So it is almost time for back to school.  My daughter has never liked buying lunch, so I make it for her.  I try to make it as healthy as possible, but sometimes fall into a pb&j rut.  So I thought this year I would compile a list that I can refer to.  This way I can make sure to take her lunch into consideration when I make my weekly menu & shopping budget.  So I was wondering what do you send in your childs school lunches?  Maybe we can help eachother out and come up with some new ideas.

http://theveggie-fullkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/08/princess-ms-tea-time-cucumber-sandwich.html

That lady has some ideas for healthy vegan lunches. Also:

http://littlehouseofveggies.blogspot.com/2010/07/falafel-pitas-with-tahini-sauce.html

At the end of that post is a really great idea: instead making your kid a sandwich, give them all the ingredients for it and let them dip it into a dip instead. :)

Great thread, I need some ideas!! I also get stuck in the PB& J rut. Sometimes I will do the veggie meat slices, or do it like a roll up with a tortilla.  I also give lots of fruit, carrot sticks, applesauce etc. The problem I also find is battling all the junk the other parents give. My daughter will come home and say so & so gave her money to buy a snack, which is chips or those horrible gummy things.  She of course likes to try and play it off like she didn't want to be rude so she HAD to accept it :)  Apparently the other children must feel sorry for her because she doesn't get all the sugary treats. I try to give her cookies sometimes but I'm battling the Little Debbies of the world.

I get a lot of ideas from "The Laptop Lunch" by Amy Hemmert and Tammy Pelstring. They also have a website and sell bento boxes. I also picked up "The Top 100 Recipes for a healthy Lunchbox" by Nicola Graimes. It's not vegan but I have found plenty of stuff to work with. My son is a vegetarian although he has recently been curious about meat. Not thrilled about that but certainly normal so I'm working with him. In fact the other night I made vegan chili dogs. Those were super tasty.

Also, consider using the thermos for warm soups or dips or vegan mac and "cheese". I make so much food during the school year and freeze it. I also get my son involved in deciding the lunch menu for the week and he helps me make those lunches too.

Good luck!

I don't have kids, but I've heard about The Vegan Lunchbox.  It's a book you can buy, but she started it out as a blog.  The website is www.veganlunchbox.com, and it has recipes too.  They sound really fun and I'm considering making some for my own lunchbox.  She even has stuff like sushi on there.  Hope that helps!

Great ideas so far. Lunch for 3 of my 4 kids is a big challenge as well. Kids seem to like the finger picking foods like hummus and carrots, veg cheese/crackers. I saw pottery barn had cute containers that had a small circle in the middle for dip. The plastic is BPA free. I also like the idea of having a crunchy veggie choice, semi-salty choice, and semi-sweet choice. When I am really on the ball I will have homemade prepackaged muffins, cookies, veggies, crunchy healthy "chips" that the kids can pick from.

I like the idea about the thermos for soup/macand cheese.

no kids here but this reminded me of when i was in school, my friend amy had this crazy mom who would send her to school with sandwiches on brown bread (aka NOT wonderbread!) with this green stuff (lettuce that was NOT iceburg - who knew there was such a thing?) and she would have to fold up her brown bag and take it home to use again the next day - this was about 35 years ago!  how ahead of her time was her mom?  anyway - amy would trade me her healthy lunch for my crap skippy sugar ladden peanut butter and smuckers jelly on wonderbread - hers to me was so foreign!  I also remember one day a year the kids in her family (six of them!) could choose what to have for dinner and they would always go for tv dinners since the other 364 days a year they ate healthy - her mom was able to pull it off with six kids back then - I think its great you guys are doing it now!

Great ideas.  I have seen the laptop lunchbox at Whole Foods, very tempting.  I made my own reusable baggies, so I really don't see the need to buy that.  Last year my daughter kept talking about a little girl who gets chocolate sandwiches for lunch.  I finally figured out is was Nutella - wow that stuff has a lot of sugar!  My daughter doesn't like veggies but loves fruit, but I still give them to her just hoping one day!

i love all the suggestions, thanks Amy for starting the thread!  my kids are in 9th, 8th and 4th grades.  im sure a few of these will work for us.

The Thermos is  my savior when it comes to school lunches - my kids get a LOT of soups, pastas, mac and cheese (now vegan), and leftovers. Hummus and crackers or pita chips (or carrots or apple slices!) to dip is a popular one in our house.  Salads are also a hit (I got these little salad containers several years ago at Whole Foods or somewhere that have a separate little space for dressing). It's actually pretty rare that I do sandwiches anymore! I don't put anything super sugary in their lunches, and I try to keep it as waste free as possible (use reusable sandwich wrappers, put yogurt in little washable containers instead of buying the individual cups, etc). Typical lunch would be veggie soup, some crackers, a container of soy yogurt, and a piece of fruit.

I LOVE the Vegan Lunchbox - both her blog and her cookbooks have some great ideas.

So here were some of the ideas I wrote down:

raisin cinnamon french toast sticks w/applesauce for dipping

nut butter on wheat bread with bannana slices & raisins

bean and cheese quesadilla

spaghetti in the thermos

soup with a grilled cheese sandwich

my daughter loves to eat crackers with cream cheese, peanut butter, apple slices

salad with garlic bread and grapes

whole wheat english muffin pizza

We are still eating some dairy, trying to cut back, but those were some of the things that I had come up with.

One more thought--I've had fun with Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious' cookbook. The idea is that you make everyday items with veggies inside--traditional mac and cheese has butternut squash puree; tuna fish has cauliflower puree. My favorite are the chocolate chip cookies--I have adopted them to be vegan-and we use a can of white beans. They are so yummy, full of fiber and very filling-two small cookies and we are stuffed. There is also a book called 'Sneaky Chef' which is very good, although I have yet to try it.

Also--once we joined a farm (bought a share) my son has been really into trying all of the "farm" veggies. If you can't join a farm then a farmer's market could be the next best thing. Plus, I let my son plan a meal per week-as long as he includes healthy ingredients. He's excited about the process and contributing, and it gives us the opportunity to talk about food and why my husband and I make the choices we do. 

Thanks for the recipe ideas. 

The Vegan Lunch Box is a great book. Sarah P is right. It hands you your entire year of lunches.  Any kind of bento box lunches are super fun for kids. 

Sorry everyone, I've been MIA from computer land and just saw this thread.  My son has just gone back to school, and I put this list together of foods I've packed for him in years past.  This year, he is working on packing his own.

I'm a big fan of the laptop lunches, as others have mentioned.
http://www.laptoplunches.com/ Even if you don't buy one, you should sign up for their newsletters because they always have GREAT ideas . You can also just visit their site and see a new box filled with ideas here:
http://www.laptoplunches.com/LaptopLunchPhotos.html

If you do order, there is a 10% coupon code on my blog.. I also post some of our lunchbox pics if you click on the "wastefree lunchbox" tag on the blog. But mine aren't near as fancy as others.

Since I have a sickness that requires me to fill every container... I tend to put lots in my kids lunchbox.... Here are a few lists based on category that I have used for our lunchboxes...I know I'm missing a bunch...

Fruits depending on season:
Blueberries
Strawberries
Raspberreis
peaches
plums
Apple
Pineapple
Kiwi
Mango
Orange
Grapes
Cherries
Banana
Dried Fruits of all kinds
Vegan Waldorf Salad
Apple Sauce

Veggies:

Carrots
Celery
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Vegan Cucumber Salad
Kale Crisps
Peppers
Asparagus
Potato


Dips

Salsa
Peanut Butter
Guacamole
Ketchup
Mustard
pizza Sauce
Vegan Cheese spread
Hummus

Continued...

Snack Foods (all natural and vegan )

Crackers
Pretzels
Chips (bbq or plain)
Nuts/seeds
Peanut Butter Krispie Treats
Raw Vegan Cookie dough (nuts blended with dates and coconut)
Coconut Chunks
Avocado slices
Trail Mix
Cereal
Home Made Granola Bars
Home Made Muffins

Main course stuff:

Veggie Sushi
Tofurky Sandwich
Tofurky Rolls
Veggie Wraps
Soy Nuggets
Black Bean Burger
Left over Veg Chili
Left over Spaghetti
Pasta Salad
PBJ Sandwich
Mini home made Pizzas and calzones
Vegan Sloppy Joes
Soup
Soy Dogs
Banana Dogs
Falafel
Left Over Stir Fry
Or Just Rice with veggies when he liked them separated
Sliced Apple used for bread with peanut butter in the middle as sandwich
Cinnamon toast
Banana walnut flax Pancakes


Hope this throws out some ideas.... I basically grab what ever I have in the house, or use left overs. But the items listed above are all things we used the last couple years... I'd like to add new stuff this year. Since we've been making lunches for so long, I know it is getting boring.... But he will making his own this year (with my help) so we shall see.

and also I have the Vegan lunchbox book that we love..