If your house is anything like mine, dinners and lunches can be a challenge. At least one of the two kids is always saying they don’t like what is put on the table. We have now figured out our go-to meals for at-home lunches and dinners but school lunches have still been a problem, until recently.
My son does not like to take a traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich to school and when he is home he will choose soup or leftovers for lunch. The only problem is at school there is no place to warm up the food. The school does have a lunch each day that can be bought but half the time the options are not things my son likes. After much thinking and trying different sandwich toppings we came up with the following staples to keep in the house for weekday school lunches.
- Pizza
- On Sunday, I will make a homemade cheese pizza. Since it is homemade, I can sneak different types of vegetables into the sauce without my son knowing he is eating a healthy meal and I also make my own pizza dough.
- Hard Boiled Eggs
- My son loves hard boiled eggs and I will usually buy a dozen for baking and another dozen to boil and keep in the fridge. I usually will send him with a couple of eggs, a yogurt, a fruit, and a granola bar or for a special treat a homemade cookie.
- Cheese and Crackers
- Every time I go shopping and my son joins me, he asks to buy the prepackaged cheese and cracker kits that are loaded with preservatives. My answer every time: NO! Instead, we make our own cheese and cracker kits. I buy real cheddar cheese in bulk and slice it into cracker size pieces and then will include enough crackers to make six ‘sandwiches’. The nice thing about buying the cheese in bulk is it freezes really well and it is a large savings.
- Meatball Grinders
- This is one of the few sandwiches my son will eat. When we have spaghetti night, I make some extra meatballs and then place them in a hot dog roll with some sauce and mozzarella cheese. To prevent the sandwich from getting soggy in the fridge or lunch bag, I will toast the bun before putting in the meatballs, sauce and cheese and baking.
- Ham and Cheese
- Since sandwiches are not a favorite, I have found that my son likes to take chunks of ham and cubes of cheddar cheese. This is a great lunch to use the leftovers from the night before when we have ham steaks or if I make a half ham.
In order to make sure these foods keep until lunch time; I always make sure to pack his lunch about 15 – 20 minutes before we leave for the bus. Also, we purchased a lunch bag that doubles as a large freezer pack. Each day after the lunch bag is washed it is placed in the freezer and it tends to stay cool until the time my son gets home from school on most days (even with the high temps we experience in southern AZ).
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