Its About That Time Again...

My kids lunch is easy stuff. I don't have time to prepare all these cutesy pastats, and cut up fruits in "shapes" lol. I have 4 lunches to make, and be out of the house by 7am. So my kids lunch is a PB and J, or lunchmeat and a cheese slice sandwich. A cereal bar, and a cup of fruit like pears, in water or a light syrup. Usually one bite will be taken out of the fruit, the rest wasted. My daughter will eat a ton of fruit, so her lunchbox will also include grapes, carrot sticks, or cherries etc. My son gets hungry, so I may add a string cheese in his too. Drinks are usually a juice box or water. Mine like the same lunch every day. Variety scares them lol

Buy berries now and freeze them - same goes for any fruit or veggie that will go up in price soon.

Why not go the whole fruit route and give them a good incentive to finish and not leave a lot wasted? They can do it - they like the fruit - so that should be an easy one. They'll figure it out for some money or a trip to the park.

There are some days I skip a veggie. If I do that, I will serve a green smoothie for breakfast and then serve a great dinner. In my mind, that "makes up for it" on days I simply can't get a veggie or fruit in for lunch. It all balances out!

What we love:
celery (add peanut butter or cream cheese with raisins)

boxed raisins

whole carrots not baby (the fresh really do taste so much better, and my kids love them with skin on)

bell pepper slices

mandarin oranges cups with no sugar

cucumber slices (you can do little sandwhiches with these too, use the cucumber as the bread and put cream cheese and meat and whatever filling in the middle, or slice 'em and put them on cocktail bread)

all kinds of berries - and I just suck it up and buy them because I know they are healthy.

bananas (super cheap and lots of health)

kale or green leaf lettuce salad (get a laptop lunchbox and items like this will fit beautifully)

greek yogurt with granola or fruit

cottage cheese

applesauce

mini bagels with cream cheese or PB and J (we use gluten free most times)

I usually go completely Paleo on my kids all the time. They are used to it now and don't really eat processed foods and they don't eat the school lunches either. Call me weird but I have Celiacs Disease which is a severe allergic response to gluten. I cannot eat wheat, rye, barley, or oats. Therefore, I don't eat processed foods at all and my kids follow that rule too but they do eat foods that contain gluten like pastas, whole grains, cereal, and breads. For lunch, we bought each of them these really cool lunch kits that have a stylish lunch tote with a mini set of Tupperware containers inside that fit into it perfectly. They can be warmed or frozen depending on what is needed. They each take a bottle of water to drink, and we do what's called the lunch mix....a grain, veggie, meat combo all thrown together. One combo would be elbow macaroni, peas, broccoli, cheese, chicken, and a little bit of pesto. Another one we make is a salad combo....three types of lettuce, snow peas, cucumber, croutons, bean sprouts, turkey chunks, goat cheese, cranberries, walnuts, and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side. Another one is our fruit combo....granola, a favorite yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, mango, raisins, coconut flakes, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It might sound weird but these little lunch combos keep my kids on track with eating from the major food groups and also making their food choices from whole and natural foods instead of boxed or fast foods. I simply ask them what kind of combo they are feeling like for their lunch choice and we lay out a bunch of stuff and let them mix up whatever their hearts desire! It keeps it healthy, simple, and also in the control of the kids!

I figure I feed them a good breakfast, I feed them a good dinner, so lunch is not so good. Yes they buy their lunch. It makes them happy because all their friends do and if you see them dig into food at home it doesn't effect their desire to eat well.

I guess I am saying let them have a treat and give yourself a break.

Your kids all eat amazingly well. Unfortunately, mine wouldn't eat most of those things. Great job, ladies!

Hey I am with Flaming Turnip! Sandwiches or leftovers from night before, an apple and now, hold on folks, cookies. Pretzels are good too as a snack. Cardboard sandwiches are always a hit. Cream cheese and jelly on saltines! Tuna salad, chicken salad, PB and J, turkey or roast beef sandwiches. Cut up cegies if they will eat them. (Dukes, peppers carrots, celery, broccoli). A dip to go with them.

I give my son all of the following in his lunch (including what you list above)
maybe your kids would like them as well
Edamame beans (you can buy them at trdr joes) already shelled.. :)
lightly steamed Green Beans
salad (I put homemade dressing on the side) so that he can add later on
Red Bell Peppers
Fresh Mango
Olives

About cutting the fruits/veggies up.. Don't feel bad. I see it this way.. IF by my cutting things up is going to make the fruits/veggies easier to access, which in turn means my son will eat more.. then I am happy to do it. he's older now and will take the time... but sometimes recess is more important....:)

see if your kids will eat what I mentioned..

My kids know they need to pack a protein, a healthy option, and a treat (if they have any left).

So that means they either normally pack a sandwich (ham, turkey, pb&j, or pb&fluff), 1-2 fruits or veggies (they actually eat them...my kids are weird like that but I love it!), they normally pick a bag of chips or pretzels or popcorn, and if they have any of their dessert left, they pack one of those too.

They also like to take salads, tuna salad with crackers, etc.

If they don't want a sandwich, they will pack peanut butter for their carrot sticks or celery sticks...something that will keep their little bellies full.

They eat a healthy breakfast and dinner, after school snack is fruits or veggies, so if they get :"spolied" at lunch, no big.

They also get money in their accounts and get to buy when they would rather do that.

Both of mine are in braces, so I have to cut up the fruit even though my kids would normally eat it whole. So I do hear you on that. But it's not so bad - I just cut up the apples the night before, squirt a little lime juice on there so the slices don't turn brown, and put the containers in the fridge. Then in the morning I don't have to do anything but put everything in the lunch box. My kids also like jicama (also with lime juice on it), oranges, tangerines, grapes, cucumber spears (cut just like you'd cut carrot sticks), bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, that purple-colored cauliflower (they have orange now, too, which could be fun). Cherry tomatoes are good when they're in season. Edamame (my kids like "freaky edamame," which is whole edamame sauteed in paprika, garlic salt, and salt - delicious and their friends always try to steal it at the lunch table ;). Or, I'll make extra of dinner the night before, and just serve little lunch-sized portions of that for lunch the next day. The kids actually really like that. Anyway, those are a few things that work for us.

It does sound like your kiddo's are good eaters but I have never seen kids eat their lunches from home. I consistently saw the kids that brought their lunches dump them in the trash then beg off their friends lunches. Taking their lunches often makes the kids feel left out and weird so the do what they have to do to be like every one else.

I am going to have to supplement my granddaughters lunches this next year because she only eats peanut butter and jelly for lunch every day. Her old school gave you choices but her new school only serves one menu, they don't offer any choices. They are going nearly all veggie and fruits. I think it's totally weird though.

I agree on freezing the berries! I have about a good 5-6lbs of strawberries in my deep freezer, and about 3lbs of blueberries and raspberries. My son would take a turkey roll up, turkey slices with hummus in a whole wheat tortilla or on bread. He also loved left over ravioli. The only day he bought lunch was Fridays because of pizza.

I hear you on the berries. My daughter will eat berries nonstop. Especially blueberries.
I can usually "sell" anything cut into a cute shape with a cookie cutter.
Clementines.
Believe it or not, sauerkraut and pickled veggies. Make your own or buy organic and they are very healthy. Plus, many provide digestive bacteria.

Broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, snow peas, shelled peas (we do frozen in the winter), chick peas, carrots, celery (he loves celery - ick), heart of palm, corn (on the cob now, frozen in the winter), edamame. All either raw or cooked. Also seaweed salad, green peppers, salad.

Peaches, plums, pears, apples (we don't cut them), berries, melon (any and all), bananas (year round stand by), oranges, clementines, ruby grapefruit, dried fruit (raisins, craisins, cherries, plums).

I will do peanut butter in celery sticks, grilled cheese, PB&J on whole wheat and left over anything we had for dinner along with 2 veggies and a fruit or 1 veggie and 2 fruits.

I love Scarlett's suggestions, great ideas! One thing I try to do with fruits/veggies is embrace the seasonality. Of course where you live that's a different story due to produce being grown year round.

How about things like melon? Cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon and other melons are nice because you can slice them in advance (as in, they'll stay good for several days), they're sturdy enough to not bruise in the lunch box and they don't brown.

Grapes are nice and easy, as are grape tomatoes if your kids will eat them.

Pineapple holds up nicely too and canned chunks can be quite good when you don't want the hassle of fresh.

Kiwi slices hold up too if you slice them right that morning and star fruit is OK until lunch time too (both brown if you cut them the night before).

All winter long we tend to go to citrus fruits - they're in season, they're cheap, and kids usually like the easy to peel fruits like clementines, tangerines, cuties, and minneolas. I slice larger oranges into wedges for them and then just stick the wedges in a sandwich bag.

Applesauce counts as a fruit in my house (I live Vermont Organics - all natural, and the unsweetened one is still nice and sweet, not tart). Sometimes we do plain and sometimes I'll get some mixed with peaches or strawberries.

Every now and again we'll do pear or peach cups in juice but they really prefer fresh fruit.