Let's talk school lunches!

My son goes to a Chicago Public Schools high school and school lunches are free for all. BUT... since his school has off campus lunch for second semester freshman and beyond, he goes off campus most days (usually to the grocery store).

My daughter chooses to take her lunch every day (except the last Friday of each month when they order out pizza for the 8th grade fundraiser lunch). I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but after my daughter went to see a dietician to work out some food issues, I started an online food diary in the form of a blog. I stopped posting to it long ago since our lunches are pretty much some version of the same handful of things over and over and I also never seem to have time to take photos of her lunches anymore. But here it is, if you're interested in checking out some samples of what we pack...

http://www.lunchsnackandsninner.com

 

Oh Tracie...I have total lunchbox envy!!! What a great little blog idea!!! Thanks for sharing!

My girls normally pack their own lunches, and they are not usually near that glorious, and sometimes it is as simple as a basic lunchable...not always healthy I know...working on that!

 

Oh my gosh, there is no way I'd get Brody to eat anything but sandwiches. Brody will not eat meat of any kind except clams in clam chowder. He loves all sorts of spreads though. We make our own pumpkin butter in the fall. Jamie starts kindergarten this year & I suspect he'll love school lunch. He loves chicken, hot dogs, pasta, & pizza. I actually like the variety at our school. The breakfast is so good that I took Brody on his birthday for French toast dippers. Each breakfast & lunch comes with a lowfat milk or chocolate milk, and all you can eat salad & fruit bar. One day a month you can buy a cookie. Both of my boys have the Pottery Barn lunchboxes with bento insert. They carry water bottles. I'm planning on baking a lot of fruit filled muffins this year for snacks. I'm going to try some new recipes for granola too.

 

My son buys his lunch at school almost every day, but he has started to complain about the food more and more. I pack my lunch every day, and should for him as well just so I know he eats. I'm following here to get some more great ideas from you ladies! And Tracie, love that blog idea and your lunches!!

 

My daughter is very picky and has a tree nut allergy, so we've been making lunches since day one. In K5 it was mostly fruit, chips, dry cereal and juice/water. She just started eating sandwiches and has tried salad. I try to make sure she has a big breakfast at home. I think she hates lunch as much as I try to come up with ideas for her.

 

Kennedy is going to be starting Kindergarten in a few weeks, and we're really nervous about lunches. We're planning to pack his lunch, but are worried that he might end up in a NO peanut butter classroom or something. The only sandwiches he will eat is peanut butter (and maybe on a really good day he might eat tuna or occasionally bologna [which isn't even good to begin with]). I bought a thermos so we can try sending things in that.

He has sensory processing issues, so it is really hard for him with food. Textures are difficult. He may like something and be able to eat it one day (tacquitos for instance), but then another day, the texture might strike him wrong and he'll literally throw up. When he went to daycare for a couple of months, I got a call at least once a week to come and pick him up because they said he was sick and vomiting. I'd bring him home, and he'd be fine, so I thought they were crazy. That was before we realized the sensory issue and saw the vomiting first hand. :/ It is just so hard because you never know what might set him off at any given time. Sometimes just seeing someone eat something stringy, or seeing someone with food on their face will often make him puke. School will be such an adventure.

 

Our school doesn't have a kitchen so I have no choice. She's only 6 so there's no way I'd have her pack her own lunch, and she's very picky so my options are limited. It's usually some version of a sandwich and some yoghurt.

 

My boys mostly eat the school lunches and like them. On the days they serve hot dogs, which my youngest doesn't eat, he packs his own lunch. They both go through phases where they want cold lunch for a little while and when they do, they pack their own. They are 11 and 9 years old. They make a PB&J, yogurt, carrots and if they are lucky enough to talk me into buying them, they can have 2 oreos. Nothing very original there, but that's what they like.

Laura, check out this blog. She hasn't posted in awhile, but she has the best (and cutest) lunch ideas and they are all really healthy!

http://thislunchrox.com/

 

like these...

 

Those are adorable, Karen! Both boys in this household are currently taking the school lunch. Tate, who started middle school this year is in the honeymoon phase with the middle school options vs. what was available as an elementary student. After the honeymoon phase he may decide he wants to bring his lunch again as he did last year, but he mostly makes it himself with a little assistance from me.
Chase is our picky beyond the realm of normal picky child. If it isn't a bread product, it isn't likely he is going to eat it. So it doesn't matter if it is from school or home, most of it is going in the trash. So far, this year, when I quiz him about what he ate for lunch he'll tell me PBJ. When I point out that he won't eat PBJ at home, he claims theirs are better, go figure!

 

I was just going to ask this question so great timing!

My daughter doesn't like bread, yogurt, cottage cheese, or peanut butter - you know, only the staples for lunch!! My kids both make their own lunches (ages 12 and 8), and I make them take at least 1 fruit and 1 vegetable plus a protein (lunch meat, yogurt, cottage cheese), then they can have crackers or maybe something sweet (like a cookie or two). Their after-school snack has to be healthy like string cheese, yogurt or another fruit/vegetable. I've been thinking about adding hard boiled eggs into the mix since that would be a good protein. Of course, I HATE the smell of hard boiled eggs but I won't be there for lunch.

 

2 years ago i was all into packing amazing lunches for my kids. and then it wore off. not proud of that! (my daughter is vegetarian so school lunches really aren't an option for her) my son loves the gross food they serve (pizza, breaded chicken on bread, fries ... teenager food i guess) and would rather die than bring his own lunch. one of the best things about school ending in June for me was not having to pack my daughter's lunch. it is a PITA. i'm not looking forward to it in a few weeks ... but these blogs and links and ideas are all awesome. you girls are kind of inspiring me to try harder again.

it is definitely more fun to shop for cute lunch containers than it is to make the lunches! love all these bento boxes and such!

 

We've got sandwich eaters here... adding usually a fruit, a granola bar and something sweet. My kids are vegetable eaters, but not cold ones for lunch, so we stick to fruit. They get yogurt for breakfast, so we don't add that for lunch.

Occasionally, we will send in soup, or something hot in a thermos. Usually it is at their request.

 

School starts next week and this has been the topic of many conversations over the last month. My children (8 and 9) have both taken their lunches daily since Kinder and are now 3rd and 4th graders. That's a lot of lunches. At the end of last year they both started taking on more tasks of prepping their lunches, and this year will be the same. Currently we are struggling with variety for their lunches so I am glad that this topic was brought up. Thank you Laura.

Tracie, thanks for sharing your blog. I'll be using some of your ideas.

As for the lunchbox site. It is bookmarked and I am inspired by that blog. The lunches are so clever and cute. From a practical standpoint our lunches are not nearly as cute. I am able to at least take away from that particular blog various different food combinations to try, just not in the same dressed up fashion.

 

My daughters have been taking sack lunches since kindergarten. They will be in 5th and 2nd this year. Once a week I let them each pick a school lunch as a "treat". They usually pick pizza day. For two years we've been using Ziploc bento boxes. LOVE this method! The lunches usually contain a sandwich, fruit, chips/crackers, and a string cheese. My oldest sometimes helps make the lunches if I'm running behind in the morning. I'm hoping to shake up lunch this year though. Less sandwiches and more variety. We'll see if that actually happens though because we have to leave earlier this year than any other year.

 

Lov eyour blog Tracie! Going to be pulling ideas from here for sure!

 

Tracie, your blog is AMAZING! So professional looking...