New packed lunch ideas

[Amira]

I am in serious need of new lunch ideas for my kids to take to school. They cannot heat anything at school and we're getting into the hot season where they can't keep cold things cold reliably so everything needs to be okay at room temp, both to store it and to eat it. There's also a very strict no junk food policy at this school and most packaged foods are banned, which I like, so I need to stick with homemade options.

 

Youngest ds usually takes two kinds of fruit, a peanut butter sandwich, and some muffins or pasta. Older ds takes a peanut butter sandwich, fruit, leftovers if they don't need to be kept cold or heated, and flatbread or carrots with thick yogurt and zaatar. They're both tired of those options and I've run out of ideas.

 

Any suggestions?

[Carol in Cal.]

Mix peanut butter and honey to make a thick dip, then send celery sticks along with it?

Or stuff celery sticks with pub cheese spread?

 

One thing I did a lot with DD was send whole grain cereal to use to scoop peanut butter.  This one is good:  http://www.iherb.com/pr/Barbara-s-Bakery-Morning-Oat-Crunch-Cereal-Cinnamon-14-oz-397-g/31843?gclid=CNC0neagvdICFZOKaQode-4Ohw

 

She also liked a tortilla wrapped around grated sharp cheddar cheese, like a burrito.

 

 

[Laura Corin]

Will they eat more adult food?  Quinoa salad with lots of veggies and some toasted almonds (if nuts are allowed) for crunch is a good balanced meal that could stay at room temp.  Wholegrain pasta salad with olive oil or pesto rather than mayonnaise, cubes of cheese and chunks of fresh tomato.

[UmMusa]

Lunches can be hard to figure out sometimes. Would they like rice topped with varying foods? Toppings could be shredded BBQ chicken, taco flavored chicken/beef, Asian seasoned beef, salsa, beans, cheese.

[solascriptura]

Bagel pizza? Can you get a thermos for them? My kids love getting tortellini with tomato sauce.

[Lady Marmalade]

Salad in a jar!

 

Maybe don't use an actual jar since it's going to school and glass could be bad.  ;)

 

Only difference from the website I shared is that we EAT the salad from the jar.  Why dirty another dish pouring it out?  Give it a hearty shake to distribute the salad dressing, and then you're good to go.   This presents endless possibilities- only limited by what your kids will or will not eat.  There's some great ideas here as well:  http://letslassothemoon.com/2014/12/20/mason-jar-recipes/

[Sneezyone]

We regularly have homemade pizza. I use leftover dough to make one calzone for DH and one for DD. Those are tasty at any temp.lol. I use the same dough and fill it with ham, broccoli, cream cheese and a smidge of garlic.

 

I send them with pasta salads and Asian noodle salads with sliced egg rolls, sliced beef and pickled veg (Thai style).

 

I can send DH with an antipasto platter: sliced tomato and basil leaves, hard boiled eggs, cornichons/gherkins or olives and quartered flatbread. I can do the same think with roasted red pepper hummus, veg and flat bread (usually manakish, DH likes it with zataar and cheese).

 

Oh, I found a great recipe online for Schlotzky's deli-style bread. If I make the sandwich with meat and cheese (it's baked/warm) it keeps well for lunch the next day. There's no veg to get soggy. A Cuban sandwich would work the same way.

 

Clementines are plentiful right now plus crisp French apples so I'll send those too. Strawberries and kiwi are good sides for my peeps too.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Sneezyone

[Carol in Cal.]

Bagels and cream cheese.

 

Braunschweiger on pumpernickel with grey poupon mustard.

 

Pita with coarsely grated red cabbage, carrots, and cheddar cheese, with mayo.

[bibiche]

DS likes leftover spinach squares (think spanikopita without the phyllo - that's not ideal for leftovers because the pastry gets limp) for lunch and they are good at room temp. Spanish tortillas or leftover quiche are also easy. Also things like lentils or chickpea made into salads or just more or less plain.  He likes these made into cakes as well to change, and will happily eat leftover falafel at room temperature.  Tabbouleh or quinoa salad is also a favorite, as is hummus. Mostly he is happy with leftovers - so if we had some sort of tasty Indian cabbage the night before he is okay with eating it again the next day at room temperature, I might just send some yogurt alongside.  He uses a two or three layer tiffin to carry his lunch, so he can carry not-entirely-solid lunches.

[Word Nerd]

That policy sounds unreasonable to me. Sending meat, eggs, yogurt, leftovers, and other foods that should be kept refrigerated isn't healthier than packaged foods unless you have some other way to keep them cold.

[Carol in Cal.]

I assume you could use an ice pack?

One thing I did in similar circumstances is purchase a cool bag (the insulated, soft-sided kind) for 12 bottles of beer.  (Two 6 packs).  Then there was room for a good sized ice pack across the bottom plus a soft one to wrap around the milk, and no lack of room for bulky stuff like fruit and salads.

[myfunnybunch]

Sometimes a new condiment can make the same things taste "new" and less boring. I'm thinking of things like tomato jam, pepper jelly, hummus with additions like red peppers and garlic, whatever you can find locally.

[JulieA97]

Soup? I send soup in a thermos with ds to school many days and he loves it. I make a big batch and freeze them in 8 oz mason jars. Thaw a jar and pop in microwave before school. Pour hot water in thermos for 10 minutes to warm up thermos, dump out hot water and pour in the hot soup. It is still warm at lunch. Healthy as I make it from scratch. He loves it and you can do a million different types of soup.

[Acadie]

If you want to augment the effect of icepacks, you can prep food and freeze it, then pack it still frozen. This might allow you to pack mini-burgers and other entrees you wouldn't want to send otherwise.

 

Amy

[Amira]

Thanks for the ideas!

 

I do have an ice pack, but it will soon be hot enough here that it can't keep cold food at a safe temp for 5-6 hours. I've tried freezing things, but without a microwave on the other end, it's hard to find things that are good without being heated afterwards.

[Carol in Cal.]

If you freeze peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they thaw right around lunchtime IME and are less likely to get squished.  Plus then you can make a loaf of bread worth at one time, efficient!

Edited March 5, 2017 by Carol in Cal.

[cjzimmer1]

Fried rice is something I enjoy room temp or cold.

 

My DS doesn't have time to heat food between work/classes.  It's cold here so he wants warm food.  I bought him one of these

 

www.amazon.com/Thermos-Stainless-King-Ounce-Midnight/dp/B008JC76XA/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1488688043&sr=8-12&keywords=thermos

 

They do an amazing job keeping food hot.  I slightly overheat the food (and I never bother to do anything to preheat the canister), and the food is piping hot still 4-6 hours later.  At 8 hours it's still warm enough to eat without feeling like your eating cold food.

 

It does come in a smaller size if you kids appetite's aren't that big.  My 19 year old wishes it was a little bigger.

 

[umsami]

I have an older cookbook, and they recommend freezing all sorts of sandwiches (including lunch  meat) for lunch boxes.  Maybe you can do a test on a weekend, both with an ice pack and without?  My kids really liked a lunch meat (luncheon) that came with olives.  Instead of a sandwich, you can roll it with Laughing Cow or cream cheese....maybe put a spear of cucumber or pickle in it.   They also love a wrap made with turkey, cream cheese, and banana peppers.  Here's something on what sandwiches you can freeze safely: http://food.unl.edu/fnh/freezing-sandwiches  

 

Hummus and baba ganoush should be fine at room temp.  

 

Turkey has a whole bunch of olive oil dishes which are meant to be eaten at room temp.  My kids love Turkish green beans in tomato sauce. 

 

 

Is is possible that there is a fridge that you may have access to at the school to use that you don't know about? (As I doubt the problem would be unique to you.)  Maybe ask a teacher what other kids do during the hot season?  Could you add a frozen water bottle or other ice pack to perhaps up the cooling factor?

 

 

[Bambam]

We used to make and freeze mexican wraps - equal parts cream cheese/sour cream, add a little salsa for kick and flavor, add shredded cheese and whatever else you want (chicken, beef, olive, onions, etc), roll up, wrap in saran wrap, stick in freezer bag. When we would go to the zoo, I'll pull however many we wanted out, and they would be mostly thawed by lunch time.  I think that for this to work you'd need a creamy base and then add your favorite toppings. Maybe hummus would work too? I've never frozen hummus.

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I was going to suggest wraps too.  101 ways with those....

 

Growing up we didn't have any sort of refrigeration for school lunches.  Usually we packed sandwiches of various types, but it was the same thing with getting bored with that.  I had a special thermos for soup so that was a treat.

 

 

[ScoutTN]

My kids like cream cheese with cinnamon sugar in it on whole wheat waffles.

 

They like to invent their own flavors of Lara bars too. dates + nuts + flavor items

[chiguirre]

When they say no packaged food do they mean no tuna pouches or canned foods? If not, and if they sell them, those would be safer options. Do you have access to the plastic pouches of condiments and dressings? They cost a pretty penny but they are shelf stable and you could have you sons assemble their meals at the time of eating so perishables don't have to be kept cold.

 

Another possibility is to buy the best possible cooler, that might make a difference. Or at least buy an excellent thermos and send cold soups or dips (there are wide mouth thermoses) with pita.

 

I'd have your kids observe what other people bring and give you suggestions for meal upgrades. In the meantime, pb&j and hummus won't give them food poisoning so those would remain my go-to items.

[Amira]

I am constantly pestering them to pay attention to what other kids are eating. Unfortunately, they are less than diligent observers. If I were eating lunch in an international school I'd probably wander around the cafeteria checking out what everyone is eating.

[Sneezyone]

I think, in general, pickled/sour foods are best. Oils and vinegars. Sushi rice mixed with vinegar and a small bit of sugar, olives and pickles, hard cheeses like parm and grana padano, not all cheese is bad. Try bean salads and noodle salads with vinaigrettes of different kinds. DD doesn't refrigerate but she does have a microwave. Anything frozen in the am is perfect by lunch. The schlotzkys bread recipe is really perfect for this. Also, fried rice.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Sneezyone

[RoundAbout]

pasta and rice salads

beans with tortilla chips

hot dogs placed in a thermos with boiling water.

popcorn

olives, nuts

salami and hard cheese that stand up better under heat
 

I know there are some pretty heavy duty insulated lunch boxes, so might be worth looking into an upgrade if possible. I use a really large ice pack for my son's summer camp and a very insulated lunch box and it does pretty well in very hot weather, but it only has to last 3-4 hrs not 5-6 so YMMV.

[ealp2009]

If you freeze peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they thaw right around lunchtime IME and are less likely to get squished. Plus then you can make a loaf of bread worth at one time, efficient!

This is what I do all the time. I freeze PB and J as well as cheese and pickle and cream cheese and olive and they are all fine when they thaw and then tend to keep the other food cool.

 

 

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