making school lunch the night before

[Anonymous]

what types of lunch items for kids hold up well when made the night before? I'd rather not have to do anything in the morning (the typical race to get out of the house!)

Do PBandJ's get soggy? Cut up apples get brown? What works for you? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I think you'd make the sandwhich in the morning. Put everything else in the night before (the bag of chips, the apple, the yogurt, whatever)

[Anonymous]

I've made a few PB&J sandwiches early in the week and freeze them up in individual baggies. Toss a baggie into the lunchbox the morning of.

Sliced apples from the prior night will get brown unless you soak them in a little lemon and water (too much trouble), I think. Grapes from the night before should work. Other ideas: Mini bags of carrots, cutie clementines are easy for kids to peel (I start it for them), small whole apples (we like the ones from Trader Joes - manageable size).

[Anonymous]

I make sandwiches the night before. Turkey bologna, turkey.

[Anonymous]

School lunch consists of bottle of water, 1 turkey/cheese sandwich, 1 cookie, and a ziplock filled with either cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, strawberries,and/or blueberries. I make everything the night before, so all we have to do is grab the lunch bag out of the refrigerator, and go.

[Anonymous]

I make lunch the night before. I make a sandwich or put mac'n'cheese leftovers in a container (she eats it cold). She gets one side for lunch which is carrot sticks. I also prepare a morning snack and an afternoon snack -- those are a string cheese, a cut up apple (I juice one lemon and one orange and put the slices in the juice), lentil chips, or pumpkin muffins, etc. I throw in a milk box for the drink.

[Anonymous]

Hummus can be doled out in small tupperwares, and pita chips can be put in snack-size bags the night before. I've been serving apple halves that have turned a little brown, and DD has eaten them without complaining, so I keep doing it. I usually make sunflower butter & jelly sandwiches the night before, wrap them in paper towel, put in a tupperware and refrigerate overnight. While I probably wouldn't eat them that way myself, I haven't received any complaints, so I keep doing it. Our other standard lunch is cheese and crackers. If I don't have individually-packaged cheese, I let DD cut the cheese with cookie cutters the night before and I wrap them up. It's a pain, isn't it?!?!?

[Anonymous]

I slice apples, sprinkle with lemon juice, put them in a snack size Baggie overnight. DS only ever wants pb&j for his packed lunch. I use multigrain bread so I think it doesn't get as mushy as plain white bread might get. You can also put pb on both slices with the jelly in the middle and the bread won't get as mushy. I also toss a couple goldfish crackers and a cheese stick in there. Sometimes I include applesauce or mandarin oranges.

[Anonymous]

I find that if I put cut up apples and pears mixed with citrus fruit, it has the same effect as sprinkling with lemon juice, and my son loves oranges. (Mandarin work as well- easier!)

PB and J holds up well in fridge and freezer as PPs have mentioned. Also a deli sandwich without condiments (particularly a wrap) holds up well in the fridge overnight.

I hard-boil a bunch of eggs and peel one at a time for my son to take with lunches.

[Anonymous]

Sandwich with cheese slices next to the bread so the filler slices don't get the bread soggy.

[Anonymous]

All these things would keep if packed and refrigerated as a whole lunch the night before. Can eat cold or room temp:

fruit - small whole apple or clementine or banana
blueberries, grapes

veg - carrots, celery, pepper, grape tomatoes, snap peas (in baggie)

protein - individual container of hummus, string cheese or laughing cow, sliced lunchmeat or pepperoni or cooked faux chicken nugget (i throw in a ketchup or bbq sauce packet from a restaurant), yogurt

carbs - individual portions of pita chips, crackers, pretzels, mini bagel, etc...

Any drink or dessert, virtually.

[Anonymous]

If you put peanut butter on both sides of the bread it will help keep the bread from getting soggy. Otherwise, pack everything except for sandwich in advance.

I agree with other PP's. Usually pack a fruit (clementine, banana, cut strawberries, blueberries, mango, peaches, etc).

I include veggies with main part of lunch and/or add sliced cucumber, red pepper, tomatoes with a little bit of feta, carrot sticks, etc.

For protein/main course, I do a leftovers in a Thermos (warm up and put in Thermos in the morning), sandwich, sandwich rollups (tortilla with lunch meat, cheese, sometimes add a mustard, etc and either kept whole or sliced into bite sized pieces). Or I do a more snack-oriented lunch with cheese/crackers, pretzels and hummus, cheese stick, yogurt etc.