We use a Bento box. Favorites include:

Sandwiches - toast bread, hummus on one piece and pesto on the other, spinach (or arugula or other low-moisture green), tomatoes, fresh mozz (or other cheese) slices, add a meat if you like. Doesn't get soggy at all.

Frozen blueberries - they defrost (mostly) by lunchtime and are much cheaper than fresh

Bean salad - usually white beans and green peas with pesto

Sliced bell peppers or baby carrots (sliced long ways for littler kids to make them easier to eat) with hummus for dipping

Cold pasta salad - anything goes

Dried fruit

Cottage cheese

Great idea on the mini crarrots and cucumbers above. Those pair well with the mini packs of hummus you can get at costco

Can't you do like carrots or mini cucumbers? Super hardy.

How about neither hot meal nor sandwich? Just sides. For example, yogurt, cheese, crackers, pretzels, sweet treat - type lunch.

Also have you tried putting a paper towel between the sandwich and lid? It will absorb the condensation that accumulates and thus causes soggy sandwiches.

You can keep the cut up apples from browning by soaking them in lemon juice. We cut up a bunch of apples on the weekend and store them that way and then just grab some each morning

I make my kids pack their own lunches and then it’s not so hectic!

If you make PB&J, then you should spread a thin layer of peanut butter on both sides of the bread. Then add a layer of jam to one side. The peanut butter will prevent the jam from soaking into the bread and making it soggy.

Op here--thanks! My kids eat way more fruit if it's cut up, but yes I can send them whole. I'll try the other suggestions. Thank you!

Toast the bread and you can make the sandwich the night before. I do cut fruits in the morning though.

I do a thermos lunch once a week. All the other lunches I do the night before. My kid is 9 and I send in a whole apple if she’s having an apple. Today she has a Chobani high protein smoothie, an apple, and 2 caramel flavored rice cakes. I do a PBJ sandwich twice a week, no soggy complaints.

I make sandwiches the night before and they are fine. I always use butter and, if I'm using leaves or tomatoes, I'll these to the sandwiches in the morning. Honestly, I'd rather get up 10 minutes early to prepare a nice lunch.

Anonymous wrote:If you pack school lunches the night before, what do you pack? We do a lot of leftovers in thermoses, which involves heating the thermos with boiled water, then heating the food and transferring it. Sandwiches my kids say get soggy if we pack the night before, they're otherwise not super picky. If we cut up apples the night before they get brown, pears they get soggy. We don't always have berries around (so expensive! And they don't last long when in the house, kids love them).

Help! Would love ideas. Mornings are so hectic.

For those same reasons I pack lunches in the am. Our style of lunch isn't overnight friendly.

I always pack sandwiches the night before and they never complain about them getting soggy. Do you put any condiments on the sandwich? Maybe save that part for the morning if that’s what’s making them soggy.

I use the Bento box style lunch boxes and do a lot of different combinations of: cheese and crackers, hard boiled eggs, grapes or pre-cut melon or berries, cut veggies and PB&J sandwiches.

Do you have to cut up the apples and pears? Sending the fruit while saves time and dirty dishes, and makes it easier to pack the night before. When we pack the night before, we tend to do more deconstructed meals, like filled up slices of turkey breast with crackers.

If you pack school lunches the night before, what do you pack? We do a lot of leftovers in thermoses, which involves heating the thermos with boiled water, then heating the food and transferring it. Sandwiches my kids say get soggy if we pack the night before, they're otherwise not super picky. If we cut up apples the night before they get brown, pears they get soggy. We don't always have berries around (so expensive! And they don't last long when in the house, kids love them).

Help! Would love ideas. Mornings are so hectic.