Healthy Ideas for School Lunches - Kindergarten

Get a good ice pack, insulated lunch box and things will stay fresh and cool. You should be able to send most things that you make at home.

-yogurt, cottage cheese, string cheese
-hard boiled eggs
-fresh fruit
-veges & dip
-any type of sandwich

Get a thermos and you can send hot foods. Just put hot water in the thermos for 5 minutes, empty out the water, add the hot food and that will keep it warm until lunchtime.

Thermos foods...
soup, stew, mac & cheese, leftovers

I send my kids to school with a sandwich or bread roll with various fillings , a fruit item such as a banana , some grapes , an apple , strawberries etc , some crackers or bread sticks , a yogurt and a drink , and as a treat I put 1 cookie , or a small handful of potato chips in a ziploc bag (veggie chips or similar). The yogurt I freeze so that it keeps cool and by lunch time is ready to eat , you could also add some cut up cheese , cuccumber slices , dried fruit like raisins or blueberries , you could make wraps instead of a typical bread sandwich. If they like pizza you could make a pizza with veggies on and then they could eat it cold. The same for rice and pasta dishes.

Hope this helps

We pack a snack and lunch and I bring my dd a snack when I pick her up

I make sure that I cover grains, protein, fruit/veggies

S: Cheeze Its
L: sliced (raw) bell pepper
cheese sandwich
grapes

S: Apple
L: Danonino Yogurt (frozen when packed should thaw by lunch time)
Peanut Butter Sandwich (whole wheat)
Celery Sticks

S: String Cheese
L: Sun Chips
Cheese Cubes/ Almonds
grapes

S: Granola bar
L: Pita bread (the tiny ones)
Cheese
grapes

S: Gogurt
L: Celery sticks
Peanut butter
Raisins
Wheat thins

I don't usually pack any sweet treat for school.

One thing that helps is a little container with separate compartments. That way you can have fun filling each one with the different food groups.

Good for you for not caving into the the unhealthy school lunches! I could never stomach eating from the cafeterias when I was in school, so I never planned on my kids eating lunch from the cafeteria. If enough parents did this, maybe school lunches would finally change!

Have you checked out the following site? It's a toddler food dream:

www.weelicious.com

www.laptoplunches.com

I found last year that the insulated lunch boxes didn't hold up well so this year I bought an old fashioned plastic one. It is so easy to clean, and I can still pack an ice pack. If I send milk he just brings it back anyway so I guess I'll send water. I make my own healthy cookies and granola bars, make sandwiches with healthy bread with whole grains and fiber and low fat peanut butter. and lots of fruit. but I will check these sites out for some variety! For snack I send a mix of healthy cereals, craisins, and whole wheat goldfish, with a few grapes and water.