The Dreaded Lunch Box About This Page:

[genhand]

Me too I can't wait for the pictures... If you want some more recipes (even some that I have in my book that would be perfect for a bento box!) don't hesitate I have TONS that I can translate for you!

[JoanW]

I was a bad lunch mom.

In public elementary school, my kids bought everyday.

In parochial elementary school, they bought once a week, but on the other days, they took soup in a thermos or those Chef Boy R Dee Spaghettios (ugh - I think they are gross, but the kids loved them) and the Chef Boy R Dee MacnCheese.

In high school, they take everyday. I used to give them half a sandwich and a fruit, then they bought for a while when it was an account system. Then we paid the price for the unsupervised lunches by joining Jenny Craig.

Now they take a salad and a piece of fruit. And no more buying in the cafeteria.

[Chrissi]

I got some pictures uploaded finally. Don't get me started on the choices here. The night before DJ went through the pantry and fridge like a little Hoover and all but cleared me out. This was NOT the bento I'd planned for the first day of school. He even ate all the little cucumber stars I made for his bento! (I did all the prep for an "All Star" bento the day before.) So he got leftovers and and a mishmash of what I could find that met his nutritional needs. Pretty it ain't.



I haven't replaced our ratty Rubbermaid lunch kits yet, so we used a reusable lunch meat package for the box.

[genhand]

wow that look awsome... I can't wait to make one for DD, she doesn't start pre-school until the end of september!

But talking about lunchbox got me thinking... when we decided that I would quit my job as an early childhood educator, we look at how much DH was spending a month on lunch, snacks and coffee!!! Between 150 to 200$ a month! So we stared to pack lunchs and we also discover on the long run the healthy habits that it gave us!

[debsta922]

I can't offer any advice here... Nick eats the same thing everyday.... a ham and cheese sandwich on white bread, either apple slices or grapes, and one type of chips, and water. His choice, not mine. I'm hoping when he changes schools next year he'll try some of the school lunches, but I'm not counting on it.

[Belle*]

Ryan is a pretty adventuous eater but lunches are tough for me for some reason. He eats pretty much the same thing every day - a sandwich of some kind (usually chicken turkey or salami), fresh fruit or yogurt or apple sauce, a no sugar added juice box and some type of snack. On occasion I'll send some hummus and pita chips or vegetables to dip.

I love the idea of the bentos but his lunches cannot be heated or even refrigerated and I am paranoid about food safety. I think he will buy lunch occasionally as his school offers only healthy food - no transfats, nothing fried, only whole wheat pasta, bread and pizza dough, no sweets for dessert.

[Chrissi]

Sara, the Laptop Lunch Kits come with a thermal bag that you can put a freezer pack in. Totally safe and sanitary.

[SarahJ]

I love all the ideas since I now have to pack lunch every day for my 1st grader. She's gotten more adventerous lately but still has her favorites. She's a big sandwich eater, especially turkey sandwiches so I can always count on her liking that if I can't come up with something more interesting.

She has a great thermal lunch box from Lands End that matches her backpack and has her name embroidered on it. I just freeze a juice box and that keeps everything cold until lunch time when it's melted enough she can drink it. I plan to get her a thermos so she can take some milk or soup with her as well.

[Cheriemek]

My oldest DD spent last fall studying abroad in Japan. She came home with those little lunch boxes for all of her sisters. She got them at the 100 Yen store (yes, that would be the equivalent of our Dollar Stores!) The kids never used them - they saved them as souveneers from Japan.
Me? Everyday I pack a sandwich, an ice tea, a piece of fruit and a 100 calorie snack pack in a plastic grocery bag and go off to work.

[lukeandbrookesmom]

Luke and Brooke both take their lunches every day that I make. I use the freezer packs to keep them cold which seem to work fine. They both get stuck on pretty much the same thing every day which makes it easy for me: Luke will only eat PB&J sandwiches, Brooke-any kind is fine with her, a cup of yogurt, a container of drinkable yogurt, string cheese, sugar-free apple sauce that I make each week, sugar-free Jell-O pudding or jell-o cup, some sort of fruit (apple, grapes, pears, etc.), pretzels (currently Chip&Dale bags from Disney) and some sort of dessert like animal crackers, Nilla wafers, or raisins. They also get milk at school with their lunch.

[cari68]

We've had Laptop Lunches for a couple of years and I love them! Mine fits nicely in my briefcase, and my kids' fit into the Lands End thermal lunch bags they have. The only complaint I have with the Laptop system is that the smaller containers (not the dip containers) have no lids, so it's hard to pack stuff like applesauce, pudding or cottage cheese.

My kids all detest school lunch, so I pack three lunches for them plus one for myself daily. They have no opportunities to reheat dishes, either, so their lunch has to be something they can eat cold. They love wraps cut to size, mini pizza fixings (mini pitas, cheese, sauce, toppings in individual containers, then they assemble the "pizzas" themselves), pasta salad, bagels, pitas and hummus, fruit slices, pretzels, vegetable sticks and dip, or cheese and meat cubes. By the end of the year I'm pretty much ready for a lunchmaking break, and they get a lot more peanut butter sandwiches!