School lunch & lunchbox ideas for a kindergartener?

[dbell1]

When my son started KG, he refused to eat school lunches and wasn't a fan of sandwiches (that's now changed big time). What saved me was buying a thermos and making spaghettios every morning (or reheated leftover dinner). Middle school lunch lines were so hectic & long that he wound up packing sandwiches every day. Now he's addicted to the high school chicken sandwiches. I miss the spaghettios days.

[acraven]

Thinking about the portable snacks I take to skating events:

An adventurous child might like hummos with whole wheat pita, carrots, or some other veggie for dipping.

You could try freezing yogurt (child's favorite types) and see whether the consistency is OK when it defrosts. I suspect this varies by flavor and brand.

Shelled hardboiled egg.

Cottage cheese and cut-up fruit.

I liked pimento cheese sandwiches as a child, but that's probably because southern kids tend to get exposed to pimento cheese very early.

Small homemade, low-sugar muffins would be a nice treat.

[manleywoman]

For a cool lunchbox your kids can decorate : http://www.goodbyn.com

[IceAlisa]

I will also add hardboiled egg, carrots and corn to his bento box choices. I think I will make a list of Mini Ice-approved foods and hang it on the fridge, with hopes that the list will keep growing.

[Prancer]

What does your child eat at home? That's pretty much what you should pack. Keep an eye on how much your child eats at home, too, because most parents pack too much for lunches and a lot of food goes to waste.

Kindergartners usually like assorted nibbles instead of sandwiches (but it does depend on the kindergartner). Definitely go with cut up fruit instead of whole, and little fruits like grapes and mandarin orange slices, and sliced up veggies with or without dip. Think in terms of very, very simple eating--finger foods are good; the more utensil use and unpacking that is required, the less likely it is the food will be eaten. One of the things my kids really liked when they were little was pretzel kabobs--little cubes of cheese or meat or both stuck on pretzel sticks. I'd skewer the cubes first to keep the pretzel from snapping. They still like these even now.

My daughter loved tortilla rollups and half wraps (a whole one was always too much) instead of sandwiches. My son liked half sandwiches better.

I am a bit hesitant to send meat to school, worried that it will spoil.

One way around that issue is to freeze sandwiches. When my kids were in elementary school, their lunches would get so warm that peanut butter would melt, so I froze peanut butter sandwiches for them. That works out well as long as the sandwiches thaw by lunch. I always fretted about meat because of that and would pack frozen meat or frozen everything else.

That was one of the reason I loved those laptop lunchboxes--I could fill that net in the top with freezer gel packs and that would keep everything cold enough until lunch. Other lunchboxes all had the net, too, but I could put two in the laptop lunchbox and they would sit flat on top if the shallow box instead of being somewhere in the general vicinity of the lunch, and so everything actually stayed cold.

Since you have one, though, be wary of that drink bottle--ours leaked. I just left them out and had the kids buy milk.

[orbitz]

"Chicken" nuggets that are made from Tofu. They're really good. Just don't tell the kids that they're tofu though, LOL.

Baby carrots.
Grapes.
A handful of raw almonds.
Maybe a box of raisins also.

[Bev Johnston]

Maybe I'm a bad parent, but my son has always taken turkey and cheese sandwiches for lunch. He is a junior in high school, still takes a lunch every day, and has yet to get sick from taking meat to school.

Another thing to consider when it comes to quantity is how long their lunch period lasts. Lunch time at my kids' school was only 15 minutes. Because of this, my kids always wanted to bring lunch, otherwise they wasted a lot of time standing in line. They also requested that I not pack certain things, such as whole apples or unpeeled oranges, because they simply did not have the time to eat them.

[Habs]

My kids usually do their own lunches now, but when they were younger I would often write them a note on their paper napkin. Just something like "hope you're having a great day, love mom" can be a nice pick me up if your child is having a tough day.

My mom left notes in our lunches too... I loved it!

[IceAlisa]

"Chicken" nuggets that are made from Tofu. They're really good. Just don't tell the kids that they're tofu though, LOL.

Baby carrots.
Grapes.
A handful of raw almonds.
Maybe a box of raisins also.

I wouldn't feed tofu regularly.

[Skittl1321]

My mom left notes in our lunches too... I loved it!

I saw a thing today about writing a note on a banana peel...just lightly into the skin, not to the fruit. It will brown by lunch and show up.readable.

[jeffisjeff]

One of the things my kids really liked when they were little was pretzel kabobs--little cubes of cheese or meat or both stuck on pretzel sticks. I'd skewer the cubes first to keep the pretzel from snapping. They still like these even now.

Those sound really yummy. My kids would love that!

[my little pony]

i think my mom gave me enough $ for diet coke and called it a day

signed, old person

[gkelly]

i think my mom gave me enough $ for diet coke and called it a day

signed, old person

If you were truly an old person, wouldn't your mom have given you enough $ for Tab?

[my little pony]

If you were truly an old person, wouldn't your mom have given you enough $ for Tab?

snap

signed moderately old person

[Civic]

Unfortunately, more and more schools are becoming nut-free because of high numbers of kids with allergies...

Oh darn! Then I can't share one of my favorite sandwiches: whole grain bread spread with peanut butter then a layer of sliced bananas.

[Rob]

I hated meat on bread. I would just eat the meat and leave the bread. And then I would be hungry. So my mother gave me a baggie of turkey or roast beef slices and a strawberry sandwich. I loved fruit on bread.

[shan]

i think my mom gave me enough $ for diet coke and called it a day

signed, old person

I don't know whether to (((mlp))) or

[mag]

If you were truly an old person, wouldn't your mom have given you enough $ for Tab?

OMG I had forgotten all about Tab! I used to think I was so cool when I drunk Tab.

My kids also like chicken fingers (made with real chicken breasts.) They cook them in the morning, wrap them in tin foil, and eat them at lunch. They've been doing it for years and have yet to get sick. We're in BC so it is rarely really hot when the kids are in school.

[dinakt]

For my son the favorites in KG were wheat crackers with cut-up cheddar cheese or cream cheese/ jam sandwiches and apple slices, or grapes.

[uyeahu]

My son and I used to have fun making his lunches up the night before when he was just a little fella'. We'd do all purple lunches or all things starting with P, whatever. Giving him some input into the decision making and a daily "theme" made him really look forward to eating them every day.