Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

School lunches are gross and are certainly not hot when they eat it. Don't have 4 kids under 10 if you are just going to use it as an excuse to be lazy.

Anonymous wrote:What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

How much is lunch? In FCPS it's like $3 a day. So 3x4=12, and 12x5=60, and let's say there are about 40 weeks of school that's $2,400 for the school year! Seems a lot to me. My child buys on average once a month, probably less.

I do a bento box with different things every day.

Today it is a steak salad with tomatoes in one compartment and the other has a hard boiled egg shaped like a bunny, cantaloupe, blueberries, and olives (weird kid).

Yesterday it was a Japanese omelet on a bed of green peas and tomatoes, rice and blueberries (separated).

I have two kids; one is picky, one is not (but the one who's not has food allergies and the picky one has a nut allergy kid in his class).

Picky gets the same thing every day: sunbutter and jelly sandwich; a cheese stick; seaweed snacks, goldfish crackers, or pretzels; applesauce, fresh berries, or an apple; and a juice box or nutritional shake.

Non-picky gets either leftovers, soup in a thermos, or some kind of deli-style sandwich -- ham and cheese, salami and cheese, the occasional PB&J. These he will eat with yogurt, fresh fruit, pretzels, crackers, or whatever else he feels like throwing in there -- he's in middle school, so half the time he packs his own lunch, or at least helps. To drink, he usually sticks with water or a Vitamin Water Zero - he's not on a diet or anything (far from it), but he likes the taste and it's the only energy drink with no ingredients to which he is allergic.

Anonymous wrote:Every public school allows nuts.

Ours is strongly nut-free. Why would you say this when you don't know every school?? Please think before posting.

10:14, what is the name of this sun butter and where do you buy it?

For my 7 year old who has a big appetite and is a good eater at a school with an anti-junk food policy:

-a main such as sun butter and jelly, deli turkey on bread or a wrap, bean and cheese quesadilla
- a fruit
- a veg such as cucumbers, tomatoes, peas... Recently have found out red pepper strips are a hit!
- additional protein such as Greek yogurt
- sometimes a treat such as dried fruit or graham crackers (cookies and candies aren't allowed by the school)

Sometimes we mix it up with a Marie Callender pot pie or soup...but the above is typical.

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Anonymous wrote:I am going to assume that the sandwich posters are just not posting. My kids eat turkey (not processed) and cheese or PBJ (100% peanuts/100% fruit) on good quality bread..some fruit or veggies and something else. That works for our family.

My daughter is starting K in the fall. Is there no restriction on peanut butter in the elementary schools? There is at her preschool and I just assumed it would carry into elementary. I'll be happy if it doesn't.

Allergic kids sit at different table. Everybody wins!

Except for the allergic kids who are segregated and have to sit with random kids rather than their friends. I truly don't understand why people are so attached to their nut butters that they get so up in arms about the idea of being a nut free scho (like a lot of DCPS elementary schools are). We use for our lunch sunflower butter and golden pea butter with jelly. Kids love it and don't care that do t have peanut butter.

One problem is that all of the sunbutters and pea butters have added sugar. I can get the nut butters (peanut, cashew, etc) with just nuts and nothing else added. (Of course, I don't get up in arms. Our FCPS elementary is not "nut-free.")

NP here - we use sun butter with no added sugar or salt. All it has are sunflower seeds. You need to stir it before the first use, but it's better than all the additives IMO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am going to assume that the sandwich posters are just not posting. My kids eat turkey (not processed) and cheese or PBJ (100% peanuts/100% fruit) on good quality bread..some fruit or veggies and something else. That works for our family.

My daughter is starting K in the fall. Is there no restriction on peanut butter in the elementary schools? There is at her preschool and I just assumed it would carry into elementary. I'll be happy if it doesn't.

Allergic kids sit at different table. Everybody wins!

Except for the allergic kids who are segregated and have to sit with random kids rather than their friends. I truly don't understand why people are so attached to their nut butters that they get so up in arms about the idea of being a nut free scho (like a lot of DCPS elementary schools are). We use for our lunch sunflower butter and golden pea butter with jelly. Kids love it and don't care that do t have peanut butter.

One problem is that all of the sunbutters and pea butters have added sugar. I can get the nut butters (peanut, cashew, etc) with just nuts and nothing else added. (Of course, I don't get up in arms. Our FCPS elementary is not "nut-free.")

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am going to assume that the sandwich posters are just not posting. My kids eat turkey (not processed) and cheese or PBJ (100% peanuts/100% fruit) on good quality bread..some fruit or veggies and something else. That works for our family.

My daughter is starting K in the fall. Is there no restriction on peanut butter in the elementary schools? There is at her preschool and I just assumed it would carry into elementary. I'll be happy if it doesn't.

Allergic kids sit at different table. Everybody wins!

Except for the allergic kids who are segregated and have to sit with random kids rather than their friends. I truly don't understand why people are so attached to their nut butters that they get so up in arms about the idea of being a nut free scho (like a lot of DCPS elementary schools are). We use for our lunch sunflower butter and golden pea butter with jelly. Kids love it and don't care that do t have peanut butter.

I usually pack a "main dish" and two "sides". My DD is in K and is not a particularly adventurous eater so it's pretty basic stuff.

Mains:
PB and J, or PB and banana sandwich
Cheese quesadillas
Mac and cheese, spaghetti, or pesto pasta in a thermos
Fish sticks in a thermos
Baked chicken, or nuggets in a thermos
Cheese and crackers

Sides:
Fruit
Yogurt
Cheese stick
Carrot sticks
Peas
Popcorn
Goldfish or cheddar bunnies
Graham crackers
Corn
Sun chips
Roll and butter
Applesauce

What am I packing for lunch? Nothing. 4 kids 10 and under in DCPS. Hot lunch is cheap. If they don't like what's on the menu they can make themselves a lunch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every public school allows nuts.

Simply not true. Our dcps elementary is nut free.

That totally sucks. MCPS nuts are allowed.

Anonymous wrote:For those who send something like leftover chicken, how do you send it? Heated and in a thermos? I don't think my kid would eat it cold.

Yes, heat the food extra hot and it stays warm in a 10oz thermos. Some people put boiling water in the thermos first and then empty it immediately before filling with hot food. Someone experimented that on a blog and it doesn't make it hotter. So I just open up and throw it in and seal the top. I do soups, stews or casseroles 2-3X a week.

Oldest takes a combination of cheese, chicken, pretzels, pasta, carrots, grapes, and apples. She's not into variety.

Youngest eats leftovers or bean burritos. That kid could eat bean burritos for every meal. She gets a fruit cup and sometimes some Mexican rice to go with it.