Lunchbox suggestions?

By Anonymous -
Alright, so now that we've delved into the land of "big kid school," we've also delved into the land of "big kid" lunches.
So far I've been able to rock Gaby's world with ham or turkey sandwiches, and homemade Lunchables -- turkey, cheese, crackers and carrots.
But that's going to get old quick, I think. I had hoped to pack her hummus, but she's decided she won't touch the stuff. And she's the only kid in the world who doesn't like peanut butter.
Anyone have any suggestions?

Comments

Becky said…
I'm really the wrong person to ask...my daily work lunch consists of a PB&J sandwich, a banana, an apple, some carrots, and Pirate's Booty (or something else that's salty and crunchy).

Does Gaby like soup? Maybe you could pack a thermos of soup, so it would still be warm when lunchtime arrived?

There was an article about lunches in bento boxes in the Post a few weeks ago. I'll see if I can dig up the link.
8:14 AM
Becky said…
There's something wrong with the WaPo website this morning, because I can't get anything to load. However, I googled what I was looking for, and think it might be located here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060500414.html

Hope this helps!
8:30 AM
Anonymous said…
My mom would separate an orange into sections for me so I didn't have to peel the whole orange myself, and I always really liked that, for some reason.

I'm sad Gaby doesn't like peanut butter -- does she do cream cheese and jelly sandwiches? Not quite as healthy, but still a little protein...
10:59 PM
Alissa said…
Yeah, I didn't eat peanut butter as a kid, either, which caused problems for my mom. I remember eating a lot of cheese and jelly sandwiches (which sounds really gross now, but I really loved them when I was a kid).

Will she eat chicken salad? You can mix all kinds of different things into that to add variety, and if you put an ice pack or frozen juice box in her lunch box it should stay cold until lunchtime. Add different kinds of fruit, or a little curry powder, or almonds, etc.

Or, you could make pinwheel sandwiches with lots of different ingredients - just roll up and slice into pinwheel shapes - cream cheese and jelly, avocado and turkey, black bean dip or refried beans with cheddar cheese, cream cheese and turkey, ham and cheese, etc.

Mix up the bread routine with mini bagels, pita bread, english muffins, tortillas, rice cakes, rolls, raisin bread, etc.

If she'll eat cream cheese, you could put cream cheese in celery sticks (instead of peanut butter) and then press raisins or nuts or granola into the cream cheese... I think it's called "Ants on a Log."

I think I'm on a cream cheese kick here.... cream cheese with pineapple slices and toasted almonds on a sandwich.

Cold noodles in a peanut sauce

A container of yogurt and a ziplock baggie of granola or fruit that she can mix into the yogurt.

You can mix up the shapes of the foods you give her on a regular basis, like cubes of cheese and meats instead of slices for her homemade lunchables, etc.

You could make her regular sandwiches but cut them into fun shapes with a cookie cutter. Or, you can cut the bread into fun shapes ahead of time and store in the freezer...then just pull out two slices the night before to make a sandwich.

Mini muffins...

Cream cheese (again) mixed with honey and raisins, spread on graham crackers.

That's all I can think of right now. :)
1:18 AM
Kelly said…
Alissa, how am I going to top that? Well, I didn't see tuna fish on the list so I'll suggest that. I ate a lot of that as a kid. I also ate bologna on white bread with mustard. I can't even bear the thought of that now. Egg salad is tasty although my parents put it in my lunch box way too often as a kid and now I can't bear to eat it. Of course, it doesn't smell so good, so maybe that's a bad idea.

How about a PB and banana sandwich?
5:01 PM
Anonymous said…
wow alissa,
I'm going to try some of those myself!
Here are a few leads from care2 that sound especially delicious:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/readers-school-lunch-recipes.html

I love to bring a tortilla that I assemble at school by filling it with chunks of a thawed veggie burger, cheese & salsa.
I do the yogurt & granola thing almost daily. Along with the yogurt, I bring one of those packs of 2 crunchy granola bars (Nature's Valley) and then smoosh up the bars into bits before I open the package, then I shake the bits into the yogurt & mix with my spoon.
9:39 PM
Alissa said…
Well... I've been bringing my lunch and/or dinner to work and school for about 9 years. :)

In addition to the yogurt/granola thing, I do a yogurt/fruit thing almost daily. I dump a container of yogurt into a tupperware container and then add frozen fruit. By the time I get to eat it, the fruit has defrosted and mixed with the yogurt. My favorites are lemon or vanilla yogurt with frozen raspberries. The raspberries make a bright red juice that swirls with the yogurt and looks awesome. Everyone always wants to know what this fabulous-looking thing is that I'm eating. :)
10:01 PM
Unknown said…
thanks for all the suggestions!
Gaby is still happy with her sandwiches and homemade lunchables, but I have been mixing it up with different veggies/fruit every day.
I will definitely be trying your ideas, though. :)
10:38 AM
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