somehow I still don’t know what to put in the lunch box

[Anonymous]

What’s currently in your kindergarten lunch rotation? My kid won’t touch sandwich meat of any kind, and I’m struggling to figure out protein that isn’t nuts or cheese.

[Anonymous]

Our youngest is now a senior in HS and we still struggle with this (!!). Non-sandwich eating options for our kids typically are more high maintenance & involve thermoses. I like the all metal ones (THERMOS Stainless King Vacuum-Insulated Food Jar with Spoon, 16 Ounce). Favorites over the years:

Taco meat with refried beans, chips on the side
Shepherd's pie
Buffalo chicken mac & cheese
Tortellini with italian sausage, penne & meatballs
Ramen with rotisserie chicken

Parents get up an hour before the kids leave to make lunches. Not as easy as sandwiches for sure! GL and enjoy your time with your littles!

[Anonymous]

Hard-boiled eggs
Tuna salad with crackers (not all my kids would eat this at age 5/6, but one would)
Hot dog (cut in half, stuck in a thermos)
Chicken nuggets - I usually buy the Bare ones from Costco
Quesadillas with meat or beans added

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our youngest is now a senior in HS and we still struggle with this (!!). Non-sandwich eating options for our kids typically are more high maintenance & involve thermoses. I like the all metal ones (THERMOS Stainless King Vacuum-Insulated Food Jar with Spoon, 16 Ounce). Favorites over the years:

Taco meat with refried beans, chips on the side
Shepherd's pie
Buffalo chicken mac & cheese
Tortellini with italian sausage, penne & meatballs
Ramen with rotisserie chicken

Parents get up an hour before the kids leave to make lunches. Not as easy as sandwiches for sure! GL and enjoy your time with your littles!

Same thermoses here and I pack the above mentioned meals for my teens. My elementary child doesn’t like as many options as the older kids do, but thankfully we can send nuts. She takes a peanut butter sandwich most days. I usually pack a box of Horizon whole white milk too. There’s some protein.

[Anonymous]

My kids have the same basic ingredients every day, which helps because they pack the "sides" and I pack the "main."

Every day is:
Some sort of granola, granola balls, or trail mix
A piece of fruit
Sliced vegetables
A sandwich or leftovers in a heated thermos

Once I got used to the idea of just having a "uniform" lunch where some days the vegetable is carrots and some days it is bell peppers, and some days the fruit is an orange and some days it is blueberries, it got easier to deal with figuring out a main every day.

Oh, and my kids LOVE bao buns in a heated thermos. That's a winner every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have the same basic ingredients every day, which helps because they pack the "sides" and I pack the "main."

Every day is:
Some sort of granola, granola balls, or trail mix
A piece of fruit
Sliced vegetables
A sandwich or leftovers in a heated thermos

Once I got used to the idea of just having a "uniform" lunch where some days the vegetable is carrots and some days it is bell peppers, and some days the fruit is an orange and some days it is blueberries, it got easier to deal with figuring out a main every day.

Oh, and my kids LOVE bao buns in a heated thermos. That's a winner every time.

Tell me more about the bao buns. Aren’t they like a folded taco? How does that go into a thermos without it coming all apart?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have the same basic ingredients every day, which helps because they pack the "sides" and I pack the "main."

Every day is:
Some sort of granola, granola balls, or trail mix
A piece of fruit
Sliced vegetables
A sandwich or leftovers in a heated thermos

Once I got used to the idea of just having a "uniform" lunch where some days the vegetable is carrots and some days it is bell peppers, and some days the fruit is an orange and some days it is blueberries, it got easier to deal with figuring out a main every day.

Oh, and my kids LOVE bao buns in a heated thermos. That's a winner every time.

Do the non-soupy meals stay warm in your thermos? I sent some pasta with a little bit of sauce in a thermos that I had preheated with boiling water and it was apparently cold by the time my kid had lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have the same basic ingredients every day, which helps because they pack the "sides" and I pack the "main."

Every day is:
Some sort of granola, granola balls, or trail mix
A piece of fruit
Sliced vegetables
A sandwich or leftovers in a heated thermos

Once I got used to the idea of just having a "uniform" lunch where some days the vegetable is carrots and some days it is bell peppers, and some days the fruit is an orange and some days it is blueberries, it got easier to deal with figuring out a main every day.

Oh, and my kids LOVE bao buns in a heated thermos. That's a winner every time.

Do the non-soupy meals stay warm in your thermos? I sent some pasta with a little bit of sauce in a thermos that I had preheated with boiling water and it was apparently cold by the time my kid had lunch.

Not the PP, but I use the same stainless steel thermoses, Thermos brand. My older kids report food is warm. My youngest has the smaller “kids” Thermos brand thermos, and it isn’t as good. Food is lukewarm, but edible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have the same basic ingredients every day, which helps because they pack the "sides" and I pack the "main."

Every day is:
Some sort of granola, granola balls, or trail mix
A piece of fruit
Sliced vegetables
A sandwich or leftovers in a heated thermos

Once I got used to the idea of just having a "uniform" lunch where some days the vegetable is carrots and some days it is bell peppers, and some days the fruit is an orange and some days it is blueberries, it got easier to deal with figuring out a main every day.

Oh, and my kids LOVE bao buns in a heated thermos. That's a winner every time.

Do the non-soupy meals stay warm in your thermos? I sent some pasta with a little bit of sauce in a thermos that I had preheated with boiling water and it was apparently cold by the time my kid had lunch.

Not the PP, but I use the same stainless steel thermoses, Thermos brand. My older kids report food is warm. My youngest has the smaller “kids” Thermos brand thermos, and it isn’t as good. Food is lukewarm, but edible.

To add: if your kids are picky about the food temp and really want hot food, I’d probably spend more for a yeti or hydroflask hot food container/thermos. But mine aren’t that picky about it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have the same basic ingredients every day, which helps because they pack the "sides" and I pack the "main."

Every day is:
Some sort of granola, granola balls, or trail mix
A piece of fruit
Sliced vegetables
A sandwich or leftovers in a heated thermos

Once I got used to the idea of just having a "uniform" lunch where some days the vegetable is carrots and some days it is bell peppers, and some days the fruit is an orange and some days it is blueberries, it got easier to deal with figuring out a main every day.

Oh, and my kids LOVE bao buns in a heated thermos. That's a winner every time.

Do the non-soupy meals stay warm in your thermos? I sent some pasta with a little bit of sauce in a thermos that I had preheated with boiling water and it was apparently cold by the time my kid had lunch.

Not the PP, but I use the same stainless steel thermoses, Thermos brand. My older kids report food is warm. My youngest has the smaller “kids” Thermos brand thermos, and it isn’t as good. Food is lukewarm, but edible.

Thank you. I have the Funtainer (screw on lid) thermos. Not sure if that means I should get the adult one.

[Anonymous]

Quesadilla
Tortellini or ravioli with garbanzos
Sun butter and jelly
Tofu cubes
Rice and beans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have the same basic ingredients every day, which helps because they pack the "sides" and I pack the "main."

Every day is:
Some sort of granola, granola balls, or trail mix
A piece of fruit
Sliced vegetables
A sandwich or leftovers in a heated thermos

Once I got used to the idea of just having a "uniform" lunch where some days the vegetable is carrots and some days it is bell peppers, and some days the fruit is an orange and some days it is blueberries, it got easier to deal with figuring out a main every day.

Oh, and my kids LOVE bao buns in a heated thermos. That's a winner every time.

Do the non-soupy meals stay warm in your thermos? I sent some pasta with a little bit of sauce in a thermos that I had preheated with boiling water and it was apparently cold by the time my kid had lunch.

Not the PP, but I use the same stainless steel thermoses, Thermos brand. My older kids report food is warm. My youngest has the smaller “kids” Thermos brand thermos, and it isn’t as good. Food is lukewarm, but edible.

Thank you. I have the Funtainer (screw on lid) thermos. Not sure if that means I should get the adult one.

Yes! That is the one I have for my youngest that isn’t as good.

[Anonymous]

What about:

cold chicken (patty, breast, etc.) cut into bites

hard-boiled eggs

refried beans served with tortilla chips and cheese

leftovers (it’s okay to eat cold food, or you can send them in a thermos if you want)

bagel and cream cheese

yogurt/yogurt smoothie

Have you tried rolling the sandwich meat in a tortilla instead of making a sandwich? Somehow a ham and Swiss rollup can be more appealing than a ham and Swiss sandwich.

tuna/chicken/ham salad

[Anonymous]

HS parent here - for PPs who wonder about food temp, we put boiling water in the Thermos & then heat food in our toaster oven at 350/400 for 45mins-1hr. We typically have lunches pre prepped in glass containers either in the fridge or freezer. Food gets super hot & then stays hot for lunch (sometimes get complaints about it being too hot). No other thermoses worked for us although we tried all the funtainer type ones, not Yeti or Hydroflask - those are more newly popular options & we are just rolling off old options at this point.

For cold food we got these freezable lunch bags:

PackIt Freezable Classic Lunch Box

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s currently in your kindergarten lunch rotation? My kid won’t touch sandwich meat of any kind, and I’m struggling to figure out protein that isn’t nuts or cheese.

Left over dinner from the night before. For example, high protein pasta with meat sauce. I do a lot of soup too. Fortunately my sandwich kid loves beans so red beans and rice, chicken tortilla soup. I cook and always make little frozen leftovers that are thermos sized.