Posted by
happychick
20 yrs ago
My daughter will be attending Primary in September and will have to take packed lunches for the first time...bless her, can't believe she is growing so fast!
Aside from sandwiches, which I am sure she will be tired off after a couple of days, can anyone give me ideas for warm lunches that are not too messy for a 5 year old to handle. I'm sure there are endless ideas, but my mind is a complete blank at the moment.
What do you pack for your children?
Also, do those flasks especially made to keep food warm, work?
Thanks!!
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macaroni pasta with some sauce (cheese, tomato, otherwise.)
tortilla roll sandwiches - cream cheese, ham, thinly sliced cucmber, rolled up in a tortilla.
Fried rice - lots of mixed veggies
Cut veggie sticks, dipping sauce (lots of ideas here with different dips.)
mild curry over rice
chicken tenders, (taste ok lukewarm or even cold) potato salad.
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Food flasks are a great idea. You can put pasta (vary the shape), mac & cheese, chili, sausages, rice & beans, noodles, etc. in them.
You can also try pita bread with hummus, peanut butter & banana, chicken salad, etc. Wraps are handy. Bagels with cream cheese. Have her help you make them and let her choose the fillings, even if it's a bit of a bizarre concoction.
Add extra veggies like baby asparagus, and fruit like berries.
And to make the sandwiches more fun, get some cookie cutter shapes.
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One thing to consider though is that sending warm food is a recipe for food poisoning. I would only send chilled stuff with a cool pack. You can't keep most food hot enough (even in a flask) to avoid any bacteria growing.
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Just a useful tip I was given when my son first started primary school and needed to bring a packed lunch. With thermal flasks, I put the actual container inside a thin plastic bag (like one of those bags you put fruit inside to get them weighed at the cashier of the supermarket) before I actually put it in the flask. Air can sometimes get caught inside and it's difficult for the child to get it out just using that tiny ring at the top, it's easier if they're pulling out a bag with a big knot at the top.
Just my two cents.
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Wow, thank you, so many ideas! I love the tortilla roll sandwich idea, I think she would love that. She's not a particularly big eater so having different kinds of food everyday would definately keep her interested and eat more.
I have had a look at the food flasks, but they all seem so big and heavy that I'm sure it'll take up most of the space in her school bag. Someone recommended that Sogo in CWB have a huge range, so will have another look to see if they have children sizes.
Food poisoning did cross my mind, but all her containers will be very clean and the food should be eaten about 4 hours after school starts. So hopefully there isn't anything to be worried about.
Thank you for the tip turtle1, I will keep the plastic bag tip in mind.
Once I've bought the flask, I might let my daughter have a trial run to see how she handles it all. I bet you're all thinking that I'm so over protective and paranoid! LOL!
She's actually quite independant, but I do worry as she's never eaten by herself before, I've always been there to lend a helping hand when needed.
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Another consideration is where the lunch boxes are stored at school for the mnay hours before lunch...are they inside the classroom in airconditioning or outside in a locker or bag - makes a huge difference to what can be packed and edible by the time lunch comes around especially in the warmer months.
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MC
20 yrs ago
My daugther has been taking lunch to school since she was 5 (she is now 7). I bought her one of those themos type containers which has two sections: one on top and one on the bottom. the one on the bottom is bigger and is designed for keeping rice and pasta. The one on top can be used for meat. Here is what I did (and still doing):
My helper gets up at 6:00am to cook. Everything is freshly cooked in the morning. She would usually cut up the meat and keep it in the fridge (raw) and then cook it in the morning. So when the food is packed, everything is hot. Lunch time is usually 11:45am and my daughter told me that it was still very warm. However, I do not pack cooked vegetables as they turn yellow and go bad. If I give her chopped up vegetables, it is in a separate bag as it is cold. It has been working out quite well. Sometimes my helper would make sushi rolls.
You can buy the container either at Wingon or Sogo. Price is around $250. The only problem with those is that you cannot drop them or dent them as the air will get it and it then won't keep the food warm. My daughter dropped 2 in the 1st year so I ended up spending a lot of money buying them. The other problem is I had a hard time buying a insulated bag here in HK. Lots of them in the U.S., but they are designed to carry sandwitches, not tall lunch containers.
Good Luck. It could be fun and troublesome thinking about the different types of food for the little one every day.
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Thank you for the advice MC as cooked vegetables was one of the foods I was going to pack for my daughter. I may give this a miss now even though she loves her veggies. I'll probably just add chopped carrots and peas to some fried rice.
She's not really a big sandwich eater, so it looks like I will have to make cooked lunches.
I think one of the challenges is to decide what is simple to make very early in the morning, it's usually a mad rush as it is without having to make lunch.
And yes, it will definately keep my brain ticking deciding what to give her everyday :)
Also you mentioned the insulated bag, does the flask need it to keep the food warm? I thought the flasks kept the food warm without the bag.
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MC
20 yrs ago
Happychick: Yes, technically you do not need the insulated bag but it really helps in the winter. As for cooked veggies, you can have peas and corn just not green leafy veggies. I did that at the beginning and they all turned bad and smelled when she opened the box during lunch time and she never ate them. Mind you this was not all the way cooked as once they are well cooked it could be even worse.
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zalca
20 yrs ago
my kids generally take sandwiches, fruit, some biscuit of some kind and a small carton of juice.
on the odd occasion, i give them a warm lunch, but mainly i give them sandwiches. to keep their lunchbox cool i freeze their carton of juice so it defrosts in time for lunch but keeps the rest of their lunch from overheating. you can do the same with yoghurts. sometimes i give my boys a frozen yoghurt stick which is lovely semi-defrosted!
my feeling is that in the first year of primary, not a lot gets eaten at lunch time really-they're too excited. give them a good breakfast and a good home cooked meal in the evening and enjoy their entry into primary school!
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