Lunch Help

[jewels]

I need help:

This new school does not refrigerate or heat up lunch, and we have to pack daily.  The school handles snacks.  It is entirely Nut Free.
B will not eat lunch meat or cheese.  He doesn't eat pasta and all.  He still gets a majority of his fruits and vegies from pouches.  He is a Carnivore through and through and eats meat for all his meals at home - meatballs, chicken in any form, steak, pork chops, etc.  I am having trouble thinking of ideas to pack for him.

Today I basically sent him with all snacks:
4 minipancakes that I heated then cooled (he is fine with them cold)
1 fig bar
Blueberries
Puree Pouch

I am going to try to get a thermos that will keep food hot and then I can just send leftover meat and rice which is what he eats for every meal at home.  But honestly I am nervous about the functionality of the thermos and what if it doesn't stay hot enough and I get him sick.

I know we've had tons of threads about this and there are 74 million websites but I am having trouble with EASY ideas that he will actually eat.  Talk me off the ledge!

[jewels]

Also, he likes mini muffins and pancakes/waffles, so I was trying to think of ideas that would be easy and I could freeze and pop a few in a lunch box in the morning. I am also going to work on trying to get him to like egg salad this weekend. He used to like it but hasn't had it in a while and has gotten pickier in the past year.

[tgrimes]

Lunchables or make your own lunchable. I just put an ice pack in their lunch kit.

[tgrimes]

Also have you ever tried sun butter in lieu of nut butters?

[jewels]

Jul 1, 2020 7:04:37 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

Lunchables or make your own lunchable. I just put an ice pack in their lunch kit.

aren't lunchables usually lunch meat? I have tried every lunch meat on the planet and he won't take a bite
I guess I could do it with cold leftover chicken.  I've been thinking about heating it but I suppose chix is decent cold.  

[jewels]

Jul 1, 2020 7:06:15 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

Also have you ever tried sun butter in lieu of nut butters?

I did a while ago and he wouldn't eat it.  But I think that's b/c he got sick off of peanut butter and so the consistency is offensive to him lol.

[tgrimes]

Jul 1, 2020 7:14:03 GMT -6 jewels said:

Jul 1, 2020 7:04:37 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

Lunchables or make your own lunchable. I just put an ice pack in their lunch kit.

aren't lunchables usually lunch meat? I have tried every lunch meat on the planet and he won't take a bite
I guess I could do it with cold leftover chicken.  I've been thinking about heating it but I suppose chix is decent cold.  

They have chicken and pizza lunchables now.  M just had a breakfast one the other day that included some mini muffins that she liked.

[flamingo]

I don't know about freezing these but what about cheese/chicken quesadillas, or some sort of wrap/burrito the night before and refrigerate?

Would he eat cold pizza? fried chicken from grocery store deli? (my kids love fried chicken legs and will eat room temp/cold at the beach or whatnot)

eta: sorry, just re-read this is for school and not camp. These ideas may not work week in, week out! 

[tgrimes]

Will he eat hummus? Yogurt? chicken salad?

[tgrimes]

Pita Bread + Hummus
Sun Butter + Jam Sandwich
Cheese Quesadilla
Hard Boiled Eggs
Bagel + Cream Cheese
Veggie +Hummus Wrap

Oranges
Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Peaches
Blueberries
Raspberries
Applesauce
Mangoes
Melon
Baby Carrots
Cucumbers
Grape Tomatoes
Edamame
Snap Peas

Chips
Granola Bars
Pretzels
Yogurt
Trail Mix
Lara Bar or Cliff Bar
Fruit Leather
Fruit Snacks
Popcorn
Crackers
Chips + Salsa
Fruit Cup
Pudding Cup
Graham Crackers

[jewels]

Jul 1, 2020 7:24:26 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

Will he eat hummus? Yogurt? chicken salad?

No, yes, no.  but I try to limit dairy since he gets sick from too much.  

[vino]

Ugh lunches...so stressful sometimes for sure day after day.

tgrimes has a great list and yes to using a ice pack and buying a thermos for soup etc.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about having a ‘main’, just throw in what you think he’ll eat and he’ll be fine. The other thing I always remind my kids is if they see another kids lunch that they think they’ll eat then to tell me, I also ask the teachers to just take note if they seem interested in anyones else’s lunch.

[jewels]

Yeah I do use the ice pack. For some reason I was hung up on "hot" food. But no reason he can't have all those meats cold. Also, he doesn't eat soup, but I was thinking of the thermos to keep meats hot or bring like chicken nuggets or something he loves. (vino)

I was definitely overthinking the whole thing.

Shocking, I'm sure.

[tgrimes]

jewels I remember trying to make M's lunches for daycare back in the day. I was stressing about making sure she would eat healthy foods and a variety of stuff. Her teacher, whom had been there for 20+ years, finally pulled me aside and told me to relax. She said she knew I worked hard on her lunches and changing it up but just throw some shit in there you know she'll eat and call it good. Lol.

[inthekitty]

Wanted to add rice cakes as well as cheese and crackers to tgrimes' list. With deli meat maybe it's the sliminess? Have you tried pepperoni or salami?

I echo what was said above, don't worry about getting creative, if you find something he likes wash, rinse, and repeat. Sometimes I feel the pressure to have different stuff for the girls, but then remind myself if they're getting what they need from it and will eat it why am I creating an unnecessary challenge for myself? Ditto to don't worry about a main course.

[tgrimes]

Jul 1, 2020 8:14:44 GMT -6 jewels said:

*snip

I was definitely overthinking the whole thing.

Overthinking is my forte.

[jewels]

Jul 1, 2020 8:44:37 GMT -6 inthekitty said:

Wanted to add rice cakes as well as cheese and crackers to tgrimes ' list. With deli meat maybe it's the sliminess? Have you tried pepperoni or salami?

I echo what was said above, don't worry about getting creative, if you find something he likes wash, rinse, and repeat. Sometimes I feel the pressure to have different stuff for the girls, but then remind myself if they're getting what they need from it and will eat it why am I creating an unnecessary challenge for myself? Ditto to don't worry about a main course.

Yes, we've tried peperoni, ham, turkey, sliced chicken.
He doesn't like cheese at all (no grilled cheese, etc) except on pizza which is fine since he's lactose intolerant!

And you are correct about everything else you said.  Thanks everyone for talking me off the ledge

[jewels]

Jul 1, 2020 9:05:23 GMT -6 tgrimes said:

Jul 1, 2020 8:14:44 GMT -6 jewels said:

*snip

I was definitely overthinking the whole thing.

Overthinking is my forte.

I'll battle you for the title.

[wedding]

Chips and salsa

lunchables has a nacho meal but I try for a better salsa to delude myself into thinking it’s a serving of vegetables. I do get lunchables if on sale though.

[guster]

We are not refrigerated for lunch here either. These are tried and trues for the “main course”
Mini meatballs
Cream cheese and cucumber
Cream cheese and salami
Chicken on a skewer with a dip
Chicken sausage cut up
Hard salami

[nam2013]

Although warm lunches are not a thing over here, I really feel you. Ds won’t eat anything savoury on his bread outside pate (sounds weird but is quite common over here) and peanutbutter (we buy sugar free), but since one of the kids in ds’ class has a bit allergy, no nuts allowed in school. He’ll sometimes eat tahin (sesame seed paste).

Not sure if you can find it there, but Ds lunchbox usually contains;
A raisin roll (think burger size roll with raisins)
Apple/watermelon/tangerine (one of those)
Sandwich with pate (in long days, with an ice pack)

Sometimes he gets
Plain crepes/pancakes rolled up
Dry crackers

It’s not the best, but I I figure I’m just happy if he eats something and feels full, we’ll focus on more nutritional things at home.

ETA we call tahin ‘peanut butter without peanuts’ this sort of got Ds to even try the stuff in the first place. We did sliced apples, with tahin and chocolate sprinkles, took some time, but now he’ll eat it without sprinkles.

[lahdeedah]

guster mentioned chicken sausage and that’s what I was going to suggest. My boys like the aidells chicken apple ones. They eat them at home and I have tried to send it to school heated up in a thermos and they both didn’t eat them at school. Don’t know why, but maybe try it?

M is like me and like everything heated up, so a lot of cold meals don’t work for him. He does eat ham though so he has seen many a ham lunches. I started him out with honey baked ham though. He now will eat the ham I get from the deli, but the honey baked ham hooked him first.

I agree to just send the things he likes. If I didn’t have meat, I tried to at least send crackers, a fruit, and a yogurt. You can even get fancy and make a little parfait with fruit and granola if he likes those.

[klong11]

Anytime I start worrying about Cadence's food I remember that mh's nephew literally lived on chips and shredded cheese for like 3 years. Not kidding. And don't even try to melt the cheese on the chips! He started kindergarten and refused to buy his lunch. His mom had to put tortilla chips and shredded cheese in baggies for him. They even sent notes home about it. He is now in highschool and eats everything in sight!

[chrisy01]

One of Lo’s favorite is green egg salad sandwich. It’s just a basic egg salad with guacamole added to it. Both him and E will eat that all the time. I either make it into a sandwich or have whole wheat crackers to have him dip in it.

I haven’t done it in a while but I use to make Lo a waffle sandwich. Cook two waffles put a piece of ham/Canadian bacon (cooked) and a side of fruit. He would eat it cold at school. He loves it. I really need to make it again.

[chrisy01]

We freeze his drinks and by the time it’s lunch it’s melted but the food is cold.

[jewels]

Thank y’all

We have ice so I’m not too worried about keeping things cold. It was really the hot I was hung up on. But his teacher said he ate everything so I will probably just send a similar ‘snack pack’ tomorrow.

We’ll experiment a bit more over the weekend for next week.