What Do You Pack In Their Lunch?

[shacon-bacon]

Just wondering what kinds of foods moms and dads pack for their kids school lunches? Any good breads you've discovered for sandwiches? Any other simple hand held food??

[Mizzo]

For bread:

Udi's white bread is exactly light wheat bread. Leave 3 days worth out at a time, keep rest in frig or freezer depending on usage. It's a small loaf and expensive but it's the only bread my girl will eat so I buy it. She also likes the Udi's multigrain but not as much, it is a little denser and smaller.

[missy'smom]

Lunch In a Box is a great resource to help you think outside the sandwich. Open Original Shared Link

These days I send:

*broccoli cheese rice casserole with either ham or chicken in thermos, fruit

*brown rice rotini pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce in a thermos, container of parmesan cheese on the side, fruit

*sandwich made with a bread recipe from this forum Pamela's mix, or Udi's bagles

*Use various bread/rolls as pizza bases, today was Udi's bagles, sometimes Kinnikinnick hamberger buns or Trader Joe's French rolls, plus a fruit

*fried rice, xtra meat, fruit

*beef bites(many brands are gluten-free-Old Wisconsin, etc.), rice crackers, cheese cubes, fruit

*chicken quesadillas made with Food for Life brown rice tortillas, fruit

*in the winter, I send Healthy Choice chicken and rice soup with extra chicken added by me, in a thermos

[GFreeMO]

I don't bother with Gluten-Free bread. It costs a lot and my kids don't care for it unless it's heated.

Today I packed cream cheese on celery, applesauce cup and some BBQ lays Stax. I also pack meat and cheese rolled on Mission corn tortillas. Glutino crackers with meat and or cheese. I also make Gluten-Free cookies and brownies etc. to pack. Leftover taco meat with the lettuce, tomato and cheese and Mission corn chips is something else that they like to take.

[celiac-mommy]

These plus a veggie and a fruit of some sort is what I do for mine:

-leftovers

-sandwiches

-cheese and crackers

-bagels and cream cheese

-multigrain crackers and cream cheese (my kids love the little mini packs of Philly strawberry cream cheese)

-quesadillas

-muffins-- I make PBJ muffins, pizza muffins, ham and cheese muffins--the sky's the limit. Take a basic muffin recipe and add whatever you want. I usually do 1/2c cheese in shreds or cubes, 1/2c meat-same way, for pizza, I add a dollop of pizza sauce in the middle of the muffin, for PBJ, I fill 1/2 the tin with batter, spoonful of pb, more batter, then a dollop of jelly on top.

-pasta salad

I ask them what they want. They help plan meals and I will usually make up a few batches of those muffins on a Sunday night to make the lunch makin' a lot quicker!

[srall]

I'm new to this with my daughter so I'm still trying to expand the menu (good suggestions btw)

The best investment we made was a $13 Hello Kitty Thermos from Target. I send her with homemade minnestrone soup, spinach pesto pasta, even left over meat which doesn't really stay warm but she is willing to eat it cold.

My daughter isn't a huge fan of the bread so not many sandwiches. I do sometimes give her pbj on a rice cake. Not a huge success but it'll do in a pinch. I send apples and peanut butter, cut up fruit and veggies, Envirokidz bars. As I said, we're still working on menus for both of us.

[kareng]

My kids didn't have to be gluten-free but the younger one never liked a tradional PB&J and the older one liked to mix it up. Sometimes they had jokes made about the lunches, but usually the other kids wanted my boys lunches.

Juice or milk purchased at school & a fruit or carrot sticks & maybe a cookie or candy:

Peanuts or other nuts, gluten-free crackers, PB on gluten-free crackers or celery

slices of cold cuts, rolled and stuck with a toothpick send BBQ sauce to dip

Thick slice of ham or turkey, cut into cubes with toothpicks(popular in lower grades, fork for older)

tortillas chips with some taco meat in the thermos, cheese to sprinkle on

get rice papers at the Asian grocery and fill with fruit, veggies & meat

yogurt

Pancakes as sandwich bread or with a little container of syrup to dip

Just start looking at what you make at home & think of how to reduce it or package it.

[polarbearscooby]

I love Kettle Cuisine Chili with Crackers, Glutenfreeda's gluten-free Burrito, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, fruit, nuts, etc....

I have access to a microwave so that's a plus, but I'm looking for some more idea's for when I don't have one...

[curlyq]

For my 7 year old we send:

Italian pasta salad (full of veggies, cheese cubes, pepperoni's, etc)

Tuna salad and a rice cake

Egg salad

Chicken salad

Apples, celery and PB

Fruit, ham and cheese kabobs

Homemade lunchables

7 layer dip and taco chips

Hope that helps!

[shacon-bacon]

Good ideas! Thanks guys

[ProudMommyDebbie]

My two oldest don't have access to a microwave at school, and the bread has become too complicated, so here is what i've done lately:

they have had to eat everything room temp or cold, best we can do for now.

Gluten free hot dogs

Gluten free lunch meat wrapped in corn tortilla

tuna

ground beef mixed with eggs (usually leftover from dinner the night before)

sides of fruit, veggies, applesauce, jello, and/or a small string cheese or cheese slice.

Drinks - small water bottles or natural juices, or Keefer smoothies

[Roda]

I get to pack my first "kids" gluten free lunch tommorow. I just found out today that my 5 yo had a positive tTg. Based on his symptoms, my diagnosis and his positive test we are not going to do the biopsy and just go gluten free. Luckily he likes alot of my gluten free stuff, fruits, veggies, yogurt, Udi's bread, and rice cakes that I think he will make it easy for me. I plan on taking him shopping tommorow for his own stuff for his lunches and snacks (he is in kindergarden). I have the added burden for his snacks that I have to make sure they are nut free because he won't be able to bring anything with that into the classroom. There are others in his class with nut allergies. Any suggestions on snacks/brands that are gluten free and nut free?

[missy'smom]

Any suggestions on snacks/brands that are gluten free and nut free?

Enjoy-life brand is nut-free and gluten-free. Here are some things that I put in Ds's snack box when he was in elementary school, for emergencies when people sent goodies in(his teachers NEVER let me know ahead)all shelf stable, individually wrapped, fruit leathers, mini boxes of raisins, other dried fruit, pudding cups, fruit cups, applesauce cups, M+M's, One of the gluten-free pretzel brands has individual packs. Ian's Cookie buttons come in individual packs, individual Smartpop popcorn bags

[Ahorsesoul]

Here is what I packed for dh's lunch tomorrow (sorry no kids), he likes his sweets so it's not very balanced:

Hormel's Natural Chicken lunch meat and Colby cheese sandwich on Udi's Bread with lettuce (no need to heat it, Udi's is excellent bread)

Glutino gluten-free pretzels

Betty Crocker's Chocolate Chip cookies

Potato Chips

Leftover cranberry pie (used Gluten Free Pantry Pie crust to make the pie)

Cranberry juice

Box of Raisins