LUNCH AND SNACKS

(Some suggestions)

Munchies

• Animal crackers made with whole wheat and sweetened with juice
• Bagel chips
• Breadsticks with or without a dip
• Celery/carrots with peanut butter, cream cheese, herbed cheese or humus
• Celery + peanut butter + raisins or berries = “ants on a log”
• Cheerios (no sugar)
• Cliff Bar or Luna in assorted flavors (very filling; try half a bar, cut up)
• Crackers with or without cheese
• Croutons
• Dips/spreads: mashed avocado, cottage cheese, ranch dressing, humus
• Dip: fruit-sweetened ketchup
• “Fig Newton” look-alikes (ALL FRUIT)
• Granola or other cereal, dry as a snack or with milk to pour on
• Health food “cheetos” (“cheat-os”?)
• Healthy chips and salsa and/or guacamole for dipping
• Leftover salad w/ dressing on the side or in a balsamic vinegar marinade
• Low-fat, juice-sweetened muffin, plain or with cream cheese/peanut butter
• Little fish crackers
• Matzo (check out many varieties, esp. around Passover in springtime)
• Nuts (if no allergies)
• Peanut butter (100%) as a dip (if no allergies)
• Pita chips
• Popcorn (variation: try parmesan cheese on it)
• Pretzels (plain or peanut butter-stuffed); come in a wide variety of shapes
• Rice/wheat chex look-alikes that have no sugar
• Rice cakes (come in a variety of flavors and shapes; kids love the “minis”)
• Rice cakes w/ peanut butter spread on-top then sprinkled w/ raisins
• Shelled sunflower seeds
• Trail mix (no chocolate bits; check how carob is sweetened)

Starches

• Baked potato with sour cream or shredded cheese
• Boiled or roasted red rose potatoes, cut up (try dill, rosemary, tarragon)
• Couscous with or without veggies, meat, tofu
• Hot cereal in a wide-mouth thermos
• Macaroni salad
• Pasta, plain or dressed, with or without vegetables, chicken, shrimp
• Pasta with parmesan and nutmeg or tomato sauce (try toppings on the side)
• Potato salad
• Ravioli (room temperature or kept warm in a wide-mouth thermos)           
• Risotto (plain or with vegetables)
• White/brown rice with or without vegetables

Fruit

• Avocado and tomato, cut up together (or spiced, i.e. guacamole)
• Apple (can be sliced/cubed – drizzle lemon juice to keep from turning color)
• Apple cut in wheels makes a good base for spreads (see “munchies”)
• Apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon
• Apple sauce (100%)
• Banana (look for extra-small ones!)
• Blueberries
• Dried bananas (sugar-free), pears, apples, apricots, pineapple
• Fruit roll (ALL FRUIT)
• Grapefruit, sectioned
• Kiwi
• Mixed diced dried fruit
• Orange or tangerine sections
• Papaya
• Peach
• Pear
• Pineapple chunks or rings
• Plum
• Raspberries
• Raisins and prunes
• Sliced or cubed melon
• Sliced grapes
• Smoothie to drink
• Strawberries
• TJ’s dried sour cherries, cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, berry medley
• TJ’s frozen mango chunks
• Watermelon

Vegetables

• Avocado and tomato, cut up together (or spiced, i.e. guacamole)
• Baby carrots (steamed or raw; some kids really like tarragon on steamed carrots)
• Baby corn
• Bean salad
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cole slaw
• Combo/medley
• Corn on the cob
• Edamame (soy beans) either fresh out of the pod or frozen (beans)
• Fresh peas in pod to shell and eat
• Frozen peas
• Garbanzo beans, plain or marinated (try basil)
• Jicama, sliced into sticks (opt: lemon or lime juice drizzled over)
• Marinated/mulled vegetables and/or mushrooms and/or or squashes
• Peppers (red, green, yellow) seeded and cut up
• Pickles (so many kinds!)
• Red, green or yellow peppers, sliced
• Seaweed, dried
• Sliced olives
• Snow peas
• Steamed broccoli, cauliflower, broccoflower (try sour cream/Spike dip)
• String beans (raw or steamed, can be marinated)

Sandwiches and such

• Avocado sandwich
• Bagel and cream cheese
• Build-your-own hamburger (burger, bun and fixings packed separately)
• Calzone
• Cheese sandwich (can be grilled)
• Cinnamon/raisin bread sandwich with peanut butter or cream cheese filling
• Crackers and cheese, packed separately, to be made into sandwiches at school
• Cream cheese and 100% fruit jam sandwich
• Egg (fried, poached, or omelet) on an English muffin
• Egg salad or tofu salad with crackers
• Humus, parsley, cucumbers, grated carrots etc. in pita
• Leftover meat sandwich (turkey, chicken, beef, lamb, pork, meatloaf)
• Olive/cream cheese sandwich (don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it!)
• Peanut butter and jelly (!00% fruit) sandwich
• Pinwheel sandwiches (lavash, spread with cheese and spinach, rolled and cut)
• Pita wedges w/ humus on the side
• Pizza fixings (sauce, mushrooms, peppers, meat, cheeses) on bagel or Eng.Muffin
• Quesadilla
• Tortilla wrapped around a hot dog
• Tuna/chicken salad in pita or with crackers           
• Waffle or pancake sandwich (with peanut butter or cream cheese)

Main dishes

• Any pasta with any sauce (ditto)
• Arroz con frijoles (rice and beans)
• Arroz con pollo (rice and chicken)
• Baby Edam or Babybel cheese (in bright wax shell)
• Baked beans (crackers or chips make good “edible spoons”)
• Build-your-own taco or tostada (tortilla and fixings packed separately)           
• Burrito
• Chicken/vegetable pot pie
• Cottage cheese and pineapple
• Cottage cheese and chives
• Cottage cheese and minced clams
• Cubed cheeses
• Deviled eggs (try pickle relish, curry, basil, or dill)
• Empanada
• Frittata
• Hard boiled egg
• Hot soup in a wide-mouth thermos (don’t forget the oyster crackers!)           
• Leftover soups/stews
• Macaroni and cheese with peas or other veggies
• Meatloaf w/ tomato sauce
• Pizza (surprisingly good cold or at room temperature)
• Quiche (slice of a large quiche or whole mini-quiche)
• Rice w/ any meat and/or vegetables and a side of tamari sauce
• Sandwich meat wrapped around a stick of cucumber or pickle
• Sandwich meat spread w/ cream cheese (plain or herbed) and rolled up
• Small meat slices or cubes (leftovers or deli packaged)
• String cheese (try slicing in wheels for variety)
• Stuffed grape leaves
• Sushi (California roll a favorite)
• Tabouli
• Taquitos
• Tamales
• Tofu cubes (broiled is firmer and easier to handle)
• Tofu dogs, sliced lengthwise and chopped           
• Tuna/noodle casserole with peas
• Tuna salad wrapped in a lettuce leaf a la Thai
• Veggie burgers

HINTS:

• Kids love to “play with their food”.  Anything they put together themselves is fun and interesting to them. They like to take a food out of one container and dip it into another container and eat it.  They also like to spread things on bread or crackers, and to assemble tacos or sandwiches.  (Certain spreads, such as cream cheese, make crackers and rice cakes soggy; these are really better when assembled just before eating.)  This assembly idea works for Groups 3 and 4 – too complicated for 1 and 2.

• To keep an orange fresh and appealing but make it accessible: slice off a tiny bit at top and bottom.  Then score it down to the zest (like longitude marks on a globe) from flat top to flat bottom.  This makes it easy for a child to peel.

• Orange variation:  cut it into wagon wheels.  Score the orange once from end to end.  Turn it and cut into horizontal wheels.  Children “open” each wheel at the “rim” by pulling it apart where it was scored and eating it off the rind.  They eat it all!

• When sending whole fruit, send along an extra ziplock bag.  Most kids can’t eat a whole fruit at one sitting.  Bagging whatever remains after snack ensures that it won’t get too yucky by lunchtime.

• If your child avoids veggies but will eat meat, try grated carrots and/or zucchini in your meat loaf.

• If you are vegetarian or your child avoids meat, remember that rice and beans together form a complete protein.  A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread serves the same purpose.

• To keep those pesky juice boxes from overflowing, find the little triangular tabs at the “shoulders” of the box and pull them out horizontally.

• Children are very sensitive to size, shape and texture of food.  For instance, carrot sticks on Monday may seem very different from “matchstick” (julienne) carrots on Tuesday and carrot circles on Wednesday (though they are nutritionally identical).  Variety makes food more appetizing for most children.  (If, on the other hand, your child is a bit picky, trying different presentations may help you hit on the one way that (s)he will actuallyeat those darned carrots.)

• Try putting kale or spinach in sandwiches instead of lettuce – so nutritious.

• Buy sipper cups and send juice to school in these.  That way you can buy juice in bulk, less expensively.  Also, you can see how much juice actually gets drunk, so you can gauge servings accordingly.  Remember, when they run out of juice, water is a wonderful thing to drink!

• Don’t overlook leftovers.  A lot of foods are surprisingly good at room temperature the next day!  And humble things like a couple of florets of steamed broccoli can be perked up when tossed in a little olive oil and Balsamic vinegar, or served with a dip.

• Foods that you prepare hot in the morning (such as a grilled cheese sandwich or hot dog in a tortilla) should be wrapped in a couple of paper towels and quickly sealed in aluminum foil.  It won’t keep them piping hot, but it holds in steam which prevents hardening and drying out.  They’ll still be warmish by noon.