Lunch box ideas
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Topic: Lunch box ideas
Posted By: jazzy
Subject: Lunch box ideas
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 11:00am
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I need new ideas for my kids lunch boxes...they are 11,7,6yrs
They have not had chips & bars & pkt stuff over the holidays so I don't want to reintroduce them into their lunches. Lately buns, wraps, sandwiches, pita, pikelets were coming home uneaten. If I put in sushi or leftover home made pizza that gets eaten & so does anything bought from the bakery or bought school lunches. My aim is to not put in crap, buy from bakery & only once in awhile buy school lunches. I am not really keen on doing baking as I think it costs more, lasts less, & not easy when dieting 
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Replies:
Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 11:29am
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will be interested to see some other ideas as well..
DD quite likes quiche in her lunchbox (I often make up a batch of mini quiches and freeze them and bring them out as needed). Otherwise she has some fruit, crackers (sometimes with chopped up cheese, cruskits with marmite, homemade jelly with pieces of fruit (she finds the store bought ones too hard to open), shapes crackers.
------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: Hadlam
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 11:43am
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For a change from the usual bread we have multi grain corn thins with you can top with anything from ham, cheese to peanut butter. Do they have anywhere they can heat stuff up? Coz baked beans and noodles are always popular.
Usually theres some sort of combination of dried or fresh fruit, veg sticks, crackers with cheese, plain biscuits, yoghurt, jelly & fruit and homebaking. Will also be interested to see what others write :) |
Posted By: tictacjunkie
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 12:41pm
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I'm a really "mean" mum, my school kids (10, 8, and 6) have to make their own lunches, and it's just breadmaker wholemeal bread with toppings (peanut butter, honey, jam or cheese), and fruit and carrots. They can pack as much or as little as they like.
But I've had no complaints from them since they started making their own about it being boring etc. We've never bought packet stuff though. If there is leftovers from tea the night before they're happy to take them, especially sushi. (we do nori, rice, cucumber, egg roll, and usually either chicken or bacon.) They love wraps too, countdown has the homebrand packets of tortillas, 15 for approx $4. Again they have to make that themselves, grated cheese, carrot, cucumber etc. I've found it's been an easy way to give them some responsibility and since they've been making their own lunches they've come up with new ideas themselves. I've said "no packet food" and it hasn't been hard for them to accept as they're taught the 5-plus-a-day, eating healthy etc stuff at school anyway. It's a lot cheaper too. I found it's meant that they are now very interested in how I'm cooking tea, and ds is a very keen gardener as he wants to explore different types of vegetables and fruit (eg purple carrots and heirloom tomatoes, he's still getting the occasional strawberry from his greenhouse too). He loves taking stuff in his lunchbox he's grown himself. He was reading a cookbook and found a recipe for carrot and raisin salad so wants to make that this Sunday to take to school on Monday. Even DH is in on it, he's just bought some dwarf standard apple trees and two plum trees. They know to bring home any leftovers for the compost or the chickens (neighbour's but we are getting our own soon), so I know what they aren't eating and they learn not to take too much. Everything goes in plastic containers too (love the sistema stuff, lunchboxes, sandwich containers and smaller containers for raisins etc), so no having to buy gladwrap, baking paper etc. The teachers have commented that they like to show off their lunches, so I'm assuming they are proud of making it themselves. And as far as I know they aren't ogling the other kid's muesli bars etc, in fact dd8y said she told one of her classmates that his rollup was bad for his teeth and he should eat an apple instead. Not sure how that went down though! |
Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 1:30pm
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Wow- we buy so many packaged stuff, started when DD started school last year, she suddenly wouldnt eat the healthy stuff she had eaten in her pre school lunch, cos the other kids told her the vege sticke etc were "yuk". I would love to go back to the healthier stuff but no idea how to get her to eat it- she just wasnt eating anything at school til I started giving her what the other kids were eating. She does eat fruit and a sandwich but has teddys/chips etc too.
Jazzy- you could bake small muffins etc and freeze them and only get them out as needed. |
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 3:59pm
thanks for the great ideas
will try mini quiches & little muffins. I have never frozen them before so when defrosted do you heat them before putting in the lunch boxes? Hadlam noway to heat stuff at school...I wish though as they have been living off cheese toasties & chicken noodles these holidays lol. tictacjunkie wow I am so impressed, think I am going to try doing what you do. Kellz DS1 was a pkt lunch kid lol but now with DS3 at school it get ridiculous price wise. A box of bars only last 2 days 
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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 4:23pm
This is something else I am interested in as I use heaps of wrap & zip bags. I had sistema lunch boxes with lids that opened for different compartments but the tabs kept breaking. At present they have klip-it boxes & I put a couple of smaller ones in it, but still use bags & wrap for other food so I can get everything in. I was wanting to get nude ones but not sure. |
tictacjunkie wrote:Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 4:35pm
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for the mini quiches I heat them up in the morning- just while I am having breakfast do doesn't take long. For frozen muffins I would take them out the night before.
DD has the nude lunchbox (the long one with compartments on each side plus the double sandwich box in the middle) and I love it. The 2 little containers are great for putting in snacks, chopped up fruit etc andI find its a good size to hold a pot of yoghurt (which I normally freeze overnight and then it defrosts while she is at school so its still cold) and whenever I use it I never need to use other wrappings. ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 5:13pm
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my kids get a sandwich or roll, a yoghurt and then a homemade biscuit or slice or muffin. They get fruit at school so i dont worry about that normally unless they request a piece specifically. lately i have been giving my vegetarian son a small snack box of dried fruit, nuts and banana chips. Their drink bottle has water in it only. If they dont eat it at school they are more than welcome to eat it when they come home. I tend to put less in as when they had too much choice it never got eaten. Oh once a week maybe they will get a pack of Scooby snacks instead of home baking. ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 5:15pm
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Mum2ET thanks for that.
I was looking at getting that nude one x3 eeek $60 but if they are good then it will be worth it...do the lids slot in with tabs or are they fixed? |
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 5:22pm
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this is what was in my lunch boxes
snack pkts bars grapes/mandarin/apple crackers/biscuit sandwiches/roll/wrap/pikelets/bun/pita chips/banana chips/pretzels/popcorn (I pop it in the morning) yoghurt water bottle only none of my 3 kids will eat all the same so all different also have found DS1 now gets hungry & will eat all lunch box if he does not get something form the tuck shop at school...I hate the tuck shop so limit any $$ he has to spend there as he picks bad choices & have told him NOT to borrow money of friends grrr |
Posted By: kebakat
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 5:25pm
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I make 95% of my boys lunch...
His healthy snack is a piece of fruit of his choice (the school does this at 9:30am every day) Morning tea is a home made muffin. I made 3 different types and once a week I'll make another batch and so there's a choice in the freezer. I get him to choose which type he feels like that day. Lunch: sandwichs with his choice of filling. Muesli bar (home made and I get about 18 for about $5 of stuff). Rice crackers/crackers. Another piece of fruit or some raisins. Ocassionally he will get yoghurt. |
Posted By: Hadlam
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 6:44pm
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I bake a great sugar free apple loaf which can sliced then frozen. I put it in DS lunchbox frozen and by lunch time its defrosted. You can change the apple for other stuff too i.e tinned fruit salad, frozen berries etc. Could also use recipe for muffins, or sometimes i do savory loaf \ muffins with cheese ham etc which i also freeze :)
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Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 11 July 2012 at 7:30pm
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Jazzy I just had a quick look at the lunchbox and they are slotted in- but it looks quite hard to take them out. ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 1:16pm
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I went & looked at them today while out shopping, they are wrapped so just to go off their website. They do look like they will be just what I want, wonder how much $ I would save on wrap....maybe I should work that out
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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 1:27pm
ok so a rough calculation is $8 a fortnight. Which is $3+ on the glad 30 snack zip bags. I use 2 per child a day so a pkt a week & a sm plastic & foil roll in 2 weeks, so taking off school holidays so that works out to be $160 a yr wow so $60 for 3 lunch boxes does not look so bad now.
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 2:14pm
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I will look into those lunch boxes too now, thanks. DD's one is falling apart. Where do u get them?
You ladies have made me more determined to cut out the junk form the lunchboxes! What do u do to keep sandwiches etc with fillings like cheese from going off? DD's bag hangs on the deck outside her class in the direct sunlight. |
Posted By: pudgy
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 2:19pm
Could you get her an insulated lunchbox ? They have sme cool ones at the Warehouse. Then make her lunch the night before and put it in the fridge in teh lunch box overnight. Or freeze yoghurt and put that in in the morning ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 2:26pm
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these are the ones I am looking at http://www.nudefoodmovers.com.au/Range/ - nude & I have seen them at PnS & Countdown.
You can get skins for them to keep them cool. In the past I have had those insulated bags & you can put in containers of food & a frozen water bottle to keep them cold. |
Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 3:22pm
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I either put in a small ice pack or a frozen yoghurt to keep things cool. I think the warehouse also stocks the nude lunchboxes. ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: popcorn
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 5:44pm
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tupperware also do a great lunchbox similar to the nude ones. we have had one for three years and it still looks pretty new (used 4 days a week at preschool)
I love that its rubbish free and easy for them to access the food. means it all gets eaten. Only down side to the tupperware one is that you cant fit in a big banana/apple/yoghurt. It fits the small yoghurts but i have to cut and lemon the apples ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: tictacjunkie
Date Posted: 12 July 2012 at 7:04pm
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Bear with me as I haven't tried to put links up before!
We use these for sandwiches- SKU=1390472 http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Sistema-Klip-It-Sandwich-Box?SKU=1390472 - sandwich These as lunchboxes (there are ones that are smaller too- 2l, and 2l that's split into two, the lids for all three fit any of the boxes.) http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Sistema-Klip-It-Container-3L?SKU=518278 - lunchbox And these for small things like carrot sticks, cheese, raisins etc (the deeper version for popcorn) http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Sistema-Klip-It-Container-200ml?SKU=518274 - small containers They come in different colours and depths (deeper container but same size lid so you can swap them), they are often on special at warehouse or countdown for 50% off, cheaper in multipacks and not so expensive you have a heart attack if it doesn't come back home. We get the flat foil stickers and the kids decorate the boxes with those, they go through the dishwasher fine. When I started buying these I got rid of my other types of kitchen storage too because everything stacks inside each other nice and tidy which is really handy when you have limited cupboard space or five children, lol. The kids choose a box and a lid, doesn't matter if they don't match, and we write our surname on them with vivid. In summer they have fridge-chilled drink bottles which they'll put next to the "cool" foods (the advantage of the bigger 3l boxes). And voila, I haven't had to buy clingfilm or sandwich bags for at least 5 years, . (5 years x $160, ouch!) And considering my youngest is only 20mths we'll save a lot more money yet. And the planet according to my 8yo dd eco-warrior, lol.
We've chucked a couple in the recycling but they've been stood on at school or dropped on concrete (thrown through a netball hoop, grr) and I don't think a lot is going to survive that! |
Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 13 July 2012 at 1:34pm
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tictacjunkie I think I will get the sandwiches ones & a few more little ones & either a bigger box as I use the 1L or a lunch bag, that way I can get what I need when I need it & if something get lost it wont hurt as much..just want to get away from rubbish/wrap..
Still need to sort out the food. |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 13 July 2012 at 2:07pm
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This may not be suitable for school aged kids, at Playcentre a lot of the kids have fishing tackle boxes and the mums put little bits of fruit/vege sticks, crackers, sandwiches etc in each compartment.
I use the tupperware one it seals everything without needing glad wrap (which isn't allowed at PC). ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: Hibiscus
Date Posted: 17 July 2012 at 1:43am
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The fishing tackle boxes sound interesting. I love the idea of having lots of little compartments. But I do wonder whether they are food rated? ------------- Mum to 3 girls: identical twins and with a 3 year gap another girl. |
Posted By: tictacjunkie
Date Posted: 18 July 2012 at 1:04am
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Tbh the fishing tackle boxes sound like a pain in the butt to clean, and I don't think they'd be food grade plastic.
Just popped in to say that Warehouse has some of their sistema clip-it (rectangle range) on special for 50% off as of today if anyone was interested in that. |
Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 19 July 2012 at 1:35pm
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I just got a fb post from a bunch called Munch about healthy lunch boxes. thought it might interest some of you.
http://www.munchcooking.com/2012/07/filling-lunch-boxes.html ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: HuMum
Date Posted: 23 July 2012 at 8:21am
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We bought a nude lunchbox for DH, lasted about 3 weeks before the clips stop securing it. The kids however have a tupperware one, which 3 years used every day, dishwasher washed most times and its still going strong. And if it does break, they'll replace it so while its pricey I think its worth every penny.
------------- 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: arohanui
Date Posted: 24 July 2012 at 9:22pm
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Ditto the tupperware sandwich keeper plus, it's amazing. Holds just the right amount of stuff. One of ours is 2-3 years old and it's like new except for a few scratches on top. Best quality - pricey but worth it cos it lasts for WAY longer than the $10/$20 ones.
Standard here for lunch is just jam or marmite sandwiches (sometimes I roll the bread up to make it more interesting), apple/mandarin and crackers with hummus for dipping. Sometimes a healthy homemade muffin for my 2 year old if I've been baking (my 4 year old isn't too keen on muffins). Other options are corn thins, cruskits, cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, raisins. I just don't buy snack bars (they're so expensive!) or packet food. Sometimes for a treat I'll buy a big bag of plain corn chips or vege chips and they'll get a small handful in their lunchbox. ------------- Mama to DS1 (5 years), DS2 (3 years) and... http://alterna-tickers.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: fattykat
Date Posted: 27 July 2012 at 9:28am
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Even though DD is only at preschool I stuggle to come up with non packet ideas too.
We've been having alot of sandwiches, popcorn, corn thins, yoghurt, fruit (although she has all of a sudden decided it is offensive if not cut up for her )
I sometimes make little ham & egg pies (that she eats cold) but instead of using pastry I use a piece or two of shaved ham as the base. We just use a cheap supermarket lunch box but don't use cling wrap instead I use the Snack & Sandwich wraps & pockets from 4myearth.co.nz I haven't used cling wrap since I bought them almost a year ago. They are amazing & actually keep a sandwich fresh all day (I didn't think they would) |