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Yasin starts 1 day a week at pre-school next week. They provide morning and afternoon snacks but I need to send a lunch box. I'm at a bit of a loss about what to send so I would really appreciate any suggestions. They give them fruit and sandwiches at snack time (parents have to send 2 pieces of fruit and they divide it up between all the children).
How well do things like sheese and yoghurt last in lunch boxes? Do they go off?
hi chloe
personally i don't put anything in my ds lunchbox that lives in the fridge - even on icy cold days and with an ice block thingy - but then again ds doesn't get lunch till 1.30pm so between 8am (when i make it) and lunchtime is a long time, gees the poor kid doesn't even get ham sandwiches pmsl. i do know alot of kids tho have yoghurts and such in their lunchbox but personally i just can't do it.
i will try and think of some ideas for you
Chloe, will they let you put cold stuff in the fridge? Our preschool has a fridge that lunches can go in if you want. I have always jsut used an ice brick for Lindsay and Erin and I have had no problems. Does Yasin eat celery or carrot sticks, that sort of thing? Cheese will keep if you put an ice brick in there, plus I always used the insulated padded bags for their lunches too.
They always have a sandwich, but I will also give them little tubs of fruit to eat, custard or yoghurt, Saos with vegemite or cruskits.
HTH
I freeze the yogurt in Matilda's bag and use that as the ice block in her lunch bag (we have an insulated bag we use). I often send her with things like mini quiches, yogurt, I use mini wheats cereal as a snack, rice crackers, vegemite sandwiches, I slice my own cheese or cut it into cubes, tubs of fruit, cruskits.... Matilda now eats carrot sticks as well which I put a bit of cream cheese on the end.
What about slice (like zucchini slice)?
Or a little "nacho" mix or salsa which might be a mix of beans, avacado, celery, corn kernals etc which can be on its own or with something to put it on like rice crackers or pita bread.
You could make salads as well - coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad.
Pastry triangles filled with whatever fillings you like.
I personally hated sandwiches as a kid so I would take Salada's with vegemite or butter or honey.
If i wanted to take something that should be kept cool, I would throw a fruit box in the freezer the night before and by the time lunch came around it was defrosted but still cold and my lunch hadn't spoilt.
You could pop in a variety of cold cuts and cheese etc.
What about chicken drummetts if she likes those? You could wrap the leg bit in foil or something so it is less messy and she can hold that to eat them. When my sister was living with me I still did that for her and she was 17! I would cook a batch of terriyaki or similar chicken drummets and she would have the left overs like that for school the next day!
I like the idea of mini quiches!
I liked sending my sister with various home made dampers (cheese and chive, bacon and cheese etc). They didn't have to be big, I would make the batch into smaller segments before cooking.
What about cheese and bacon rolls? You know the ones you can get from the supermarket and Baker's Delight?
Or her foccacia
When school "goes back" next year, look for the food mags like SFI - they always have some good ideas in them for school lunches!
HTH
MG :)
The best thing I use is like a mini quiche:
Grate any veg you have (zuccinni, carot, pumkin, sweet potato etc) about a cup in total.
Add about 1/4 cup grated cheese. Mix all this and put into mini muffin tins.
Beat two or three eggs, mix with 1/4 cup milk and two or three heaped cereal spoons of SR four. Pour this over the other mix until you can see it just below the surface.
Throw all into the oven (180) for about 20 mins.
My DS loves these and they will last in the fridge for a few days.
I am starting to think about what to pack for James when he starts Kinder next week & I have no real idea. He loves Peanut Butter sandwiches but we have a policy of "no nuts" due to some kids having allergies. So now I'm really stuck.
So tell me what are your ideas?
What have been winners in your kinder lunch boxes?
Kirsty i am so glad you posted this as i am having the same problems with thinking what to pack for Kimberley's lunches and she is so fusy with what she eats.
At ashlea's kinder the have a frige so lunch can be heated up. Things we take are:
Sandwiches, meat, salad, vegemite, cream cheese, cheese, honey etc
Salada's with vegemite, butter, cream cheese etc
Bacon and cheese roll
Rice/corn thins
Left overs from dinner
Noodles, spaghetti, baked beans etc
Snacks:
Youghurt
Custard
Apple, watermelon, grapes, pear etc
cheese and biscuits (i put in 1 piece of single wrapped cheese slice with 4 jatz biscuits so she can 1/4 the cheese and put it on the biscuits)
fruit sticks
sultana's
Museli bars
Shapes biscuits
LCM's and other bars (i hate these but every now and then let ashlea get some)
biscuits with dip
carrot sticks and dip
jelly
Fruit pieces in the little containers
I bought some little ice packs from the supermarket to put in her lunch box for when she starts school and foesnt have a fridge anymore
I'll post some more if i think of them :)
Whats the go with meat in lunch boxes, is that safe, do you think until lunchtime, especially in summer, even with the frozen block thingie ?
We're pretty ordinary eaters here, so Cait had a lot of what has already been mentioned. Some kids had fancier stuff - those sushi rolls, cans of tuna, sticks of cabana, bags of plain popcorn, almonds (although it was supposedly a nut free centre).
The info that came home from Caits school about their snacks pretty much says don't bring anything that you purchase in a box or a packet, just fruit and veg.
School straps are good, they are like roll-ups but not as sugary.
Aidyn really likes egg sandwiches, as well as ham and cheese.
He loves those thin rice cakes (the sundried tomato ones)
I usually put a homemade mini muffin (wholemeal banana & date) or a piece of homemade banana cake in.
He has a yoghurt.
He has 2-3 serves of fruit incl. banana, grapes, watermelon, strawberries etc...
Crackers and cheese (or cream cheese)
Sometimes a harboiled egg.
A small container of plain popcorn we make at home.
And just recently he is liking carrot sticks....
Thanx guys there are some fabulous ideas here & lots I'm sure we'll be able to use.
But feel free to keep them coming, the more the better I think.
Ashlea's kinder had the nut free policy but the school doesn't. I'm looking forward to being able to use nutella and peanut butter!
Does anyone have any suggestions for kids lunch boxes? The girsl are getting quite sick of vegemite sandwiches! We also have a peanut and egg free school.
Mini Quiches
Salad Wraps
Veggie Muffins sliced in half with cream cheese
Interesting Salads
Lunchbox anti pasto (Cheese cubes, meat cubes, cherry tomatoes, olives, crackers etc)
Zucchini & Bacon slice
There are others too...
*hugs*
Cailin
What about things like rice wheels from the health section in your supermarket. Or what about things like cheesespread?? Sorry not much help I give DS vegemite sandwich, yogurt, fruit, rice wheels and muesli bars etc
Ellie
My DD takes Veal German and tomato sauce sandwiches. Sometimes i will give her Premiums with vegemite and cheese. Maybe some cold soy mini chicken drumstics would be nice too. My dd asked for some leftover Chicken schnitzel - and she said it was yummy.
Thanks everyone! I am going to try some of these.
:bump:
With school starting back does anyone have any new ideas?
Paris loves cold honey soy nibbles and pasta salad. Just be sure to use a cooler bag for those hot days. Will add more later!
Matilda's a bad eater at the best of times, so we are trying to figure out the best things for her.
Sandwich wise, the only thing she will eat is a vegemite sandwich, so thats about all she will eat.
Snack wise:
carrot sticks & celery sticks
plain rice crackers
hummous
dried noodles - (she loves these!)
Apple
plain pasta
rice wheels - once in a while
vege muffins
vege pikelets
fruit straps- the all fruit ones
sultanas
I try to do 2 snacks and a sandwich. She has afternoon tea at home so I hope it gets her through the day.
This thread is such a massive help - am sat here with my pen and paper wiritng it all down - thanks!
Julie x
Updating some Lunch box ideas...
If sandwiches bore your children what do you do for variety... I thought we could all help each other give our kids a more healthy and fun lunchbox (be it for school or kinder). I LOVE bento lunch boxes...
Here are some suggestions:
Dried Fruit
Crackers
Baby Cheeses or cubes or sticks (but definitely mix it up... Would you like the same thing day in day out!)
Yoghurt (frozen, or tubes or tubs)
Frozen Fruit
Pureed Fruit (can be home made with added spices for flavour)
Fruit Salad (A way to keep fruit salad fresh is to chop up some fresh fruit and add some frozen fruit (berries) to the mix and by lunchtime it will be defrosted, especially good in summer.
Dips (DD loves celery and blue cheese dip or ranch dressing or french onion dip)
Fruit Kebobs or Ham Cheese & Cherry tom Kebobs
Mini Quiches
Frittata
Soup
Sushi sandwich rolls
Rice Pudding
Pasta Salad
Pizza Wheels
Vegemite Scrolls
Tuna Patties
Home made Cookies
Home Made Muffins
Honey Soy Chicken Nibbles
Vegetable Patties
Banana Muffins
Carrot Muffins
Slices
Homemade Muesli Bars
Gingerbread Men
Home made Pizza Rolls
Home made Cheese & Bacon Rolls
Cheese & Onion Tarts
Cheese & Ham Foldovers (with Puff or Filo Pastry)
Hommus
Sweet & Savoury Pikelets
Spreadable Tuna & Crackers
Toasted Fruit Bread (Banana etc) or Zuchinni Bread With a side of cream cheese
Mini Meatballs with Salsa or Tomato Jam
A lot of this stuff can be made on the weekends and frozen in portions to be lifted out the night before and put into the fridge.
this has been a great help! ive been here with a pen and paper too lol
I was talking to some mums at kindamusik and we were discussing making lunches the day before etc. One of the mums made ham and cheese sangas and put them in the freezer. Another made up a few dozen muffins and froze them. The DD would get one out each morning and they would last almost a term.
Do you give your kids salad sangas? I am scared to in case they go soggy.
What are your tips and tricks?
Well I don't have school aged children, yet, but I know with DH, if I was to give him a salad sandwich for work, the yes, I make it up the night before. I don't put beetroot or tomato on the sandwich as that makes in soggy. If he wants either of those things, I will wrap it up individually and he'll put it on at lunch time. Freezing muffins is a great idea.
I give my kids some bread and a container of salad so they can make them up when it's lunch time. My ssiter freezes a weeks worth of sandwiches at a time. I also buy doughnuts and wrap them individually then freeze them for lunches. I cut up cakes and do the same thing. It actually deters teh kids from eating all the cake before they make it to their lunch boxes lol.
That's it Tink..... As soon as I buy a pack of bickies or make cakes, they are gone. I have put some banana muffins in the freezer and they have been there for a week so far. They are also good when going to the park... I love that idea and I think I will be doing it for a while!
Those who freeze, what do you wrap it up in? Do you just use glad wrap or put it in an airtight container?
The muffins that I cooked are in an ATC....
I either wrap in Glad Wrap or put them in snap lock bags depending on my mood. ;):
Hey Tanya there's a few threads on this... I'll try and find them!
I forgot, my kids LOVE frozen oranges in summer. I cut them into quaters, put them back together then wrap them in foil and freeze them overnight. I put them in their lunchboxes frozen, by recess they're not quite frozen and not quite defrosted and htey help keep their lunchbox cool.
Thanx C....
Oh, I like that one Tinks....
xx
My 21 month old DD goes to family day care so I have to provide everything. She usually has 2 serves of fruit (either an apple or banana, plus some grapes, or strawberries, or a small tub of fruit salad). A jam or vegemite/vegemite & cheese sandwich. Some sweet or savoury biscuits, and sometimes a small bowl of left over dinner if we've had pasta or casserole.
If I've baked, then she'll have a savoury muffin and/or some banana bread. Sounds like a lot, but she eats it everything, although sometimes leaves the biscuits, but I don't mind if they are left.