce and tomato.

[onthemove]

my dd's also love quesadillas with salsa and sour cream in their lunch, french toast or pancakes cut in strips with maple syrup for dipping, and soups, chowders, chili in a thermos.

we are a litterless school which discourages packaged and processed style snacks. Sundays are a big day for us in the kitchen preparing school lunches.

[babyj]

Originally Posted by monkeysmommy

My dd eats rice with grated carrots and edamame mixed in, with a little bit of soysauce. She likes it cold. I serve it alongside some fruit and either a snacky thing like a granola bar or some snap peas. I also have the laptop lunch 2.0 and I really like it. I also ordered the set of extra containers which has a bigger container you can put in instead of the two smaller ones. Another lunch she likes is tostadas. I put refried beans in a smaller container and tostada shells in the big container, or smaller round tortilla chips work well. She puts the beans on with a spoon. My dd is weird about cheese, but you could put some grated cheese in a small container as well, and even chopped lettuce and tomato.

Yay! Thanks for the tostada idea!!! I think DS might like a little homemade salsa (tomatoes/onion/cilantro) in the "dip" lidded container to go with that. I love looking forward to making a childs lunch. It can be so tedious sometimes.

bj

[mistymama]

You've received great food suggestions here - I just want to say that I usually put ds's water bottle, fruit (like cut up apples) and if he has it, a yogurt tube into the freezer in the morning while we get ready. When I pack up his lunch they are mostly frozen and not only defrost nicely by lunch, but keep his sandwich cold.

Ds's favorite sandwich is a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and sliced turkey. Today we did a wrap - ham, tomato, cheese wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla and sliced into small circles. He LOVES those!

Also mini pizzas - I often make his on whole wheat bagels or english muffins, use our own sauce with lots of veggies and a little cheese.