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School is back in session for many, and I’d love to encourage parents (and kids!) to “Think Outside The Sandwich” when it comes to packing school lunches. I know PB&J or Ham and Cheese is predictable and easy, but eating a variety of real food is important. And there truly are so many more options when you put you mind to it. So today I am sharing 4 ideas that I presented on the Charlotte Today show last week – several of which are recipes that will be in my upcoming cookbook (out a week from today)!
I’d love for you to share your non-sandwich lunch ideas in the comments below.
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Here’s a summary of the school lunches I shared on TV:
- Divided Ziploc container used
- Frozen smoothie in a freezie pop mold (send in insulated lunch bag and will partially defrost by lunchtime)
- Whole-wheat lemon raspberry muffin
- Grapes
- Cucumbers
- Homemade granola chunks
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- Stainless steel Planetbox used
- Mini whole wheat pita pizzas, served cold (recipe in my cookbook)
- Red bell pepper slices
- Homemade onion dip (recipe in my cookbook)
- Hard boiled egg
- Fresh cherries
- Enjoy Life brand mini chocolate chips
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- Thermos and Lunchbots containers used
- Slow cooker potato soup (recipe in my cookbook)
- Organic cheese and Applegate bacon to go on top of soup
- “Ants on a log” (peanut butter and raisins on celery – can use a nut butter alternative)
- Apples (I don’t do anything to keep them from turning brown – check out #2 on this page to see why)
Oh and if you want to see more about what I did with the apple at the end of the video clip …check out my apple sandwich tutorial!
My kids don’t start school until next week, so when I got home from sharing these lunches on the show my girls didn’t waste any time digging in. Looks like they are kid-approved options! :)
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I mean pay lol
We do leftovers more often than not.
I love your suggestions! My daughter has always been a very picky eater. Now she is actually excited about picking out things to add to her lunch and is even making her lunch with me. A year ago I would have never believed she would ask for vegetables in her lunch but now she takes them everyday :)
While your lunch is a great idea, this is not enough food for most kids. Even when they were younger. My eldest is already 6’5 and I can tell you to get to that height he ate much more than that as an elementary school child and neither I or my husband are very tall. My kids are athletes, and your lunches would be more of a snack.
Obviously you can add more food than what she shows here. My kid wouldn’t even eat as much as she gives her kids so I modify accordingly.
i agree as we have very tall athletic boys as well. I live these ideas, though. They are somehow extremely tall for their ages and we are just above average height. I am astounded at just how much they can eat, though! Yet still tall and lanky. We use the ideas and just increase proportion. We use bigger containers. The small ones with portions in them were enough for preschool no pre-K. With our 7 year old, We use the ziploc “space saver” set with several container sizes. I just put various ones in the lunch box and they actually fit really well and hold a lot of food. I also think that girls just generally eat less than boys and I think the author of this blog has two little girls. I’ve heard that from friends as well that girls just eat less. Seems natural, in general.
Tzatziki with pitas, veggie wrap pinwheels, fresh ground peanut butter on celery and organic red seedless grapes. Don’t forget the water!!
Hummus with cucumber and sprouts in a whole wheat flat bread or corn tortilla all rolled up. Whole wheat mini bagel with organic cream cheese or Greek yogurt spread. I feel like I trend in a vegetarian mode for school lunches to avoid the processed meats but oh well. It’s also sometimes tough to get the protein in when my boys won’t do hard booked eggs and they have a strict no nut policy at their school.
I just did a post on this topic! Here are my 15 non-sandwich lunch ideas.
http://www.makingmealtime.com/blog/2014/9/2/15toddlerlunchideas
Curious if the Yumbox fits in the the lands end soft sides lunchbag? scrambling to find a leakproof solution since the Ziploc divided containers are discontinued and I can not find them anywhere. (and is the Yumbox leakproof to put yogurt in upright in the lands end bag) Of course I already bought the lands end lunchbags, lol. Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Wendi. Here is the Yumbox faq page: http://www.yumboxlunch.com/faq/. It says it fits standard size lunch containers. Lands End dimensions are: 11″Hx8″Wx4 1/2″D. 390 cu. in. and Yumbox is 8.5 x 6.5 x 1.8 in. ~Amy
Mexican chicken salad with lettuce, corn, olives, chicken, black beans and tomatoes with a citrus dressing.
Does anyone have any idea why they would discontinue the Ziploc divided leakproof container? I could t believe it when I stopped being able to get them!!