Field Trips: What do YOU pack for LUNCH?

[Michelle My Bell]

I need some inspiration. We have the same thing everytime we go somewhere for the day.

 

Sub Sandwiches with Turkey & Salami

Pringles or Goldfish Crackers

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Water

 

NOT the healthiest lunch ever and I am bored of it. Whatever it is that you eat, would you mind sharing? Maybe even tell me how you package it? I usually repackage my sub sandwiches back in the bag the bread came in. Everything else is brought as is and I throw it all in a back pack.

 

OH and I usually bring baby wipes to clean up our hands in case there is no water source nearby.

 

How do you do lunch?

[regentrude]

We take some kind of sandwich and add: carrots, grapes, apples, peppers, baby clementines; string cheese or cocktail sausages; sometimes pudding or yoghurt cups as well.

Water for drinking. The kids also love 100% juice mixed with club soda (50/50).

[eternalknot]

We don't eat sandwiches, so our packed lunches are usually brown rice and steamed veggies. I pack them in stacking tiffin carriers, which nest into an insulated carrying case I have -- keeps them nice and warm OR into bento boxes. It helps that my kids aren't super picky about the texture of their food because after 3-4 hours the veggies in tiffin may from al dente to slightly smooshy. We usually eat before 3-4 hours are up, though.

 

During sports seasons I pack dinners to go. Also in our regular rotation are soups, homemade corn tortilla chips with salsa, baked potatoes or sweet potatoes, roasted veggies over noodles, and simple stirfries.

 

I also pack fruit - usually grapes, apples, mangoes and/or papaya.

 

I pack a secondary snack bar - granola bars or homemade zucchini, pumpkin, persimmon, apple, etc muffin.

 

We only drink water.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

The last time I had to pack a lunch for my daughter, I made a toss of pasta, broccoli, olive oil, salt, lemon juice. Added a deviled egg, cookie, and big thermos of water.

 

That pasta thing is my daughter's all time fav food. I just put the water on to boil, put the broccoli in a metal sieve and put it over the water to steam. When the water boils, put the pasta in and the broccoli back over and put a lid on. It's all done at the same time. Drain the pasta through the already used sieve, pour it back in the pot to dress/toss, and then into bowl with lid. Super easy. Oh, when she's taking it out for lunch, she wants small pasta like bowtie, et c. b/c she doesnt' like it messy in public. At home she wants buccatini or spaghetti.

 

Other things my girl likes:

1) nutella dog -- hot dog bun with nutella slathered in and a banana instead of a hot dog. To send it for lunch later, I slather the bun and wrap it and send the banana seperately. then when she's ready to eat, she peels the nana and puts in on the slathered bun. She loves that. Add in something for protein and veggie like cheese chunks and carrots or something.

 

2) I just can't believe I'm goiing to admit this but she just loves (veggie) hotdogs and cheese wrapped in spring roll wrappers and served with a side of ketchup. cold. she really likes it. I think it's gross. add a toss of broccoli and lemon/evoo/salt or other veggie.

 

3) any time of day or night my girl wants an big oatmeal square with apple sauce. When I send it in a lunch, I send everything separately: oatmeal square, cream cheese, apple sauce. Later, she spreads the cream cheese on the square and pours the applesauce over. she loves that and so do I but I like the square hot and applesauce cold; she doesn't care one way or the other. A little box of nuts and dried cherries rounds it out nicely.

 

I always build lunches with protein, veggie and/or fruit, and then whatever else fits. somtimes she wants the other thing, think pasta, but I still send the protein like an egg or veggie dog or something. It keeps her full longer.

 

Well gosh, I forgot about soup and other hot things. We have a couple of individual size, wide mouth thermoses and we send soups, stews, and left-overs in those. If we use that, I have a little lunch bag with handles and I put in the hot thermos, napkins, fruit/veggie, whatever. The big thermos of water just has to be carried separately. All the above things, though, we take in our tiffin and it hold everything except the water thermos, of course.

 

Well, blushing, I don't ever send moist toweletts. We use cloth napkins and if it's absolutely necessary, she has that and her water.

Edited November 4, 2010 by MomOfOneFunOne

[MomOfOneFunOne]

We don't eat sandwiches, so our packed lunches are usually brown rice and steamed veggies. I pack them in stacking tiffin carriers, which nest into an insulated carrying case I have -- keeps them nice and warm OR into bento boxes. It helps that my kids aren't super picky about the texture of their food because after 3-4 hours the veggies in tiffin may from al dente to slightly smooshy. We usually eat before 3-4 hours are up, though.

 

During sports seasons I pack dinners to go. Also in our regular rotation are soups, homemade corn tortilla chips with salsa, baked potatoes or sweet potatoes, roasted veggies over noodles, and simple stirfries.

 

I also pack fruit - usually grapes, apples, mangoes and/or papaya.

 

I pack a secondary snack bar - granola bars or homemade zucchini, pumpkin, persimmon, apple, etc muffin.

 

We only drink water.

 

I love our tiffin. We have what I think is the man's size one so we fill the top with food and the bottom with napkin, little bento fork, and maybe the cookie or something. love that thing!

[musicmommy]

We don't eat sandwiches at home very often so that is our go to food when we are on field trip.

 

For myself, it's usually a hummus and tomato sandwich, carrot chips and grapes. Usually water to drink. (I don't like chips or crackers)

 

The kids will usually have varied sandwiches.

My oldest: turkey, cheese, bbq sauce

My middle: turkey, cheese, honey dijon

My little: peanut butter and jelly

 

I'll also pack some fruits and veggies and maybe a dip for those. They usually will have some chips thrown in also.

 

We just had a nice fall picnic yesterday with my dad and treated him to a hummus spread. I cut up flat bread before we left and we had hummus, grape tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese and kalamata olives. Lemonade to drink and chocolate cookies that the boys made in the morning for dessert. I want that every day now!

[teamturner]

So many good ideas here that I will have to try next time!

 

Some of my kids are not crazy about sandwiches and one is allergic to wheat. I usually make chicken salad or egg salad. I can bring wheat free and regular crackers (sometimes a loaf of bread). I also bring fruit like grapes or apples. The stuff that needs to stay cool I pack in a small soft pack cooler with cooling things I always keep in my freezer. In a shopping bag I put our crackers, serving spoons, paper plates, and napkins. I also bring a backup of granola bars in case anyone is still hungry. And we bring water in several thermoses. I don't usually buy chips, but sometimes I buy them for outings like field trips as a special treat.

 

p.s. My chicken salad consists of canned chicken, grapes, apple, mayo, a little bit of curry, celery seed, and salt. This is pretty quick to make in the morning, especially if I get kids to help. They are getting pretty good at it. :D

[Aggie]

I buy the individual packets of tuna. They are easy to grab and take, and they don't need to be kept warm or cool. :001_smile:

 

We've taken homemade hummus, left-over meat, and hard boiled eggs, too.

 

It really depends on where we'll be eating. I'd rather the dc not eat tuna in the car, ya know?:D

[FaithManor]

Mozzarella cheese sticks, apple slices sprinkled with lemon juice (so they don't turn brown) and spread with peanut butter, Simply Gogurts (a concession to convenience foods but at least there is a far lower sugar count than regular yogurt and no high fructose corn syrup), carrot sticks, chocolate covered peanut clusters (homemade by ds who loves these things), and Annie's Cheddar Bunnies (a little bit healthier version of goldfish crackers). I pack water and occasionally for fun, juice boxes.

 

I pack double the amount of everything because many of the museums we visit are a good 1.5 hour or more drive from out home in the sticks so with the commute, that means TWO meals. Dh and I hate to add a meal of fast food (though we would if we needed to) because we feel soooooooo bloated after fast food these days. So, we stick to the packed stuff and if the boys are still hungry for more on the way home, we'll splurge for them to each get a small order of fries or an ice cream cone.

 

When we did homeschool soccer league (Fridays from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at an indoor soccer arena) I needed to be more creative because of this being a weekly event all winter. We made sandwiches of turkey or chicken, lettuce, red pepper, (black beans for me), and ranch or italian dressing wrapped in tortillas. We also made "bagel" pizzas which I would bake in the morning and we would eat them cold. I kept celery sticks spread with cream cheese, carrot sticks, and peppers, made homemade granola and took a thermos of milk along so they could eat it as "cereal", and lots of easy to transport fruit such as grapes. Cheese and crackers was another option. I always carried a mini-broom and dustpan in case we were eating inside or on a sidewalk bench so that I could clean up the mess.

 

Faith

Edited November 4, 2010 by FaithManor

[Parrothead]

I might pack a snack of granola bar or fruit of some type but generally I don't pack lunch. All day field trips with a group are few and far between. I the family is gone all day we just pick up some fast food or depending on money/mood go to a restaurant.

[Michelle My Bell]

These are some GREAT ideas! Thanks so much! Please keep them coming.

[AlisonK]

Sometimes I make sandwiches etc but many times I use field trips for treats. We get subs from our favorite place and bring fruit and drinks. Other times we get bagels and bring fruit and lots of "snacky" stuff like granola bars and dried fruit or trail mix. That option is nice if there is no good place to sit or the weather isn't great for a picnic because we eat as we go (like at the zoo in the winter time).

 

I love the ideas here. Thanks for starting this thread!

[missmoe]

I packed lunches just last night. I packed potstickers, edamame, asparagus, dates with cream cheese for desert. Also, an apple went into the backpacks. These were packed into a bento box.

[Mrs Mungo]

We don't do field trips that much, but we do take lunch to the beach a lot. Here are some of the things we might take (not all at once):

 

hummus and pita bread

carrots and almond butter

string cheese

cherry tomatoes

melon, cut into cubes

edamame

granola bars

ham, turkey, salami and/or large pepperonis rolled up

celery sticks

olives

cheese and crackers

strawberries

cherries

avocado

apples

peanut-butter and banana pinwheels (spread PB on a tortilla, place banana slices all over, roll up and cut into slices)

homemade trail mix with granola, nuts and dried fruit

[KarenNC]

Depending on what's available:

 

Cold leftover pizza (also a favorite breakfast around here)

pizzadillas (tortilla with little pizza sauce or roasted tomatoes, shredded cheese and turkey pepperoni, heated in pan or microwave to melt cheese)

cold sandwich of some sort (cheese, meat, egg salad, etc--my daughter's favorite is cream cheese and fruit spread)

popcorn

canned or fresh sliced fruit or applesauce

crackers and cheese

hummus and chips

cheese sticks

etc

[NanceXToo]

Usually something like peanut butter and honey sandwiches (a favorite over here), some string cheese, some sort of fruit, and some crackers or chips, and something sweet for 'dessert' (some cookies or something). And juice boxes/water. And baby wipes for cleaning sticky fingers afterward!

[mama2cntrykids]

We're pretty boring:

Sandwiches (either pb&j or meat/cheese)

Pretzels

Goldfish Crackers

Apple

Cheesesticks

Grapes

Water/Juice

Note: I don't pack all of these at ONCE, lol. I'll make a sandwich and add two sides.

[Nestof3]

A sandwich, sometimes we have different ones to make.

 

egg salad

tuna salad

peanut butter and honey

peanut butter and jelly

lunch meat

 

raw veggie

baby carrots

sliced cucumbers (the boys love these)

 

fruit

grapes

canned pears with small bowls and serving spoon

apples

 

almonds

chips

cheesesticks

Fig Newtons or snack puddings

 

Boring and simple, but field trips are not a common thing. We do the same thing for quick picnics.

Edited November 4, 2010 by nestof3

[Nestof3]

I love making chicken salad with apples and grapes. I also like adding pecans. :)

 

.

 

p.s. My chicken salad consists of canned chicken, grapes, apple, mayo, a little bit of curry, celery seed, and salt. This is pretty quick to make in the morning, especially if I get kids to help. They are getting pretty good at it. :D