NSBR: Kid's School Lunches

[katg1006]

Hi ladies - I know this seems like a strange topic at this time of year, but as some of you know my little one has a severe peanut/nut allergy so it makes things like food something we have to really plan out.

For kindergarten this year he goes for a half day so we haven't really had to think about lunch, but next year is coming way to fast and I am so curious...

What do you send to lunch for your kids? How do you keep things from going yucky and bad? How do you keep it healthy? What about lunch boxes are there any fabulous ones out there?

Any tips you could share with me I would so appreciate.

Need to start a game plan now especially if I need to try new things for Next year

 

[Bush Girl]

What is your weather like? Is there a possibility of the food going off? Of can it be kept in an airconed environment? In Singapore we had this problem - it being 35 degrees all year round, so the kids were allowed to bring their lunch boxes into the airconed class room.

My kids got pretty bored (and so did I) of the usual sandwiches, fruit & veg sticks and yoghurt lunch, and although my daughter would tell you otherwise, they did tend to respond well (ie: eat it not waste it) to left overs like fried rice, noodles, pesto pasta, so much so that I started cooking extra just so's I'd have left overs. And my kids are not the most adventurous eaters then or now. With the temperature's being what they were in Singapore, I wouldn't heat food, I'd just take it out of the fridge at 7 am when they went to school and it would be plenty warm enough by lunchtime. I used to give them those yoghurt tubes (Frubes??) which you freeze overnight, put in lunch box frozen then they have defrosted by lunch. Great idea - sadly, little kids tend to squeeze them all over themselves and the school eventually banned them. And another thing I found, due to the climate, was that if the yoghurt pot didn't get eaten, I'd have to throw it out as it had been unrefridgerated for 8+ hrs.

I have to say, my kids are now at a school where school dinners are compulsory, the food is OK and the kids love it because they are not forced to eat everything. Some days I think Ginny only eats the vegetables. But it really takes all that thinking away - I just write the cheque every term!

 

[katg1006]

There is my problem.....Nick will not be able to eat the cafeteria food due to cross contamination issues This means always bringing a lunch from home.

I am so afraid he will be bored. Especially with his limited food sources to begin with. This could lead to temptations of sharing lunches....*sigh* Mama's worst nightmare.

Leftovers is a great idea!! I will have to keep that in mind when I am cooking. This summer I can try it out for our lunches and eat around the same time he would during school. He has to be there by 8am (So say it's out by 7:30am) and his lunch would be around 12:00. They also have very limited time to eat so it needs to be something he doesn't have to fuss with.

The school is mostly air-conditioned but they do tend to be warm so tuna fish and things like that are out. There is as far as I am aware not a fridge and even if there was he would not be able to have his lunch with the other kiddos as they might have a peanut butter sandwich. Hmmm...as you can see why I am starting early to get a better idea of what to do

He loves pudding and there are some that do not have to be refrigerated so that is a good snack idea! Have you ever frozen grapes?? Do they thaw in time?

 

[NewAdmin]

hey kat... when gage took his lunch, i bought him one of those "cooler" type lunch bags... it was insulated, and had 2 compartments. the top one was for his chips/cheezits, etc. but the bottom came with a "cold pack" inside. i would freeze the cold pack over night, then pop it in the bottom of his lunch bag in the morning along with any type of sandwich/fruits/cheese/juice box, etc. even though the cold pack was usually thawed by his lunch time, the insulation in the lunch bag kept the cold in, therefore keeping the food chilled for him. it worked out well and allowed us to pack him just about anything he wanted. (although i will say that he's quite the picker eater, so i can't really say that his lunches ever got super creative. hahaha.)

hope that helps. good luck.

 

[katg1006]

Amanda that's fabulous!!! I actually bought Nick one of those bags when I thought he would need to take a lunch this year Thanks so much for the tip....I will test out his bag

 

[LaurieW]

There are also those cool bento lunch boxes that enable you to really break down into smaller containers. Here is a website to get you started. http://justbento.com/

 

[faerywings]

Kat- I used the linch boxes like Amanda suggested. The one thing that I found was the the cool packs that come with them aren't so goo. When Gary would get his insulin shipped, the bottles would have to stay cold. They came with really good cold packs. You might want to look into a medical supply store to see if they have anything like that. These packs would literally stay frozen for days LOL

If a medical suplly doesn't have them, a camp- store might.

 

[Bush Girl]

WOW Kat - doesn't your school have a no nut policy?

I think every school in the UK HAS to have a no nut policy, including any food brought in in lunch boxes. At one school my kids were at the lunches were checked and anyone found offending (like giving their kid a peanut butter sandwich or a Snickers bar) was severely repremanded. It worked - no one sent in incorrect food, and it educated those of us whose kids did not have allergies.

Mind you, I have a friend who's son is allergic to so many things, including eggs - he can't even be in the same room as someone who's eaten egg recently. I know she can't have eggs in the house. I must ask her how she deals with his food at school.

Yep, the icebox lunchbox thing is a must. Ours in Singapore were - I can't think why I didn't mention it in my earlier post.

 

[helenh]

And once you get in a routine Kat give Nick part of a shelf in the pantry of "his" snacks. Hugh delights in making his own lunches these days - fruit drink box and other healthy snacks from "his" part of the pantry shelf. Gives them a sense of control.

 

[katg1006]

WOW Kat - doesn't your school have a no nut policy?

No....they are "allergy aware" it's actually very controversial over here Selena a lot of the media is putting out damaging misinformation that this is not a real allergy and that it is blown way out of proportion so people are reacting to that as well as reacting to being told how to feed their children. Very heated topic. I have to walk a fine line.

They are trying to get the government involved to help mandate safety for all allergies but it's meeting such resistance. Not sure what is going to come of it.

People are very "sue" happy and so the schools do not want to be in the role of checking what comes in the door because if they make a mistake and say the school is nut-free yet the person checking didn't think no brand name cookies had nuts in them they can be held accountable. Soooo sticky.

I don't want to take PB away from other kids because I know it's a great source of protein for little ones....or other things they can eat. I just have to find a way to keep Nick safe without ostracizing him, but in order to do that the school does need to be active and enforcing certain things and so far they are not hence, all the problems this year. They are actually making it harder because they are not enforcing what they originally said....it's confusing the parents. I found that most parents are understanding and want to help anyway they can to keep him safe. I few don't - and I can never make them understand. The only way would be for them to walk in our shoes and I wouldn't wish that on anyone

Wow I rambled didn't I....sorry

Eggs - wow my niece is allergic to eggs....she goes into anaphylactic shock if her dad has eggs in the morning and kisses her goodnight on her head for bed. Even after brushing his teeth and all....it is so scary I can totally empathize ((hugs))

And once you get in a routine Kat give Nick part of a shelf in the pantry

Helen that is a fab idea!! Right now I have a basket of safe snacks for Nick so when he wants one he can go there and get one knowing it's safe without all the drama he loves it I will make it part of his bedtime routine getting ready for school the next day! Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the tips!! I appreciate them all

 

[mrsaboyer]

What a great thread!
One thing I always did with Quinn's lunches was pack all of the sandwich elememts, especially the condiment,s separately. That way, his bread didn't get nasty and soggy,and he could put his own sandwich together at lunch, which was fun.
I used one of those cold bags, and would often half-freeze his drinks to help with keeping things cold. I would mix it up with his bread, like sometimes give him a roll, sometimes a tortilla for a wrap, sometimes a hot dog bun just for fun.

Gosh, I'm going to have to decide what to do with the girls coming up here. Atha will really love getting involved with the sandwich process, but I have no idea what's going to happen with Gen. I'll have to ask what they do with special ed kids and lunch. Hmmm!

Laurie, those Bento boxes are COOL! Perfect for the method I was talking about of keeping everything separate!

 

[katg1006]

Ohhh yes Laurie I checked out the Bento Boxes pretty cool Not sure if it's right for Nick...but I sooooo want one now *LOL*

Andrea - ohhhh that is such a great tip!! Switching up the breads he'd love that. I could even give him crackers with lunch meat cut to fit them and he could have cracker sandwiches Thanks!!!

 

[petey111]

My mom used to freeze my juice boxes and wrap them in tin foil and paper towels. It acted as a freezer pack, but thawed by lunch and I had cold juice. (Paper towels helped keep the condensation off my other food.) I just saw yogurt the other day that actually said on the package "Freeze overnight, thawed by lunch" (or something similar).

I can't believe it's so controversial where you are. Where we are, a lot of places are nut free. My school isn't, but we haven't had anyone with that bad of an allergy. I would completely assume that if we did a new policy would be in place. Ben's school however, is nut free. And we even were told that we can't bring birthday treats to school anymore due to all the different allergies. We have to bring birthday trinkets. Which I completely understand and think is a good thing. I'd rather give books or pencils, etc. than sweets!...but I'm a nerd. =)

 

[petey111]

And Kat...buy a bunch of cheap plastic cookie cutters...(that haven't been used for peanut butter cookies ) and use those to cut his bread, cheese, pancakes, etc. My mom also used to get me salami, which I would roll up with cheese.

 

[hondachicc]

And Kat...buy a bunch of cheap plastic cookie cutters...(that haven't been used for peanut butter cookies ) and use those to cut his bread, cheese, pancakes, etc. My mom also used to get me salami, which I would roll up with cheese.

Sara...my mom did this for me too with the juice My mom totally turned me into a tin foil freak!!!

Kat I think these ladies have such fab ideas!!! Since I don't do the lunch thing anymore...I don't have much to offer here. I am such a creature of habit..always have been...all the years I packed lunch when I was in school, I took the same thing all the time!!! Now I could not do that...I can't eat the same thing over and over!!

Sorry I just had to chime in about Sara's juice!!!

 

[katg1006]

Sara!!! You rock....so love the ideas!!! Thank you!!!! Cookie cutters are fabulous!! I have a set I bought for Nick so they are perfect!

And we even were told that we can't bring birthday treats to school anymore due to all the different allergies. We have to bring birthday trinkets.

Sara this is where the main problem is everything in school - social wise is food orientated. If they would just move away from food to this type of thing there wouldn't be an issue. Nick would be a gazillion times safer for Nick with lunch being the only area to worry about. In the school district now one of the elementary schools has 2 severe nut allergies, one milk, one egg and a diabetic child in one class. There was absolutely no way to find a common food ground for everyone so they went to that system. For birthdays the kids get their own special crown for the day and they get a treat bag filled with educational things like pencils...etc. The kids love it!! Unfortunately the whole district is not on board with that...? I can hope one day!

 

[katg1006]

Sorry I just had to chime in about Sara's juice!!! :grin:

So glad you did!!! - yeah these ideas are fab!! I was so telling AJ about them last night and all the great ideas!

Thanks again ladies!!! I am so grateful for your help!!

 

[cellomom]

one compound word for you, Kat..."homeschool!"

jk!! LOL!!! ohhhh my kids would sooo love to have regular lunches planned for them everyday!! As it is, they are usually on their own to make their own lunches. If they are eating (or scrounging) when daddy is making his lunch, they can usually talk him into making something for them!! today, I took my bff out for her birthday and came home to find he had gone to McDs for all of them for lunch!! sweet daddy!!

 

[katg1006]

one compound word for you, Kat..."homeschool!"

*lol* I knew that was coming

Awww Mr.G rocks!!