Back to school. 
I loved the movie Grease and the songs that they had.
I was singing the song as I wrote this post. How could I not?
Speaking of Back to School–We are talking about Back to School LUNCHES!!!
Woo Hoo!!
Do you all need a bit more variety in your child’s lunch?
Are you tired of the same old same old?
Does your child want more then the average Lunchable?
Does you want to send something in your child’s lunch that will make him say, “Woo Hoo!”
Great and healthy lunches are hard to find. All children seem to like Peanut Butter and Jelly or Peanut Butter and Honey (for my kids.) But not all children can eat these items due to allergies or a picky palette.
Here are a few suggestions for all children.
We will start with FRUITS and VEGGIES.
1. Fresh fruit or Dried fruit
–Fruit choices or ideas: Bananas, Apples, Oranges, Grapes, Strawberries, Watermelon, Blueberries, Blackberries, Pears, Plums, Nectarines, Raisins, Dried Apricots, Dried Apples, Banana Chips (dried bananas).
2. Fresh veggies
–Veggie choices or ideas: Carrots, Celery, Sliced Bell Peppers (Orange, Yellow, Red, or Green), Broccoli (cut up), Cauliflower (cut up), Sliced Cucumbers, or Sliced Zucchini.
Add some type of dipping sauce if your child is leary of eating these fruits and veggies by themselves. For fruit dipping sauce, use yogurt with sprinkles. For veggie dipping sauce, use ranch dressing.
Now for Strong Bones.
Yogurt or Cheese is a great way to get something in the lunch for strong and healthy bones.
There are several options out there.
3. Let’s start with YOGURT.
There are yogurts in individual cup containers, drinkable yogurt, and squeezable yogurt.
Yoplait has the squeezable option–Gogurt(a hand held yogurt that comes in a long tube. The child squeezes it out with his hand. No utensils are needed.)
There are also drinkable yogurts specifically for kids by Dannon and Yoplait. Keep in mind that the sugar content on these yogurts may be high. You may want to shop around for one with less sugar. These are a great way to get some calcium in your child’s diet.
4. Cheese
You can by individual packages of cheese that come in bags in the cheese section of the grocery store. This helps with making your child’s lunch easier in that you grab the cheese and put it in the bag. If you are a penny pincher, you may want to buy a pound of cheese and slice it for your child. Put the cheese in a baggie and send it to school with your child. This may be more cost effective. Decide which is best for you.
Individual cheeses: String Cheese, Small chuncks of cheddar cheese, Cheddar cheese shapped like string cheese.
Now lets take about the “meat” of the lunch or the “entree” so to speak.
Here are a few ideas for you to choose from.
5. Dinner Left Overs
Do you have some left over chicken from last nights dinner?
Cut it into chunks and send it in a baggie or your child’s favorite Tupperware container for lunch. You can do this with beef or any other meat as well. Give the student a fork or a toothpick to eat it with.
6. Sandwich
The sandwich can get boring after a while, especially if it is the same one day in and day out. Yet some children are fine with that. Other children need more variety.
Here are some sandwich ideas for you.
* Peanut butter and honey
* Peanut butter and jelly
* Peanut butter grated raw carrots
* Peanut butter topped with applesauce
* Peanut butter topped with Baco’s plus honey
* Peanut butter banana slices
* Chopped egg, cheese, and bacon
* Cottage Cheese with grated pineapple
* Cottage Cheese topped with sliced hard cooked egg
(Taken from Feed Me I’m Yours by Vicki Lansky)
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and pickle relish
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and sliced cucumbers
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and sunflower seeds
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and sprouts
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and sliced egg
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and sliced avocado
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and grated carrot
* Tuna Fish, mayonnaise and chopped celery
* Cream cheese with marmalade or jam
* Cream cheese with raisins–whole or ground
* Cream cheese with bacon bits and crushed pineapple
* Cream cheese with chopped nuts
* Cream cheese with luncheon meats
* Cream cheese with peanut butter
* Cream cheese with sliced egg
* Cream cheese with sliced cucumber
(From The Taming of The CANDY MONSTER by Vicki Lansky)
These are just a few ideas to add a bit of variety to your child’s lunch menu. Please share any and all lunch ideas that have worked for your child. Please post it as a comment.
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Stacey Walker has a Homemade Gourmet Home Business. She uses her Homemade Gourmet products regularly for cooking fast and easy to prepare meals. She is currently using Homemade Gourmet in her meal planning and when teaching her children to cook. Visit her website at www.4minutemeals.com
[...] Back to school means bag lunches for most kids. It an be hard day after day trying to make lunches that are nutrious, don’t need to be heated and the kids will actually eat. You can only send PB&J so many times before they stop eating them. Then again, if your school is like mine, you can’t even send that anymore because of allergy issues. Stacey has put together a post full of great ideas for healthy, interesting and kid friendly school lunches. [...]