Room temperature packed lunches -- ideas?

[lhamo]

The kids were complaining about the lunch at school, so we decided to switch to "home lunch" on a trial basis this month. DS is burned out on sandwiches after two weeks of them. I'm looking for suggestions for other stuff to give him. They don't have access to a microwave at school and we don't have a good thermos (considering buying one, but not this week), so I need ideas for room-temperature foods (not things that need to be reheated). Appreciate your thoughts!

lhamo

[sweetana3]

http://www.bentolunch.net/

I found a lot of ideas in this blog and related ones. It was not just about decoration but what to put in lunches.

http://lunchinabox.net/faq/

This one is full of great information, like how to pack and make safe.

One of my best ideas is to make things in muffin tins, like meatloaf, quiche, macaroni and cheese, etc. The size is perfect.

Hope this gives you some helpful information.

[sweetana3]

Have them look at some of the ideas and get their feedback. I like that mom uses things made for dinner reappear for lunch sometime in a different format. Such as meatballs or kabobs.

[CathyA]

Let's see.....when my kids took their lunches, I would do things like pb and j, crackers and cheese, red pepper strips, cucumbers, apple, cookie, summer sausage and cheese and crackers, grapes. Sometimes I would buy them those little kits of tunafish and crackers. If its not real warm out, I even think stuff like meat would be okay. If needed, I would put a cold pack in their lunchboxes, next to the more perishable stuff, and it would be fine. They make little cans of tuna that have a pull tab on them. You might be able to find some of those little packets of mayo to send with it. You could pack a pita pocket for them to make a little sandwich out of other things you send. If you add a little cold pack, you could send yogurt. How about hummus and pita chips.

[Zoe Girl]

I like making basically a lunchable, crackers, cheeses and sliced meats. Also wraps instead of sandwiches helps on sandwich type food. I have done a thin slice of cheese and a slice of lunch meat rolled and pinned with a toothpick as well. I make a potato cheese frittata that you slice into pie shapes and it is perfectly good cold like some quiches would be. My kids only like sandwiches when they are apparently 'epic'. This means more than one meat that is interesting, like adding salami, having lettuce and tomatoes and good mustard. They also like it on a french roll or something interesting. Adding thin cucumbers or red onion is also good. Basically like a Subway sandwich. When we make them that way they will even eat them for dinner.

Other things that keep for about 3 hours are a boiled egg, celery with soft cheese, a variety of thinly sliced vegies and hummus, chips and salsa with even bean dip, macaroni or bean salad.

The best part of a packed lunch is making sure there is a little sweet, a couple cookies or a peice of chocolate,

Good luck, packing lunches is a real job. My daughter would not eat a school lunch until she was 14 because she is allergic to peanuts so we packed for many years.

[SteveinMN]

I know cured meat (like salami, beef jerky, etc.) will keep, but I'd be leery of sliced turkey breast or bologna. Most semi-soft or hard cheeses will keep at least until lunch time. Would it be possible to pack, say, a salad with a frozen piece of chicken or fish on top that would be small enough to thaw by lunchtime and would keep the rest of the salad cold and crisp?

[try2bfrugal]

Lots of PB & Jelly sandwhiches over the years. Sometimes I used to pack bags of stuff up ahead of time and then lay them out in the morning and the kids could take what they wanted each day - different kinds of nuts, dried fruit, Larabars, bananas, peanut butter crackers, hard boiled eggs, cheese crackers, popcorn, tortilla chips, fruit cups, munchie mix, trail mix, fruit leathers, freeze dried fruit, pretzels, chips, turkey jerky and bananas. I'd try to mix things up so they had a different assortment each week. When they would take cold packs they could have cheese and any kind of meat, cheese or cream cheese sandwich.

[herbgeek]

If you have access to a cold pack, that opens things up considerably. Here's a list I put together for myself for non-sandwich lunch ideas:

Flatbreads
Calzone/pepperoni roll
Stuffed breadsticks
Tuna/chicken/turkey salad
Waldorf salad
Hummus/bean spreads/walnut pate
Quiche/frittata
Bean salad
Grain salad
Pasta salad
Green salad with protein
Meat tart
Spinach/cheese/herb pie
Shrimp cocktail
Chicken nuggets/strips/fried chicken
Rolled coldcuts/cheese or veggies in middle
Kabobs/lunch on a stick
Mini muffins or scones with meat/cheese/veggies
Roasted veggie w/ greens or grain
Noodle salad
Stuffed mushrooms
Rice bowl
Cheese/charcuterie plate
Tortilla-less burrito
Baked potato
Greek salad
Cold soup
Meat pie/empanada/pastie
Asian salad
Chef salad/antipasto
Salad nicoise

[Rosemary]

You can really pack almost anything if you have (1) an ice pack and (2) a good food jar/thermos. I recommend this one: http://amzn.com/B0017IFSIS
I had another reliable brand of food jar and, after I'd been using it for over a year, discovered that it was not keeping DD's lunch hot (even after preheating with boiling water). It was barely warm 4 hours after packing. So I bought one of these, filled both with boiling water (without preheating) and sealed. I checked the temp on both 4 hours later, the usual time between when I pack her lunch and when she eats it. The old food jar that I had was around 108 degrees, while the one linked above was over 180 degrees.

Here is a list of lunch ideas that I made several years ago when I was just beginning to pack DD's lunch:
http://rosemaryevergreen.blogspot.com/2009/07/packable-lunch-ideas.html
A few lunches for which I estimated cost (much less costly than school lunch!):
http://rosemaryevergreen.blogspot.com/2011/09/food-this-week.html

DD's favorite is chicken spaetzle stew. I make a batch every couple of weeks, which makes enough for 5-6 lunch servings; I freeze a few and put a few in the fridge. It's loaded with peas and carrots. She also really enjoys having (chili of any kind) for lunch.

[Amaranth]

Assumes a cold pack is added if needed
Lettuce wraps
Potato salad
Mixed raisins, blond raisins
Whole meal potato salad
Sesame sticks
Dried fruit and nut mixes
Sushi with cooked fish
Quick pickles
Tsukemono
Frozen juice
Grapes
Frozen grapes
Gelatin with fruit bits
Date bread, cream cheese and sliced pineapple sandwich
Small calzones that taste good cold
Homemade fruit cake with fresh/dried fruit rather than candied fruit Assumes a cold pack is included if needed

Homemade granola bars
Energy balls/bars
Rice Crispy-like bars made with a puffed whole grain, seeds, dried fruit, binder
Alegria (puffed amaranth, honey, dried fruit, toasted pumpkin seeds), also good with other seeds or nuts
Sesame honey almonds
Fruit and nut cookies such as oatmeal-raisin-walnut
Tea sandwiches—If you make 4 different half sandwiches and halve them, they can have a sort of tea tray
Hummus and vegetable sticks
Spanikopita
Olives
Mixed salad with grilled meat, dressing in separate container
Salsa and corn tortilla chips
Pink lady apples
Small orange citrus that’s about 1.5 inches across, peeled if necessary
Tangerines
Apple or peach turnover
Homemade yogurt with stuff to stir in separate as desired
High nutrition tahini based halva (more nuts and fruit than store bought types)
Deviled eggs- plain, sundriedtomato, etc
High nutrition quickbreads—looking for recipes using applesauce or pureed dried plum sauce in place of the oil
Cold cucumber or fruit soups
Warm Scandinavian fruit soups
Ambrosia with coconut flakes
Small bars of cheesecake

You can also do things like pack hot sloppy joe mix in the thermos and spoon it on to the bun at lunch time. Have children practice at home using their lunch containers.

Noodles tossed with a tiny bit of oil to prevent sticking in one container and then hot spaghetti meatball sauce in a thermos

Noodles tossed with a tiny bit of oil to prevent sticking and then the rest of an Asian noodle dish or Indonesian peanut-vegetable-meat sauce hot in a thermos

For these combo dishes check that the container into which the hot stuff is spooned can handle it

[Fawn]

I know that this is counter what everyone above has posted and what the CDC would recommend.....but....I have for years, with no food borne illness, have been putting into regular containers (no ice packs, no thermoses) what ever I had for dinner for lunch. It goes into the glass or plastic container (depending on what is available) after supper and then into the frigde. At about 7am (when I leave the house) I put it into a cloth bag (one of the ones I use as a grocery sack) along with fruit, raw oatmeal/raisins, trail mix or whatever I fancy. It sits in my car (summer: up to 120 degrees F, winter down to 20 degrees F) until I am ready to eat it. I eat it at the temperature that it is then: cold/hot, whatever.

Children might be a little more sensitive to the optimal taste tempurature...but really, there is no need to stick a food thermometer in it, if it is only out of the frigde for 4 hours unless you put raw eggs of mayonnaise in it. Save those foods for home.