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Georgia Babies
Help: packed lunches?
Finn is off to camp tomorrow and I need to pack him a lunch. Oddly enough, I've never packed him a lunch before. I need help with this. Has to be peanut free so no PB&J. But I'm struggling with the hot/cold thing. I don't have any thing to keep something hot in. Can I make chicken nuggets and will they be OK to eat 4 hours later? That seems kind of wrong? Help!
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Re: Help: packed lunches?
I pack lunch for us to take with us when we have a day of running around. I have never done hot stuff so I'm no help there. I do a lot of sandwiches on those round 100 calorie breads by Arnold. Cadence likes them with turkey, ham and cheese. I just put it in a cooler bag with an ice pack and add fruit and a juice box.
Maybe a thermos would work for the chicken nuggets? I guess you could stack them in there or something.
DD- 9
DS-6
c/p- April 2016
missed m/c- 6w5d; discovered 8w2d- September 2016
This is the hardest part of my weeks. My Finn eats very little variety, and almost no sandwiches. I do a lot of bagels, which he hardly touches, as well as fruit, crackers and a cereal bar. He always eats the cereal bar and the mini fruit snacks, and some of the fruit. The crackers (or goldfish or whatever they are) usually get eaten too. I have decided even if he was a great eater he probably wouldn't eat a lot because he would rather play.
Oh, and I do sometimes do sunbutter and jelly, his school is peanut free too but sunbutter is fine.
SUNBUTTER! DUH!!! THANK YOU! LIFESAVER!
and yes, I'm good on sides, just that main protein thing! thanks ladies!
I also make up fake lunchables, diced ham or roll up lunchmeat, cheese and some crackers. Or a sandwich w/ cream cheese and ham or turkey is really good.
Emma also likes cold pasta salad w/ ham and green peas tossed in an italian dressing.
I never send hot food, as it just doesn't occur to me (I never eat hot stuff for lunch myself I guess?). We don't have to be nut-free though, so I send a lot of PBJ. Jack likes turkey and honey mustard sandwiches, then I cut up fruit and usually put some sort of cracker or pretzel goldfish in the 3rd section of the divided container thingie.
But most of all, I am hella jealous that you have CAMP for Finn!!! Where can I find such a wonderful event in my neck of the woods?! I guess there actually are several things Jack can do but I haven't bothered signing him up because Ethan will be so darn sad he can't go too.
Our Y does week long camps, 9-1 M-F....we signed him up for 3 weeks this summer. And Riley is totally going to be sad, this is going to blow up in my face quickly. Riley keeps grabbing his backpack and keeps saying he's going to school too.
Yes, chicken nuggets will be fine. The frozen ones are pre-cooked and then you cook them again so yeah, they are ok. Soggy, but safe- lol. But for Gavin, I stick to deli meat sandwiches like ham and cheese with a little ranch dressing on the bun. And instead of regular bread, try using those hawaiian rolls. He loves them! Or bagel thins or those deli thins. Another trick I have is to cut his sammiches with cookie cutter shapes. Hearts, stars, dinosaurs, Star Wars, whatever you have. His teachers say he gets so excited about it when I do that :-)
DH makes these awesome little wraps- get those big tortillas and nuke em for a few seconds to soften them up. Then cover in a thin layer of cream cheese and lunchmeat (we do turkey and ham) and roll them up. Put them in a big ziploc baggie in the fridge to set for a while and then slice them up into little pinwheels. So yummy.
Also, instead of peanut butter, try out some Sunbutter (altho Gavin has learned to ask specifically for "Peter Pan" so this one won't work for him anymore). And once in a while, I send him a Nutella sandwich- usually on a bagel thin. That is more of a treat to me though so I don't send it a lot and when I do, I am sure to add in some other kind of protein. I do cream cheese and jelly sandwiches on a bagel thin sometimes too. Oh and Ritz cracker sandwiches with Garden Veggie cream cheese. Have you tasted that stuff? OMG, so good.
Once I figure out the sandwiches, the rest is easy- I always send a fruit (either fruit cup, applesauce, banana, etc) and a veggie (salad, carrot slices w/ranch, frozen peas/carrots that will thaw by lunchtime, and of course his most favoritest... BEETS).
Those little 3 part ziploc containers are my favorites. I make his all his lunches at the beginning of the week and put a post it note for whatever needs to be added at the last minute (salad dressing, dippy, whatever). That way, I don't have to think about it in the mornings- just grab and go. I'm a nutjob and I have a spreadsheet in case I'm having mommy brain and can't think of anything to make- I just pull something from each category and throw it all together. Want me to email it to you?
You can do a PB&J....just get peanut-free Peanut Butter. I know SuperTarget carried it. Pretty sure it was a soy based peanut butter.
Otherwise, you could make cheese crackers, deli sandwich, freeze a Gogurt, and it should be thawed out and still cold by lunch. i dont' think I'd do chicken nuggets. 4 hours is a long time. maybe look at the Lunchables and see what they put in their stuff?
you could also do a high protein whole wheat pasta salad. My kids love cold plain pasta noodles.
Sunbutter and apple butter sandwiches are yummy!!