What your child actually eats for lunch? K to 3 grades - Page 2

[lauriebeth]

I've  packed a lunch of pasta salad (with lots of veggies and cubes of cheese), hummus and veggies (carrots and sliced tomatoes) and a few chips...  This has been eaten 100% every time she takes it.

pasta salad especially is a favorite.  I use it as a main meal, (so no sandwich) and have lots of cheese & veg in there.  My kid was getting tired of sandwich after sandwich

[CountryMommy]

My almost 5yr old is not in school yet but we pack lunches when we are going to be in town for the day, shopping, etc.

His favourates are: ham and cheese in a sandwich or in a soft tortilla shell

                               peanut butter and honey sandwich

                               herb focaccia bread cut in strips or a baguette with a marinara sauce or bruchetta as a "dip"

                               egg salad sandwich

                               any cold pasta salad

                               pea soup or beef broth in a thermos (he likes to have a side of sugar snap peas and ranch dressing with the broth)

                               caesar or garden salad (I put the dressing in a small dip container and he loves to put it on himself)

                               cheese, crackers, meat and sliced cucumber

Fruit:  loves fruit salad but I don't make that very often this time of year so he usually gets an apple or orange right now or

          banana (we bought him a banana container when we saw it on Dragons Den and he LOVES it, usually pics banana as his fruit choice if give choice LOL)

snacks: cookies, macaroons or a muffin, any kind, he is not picky

             yogurt (doesn't like plain anymore so sweetened with apple sauce or fruit puree) topped with granola, raisons and sliced almonds if on hand at home

            apple sauce

I do have a question though, for those that mentioned they send mac and cheese, super left overs, etc to school, that sounds great but do the kids eat it cold or are they able to warm it up at school?

[lanamommyphd07]

Originally Posted by CountryMommy 

I do have a question though, for those that mentioned they send mac and cheese, super left overs, etc to school, that sounds great but do the kids eat it cold or are they able to warm it up at school?

We have a couple of insulated small thermoses, so if we have lunch on the go, sometimes I'll heat it up beforehand and stick the soup, etc., in there. It stays warm for a couple of hours.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Originally Posted by CountryMommy 

I do have a question though, for those that mentioned they send mac and cheese, super left overs, etc to school, that sounds great but do the kids eat it cold or are they able to warm it up at school?

Ds eats it cold. In fact at ds school right now lunches have to be refrigerated so it is *very* cold.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Our kids can heat food at school.

[Sunshyn74]

We have a small thermos as well, but only use it when DD needs something soft because of pain with her braces.

Oldest takes:
Nutella sandwich
Small block of cheese
Small homemade cookie
Bottle of water

Youngest takes:
Nutella sandwich
Graham crackers
Fruit or veg (sometimes both, but small amounts)
Yogurt or cheese
Small cookie
Bottle of water

Hers is rarely empty, but she does eat a little of each item everyday.

[limabean]

Originally Posted by CountryMommy 

I do have a question though, for those that mentioned they send mac and cheese, super left overs, etc to school, that sounds great but do the kids eat it cold or are they able to warm it up at school?

I warm it and put it into an insulated container (a Thermos Funtainer). DS says it stays warmish until lunchtime that way. 

Our typical lunch is sandwich, fruit, crackers, water. We also send a morning snack, which never got eaten last year because snack time is supposed to be the first 5 minutes of morning recess, and like most kids, DS would rather play than stand around eating. This year, his teacher has them eat their morning snack just before morning recess, while she reads aloud to them (I love his teacher!!!). We almost always send cheese and fruit (something like string cheese and grapes), and he always eats his morning snack now! 

[JudiAU]

Water bottle, no other beverages allowed and I wouldn't pack them

Kid sized thermos filled with pasta variations or quinoa/meat/veg mixes or fried rice or rice and beans
Sandwiches have to be fairly special to work like mortadella on buttered brioche
Small container fresh fruit
Other - seaweed or a few crackers etc

We've never gone anywhere that would even allow something like fruit leather

[kittyhead]

my first grader eats:

a chicken and avocado sandwich

or

thermos of leftover pasta and sauce

or

green salad with chicken, oil and vinegar on the side, and bread

or

two slices of pizza

or

a thermos of soup and bread

then a fruit (usually cut up), and a veggie (carrots, cherry tomato, cukes, red bell pepper etc.) and a starchy snacky thing (pretzels, crackers) and sometimes a cookie.

thats about it, i wish he would eat cheese of peanut butter

[justme11]

My kids are not super adventurous at lunch.  They don't want something their friends might think is weird.  I usually have in their lunch a main course, a snacky packaged thing, a fruit/veggie.  Most common is peanut butter and banana or jam.  I usually throw in some cheese its or those toasted corn things from Whole Foods (they taste like fritos and are so addictive!) or graham crackers and cream cheese or something along those lines.  Then I slice up apple, or stick in a banana or an orange or cucumbers, grape tomatoes, celery sticks, etc.  They get to eat a snack during the day so I'll throw in something else for that- cereal bar or nuts or cheese or something.  Some days their lunches are healthier than others.    Today they took greek yogurt (a hugely popular choice with all of them), Little Debbie Easter cakes and peanut butter crackers and dried berries.  I'm sure their teachers appreciated all that sugar I gave them.  :P

I make my own lunchables with Ritz, cheese and lunch meat and those are very popular with all my kids.  Mac n Cheese leftover from the night before or red beans and rice or really any hot leftover than can go in a thermos. 

The only main course thing they haven't eaten is sandwiches made with lunch meat.  Go figure.  Which is why I started on the homemade lunchables thing.  Oh, and they wont eat salad, which drives me crazy but they'll eat all the veggies IN salad as long as I pack them seperately without the lettuce. 
 

[justme11]

I do have a question though, for those that mentioned they send mac and cheese, super left overs, etc to school, that sounds great but do the kids eat it cold or are they able to warm it up at school?

I have insulated thermoses that keep things hot.  I had some plastic ones but they never kept the food hot enough so we stick with metal ones.  I heat everything extra hot so it will still be warm at lunch time.  There is no way to warm food at school.