can we talk about school lunches - let's make a list!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. I remember eating the same thing everyday for lunch growing up: PBJ Sandwich, apple, chips or cookies.

Seriously -- is this not a thing?

[Anonymous]

I buy puff pastry, roll it out, put cheddar cheese, crushed pineapple and sometimes turkey pepperoni, roll it up, slice it into circles. Bake for 15 minutes. Pineapple pinwheels! My kids love them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you!! These are great ideas. I think they will be winners with my kids. My mom makes English tea sandwiches with cucumber, a layer of cream cheese, and cilantro chutney to give it a zing. I hadn't thought about making that for school lunch, but that would fit with the things you have recommended. Thanks again.

I love the Indian cucumber sandwiches! I have found that it keeps better in the lunchbox and does not get too soggy if I cut thicker slices of cucumber, avoid putting salt-pepper on the cucumber and add two layers of baby spinach to create a barrier between the cucumber and the bread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I buy puff pastry, roll it out, put cheddar cheese, crushed pineapple and sometimes turkey pepperoni, roll it up, slice it into circles. Bake for 15 minutes. Pineapple pinwheels! My kids love them.

Sounds delicious. I am sure we can substitute other things too...

[Anonymous]

I call it picnic chicken- basically make a mess of simple baked chicken legs and pack them for husband and son. Throw in some healthy chips/crackers (for DH I might have some potato salad or Cole slaw), a piece of fruit.

I buy those Hawaiian rolls and make a few deli ham sliders, side of fruit, and popcorn or crackers.

Any leftovers that can go in thermos (chili, rice dishes, pasta, soup) and a bit of baguette and again fruit (btw the veggies would just end up in the trash-at least I know he will eat an apple or some grapes).

For awhile DS was on a wrap kick- I would slice avocado and add to a wrap and add oven roasted turkey or leftover chicken)- this was kind of expensive but really healthy.

I would give a lot if my DS would eat more hard boiled eggs, cheese, or raw veggies- these make excellent lunches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pack some snacks with the lunch (yogurt/string cheese, cut fruit, pirate's booty/goldfish, cookies/rice krispy treat, carrots/cucumber sticks with ranch dressing)

Grilled peanut butter sandwich with banana filling. (using sandwich maker)
Pizza
Hot Dog
Chicken nuggets
Spiced rava Idlis
Chicken Biryani (In a food thermos)
Grilled cheese sandwich
Stuffed paranthas (potatoes or cauliflower)
Toasted spinach and cheese ravioli
Spaghetti and meatballs (in a food thermos)
French toast (sweet)
"French toast" (salty)
Veggi quesadilla
Veggi upma
Veggi Lo-mein
Grilled potatoes stuffed sandwich
Grilled paneer sandwich
Caluiflower sabji with puri
Egg sandwich
Ham and bologana sandwich
BLT sandwich
Egg, spinach, cheese quiche
Paneer burger, veggi burger
Cornbread and chunky chicken chowder.
peas & potato pilaf with makhani daal (daal in thermos)
Spinach and onion pancakes
Ramen noodles in thermos. (my kid loves it so its an occasional treat).

Yum. I'm Indian too. Do you mind sharing the details of your grilled potatoes stuffed sandwich? And the spinach and onion pancakes? My daughter is constantly unhappy with lunch. She eats quesadillas (whole wheat TJ tortillas, cheddar cheese, turkey pepperoni) a lot, but she'd like some variety.

Also, my big contribution to this thread is pesto, mozzarella, and tomato sandwiches. One kid could eat this every day.

Grilled potatoes stuffed sandwich -
This is made from leftover grilled potatoes. I usually grill chopped veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, eggplants etc) in a tin foil. You can use grilled potatoes or even baked or boiled potatoes. I have also made it with mashed potatoes but I prefer the grilled potatoes because it does not become too heavy or starchy. Since you will be packing it in the lunch box and it will be probably cold by the time they eat it, you want some texture in the sandwich too. You can add or take out ingredients like - sauteed onions, cooked peas etc depending on what your kid wants to eat.

1/2 cup grilled chopped red potatoes with skin on
1 tbsp shredded cheese of choice (or even paneer)
1/2 tsp minced sundried tomatoes
1/2 tsp mint or coriander chutney.
salt to taste.

Mix above ingredients well. Put between two slices of bread and use the sandwich maker to grill it and seal the edges. You do not need to pack ketchup with it because the chutney and minced tomatoes give the needed flavor to the potatoes. Also the oil in the sundried tomatoes gives the right amount of unctuousness to the filling. This will be the filling for one sandwich.

Spinach and Onion pancakes. (for 2 pancakes)
1/3 cup cooked spinach (you can nuke frozen spinach) or 1/2 cup very finely chopped fresh baby spinach.
1 tbsp finely chopped onions or shallots.
Boxed pancake mix of choice (can be gf, whole wheat etc).
Salt to taste

Add 2-3 tbsp dry pancake mixture to the veggis (with or without eggs), mixing well and adding some water to make a thick batter. Depending on how much fluid is in the veggis you may need to add more or less mixture. Cook on the griddle with some oil or butter on medium-low flame and occasionally press down on the pancake with a spatula to make sure that the ingredients cook thoroughly and still adhere well to each other. You are not looking to make fluffy pancakes and you want the onions to be cooked through. You can add shredded carrots and other seasoning if your kid likes it or if you have the time. Once both sides are cooked through and are crisp, remove and let cool down, before you pack it in the lunch box.

There are endless variations you can make of these recipes acc. to the ingredients available and what your kid likes to eat.

If my son read about this kind of lunch, he would tell me that you're his "real" mom... from a palate perspective he was born on the wrong continent. I'm making butter chicken this weekend and hoping it's up to par.

[Anonymous]

I can't get my kids to eat anything cold that is supposed to be hot. I can do pasta in the thermos, but they complain that chicken nuggets, quesadilla, etc get soggy (because they steam in the thermos),

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't get my kids to eat anything cold that is supposed to be hot. I can do pasta in the thermos, but they complain that chicken nuggets, quesadilla, etc get soggy (because they steam in the thermos),

True. Anything that needs to be crispy and hot will get soggy in a thermos. The things that you can keep hot in a thermos is soup, chowder, biryani, spaghetti and meatballs, pasta, stew, chilli, mac and cheese etc. Adjust the liquid because sometimes the food will thicken a bit - grits, risotto, polenta, upma, halwa etc all tend to become a bit dry. The best part with thermos is that you can actually use leftover dinner from the fridge, reheat well and then give it for lunch.

When I make nuggets, quesadilla or even stuffed parantha - I cool it down first before wrapping in foil. It prevents it from being soggy though it is still cool when they eat it.

Same goes for hot dogs and pizza. I cook it first, then cool it and then wrap. Sometimes my kids prefer the leftover pizza from the fridge and I wrap it without warming it. It all depends on what your kid wants to eat, how finicky they are, what time is their lunch period, and if it is winter or warmer season. There have been some school years where my kids were taking thermos packed food and then there were some years where the lunch box only had ice packs in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have one child. Sixth grader. He usually wants leftovers if we have them. If not we have packed the following:

Sandwich with fruit & veg and a snack
Hot dog or corn dog with fruit & veg and a snack
Chicken with fruit & veg and a snack
Sliders with fruit & veg and a snack
Pizza or pizza rolls with fruit & veg and a snack
Mac n cheese or pasta with fruit & veg and a snack
Salad with grilled chicken with bread or crackers and yogurt or string cheese maybe a cookie or candy
Cereal with milk with fruit & veg
Waffles with Nutella with fruit & veg
Veggie burger with fruit & veg and a snack
Mini tacos (from Trader Joe's frozen section) with fruit & veg and a snack
I always send a milk too.

mini tacos from trader joes is a unique idea!

[Anonymous]

Sauteed cauliflower rice, cheese, taco seasoning, salsa verde and ranch dressing in a tortilla. Can be eaten cold. Brown the cauliflower a day earlier. Mix all ingredients together so that nothing drips. Don't overdo the sauces or it will make the tortilla soggy.

[Anonymous]

Serious question for those providing elaborate hot lunch items - how are you managing food safety or not having it just be luke warm and taste gummy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question for those providing elaborate hot lunch items - how are you managing food safety or not having it just be luke warm and taste gummy?

A freaking thermos, duh. And most of us don’t have the health inspector checking our lunches for food safety like they do in the school cafeteria.

[Anonymous]

Costco frozen bibigo's korean chicken wontons. Works very well in a thick stew/soup and it keeps very well in a thermos. I use premade organic chicken stock, chopped frozen veggies and add the frozen wontons in a pot and boil for 10 minutes. Keeps the shape, texture and taste very well. You can season with soy sauce or other condiments if you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question for those providing elaborate hot lunch items - how are you managing food safety or not having it just be luke warm and taste gummy?

Most leftovers can be used for lunch. Grownups take such lunch to work but we usually have a fridge and a microwave available. Not everything translates well to kids lunch without some changes, but it is doable.

With kids lunch -
- use ice packs for cold stuff. You can even use frozen juice boxes or milk boxes as ice packs. I even freeze string cheese and it is usually thawed out by lunch time.
- Some food can be reheated/heated thoroughly and packed in a pre-heated thermos. Usually good for food that can be eaten wet - mac and cheese, chowder, soups, pastas, risotto, chilli, meatballs in spaghetti sauce.
- pizza, quesadilla, nuggets, fish fingers, hot dogs - must be cooked, cooled and then wrapped in foil. It will become room temperature but will not become soggy. Hot dogs cab also be packed in thermos and the roll separately, The kid then assembles at school. If you take out pizza slices from fridge and wrap in foil it will become room temp by the time it is lunch time.
- when reusing stuff like mashed potatoes-turkey dinner or some other kind of leftovers, you can try and make into sandwiches so that the food is contained and easy for kids to eat during lunch. Wrapping in tortilla also works. You can add any kind of salad - egg, chicken, potatoes and make a sandwich or put it in a wrap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I call it picnic chicken- basically make a mess of simple baked chicken legs and pack them for husband and son. Throw in some healthy chips/crackers (for DH I might have some potato salad or Cole slaw), a piece of fruit.

I buy those Hawaiian rolls and make a few deli ham sliders, side of fruit, and popcorn or crackers.

Any leftovers that can go in thermos (chili, rice dishes, pasta, soup) and a bit of baguette and again fruit (btw the veggies would just end up in the trash-at least I know he will eat an apple or some grapes).

For awhile DS was on a wrap kick- I would slice avocado and add to a wrap and add oven roasted turkey or leftover chicken)- this was kind of expensive but really healthy.

I would give a lot if my DS would eat more hard boiled eggs, cheese, or raw veggies- these make excellent lunches.

Are you removing the meat from the bone for this?