Lunchbox Favorites & Tips for Pre-K & Kindergarten

Hello friends!

This year, we’ve got a Kindergartener AND a preschooler to pack for!  I wanted to share some of my favorite items and some things the kids love in their lunch boxes.  I also have a TON of examples of last year’s lunches in this post:  20 Preschool Lunch Ideas 

I love the Bentgo boxes with the ice packs built in, but we also have these ones, and those are great, too, but I mostly use the sauce container for raisins and M&Ms.  If you are looking for stainless steel, I haven’t tried these ones, but they are on my list to purchase for the next lunchbox I need.  We have this Bentgo lunch box for KJ, which we really like, and it keeps things extra cold.  But it is a little bulky for a pre-K/kinder.  KJ has been using it and growing into it, though. However, I ordered this simple modern lunchbox for KK.  

My formula is: filling/main/protein + carb/snack + fruit and/or veggie + dessert (sometimes)

My kids are somewhat picky about what they will eat cold.  So even though they love burgers and tolerate pizza, they won’t eat either cold.  I may experiment with sending mac and cheese for KK this year in a thermist, but since he’s only going two days a week, probably not.  It’s too much work, haha.   KJ also loves shrimp cocktail, but I won’t send that for fear of it not being kept cold enough.  

I don’t make a ton of homemade muffins or baked goods. My kids don’t really love them.  I just try to put together high-quality combinations of food with some processed and some unprocessed foods for balance.  This year, we have a nut and egg-free classroom, but the lunchroom has no restrictions beyond peanut-free.  PS Please be respectful when noting classroom allergies; I know it’s a pain, but trust me when I say that the child/parent of a child with an allergy hates it more than you do.  It’s painful to have a child with a severe food allergy. It really is; be kind.  

Here are some of our favorites for each category!

Mains:

• Peanut Butter/Almond Butter/Sun Butter and Jelly – we do all Costco stuff from my Costco shopping list. 
• Ham and cheese/string cheese (Costco)
• Salami (I try not to buy this at Costco, so we aren’t eating it every day, usually TJ’s or Sprouts)
• Bacon (Butcher Box)
• Larabars (Amazon)
• Perfect Bars (Costco)
• Archer Mini Jerky Sticks (supplemental main) (Costco)
• Blender Pancakes (surprisingly, my kids will eat these cold) 
• Yogurt (Stonyfield yogurt tubes or low-sugar chobani) (Costco)
• Hard-boiled eggs 

Fruits: 

• berries (Costco)
• cut up grapes (Costco)
• oranges (Costco)
• raisins (Costco)
• dates (Trader Joe’s)
• other freeze dried or dried fruit (Trader Joe’s or Costco)
• pure fruit bars(Costco)

Veggies (they only eat carrots, I still include other stuff, maybe someday they will eat it):  

• baby carrots (Costco)
• cut up cucumber (Costco)
• mini sweet bell pepper  (Costco)
• snap peas (Costco)

Carb/Fun Snacks/Starch:

• KIND Kids Bars (Amazon)
• Trader Joe’s Almond Butter and Chocolate Bars 
• Made Good Granola Balls  (Costco/Amazon)
• Annies Cheddar Bunnies or Squares (Amazon)
• Simple Mills Crackers ((Costco)
• Chips – occasional from wherever
• Larabar Minis (Amazon)
• Popcorn (5 years old and older) – (Costco)
• Veggie Straws (Costco)
• Snap Peas Snacks (Costco)
• Pretzels (Costco)
• Tiger Cookies (Trader Joe’s)
• Alphabet Cookies (Trader Joe’s)
• Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Trader Joe’s)

Dessert: 

• dark chocolate (wherever)
• chocolate justins almond butter packs (sometimes these are a main) – (Amazon)
• leftover Halloween candy 
• whatever is on hand or requested
• chocolate milk or Honest juice boxes (Costco)
• fruit snacks – usually Annies, but also Bears brand – Amazon

5 tips for lunchbox success:

1.  Have your child help pack their lunch using the guidelines above (at least some of the time; sometimes, you just have to get lunch packed.)  So, I’ll always start with the “filling food” or protein.  So I’ll say something like, “What do you want for your main food?” and they will say, “Annie’s bunnies,” and then we’ll talk about what’s filling and what’s not.  And we go down the list, “What do you want for a fruit, a veggie, a fun snack, etc.” KJ is starting to learn categories and what goes into each!  
2. Unwrap Items.  In kindergarten, your child may be able to unwrap certain items, but preschoolers will likely need help. The teacher will appreciate if you unwrap items that can be unwrapped.  Like in the photo above, I should have unwrapped the perfect bar.  
3. Use kid friendly lunchbox-specific icepacks.  I was using ice packs we had on hand until I realized how heavy they were.  They make kid-friendly ice packs, which I highly recommend.  I just ordered a new set for KK! 
4. Use a hot lunch occasionally, if available.  If there is a hot lunch program and there are hot meals your kid likes, I encourage you to sign up for the hot meal program and let them eat that when the menu includes something they like.  It will break up the monotony of cold lunches and give you a break. 
5. Keep it simple. I love the IG accounts showing super cute themed lunches made out of really creative food items (@lunchboxdad is one of my favorites), but the fact is that kind of stuff may burn you out if you try to do it all the time.  Occasionally, it is fine, but don’t strive for lunchboxes with crazy creations every day.  As an example, I thought about ordering a cutting tool to make homemade uncrustables.  Then I realized that if I didn’t set that precedent, they would just eat around the crust.  Less work for me.  Remember, keep it simple so you don’t burn out.  

How to deal with teacher comments:

This may shock you because I think most teachers won’t have comments on your child lunch but….. last year was a bit of a learning moment for me.  The teacher in KJ’s Pre-K class would only let the kids eat one piece of candy if two were sent for them.  This kind of became the running joke around the parents that they would send candy to get rid of it, and she would essentially send it back.  For a variety of reasons, I will step in if this ever occurs again.  I think I would ask for reasoning and then annihilate that reasoning.  IE, if I send a juice box with raisins and a fruit snack, that’s all okay, but if I send two pieces of candy, that isn’t okay?  I’m guessing two mini Halloween Snickers have less sugar and more protein than the aforementioned list.  No one should be dictating what your child eats except you, private or public school.  I also often discuss with educators their wording choices on how they “teach” kids about “healthy” foods.  But I get to do that because I can pull the Dietitian card.  If you are struggling, @feedinglittles and @kids.eat.in.color have some fabulous resources.  One of them even has a “How to talk to kids about food” poster you can give your teacher to help them with food neutrality language, haha I’m sure they will love.  (Insert sarcasm as appropriate.)

How to address other kids “junk food items”  

Yesterday, I asked how KJ liked the snack I sent (Annie’s cheese squares and jerky stick), and he said it was good, but another kid brought mini oreos for a snack.  He then asked if we could get some mini oreos?  What did I say?  Absolutely!  I will buy him a couple of packs of mini Oreos, and he can take them as a snack or have a few as the dessert section of his lunch.  Will I buy them all the time?  No, probably not.  So when he asks for them again, I’ll say something to the effect of “Those were a great start of the school year treat, but they don’t give a lot of vitamins/nutrients, so we want to eat more foods that do more often.”  Maybe we can buy the oreos again in a few weeks.  Or if he is really obsessing about Oreos, then I’ll buy a box of Trader Joe’s Jo Jos and put one in his lunch every day if that’s what he wants. My philosophy is I eat dessert every night, usually something small, so why should he have something with lunch?

My priority is to have my kids eating high-quality foods 80% of the time, which still leaves 20% of the time for whatever the heck it is they want except soda.  I don’t give my kids soda quite yet.  But, whatever you do, please do not start demonizing another kid’s food choices.  You have no idea why Jimmy eats oreos every day or what their family situation is.  Maybe he eats Oreos for a snack every day and brings a salad for lunch; you just don’t know.  Choose your words wisely when it comes to other kids’ foods because your kid will likely repeat them.  And if you are really into healthy foods, you may think your words are justified. But please don’t be an elitist when it comes to food; you never know someone else’s situation. 

That’s all my tips for now!  I’ll also be sharing on the gram soon!  Stay tuned!