Cheap, quick and easy lunch ideas for day camp?

[VroomieMama]

My 7 yo DD's day camp starts on Monday and I need lunch ideas that are cheap, quick and easy to prepare. Lunchables are not filling enough for her and the camp said no microwavable food.

I never really needed to pack lunch (except for field trips) for my dd b/c her school provides healthy breakfast and lunch food and I've always paid her meals via online.

So help me out here. I want my daughter to enjoy healthy but delicious and filling lunch.

Thanks.

[pianojazzgirl]

First of all I'd get a very small ice pack so that whatever you send stays good. Lunches that have been outside in the hot sun for half a day tend to go a bit nasty. Alternately (if you are ok with juice) you can freeze a juice box the night before and put it in the lunch bag/box. It will keep the food good and will have melted enough to drink by lunch time.

Another tip: buy some very small tupperware containers (or very small mason jars) - they will come in so handy!

So, ideas... (and it really depends on what your dd likes!)

Main dishes

Pita bread and hummus (you can put it in your small tupperware)
Peanut butter/other nut butter sandwich (if allowed)
Cheese sticks and crackers
Bagel and creamcheese
Hard boiled eggs

I like to send non-meat stuff cause I'm less worried about it spoiling, but of course you could do tuna sandwiches, ham sandwiches, etc as well.

Veggies (in tupperware)

carrot sticks
cucumber slices
cherry tomatoes
fresh peas
salad
etc.

Fruit (smaller stuff can go in one of the tupperwares)

apple
grapes
plum
pear
fruit salad (you can have a big one in the fridge that will last for several days)
sliced melon
berries
etc.

Snacks

nuts
yogourt
dried fruit
granola bars
trail mix

Uh oh ds is attacking the comp so i gotta go. I hope those ideas get you started though...

ETA I make dd's lunches the night before. I love how it makes one less thing to worry about when we're trying to get out the door in the morning.

[Linda on the move]

My dd likes to have the pretty much the same simple foods over and over. Her favorite packed lunch is:

peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat
apple
carrot sticks
goldfish crackers
water bottle

These items all tend to travel well and say nice.

(sometimes we get wild and make brownies from scratch and have those instead of the goldfish crackers, but 99% of all children have a *treat* in their lunch, so DD likes to have a treat too. She also doesn't like to take "weird" food that other kids ask about)

We have resuable lunch boxes with reuseable ice, but if you don't, you can freeze the water bottle and have it be both the ice and the drink. Just leave a little head space because the water will expand.

However, don't freeze the drink and then put it in an insolated bag, because it won't thaw by lunch time.

Be sure and put in a napkin.

[limabean]

DS eats a pretty standard sandwich, fruit, crackers, water lunch most days. One of his favorite sandwiches lately is cream cheese and sliced strawberries on wheat. I've found that putting ice cubes in his Klean Kanteen keeps everything cool enough and frees up space instead of using an ice pack. I wrap the KK in a paper towel to absorb the condensation from the ice.

We use our tiny tupperwares a lot, but the ones with traditional pop-top lids were too hard for him to open by himself -- one day he came home with uneaten cherries (his favorite) and when I asked him what happened he said that he was raising his hand for help to open it but there wasn't time before lunch was over and he didn't get to eat them. So we got a few of the smallest twist-top or snap-top containers instead so that he can do everything himself.

[VroomieMama]

I'm familiar with keeping food cold with ice pack and etc.

Thanks for the lunch tips.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

I pack lunches for both camp and school. One thing I have learned is that camp lunches get really bounced around because frequently the kids have to carry them with them all the time (at school they tend to sit in cubbies). So I pack a lot more in plastic containers for camp than for school. For example, I'll wrap soft fruit in a napkin and nestle it in a round plastic container, rather than just put it in the lunch box.

We tend to do a fairly standard lunch:

Entre: sandwich -- mine like turkey, ham, PB&J. They prefer ranch dressing over mayo or other spread and DD prefers cucumber slices to lettuce in her sandwiches. I don't do tomatos because everything gets soggy then. Sometimes crackers, cheese and salami (like lunchables, but home-packed). DD likes deviled eggs. If we have leftover steak or pork, they like cold burritos. They like the same types of things as wraps and I can add shredded carrots to those for extra nutrition.

"Crunchy": Chips (baked), pretzels

Fruit: generally whole fruit of some type, though DD is missing all front teeth so she prefers berries, grapes and bananas right now. Another favorite are melon cubes. Or carrot sticks, cucumber rounds, jicama sticks & ranch dip.

Treat: cookie, fruit leather, pudding

Extra-just-in-case: something else they can eat just in case they are extra hungry, generally packaged so it will last more than one round if they don't eat it. My fall-backs are trail mix packets, granola/protein bars. things like that.

Drink: Generally a chilled juice box

Water: refillable water bottle always stays with them

Other things I add to camp lunch boxes because they don't have them around like they would at school: napkin, spoon or fork if needed, wet wipe.

Also, if its a full day camp they also sometimes need to take snacks (some camps provide this, some don't). In that case I always add another piece of fruit or veggies with dip and something else like a granola/cereal/protein bar, chips & salsa or guacamole (cover the top with plastic wrap directly on the guac before adding the container lid), trail mix or nuts.

[claras_mom]

Dd rarely eats all of her lunch, so I pack a variety of things.

Cheese or peanut butter sandwich
chips or crackers
raw veggies
applesauce
fruit leather
water or milk

OR

cheese cubes
applesauce
fruit (dried or fresh)
crackers
raw veggies
water or milk

OR

turkey
crackers
grapes
carrot sticks
water or milk

No sweets, because they're not allowed at her school. For a day camp that didn't provide snacks, I'd probably throw in some extras - a lara bar or some other dried fruit, a small plain bagel, a whole piece of fruit. If we have it, I"ll send leftover meat or pasta. One week, I sent leftovers lentils for several days. Cold pizza's pretty good.

She doesn't eat much at noon. Seems like a tiny amount of food (the sandwiches are half, for example), but she frequently doesn't finish).