Need help with lunchbox snacks!
Find a Conversation
Need help with lunchbox snacks!
| Wed, 03-01-2006 - 3:36pm |
Hello~
I need to stop buying all of those prepackaged junky snacks for DD's lunchbox such as: ho-hos, fruit snacks, huggies, jello cups .... you know what I mean? She never buys her lunch, so I'm running out of ideas. But I buy those snacks and they are gone so fast (it doesn't help that they devour them at home too!) She does like packaged peanut butter crackers and those are under $1.50 for a big pack. Any ideas for cheaper healthy snacks? PS: She doesn't like sandwiches.
Thanks! Nicki

Pages
I send a lot of different things in my daughters lunch...but I definitely save the most $$ by buying big bags and putting them in other packaging.
She likes, pretzels, raisins, string cheese, chex mix, popcorn(her favorite), yogurt covered raisins, granola bars, animal crackers, baby carrots(with peanut butter to dip it in).
She also likes to take hot dogs(I cook them and make them up and they are cold for lunch but she loves them), ramen noodles, peanut butter tacos(flour tortilla with pb on it), soup, yogurt(with granola), some of her friends bring cereal and milk......
Hope that helps if you have any other questions let me know!
My daughter packs her lunch, too, and for the most part, whatever I pick out for her sncak is put away and i don't let her have it at home that week. She didn't like sandwiches either, but i started making cheese sandwiches and she was ok with that..then I added ham and cheese later, and now she will eat them. She won't eat peanut butter or jelly, other sandwich meats, most fruits and veggies, etc, etc (she has autism, so her pickiness is something we try to overcome all the time simply by limiting what is available in the house on any given day.)_ I like to pack graham crackers (used to pack graham crackers a banana and milk and that was all she would eat!!), vanilla wafers, goldfish (which i buy in the regular size bags and divide up.) Maybe you can let your child pick a snack for the week and limit it only to lunchboxes, too...it helps when you don't have to scramble every morning looking for something to make for lunch!!
HTH, Heather
We do all sorts of different things. I freeze gogurts and put them in with strawberries or grapes. String cheese is good too and cheap. I try to keep smaller container around for dip. One of my daughter's favorite lunches is a fruit and nut wrap. It's a tortilla with strawberry cream cheese, raisins, peanuts and sliced strawberries rolled up. She likes Tuna Dippers too. Tuna with miracle whip in a small container and Triscuits to dip in! Another of her favorites is ham-roll-ups. A slice of ham (or turkey, or whatever) and a slice of cheese rolled up. I send ritz crackers too and she layers it.
We get Kraft Food and Family magazine at our house (free, go on Kraftfoods.com), and once a year at back to school time it comes with a mini menu with really cool school lunch ideas. We have 2 and my daughter goes through them at the beginning of the week and makes her own menu for the week.
Michelle
I haven't had to start sending sack lunches yet, but here are some things I imagine sending:
Fresh fruit (cherry tomatoes with ranch dressing, sliced apples with cheese, bananas with peanut butter to dip in, orange sections, strawberries, grapes, etc.) Strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar is one of my all-time favorite "healthy" desserts. Heck, it's one of my all-time favorite desserts, period.
Veggies with dip or spread (celery and peanut butter was a favorite of mine as a kid; carrots with dip; broccoli or whatever the kids like; I'm lucky, my kids will eat frozen peas straight out of the freezer, lol, so that's something I would send with them)
Leftovers from favorite meals (packaged in small quantities--my kids especially love a variety of soups like chili and cabbage dill soup which could be packaged in a thermos to stay hot, spaghetti casserole, chicken and dumplings)
Dried fruits (dates, prunes, etc.)
Popcorn (buy in bulk--not those microwave packets--and it's VERY cheap. Pop it the night before in oil and salt over the stove, then when cool, package in saved bread bags or even saved chips bags)
On a side note, we don't buy packaging materials any more. Depending on the application, we may substitute mason jars, washed mayo (or other glass) jars, clean and dry bread bags or produce bags, clean and dry grape bags (the ones with all the holes in them), or grocery bags. It all started when I ran out of plastic wrap and started making do, and discovered that it's really not hard or troublesome at ALL to do without purchasing packaging materials. And it's cheaper! LOL Not to mention better for the environment.
Those are all the ideas I have at the moment. Good luck and have fun with it!
Blessings,
Heather
Maybe cups of fat-free pudding or applesauce? Sometimes these can be purchased on sale for around a dollar for 6 cups of pudding or 6-8 cups of applesauce. Also, although not entirely healthy, Little Debbie brand snacks are sometimes pretty cheap.
Pat
.
over 40 and tired
I remember reading an article that often kids who won't eat a sandwich will if it is cut into fun shape with a cookie cutter. You might see if that helps. My cousin's son wouldn't eat sandwiches so she packed cereal and he bought milk at school for the cereal until he out grew not liking sandwiches.
Proud sister of a Marine:
Hi!
My mom made me something different every day. She was very big on variety. Then I got old enough to make my own lunches, and my lunches became very, well, odd.
At any rate, here are a few things I liked: (She didn't buy those packs of chewy/gummy candies. Something about sugar?)
cookies
fruit cups
crackers, cheese, and pepperoni. Except I didn't like meat so I didn't eat the pepperoni.
But even when I packed my own lunches I still packed it. Weird.
rice in little balls
carrot sticks
celery sticks with peanut butter in the valley and raisins on top of the peanut butter.
Except my mom didn't put the raisins on. She just tossed a box of raisins in the bag.
peanut butter with banana sandwiches
an apple
granola bars - but not the dipped in chocolate kind, they got too sticky
pita bread with stuff stuck in it. Any stuff, I just liked the pita bread. And now that I recall, I also didn't eat the stuff that was inside. I think it was chicken salad.
hard boiled eggs. At Easter Time, they were coloured.
I've spent the past few summers working at daycamps, and kids also tended to get those cup of noodles things that you add hot water to, fried rice, and leftover pizza. There were a lot of sandwiches, although not very much peanut butter. Berries were very popular.
My kids don't like sandwiches, though my son does like PBJs. He'd live on them if I let him. I try to have not more than one dessert, plus the drink. Also, I try to keep it to 25-30 cents per item. Sometimes I have a packet of dressing from a to-go salad (even though I like MY dressing, it's good to have the extras!) that I throw in with veggies or a salad (only daughter will eat salad!).
buttered roll
peanut butter on crackers
p b on leftover pankcakes rolled up
p b on celery
half bagel w/cream cheese
leftover pizza
anything deep fried that's leftover!
carrot sticks
grapes
cup of baby mandarin oranges (cans are 2/$1, it makes 2 cups plus a few for mom to pick
mixed nuts in a sandwich baggie
dry cereal in a baggie
gogurt
black olives the day after we've had tacos
taco shell filled w/lettuce cheese and olives
tuna in a romaine lettuce leaf
slim jims
mini soda
juice box
capri sun
hawaian punch, sunnyD (I prefer these, because they usually come home not empty and I add water and use them again!)
At home we only drink water and milk, so I don't mind what they have at lunch.
Pages