My kids are getting very bored of our normal lunches, so I thought I would hit you guys up for ideas. Other than the normal pb&j, mac and cheese....what do your kids like? Also, do you plan out your lunches each week or do you just scrounge up whatever you can find?
My dgs loves lunchables, so when he's here, we make our own by cutting a couple slices of lunch meat (mostly 95% fat free ham, but sometimes thin bologna) and couple slices of cheese singles into squares, and crackers. Or four or five chicken nuggets with a small apple or a banana and yoghurt. If he likes what we had for supper the night before, leftovers. His all-time favorite is mac and cheese, though - actually, shells and cheese.
One day my son cracked me up, he asked for mac & cheese and smack & cheese. :?: What in the world is smack and cheese? That is what he called the little rolls I made for him by taking a piece of lunch meat, rolling a slice of cheese and a slice of pickle in it. He has never been a big sandwich fan, so he prefers the sandwich items with out the bread. -I will also do a plate with a hard boiled egg, slices of cheese, avocado sliced, and a fruit. -You can cut meat, cheese, avocado (or a fruit) into chunks and serve it with a toothpick for them to have "samples" like at the store. -Tortillas with cream cheese and lunch meat rolled up is another or a quesadilla with lunch meat rolled up. -When he does eat a sandwich, he likes cinnamon butter, or honey butter. -My friend makes a pesto pasta that kids love. It is perfect for little ones learning the letter "p". It has pasta, pepperoni (cut into bite size), peas (added to the pasta the last few minutes of boiling to cook), and a scoop of pesto. I always loved to tell the preschoolers pasta, pepperoni, peas, pesto. Can be saved for leftovers, best served reheated. -Another pasta salad is to boil noodles and for the last few minutes, toss in slices of carrots (just to slightly cook, they still have a little crunch). After draining, add Italian salad dressing, and cucumber slices and small slices of cherry tomatoes (if your kids like those items). Oh, my family likes to add olives. This will keep for a few days if you make a large batch. Wow, all of a sudden, the ideas started flowing :idea:...hope you can use at least one for your family.
Sloppy joes hot dogs chili dogs baked potatoes with a "fixin's bar" of toppings "spanked" pizzas- kids take a refrigerated (uncooked) biscuit ball and smash it out flat in their hands. Place on cookie sheet, load with toppings (even just marinara and cheese, although I add shredded carrot and zucchini to my sauce), and bake. Individualized pizzas! Open a hot dog bun and place lunchmeat and a slice of american cheese on one side of bun. Toast in a toaster oven to melt cheese. Put desired toppings on. MT3
Our girls are older so they make their own lunches. But they have to choose from categories... Two from Carbs: Fruit Bread Rice Cakes Popcorn Pasta Potato Oatmeal Two from Protein/Dairy/Nuts: Tuna Cheese Peanut Butter Protein Powder Almond Milk Nuts Beans Milk Tofurkey Hot Dogs Yogurt Bocca Chicken Pattie (1 counts as 2 from this group) Then they add 2 veggies and one extra (mayo, honey, ketchup, butter, etc.)
I often do Sunbutter (PB alternative) and honey sandwiches or sliced meat/cheese/crackers along with whatever veggie and fruit we might have. However, two faves of my kids are: (1) Butter Pasta, which is just pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. Sometimes I add in peas b/c my kids actually like them, believe it or not. (2) Cheesy Tortillas, which are tortillas (usually whole wheat) with melted cheese inside. I'll add chicken or beef if we have any leftover from supper the previous night. These are super simple, but my kids don't seem to get tired of either one. Oh, and I don't plan lunches ahead. We just scrounge up lunch from whatever we have and usually rotate between the same 5 or 6 lunches. Boring, but true!
We are scroungers. We just try to find whatever is around. There are a few things that I always make sure and have around. Lunch meat and cheese and bread being top of the list. We have leftovers a lot as well because I plan some meals that way; to have lunch from them the next day. We get tired of the same old things as well. I really like some of the ideas here!
My son loves hummus on pita, quiche, my homemade tacos, poppadums with tuna and a bowl of soup, cottage cheese with baked tortilla chips and fruit, turkey sandwich, cream cheese on english muffin, pasta with homemade meat balls and tomato sauce, sushi....
Just wanted to bump this up since I saw the post asking about lunch ideas and knew I had jotted my ideas down on a previous post.
Some of our favs are tuna mayo corn cakes with fixings]]I do stir fry macaroni.... we do sushi using tuna and veg
We enjoy: rice cakes with peanut butter and applesauce Ramen w/cooked chicken and sliced celery. (cooks in 3 min.) peanut butter & honey sandwiches celery w/ peanut butter or cream cheese and boiled eggs bananas w/peanut butter quesadillas: saute onions/bell peppers, add some cooked chicken and 1/2-1 pkg taco seasoning. Butter one side of a tortilla, place on hot iron skillet and put a dab of chicken mixture and a bit of grated cheese on one half. Fold over. Serve w/salsa & sour cream. "Decorated" leftovers. Mom heats up leftovers and places on plates with parsley garnish, slice of orange or on a bed of lettuce if appropriate. Use fancy glasses for lemonade and call children for lunch already spread. We use the dining room table for a "fancy" lunch. Hey....whatever works, works. My kiddos hate leftovers that look cold and congealed that they have to reheat themselves. LOL
On school days, dh and I usually carry an assortment - apples, bananas, maybe those small cups of diced fruit, oranges, yogurt, small bags of chips or cookies, cheese crackers with either cheese or peanut butter, sandwich of whatever kind, frozen corn dogs, leftovers, hot pockets, ramen, some kind of drink. Usually we freeze a plastic bottle partly filled with the drink of choice (juice, or those little packets of powders that flavor your water), then fill it the rest of the way in the morning so it keeps the lunchbox cold while thawing out to drink at noon. We have a microwave at school for heating stuff up or making ramen, whatever. And no, we don't carry all that every day! LOL But those are usually what we choose from. Once in awhile, it does get boring, but on field trips we try to arrange it so that we eat out. Week before last, Banquet tv dinners were on sale for 97c, so I got quite a few of those and had a hot lunch. They fit perfectly in my Igloo.
my kids love sandwiches, and veggies with dip... but im likin the ideas of quesadillas and butter pasta.. i think they'd like those
I don't make lunch. For anyone but myself. LOL I'm a Mean Old Mamma (see, MOM....). Even my 6 year old makes their own lunch. I make sure there's plenty of stuff that they like around. My kids make: egg sandwiches (toasted english muffins with sausage patty, cheese and egg) Salads tuna Salad Chicken nuggets Dinner Leftovers All sorts of stuff. My oldest is the experimenter and makes all sorts of stuff (I'm around, of course, and she's not allowed to cook or use sharp knives unless I'm around). I believe she'll be the one who ends up as a chef. My kids know it needs to be a rounded out meal with protein, starch and veggie or fruit. And they best not ask for candy until everyone's done and everyone ate what they were supposed to! I really don't know how we got into this habbit, but it just seemed easier. Dinner is a non-negotiable, they HAVE to eat what I make whether they like it or not. Breakfast and lunch is their choice as long as it fits within the guidelines.
Cheese. Crackers. Ham. Cheese. Crackers. Ham. Cheese. Crackers. Ham. Nearly every day for the past 4 years or so! :lol: My kids throw a fit if they have anything else. Breakfast and lunch are always the same (like feeding the dog the same old thing!). Dinners vary, but even those aren't very creative, because ds2 is the only one who'll eat veggies with me. Dh and ds5 eat little more than bachelor food. :roll:
Green salads with meat (ham, turkey, chicken, etc...) and cheese and veggies, nuts or fruit tossed on top (whatever I happen to have around). Ham and cheese sandwiches. Soup. Sometimes I'll make a big pot of salad... like a chopped chicken salad, or a tuna casserole salad (tuna, anchovies, green beans, olives, etc...), or a pasta salad, or a couscous salad... and dish that out over a couple days. Wraps, with sandwich stuff in them. Snacks and sides are usually yogurt, applesauce, cheese sticks, veggies with hummus or meat sticks. Each kid has their own preferences. My son will eat sweet peppers raw, while my daughter likes to pour ketchup on her salads.
Lots of good ideas! Thanks! We almost always have fruit with lunch- apples, oranges, melon. A cheese quesadilla and lots of fruit satisfies my youngest son! My kids love clam chowder and chili, so some weeks I make a big pot specifically for lunches. Tuna fish- on crackers, in pitas, on english muffins or wheat bread. I even have mine stuffed in a tomato. We use tortillas a lot- for wraps or bean burritos or breakfast burritos. Two of my sons like to heat them up and put peanut butter and sliced bananas in them. I like: mix equal parts sour cream (or mayo) and chunky salsa. Spread on tortilla. Add roast beef, lettuce, tomato, and cheese of choice- roll. Fried egg sandwiches (a blast from my childhood every time!) Soups actually go well with my kids. Right now our favorites are cream of asparagus and cream of veggie (zucchini, potato, carrot)- homemade. Sausage kale is a good one when it's cold out! And a pot of soup will feed us for several days without the kids getting TOO sick of it! For a snack for little ones- have them "go fishing'. Put a little peanut butter in a small dish, sprinkle on a few pretzel or cheese goldfish crackers. Use a skinny pretzel stick as the fishing pole, and let them dig in. (Make sure extra "poles" are handy as well!) For ALL kids- I roast veggies and cool, then blend with cream cheese and spread on crackers or mini bagels. YUM! MT3
My kids luv lunchables....it's hard to get them to eat much else for lunch. They also like grilled cheese with ramen and chef boyardee. Otherwise it's just pb&j, ham/turkey/bologna & cheese, BLTs, leftovers, or kid cuisines. I keep a lot of fresh fruit in the house. They particularly like strawberries, peaches, apples, grapes and bananas. No luck with raw veggies though. My daughter likes mater sandwiches, lol. I don't let my kids drink soda so they usually have juice or milk. We'll have kool-aid from time to time. I drink sweet tea and coffee and I usually make egg/chicken/tuna salad for myself since my kids don't care for it. They also detest soup. I try to buy juice with fruit and veggie blends to give them some balance, but I'll drink V8.
