Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

Cucumber sandwiches? Are you Oscar Wilde? GTFO with that nonsense.

Anonymous wrote:If you are not watching out for this you should be.

On a daily basis I have kids bringing for snack (not dessert):

Packaged muffins, cookies, brownies, Doritos, cheetos. And the quantities they are bringing are astounding too.

This is terrible brain food. It makes them sleepy, unfocused and it’s terrible for their health too!

Because all his friends bring garbage snacks as well. The kid that brings the most popular snacks has the most friends too. It’s not rocket science.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

NP. I just Googled this and to make it you have to have a TBS of yogurt that you'd have to buy. So, you're already buying yogurt.

You buy a yogurt starter the first time, and then save some of your last batch of yogurt to keep making more. It's like how some breads need starters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

NP. I just Googled this and to make it you have to have a TBS of yogurt that you'd have to buy. So, you're already buying yogurt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Homemade yogurt takes 5 minutes of prep time in an instant pot. I don't do it, so I would not suggest this to anyone, but I don't see it as a guilt trip either. Not everything has to work for everyone. That doesn't make her a bad person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

This single line from that list of suggestions invalidates it as a reasonable solution to most parents' healthy eating quandaries:

"- yogurt (homemade)"

Anyone who would say this to busy working parents trying to feed their kids is a bad person, the end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

Cucumber sandwiches? Are you Oscar Wilde? GTFO with that nonsense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

DP but STFU and go make your husband a sandwich.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Dp. That poster suggested cubed cheeses and berries. Cheese comes cubed at the grocer and lasts a long time. Cucumber sandwiches can be quick too.

I think all things can be true 1) a lot of parents are sending junk to school both as meals and ask snacks; 2) schools are requesting a steady stream of snacks far into ES which was not the norm for parents growing up (and is probably not healthy); 3) some kids are picky eaters (and picky eating is often an inherited trait not tied to parents' choice of food); 4) some parents who work full time do manage to provide healthier lunches because it is priority for them; 5) some kids are healthy eaters and generally eat everything - if you have one of those (and I do) - you are very lucky.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

I didn't say giving healthy foods is always time consuming or costly. I said that the foods the PP suggested for packed lunches are too time consuming for most working parents and therefore not particularly helpful for a parent looking for ways to efficiently prepare packed lunches for kids while also juggling work and other responsibilities.

Most working parents don't have the bandwidth to make pancakes from scratch for the express purpose of packing them in lunches through the week. Another issue with making food like this for lunches is that freshly prepared food mostly won't keep for 5 days. When I was a SAHM doing lunches like this, I had to do meal prep several times a week in order to assure food was fresh and appetizing in lunch boxes. I tried keeping this up when I started working full time by doing weekend meal prep, but a lot of items don't store well for that long.

It is really condescending to not recognize the time and financial constraints of parents. The suggestion of "just make a variety of freshly prepared items at home and serve them in small portions in lunches" is totally unrealistic for a lot of parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you propose that parents force their kids to eat healthier food while at school?

Parents can pack healthy snacks (I did for years) but if the kids don't eat them (which also happened for years), you are left with hungry kids. So parents pack food that they know their kids will eat, so the kids eat.

Don’t buy garbage and they can’t eat garbage. This is not rocket science.

There is a direct correlation between the students that are focused and engaged and the students bringing healthy snacks. Yes I am a teacher (OP.)

I brought candy every day for snack and I was focused and engaged enough that I ended up in a better job than teaching, so maybe stay in your place.

Goodness what a mean comment. Thank you Op for flagging the importance of healthier snacks. Not sure why so many parents are feeling triggered.

I made a mean comment in response to OP's mean post. She deserves it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are grown and flown now but I always packed mini-versions of regular food as school snacks for when they were in ES and MS. My kids bento boxes often had the following snacks.
- blueberry pancakes (sweeten with dates puree in the batter, no need to send syrup)
- cut up cheese cubes
- cut grapes or berries
- tangerines (half peeled)
- yogurt (homemade)
- french toasts
- quesadilla
- spiced vegetable appe, upma, spiced idli
- crepes filled with nutella or just sweetened and cardamom-flavored or vanilla flavored mashed paneer or ricotta.
- tea sandwiches - usually cucumber or egg salad. Cut a full sized sandwich in 4 squares or triangles.
- Use rice wrappers, mandu wrappers, puff pastry sheets, empanada dough, parantha dough, dosa batter, cheela batter etc. - and fill it with any stuffing on hand + cheese - and bake it or steam it. I would go crazy with different fillings - eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, cheese, rice, nuts, leftover pasta, mac and cheese, deli meats, and fruits.

Thank you for this— my son’s school provides lunch, but it isn’t healthy and he doesn’t like it (like, jelly sandwiches and white rice) and he needs so many more calories lately. I’ve been going crazy trying to find things he will eat that are nutritious, or at least include some protein/fiber/fat so he isn’t famished at pick up.

This is only helpful for someone with the time to prepare all of it. I used to prepare lunches like this for my kid when I was a SAHM. I no longer do, sadly. My kid gets a lot more pre-packaged and processed foods now because it's a way to get food in a lunchbox with minimal effort. I feel bad about it and try to buy the healthiest stuff I can.

The average working parent simply cannot prepare food like that. I know because I've done it.

I absolutely 100% disagree with you. You can prep or make most of the food before or reuse leftovers in creative ways. You just have to get away with buying into the myth that only packaged food are snacks. Stop believin that giving healthy foods is time consuming or costly.

If your kid had a life threatening illness or food allergy, you would be making every single meal at home.

Giving healthy foods to children is a solved problem already. This is not something that you have to solve from scratch. Cheese cubes, loaded sandwiches, fruits, veggies ...these are not rocket science to make or pack.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you propose that parents force their kids to eat healthier food while at school?

Parents can pack healthy snacks (I did for years) but if the kids don't eat them (which also happened for years), you are left with hungry kids. So parents pack food that they know their kids will eat, so the kids eat.

Don’t buy garbage and they can’t eat garbage. This is not rocket science.

There is a direct correlation between the students that are focused and engaged and the students bringing healthy snacks. Yes I am a teacher (OP.)

I brought candy every day for snack and I was focused and engaged enough that I ended up in a better job than teaching, so maybe stay in your place.

Goodness what a mean comment. Thank you Op for flagging the importance of healthier snacks. Not sure why so many parents are feeling triggered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I send my child to school everyday with a healthy and balanced lunch that is cooked 80% of the time. She does not need a snack as she gets one afterschool. I do send her with a little dessert for lunch every now and then ( Those flower cookies or mini- sponge cakes from Trader Joe’s or cinnamon twists that I made for her. I am a teacher too so I know what you mean. I have 4 kids in my 2nd grade class who come to school every morning with chips, candy and a Coke. I am dead serious. I do not say anything to them because it is not my place to shame them but when they asked if my kids drink Coke the answer is no as I don’t allow soda in my house along with cereal.

Yes, soda and breakfast cereal -- notoriously the same nutritional content.

Cereal is one of the biggest scams in the history of nutrition. It's nothing but sugar and simple carbs. Even if you buy one without added sugar, it's over-processed simple carbs that turn into glucose in your children's bloodstream super fast. Convenient? Yes. Good for them, especially if that's the entire breakfast? No.

Lots of cereals (not the high sugar ones with cartoon characters on the box, but like shredded wheat, bran flakes, muesli, etc.) contain a full day's supply of fiber. Many cereals are also rich in iron and B-group vitamins. These are all nutrients that many kids don't get enough of because of aversions to meat and vegetables (even kids who eat meat and veggies happily often won't eat full servings of them because of challenges with childhood dentition or limited acceptance of more bitter and savory flavors). Combine that cereal with whole milk or full fat yogurt and some fruit, and it's actually one of the healthiest breakfasts you can offer.

The hyper processed cereals are obviously not this, but I don't see anyone arguing that Cocoa Puffs are a health food. My kid eats cereal almost daily but has never had a "frosted" cereal. Probably the worst cereal she's ever consumed is Honey Nut Cheerios. Once my spouse bought Kix which I don't love (though it has similar nutritional content to a lot of the puffed snacks people on this thread consider a health food, especially if available for sale at Whole Foods and packaged in health-signifying packaging). Kid deemed them too sweet anyway. My main concern with added sugars is not that the sugar itself is bad for kids but that eating lots of foods with added sugar acclimates them to only eating hyper-sweetened foods, which makes it harder to eat healthfully and I think contributes to picky eating (my kid is actually already a pretty picky eater but at least the foods she picks aren't all super sugary).