<p>We buried the paper sack lunches under the berry/bean leaves. Food never spoiled since the mornings were cool and day’s warmth didn’t develop until 10-12. Yogurt only gets better with aging.</p>
<p>I never packed lunches for my kids…they made their own. I secretly felt guilty about it but when queried recently they all said they were fine with it. They got to make their lunches the way they liked them.</p>
<p>The guilt is from a long time ago. My mother would only make sandwiches for me the way she thought would be nutritious…ugh. No condiments. Meat or American cheese with butter. Eek. I still remember the smell of my apartment closet when she unearthed an uneaten stash when I was 8. Once she was home early from work and saw me ditch my lunch when getting off the school bus. That resulted in a note to the school asking that my lunch box be inspected by a teacher after the lunch period. I made a vow that I’d never impose my food tastes on my kids. I limited junk food and most desserts had to be homemade, usually by the kids, but they could choose how to make their sandwiches. Now that the last one is in college I miss hearing her daily singing in the kitchen as she made her lunches.</p>
<p>I would set the expectation that she will eat in the cafeteria. That’s what millions of other kids do. Most schools have quite a selection these days! My kids go to a huge high school and I’ve never heard of letting high school kids leave for lunch (imagine the traffic jam), but they only pack lunches (typically peanut butter sandwiches) for the first 2-3 days until the chaos calms and then they buy the rest of the year.</p>
<p>Why look for trouble when there might not be any?</p>
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<p>What are these??</p>
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In DD’s school they had so many overflow that lunch lines were long and she had no time to eat after going through them. Her classes were further away form cafeteria. Took her lunch every day.</p>
<p>Feeling grateful that nothing anyone did at lunch at my D’s schools was considered dorky. I think eating across the street at the McDonalds was considered very uncool though. D - or I - packed her lunch since pre-K. Her favorites were veggies and dip, celery and peanut butter, yogurt, pita and salad and cottage cheese with fruit. She often took PB&J even in high school and took soup in her Campbell’s thermos through high school too. I don’t know how kids survive without lunch. D is convinced that people who skip meals are more likely to have weight problems so that’s a good motivator.</p>
<p>Are there microwaves available for the kids to use? Tasty Bite makes single serving packs of Indian food and rice that don’t have to be refrigerated. You can eat it cold, but hot is even better.</p>
<p>Day 1- she grabbed 2 Nutrigrain bars and a baggie of grapes. Today is the first day of a brand new school for her and she has no really good friends attending this school. So lots of nerves and no appetite.</p>
<p>In our neck of the woods (westcoast Canada): great cafeteria but kids are tired of it and line too slow. Moreover despite having lots of healthy choices, the kids tend to go for the crap and I’ve yet to hear of a cafeteria without crap food. </p>
<p>No security guards on campus, students in this grade can leave if they want but rare for them to do so. Students are very sensitive to environmental issues so food in re-useable containers with little garbage is preferred. No peanut based products allowed due to allergies. They have access to microwave which opens up options.</p>
<p>I’ve always had a picky eating one, who has a small appetite, so I insist she not only make her own lunch, but buy it too (I pay for it but she has to come shopping to pick out what she wants). It has helped tremendously.</p>
<p>Items that have worked well for both lunch but also two snacks: bagels, croissants, toasted waffles, buns of various sorts (to add variety beyond bread); meat slices, various cheese (in sandwich or alone), fruit pre-cut in a tupperware container, humous, yogurt, dry cereal. Left over lasagna or spagetti we’ve made at home. The deli in our supermarket also has food you can readily reheat in a microwave, such as general tsaos chicken, samosas, casseroles, etc.</p>
<p>I thought I’d share this (although these lunch bags are designed for the younger crowd):</p>
<p>[Brand</a> new bag: The next generation of lunch boxes goes back to school | NWsource](<a href=“http://www.nwsource.com/shopping/kids-stuff/kids-clothing-gear/brand-new-bag-next-generation-lunch-boxes-goes-back-school?cmpid=2628]Brand”>http://www.nwsource.com/shopping/kids-stuff/kids-clothing-gear/brand-new-bag-next-generation-lunch-boxes-goes-back-school?cmpid=2628)</p>
<p>Check the Laptoplunches’ website. There are some lunch ideas, and not just for the little kids.</p>
<p>For this week at least we have settled into the routine of she eats a breakfast that has protein. At lunch she eats some sort of bar. I bring her lunch at 2:50 when I pick her up that she eats as I drive her to either her job or the barn. So far that seems to be working out okay. As of day 4 of school she has yet to even venture to the food lines.</p>
<p>Last year we seemed to hit our stride, now that I only have one at home. About once a week we would go to Fresh and Easy (great prices) or Trader Joe’s and he’d pick out a couple of sandwiches or a salad to last the week. One sandwich made two lunches because they are big. Usually put organic tortilla chips or some kind of chips, a granola bar or dark-chocolate covered almonds and fruit. In the evening while we were cleaning up after dinner, lunch would be assembled - either by him or by me. One would clean, one would pack. We traded off. He takes bottled water to drink and we use brown bags. He takes lunch because he could never go to a club or see his friends if he was waiting in line to buy food. DS tells me that most of his friends don’t eat lunch, which he can’t understand because he is hungry by lunchtime. I know it would be better for the environment to pack tupperware, but his backpack is exploding as it is when he gets home and it’s easier to toss a brown bag. I try to avoid mayo because of the lack of refrigeration, but if it stays in the fridge overnight it seems to be okay until lunchtime.</p>
<p>It’s not the mayo that goes bad. It’s what the mayo is on or in that goes bad - the tuna, chicken, other meats. Many years ago, when mayo was homemade, it was not pasteurized, so it spoiled. Today’s commercially prepared mayo actually prolongs the freshness of meats and keeps them from spoiling quickly. Mayo does not even need to be refrigerated for safety, but most people do to keep it fresh. Since people tend to double dip in the mayo jar with knives with food particles on them, that can be a source of bacteria. Here is an article about the mayo myth. </p>
<p>[Mayonnaise</a>, Vitamin E and Heart Health](<a href=“http://www.dressings-sauces.org/mayonnaise.html]Mayonnaise”>http://www.dressings-sauces.org/mayonnaise.html)</p>
<p>More from WebMD</p>
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<p>Thanks for all the good ideas here! Our public school has a 50 minute open lunch because we have no kitchen for preparing foods. Each day of the week we bring in different food vendors, but moms collect the money and distribute the food. An average lunch is $6 and we try to get kids to pre-order. We have Little Caesar’s Pizza, Panera, Magic Wok, Chick Filet, and are trying a new vendor on my volunteer day, Salsarita’s. None are particularly healthy or cheap, so I make my kids come home or bring a lunch every other week.</p>
<p>I gave up sending lunch for my S some time in elementary school: no matter what I sent most of it came back uneaten. At least if he bought lunch he could get something he wanted or if he threw it away I didn’t have to see it. (Actually, I think our schools do a decent job of creating menus of reasonably healthy things that kids will actually eat. Typical menu in elementary school: turkey hot dog, carrot sticks, milk. They do not have fast food or junk food machines in the schools.)</p>
<p>Ironically, I found myself packing lunches for him again this summer as he went off to work. (No car and no place to buy food nearby with a 20-min lunch break.) This time he actually ate what I gave him.</p>
<p>Mom60, sorry I did not get back to answer sooner, but this is what I have purchased–a 4-pack of Tribe brand. [Tribe</a> hummus now comes in snack size | pbpulse.com](<a href=“http://www.pbpulse.com/dining/2008/11/12/tribe-hummus-now-comes-in-snack-size/]Tribe”>http://www.pbpulse.com/dining/2008/11/12/tribe-hummus-now-comes-in-snack-size/). However, it is refrigerated. But, my D has packed this in a lunch she takes to work. Like yogurt, I really think there is little risk when it is in a lunch bag for 4-5 hours. And we live in south Florida where is is HOT. <a href=“http://www.tribehummus.com/locate.asp[/url]”>http://www.tribehummus.com/locate.asp</a>. Tribe says their hummus CAN be frozen, although the red pepper flavor can be a little watery when thawed. So like yogurt it can also leave frozen and still be cold at lunch time.</p>
<p>This may offend some environmentalists (I actually consider myself one), but I just can’t make it work to send reusable containers in with my non-type A children. I have started every school year the same way, buying two or three products and explaining how thing would work (“please bring this home”). They never make it past one use. Something is always missing, including the entire thing.</p>
<p>I moved onto paper bags, but everything got squished, and they are so visually unappealing.</p>
<p>Plasic bags (the big zip-lock ones) seem to work better, and you can see everything. My favorite thing to use is disposable paper food service containers (you can get them at restaurant supply stores, or places like here:[Food</a> - Restaurant Takeout Food - Bio Pack Coated Take-out Boxes](<a href=“http://creativefoodpackaging.com/Food/Bio-Pack-Coated-Take-out-Boxes/1LV-P]Food”>http://creativefoodpackaging.com/Food/Bio-Pack-Coated-Take-out-Boxes/1LV-P)).</p>
<p>I think it is AWFUL that any school would have a soda machine. Whoever approves these things should be ashamed of themselves.</p>
<p>I know young professionals (late 20s) who take their lunches to work in bento boxes. Very chic and environmentally friendly, although you have to be Type-A to bring them home.</p>
<p>My girlfirend just bought one of those Laptop Lunch bento boxes for her high school aged son, and I checked it out to see if I wanted some for my kids. It looks like the hinge won’t last very long, and the sections are pretty small to keep an older child full all afternoon. The best was that her kid said, “Gee, Mom - this is awesome! Which friend who has a third grader are you going to give this to?!”. No way is that male teen using the bento box in the middle of his high school cafeteria (nor would mine). Maybe my daughter would, but I doubt it. It looks like a little kid thing. </p>
<p>I wish there were some really good energy bars out there which were low in sugar, high in protein, and tasted yummy. My kids are so sick of the Cliff Bars assortment - they’ve just eaten too many of them.</p>
<p>I’d bake my own energy bars if I had a good recipe.</p>