Lunch Box Ideas

I finally got my internet hooked up last night!  I missed you so much computer.  I noticed this morning that a lot of moms are looking for school lunch ideas for their kids.  My daughter is still to young for school, but we have been eating out of a cooler quite a bit lately, so here are some of the meals I have been packing.

1. Make a hot dog octopus, place fresh fruit on a swizzle stick for kebabs, pretzels, and an enjoy life chocolate cookie.
2. My daughter really loves pancake sandwiches.  Take two pancakes, and put some sunbutter and/or jam in between.  With that she has grapes and carrot sticks.
3.  Another option is packing sunbutter in a silicone cupcake liner, along with crackers, fresh veggies, and your choice of soy or coconut yogurt.  Pack a bit of homemade granola to sprinkle on top for a sundae.
4. How about an avacado, chickpea wrap.  I put a drained can of chickpeas in the food processor along with an avacado, a bit of lemon juice, and a couple shakes of cumin.  It is seriously my favorite.  Anyways, spread it onto a tortilla, wrap, and enjoy.  I packed strawberries, cucumbers, and pretzels with that.
5. Bagel with tofutti better than cream cheese, raisins, enjoy life not nuts, fruit leather, and celery
6. Sunbutter banana and honey sandwich,  mandarin oranges, and chips
7. baked chicken breast cut into cubes, jello, baby carrots, and fresh strawberries
8. Finally, make your own lunchable.  Pack safe crackers, whatever meat you choose (john morell has safe bologna that you can cut to size) and daiya cheese to sprinkle on top.  Send a soy or coconut yogurt along with a few sprinkles to make it special

Do you have to pack snacks as well?  Here are the ones I packed.

1. Banana bread made in muffin tins
2. Any dry cereal you choose.  My daughter LOVES cookie crisp and I won't let her have it for breakfast, so this was our compromise.
3. Enjoy life, sunbutter or coco loco bar, and a banana
4. strawberry, grape, and pear fruit kebabs
5. crackers topped with tofutti better than cream cheese with a bit of sugar and cinnamon mixed in, and a handful of raisins.
6. Teddy grahams
7. and finally, brothers all natural freeze dried fruit is not too expensive and is already individually packaged, so all you have to do is throw them in.  

One other product that I have talked about on here before, is the Go Picnic lunch box.  It comes with crackers, sunbutter, enjoy life cookie, enjoy life not nuts, and fruit chews.  It's great if you are in a jam, or heading out for a field trip, but at $5 plus a box, I wouldn't recommend it as an everyday kind of meal.  Hope this helps you out a bit.  Oh! one more thing.  When my daughter was in day care, they let me send in boxes of Ian's chicken nuggets, corn dogs, and fish sticks.  They were kept in the freezer there, and then the teacher would microwave them for her right before lunch.  That is another easy option if the school is willing. Hope  you all have a great week!