Kindergarten Lunch and Snack options

[purplepenguin7]

seems obvious but I tried a quick search and couldn't find anything recently on food suggestions.  

My daughter started K this week and moved from a daycare that provided lunch (hot, toddler/picky eater-friendly lunch). It's only been a few days but so far she's come home starving so I am looking for other ideas to give her for lunch and snack. The funny part is she barely eats ever, and daycare always told me she didn't eat most of lunch most days but here we are.  Kindergarten is a whole new ballgame I guess. 

Our typical rotation includes: ham, salami, cheese, fruit of any kind, goldfish, cheese its, granola bars, mac and cheese in a thermos...and I think that it. 

Snack is nut free, lunch is not so I might mix in a pb sandwich for lunch.  I might also put in pasta with meatballs but she only likes meatballs with red sauce and that's so messy. 

What do your early elementary kids take?

[ssmjlm]

Even if she ate her whole lunch, my kid was still starving after school.

Heavy rotation for us - cream cheese or nutella sandwiches, I like to cut them into 1/4s when she was younger. Fruit, cheese, cheez-its or goldfish.

Snacks were usually cheez-its or mini muffins.


If she likes pasta and meatballs, I would just do a small amount of sauce, enough to coat the meatballs.

[186momx]

No matter what you pack or she eats I can guarantee she will still be starving when she gets home.

Pasta noodles (not spaghetti) with red sauce
Tri-colored pasta salad
Homemade Lunchables
school lunch

Snacks
Granola bars, fruit bars, apple slices, peeled orange, pretzels. Just make sure she doesn't need help opening anything.

[Susie]

My kids are K & 4th, and both are in allergy safe classrooms so they similarly can have nuts in the cafeteria at lunch, but not for snack in the classroom. 

In addition to things you mentioned, we rotate through sending:
* yogurt cups
* hard boiled eggs
* unsweetened applesauce cups
* string cheese
* sunflower seeds
* toasted chick peas

[shauni27]

Same thing every day, varying flavors of each to make it different:

granola bar,
a fruit,
some sort of muffins,
PB sandwich,
a treat,
applesauce pouch,
fruit leather
some sort of snack (chips, pirate booty, goldfish, pretzels...)

He also gets another snack as soon as he is picked up at after school (4pm)

[expectantsteelerfan]

My kids are in 7th and 10th, and they have taken the same thing for lunch almost every day since kindergarten, and that is a sandwich (whatever kind they like, my kids usually either get salami or pb and j, although ds likes turkey too so I throw that in if we're trying to use it up, but he also likes pickle slices on it and I have to put those in a baggie and that extra step annoys me), an apple cut up into 4 big slices, and a snack (well, now they both get 2 snacks, but they didn't in elementary). They make requests for the easy to pack snacks before I go to the grocery store, but it's usually a bag of chips, little Debbie snack, whatever I pick from the multi-packs at the store, etc.

Every once in a while they will have leftovers from something that they will ask me to put in their lunch, but otherwise this is what they get. Mine are at an age where I can tell them, if they want something else they can pack their own lunch, but they seem to like the routine. They do make their own lunches in the summer, but it's just easier for me to throw their lunches together than make them pack them during the school year.

[awkwardpenguin]

My kid is extremely picky. We tried to have him eat school lunch and he wouldn't eat anything so we pack him the same lunch of preferred foods every day. Which is just to say that you don't really need to worry about variety if you are concerned about getting calories in. Just pack whatever she'll eat.

[noodleoo]

DD2 just started K today, but we've been sending lunches to daycare for years. We use the thermos a lot to send dinner leftovers. I'd send spaghetti and meatballs in a thermos no problem. She also takes chicken nuggets in the thermos. The key is to microwave some water really hot and prefill the thermos for about 10 mins before you put the food in. That preheats it and the food stays warm until lunch.

she also has a bento box and we will send deconstructed sandwiches (bread, lunch meat, snacks all separated) and home made lunchables (Ritz crackers, pepperoni, cheese, etc).

My kids also like dumplings/gyozas from Trader Joes and those go in the thermos. We steam them the night before and just microwave to reheat in the morning.

[purplepenguin7]

Sept 5, 2024 11:42:53 GMT -5 awkwardpenguin said:

My kid is extremely picky. We tried to have him eat school lunch and he wouldn't eat anything so we pack him the same lunch of preferred foods every day. Which is just to say that you don't really need to worry about variety if you are concerned about getting calories in. Just pack whatever she'll eat.

Not really looking for variety but more things of substance to help the hunger. Good to know the hunger seems to be a common theme for kindergarten and maybe she will just adjust after a few weeks.

Another issue I didn’t mention is that they only have 20 minutes to eat so sending bigger portions isn’t that easy because she’s already a slow eater. So with that just looking for ideas that are more calorie dense or something i might not have thought of.

[meowmaps]

Today I sent my first grader in with half a turkey and cheese sandwich, snack size pringles, sliced half apple, and two peppermint patties. She's always hungry when I pick her up so I bring a banana, bag of skinny pop, etc.

[wanderingback]

My daughter is only 2 but we have to pack lunch and snacks. I pretty much always do 2 fruits, 1 or 2 proteins and then "other" plus usually rice and lentils or pasta or some kind of stew for lunch. So the things on regular rotation are:
All sorts of fruit- apple slices, strawberries, whole banana, cut up grapes, kiwi are our usuals
-plain Greek yogurt with fruit or small amount of honey mixed in
-cheese slices
-hummus
-guacamole or avocado slices
-occasionally some sort of crunchy snack like Annie’s cheddar crackers
-Trader Joe’s fruit bars
-these 2 fruit snack things
-applesauce
-dried mango and apricot

We pretty much mix and match those things every week

[expatjen]

My daughter is 7 and is a super picky eater of regular food, (but she seems to be a bottomless pit when it comes to snacks).

I make:
- Jelly sandwiches, ham or turkey and cheese sandwiches
- Ritz crackers, salami and string cheese
- Pasta with red sauce or mac n cheese
- Fried rice
- Rice with spam (we live in Hawaii haha)
- Hot dogs and bread cut into various shapes
- Cheese and ham quesadillas

I try to pack a fruit and veggie (carrot or cucumber sticks) with her main dish.

Snacks for after school are:
- Goldfish
- Animal crackers
- Z bars
- Natureʻs Bakery Fig bars from Costco
- Ritz crackers or Club crackers
- Apple sauce
- Cheese-its
- A small pack of gummy bears
- Fruit (full apple or cutie/tangerine)

[tiki]

If the lunch does not have to be nut-free, I highly recommend keeping a box of Uncrustables (frozen pb&j sandwiches) in your freezer. You can also make and freeze a big stack of your own pb&j sandwiches, but the pre-made ones are just so darn convenient.

[joy]

Is she not eating her lunch because she doesn’t like it? Or are there other reasons?

When my kid started K, she stopped eating lunch. The cafeteria was entirely too loud and distracting for her. She felt overwhelmed there and couldn’t focus long enough to eat.

Eating in a noisy cafeteria was a world away from eating lunch in her daycare room. Also, K is a world away from a daycare setting! I would gently probe to see if there are other factors at play here beyond the actual food.

[jennistarr1]

PreK here with a picky eater

mainly here for ideas

So far, everyday is a gogurt and a fruit (or even multiple fruit options I know she will always eat fruit)
a sweet--Milano, oreo, oreo cakesters, cosmic brownie, mini muffins
a salty--crackers, pretzels, those little breads that are on a fancy charcuterie board, popcorn, veggie straws, pirates booty

she will eat slim jims and beef jerky

No's are: all sandwiches, cereal, cheese or cheese sticks, lunch meat, any dips like ranch/hummus/gauc...really we have no "main" item and everything is on the snack level

I plan on being lunch mom again soon because just walking around and seeing what others pack usually gives me some ideas

[dreamcrisp1]

Snack is always a fruit (apple or pear usually but sometimes other fruits) and veggie (cucumber or cherry tomatoes) with a babybel cheese.

Lunch is usually a grilled cheese or quesadilla with chicken or turkey slices and a pack of raisins or sometimes a cookie.

Edit to add: mine just turned 5 this week. He’s in group 2 here which is the equivalent of senior kindergarten.

[pinkplasticdoll]

We have to send lunch + 2 snacks each day.

Lunch rotations :
Meatballs/plant balls/ veggie balls in a thermos
mac n cheese in a thermos
Cheese rollups in a tortilla
bean and cheese taquitos
pasta salad
kid friend charcuterie board
Soap in a thermos (lentil, tortilla, chicken noodle)
fried rice
wontons
pizza rollups
sun butter and jelly sandwhich or rollup
mini waffles/mini pancakes with sausage or hardboiled egg
hot dog/corn dog/veggie dog
egg and veggie frittatas
taco cups
taco bowls
quesdilla


Lunch always has a fruit, chip/pirates booty. sometimes veggie and dip

Snacks:
cheese stick/cheese ball
mini muffins (pumpkin/apple/blueberry depending on what we make)
seaweed balls
cheese and cracker
sunbutter on rice cake
sunbutter on graham cracker
pretzels
hummus and mini naan
raisin + goldfish or cheese turtles

I look at KEIC or feeding the littles for ideas. this is just a quick overview that comes to mind but i try to make it a variety of food. No candy/cookies/brownies/cake are allowed at school so the most "sweet" item they get is like graham crackers.

[heygrey]

Does she finish her lunch as an afternoon snack when she gets home? If she doesn't dislike the food itself, I would give it a few weeks and see if she settles into the routine and eats more during the day. The transition to K is really overwhelming, even for kids who were in full time daycare. I'm a big fan of bento style lunchboxes, too. It makes it easy for kids to open one container and see all of their food options quickly. Lots of schools have limited eating time so it streamlines set up and clean up.

What is she eating for breakfast? Can you focus more on getting good protein into her in the morning that will sustain her longer during the day? Then have a good afternoon snack or finish her lunch after school. 

[dontlook]

DS started K. The 1st day I tried to get him to have school lunch but he only ate a few bites. The 2nd day I packed a lunch of things he loves but he only ate strawberries. The same the 3rd and 4th day. ::shrug:: I’m just going to keep packing things he likes and hoping he will eat more as he gets used to school.

[brooke77]

DS is in 2nd and has been taking the same things since K. I always pack a fruit (strawberry, grapes, apple slices, raspberries, blueberries, cuties, etc), a veggie (cucumber, baby carrot, grape tomatoes, celery, etc), a protein (hummus, cheese, toasted chickpeas, pepperoni slices, nuts, yogurt), a carb (cracker, pita, rice, noodles, pb&j sandwich), and sometimes a treat (m&ms, fruit leather, cookie).

Snack is always fruit and carb, like crackers or chips.

He will sometimes eat everything and sometimes eat nothing. It is unpredictable. He hates sandwiches, so I try to rarely pack them. He much prefers the bento-style assortment that he can pick at.

He gets home from school around 2:45-3 and has a snack as soon as he gets home. I don’t worry too much about how much of his lunch comes back uneaten.

[rachers]

I pack the same thing every day. DD isn’t overly picky but I think she likes knowing what to expect. Lunch stresses her out because of the noise and chaos.

Anyway:

Uncrustable or turkey and cheese sandwich
Frozen yogurt pouch
Apple sauce
Fruit - usually strawberries but she eats almost any fruit
Some kind of chips or salty snack

She’s done well with pperoni, crackers and cheese but I’ve found sticking to this helps. She is always starving after school. Last year in K they ate at like 10:30 and then eliminated snacks so by 3 at pickup she was miserable 😞

[purplepenguin7]

thanks all! I got some great ideas and stocked up on some staples to keep on hand. So far, she has been finishing what I sent so it's not that she isn't eating she just suddenly seemed to be starving. I'm going to incorporate a few of these ideas and make sure her snack is bulky too. Hopefully she will settle in soon and if not I will be stocked for snacks at home too.

[wanderingback]

Sept 9, 2024 11:58:17 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

thanks all! I got some great ideas and stocked up on some staples to keep on hand. So far, she has been finishing what I sent so it's not that she isn't eating she just suddenly seemed to be starving. I'm going to incorporate a few of these ideas and make sure her snack is bulky too. Hopefully she will settle in soon and if not I will be stocked for snacks at home too.

I don’t know anything about kindergarten hungry but my almost 2 year old pretty much eats adult size portions at times and after daycare often asks for a snack and acts ravenous! We usually walk straight to the playground around 6 and on the way she’ll eat a fruit bar and banana (I think they do a snack around 4 at daycare). Then we go home around 6:45 and she gets her dinner around 7:15 and she eats a full sized meal. It’s not like that every single day but many days so yes I do think as they grow they just get hungry at times and it is amazing what their little bodies put away!

[bookqueen15]

My 1st grader DS eats the same thing every day. Two Hawaiian roll sandwiches with turkey and cheese, veggie straws, one clementine, sliced mini cucumber and two vanilla Oreos. Snack is a small container of goldfish and a fruit snack. My DD who is in 5th grade likes Mac & Cheese in a thermos or a cheese sandwich (with mayo and lettuce) with similar sides as my DS.

[livinitup]

You have a lot of good ideas to play with !

If you need any more inspiration, sometimes I would look on the school lunch menu and make a homemade version. For example, she didn’t like the school’s chicken Pattie sandwich but she did like chicken and sliced tomato on a Hawaiian bun.

I don’t think I saw some of these winners:

- cheese quesadilla (small flour tortillas, folded, cut into triangles)
- French toast sticks
- mini quiches (bake in muffin tins, any variety, good for batch cooking)
- tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad - on wheat or white bread, crusts cut off, sliced in triangles

[emilyinchile]

Feeding Littles just came out with their book of lunch ideas, in case you need even more inspiration.