Healthy snack/lunch ideas for kids?

What is everyone packing for “healthy” lunches/snacks? I got my daughter the bento lunch box but am stuck. She won’t have the ability to heat anything up and is pretty picky. She’s 7.5 and will eat fruits but no raw veggies, no deli meats, no sandwiches, and can’t have any type of nuts?!? She asked for cold Mac and cheese, pizza lunchables, and mini oreos everyday but I don’t want to be labeled as a “bad” mom because I’m sending unhealthy food everyday.

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I have twin 14 ur olds and I sometimes STILL have this problem :face_with_spiral_eyes: I did eventually get them to finally eat Turkey sandwiches but it took years! Here are a few things we used to do. Hope they help!

Cheese + crackers
Greek yogurt + granola
Grilled chicken bites + rice
Thin bagels + strawberry crm chz
Belvita crackers
Mozz chz sticks
Protein bars
Popcorn

i have a reg bento and one with a thermos insert, helps with options. my kiddo loves food cold, so we plan to do grilled cheeses, vut up fruit with homemade dips, I have Kodiak cookies, he loves this cottage cheese based yogurt. then layer gonna make protein Rich Mac and cheese, spaghetti, pizza muffins etc, with some fruit and a goodie

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Go to Pinterest and look at Healthy lunches and snacks and see what fun things you can come up with together :wink:

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Babybel cheese, crackers, yogurt

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Make home made lunchables with healthier options.

I post daily lunches on my Facebook reels and TikTok account!

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Grapes, blueberries, 2 cookies, half a sandwich, mini wraps, carrots, broccoli

no veggies even with a dip? or a salad?

I freeze a thermos over night and send fresh fruit for snack each day for my kids snacks. They love it and freezing the thermos keeps their fruit cold until they can eat it at snack time❤️

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I put boiling water in a thermos in the am for a few minute then add the chicken fingers or popcorn chicken, alphagettis or ichiban (not healthy but keeps food hot till lunch) Would work for the macaroni :woman_shrugging:

Cheese and crackers, cut up fruit, cold pizza bread (my son loves it), couple of cookies, maybe a yoghurt and muesli bar. My son isn’t a fan of veges either but his sister is so I have to make 2 very different lunches but in all honesty if it’s not all unhealthy and she has fruit etc to balance it out I tend to ignore the bad mum labelling. Unless whoever says it wants to start providing my children’s lunch they can butt out.

I do chicken nuggets or hot dog made from organic chicken only, fruit salad, water, bag of chips.

unpopular opinion…send her whatever she will eat so she’s fed! don’t care what anyone else says or thinks…shes YOURS. I have a VERY picky eater as well and as long as she eats…well work on the healthy “balance” outside of school. my daughter’s pallet (thankfully) keeps changing and SHES choosing to try new/better foods. as long as it’s not just sugar and junky snacks 247…she’ll survive. hang in there mama

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My daughter is picky too. This is her choices. Summer sausage, string cheese, gold fish, jello, pudding, baby carrots, nutty butty bars, oatmeal cream pies, sweet pickles, chips, cheese it’s, yougert, mini marshmallows, burrito,

I have the same problem but for my 14 year old. But she’s old.enoigh to tell me what she wants. I made her chicken and rice a few times. She enjoyed that alot. Also. There’s nothing wrong with just sending fruits in. Maybe add some cheese and crackers to the fruits for dairy and grain. What about soups in a thermos?

My daughter loves cheese sandwiches. Literally cheese and bread. But I pack strawberries (I pat the dry after washing and cutting so they aren’t wet/slimy), blue berries, she loves cherry tomatoes, danimals, or gogo squeeze pouches, you can freeze gogurts and they thaw perfectly for lunch time, apple slices, Cheeto puffs and goldfish are regulars for her…. We are doing pretty well with mixing it up. But as long as your kid is eating don’t feel bad about what you send them with. Kids talk and play around at lunch, you gotta give them whatever you can get them to eat in the short amount of time they have for lunch :wink::+1:t3:

Along as she’s eating something it’s better then nothing

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Get a cute little thermos and heat her mac n cheese, maybe spaghettiOs, crackers n cheese, grapes, carrot sticks n ranch

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I worked at a preK and helped out with lunches for upper grades as well. Send anything they will eat. There’s nothing worse than a hungry child with a ton of food they won’t eat.

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Honestly, your kids like what they like. If you’re ok with letting her eat these things at home, then you shouldn’t worry about anyone else. Life is short. Let them shove their labels.

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I send a good balance of healthy and treats.
Apple sauce pouches, cheese string, yogurt or yogurt drinks (yop or iogo), crackers, my kids like veggies but fruits are fine, raisins, pepperoni sticks, hard boiled eggs, are some things… then I add a treat like gummies or cookies or a twinkie.
You can even fill a thermos with boiling water and put a pack of oatmeal, or use a thermos for pasta or soup etc. Try filling a thermos with cold milk and packing dry cereal in a container.

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Try cucumbers, or celery with cheese

Hummus or baba ghanouj & pita bread or chips if she can have sesame. No-mayo macaroni salad or potato salad—cold German potato salad might work. Cold Asian noodle salad—add sesame seeds if she can have them. My fave pasta salad: add feta cheese, sun dried tomato bits, cilantro leaves, olive oil or oil the tomatoes are packed in to pasta. I like bow-tie pasta for this.

Cold vichyssoise or puréed gazpacho (so she doesn’t perceive the vegetables) or fruit soup in a thermos. Hot soup in a thermos. Stew or casserole in a thermos.

Freeze a juice box & put a yoghurt cup next to it; the juice will thaw by lunch & keep the yoghurt cold. ALDI sells little quinoa cups that need no refrigeration. Stuffed grape leaves. Cold refried bean & cheese burrito. Three bean salad. Cut up cold chicken.

Instant breakfast mix + a bottle & she can mix it with milk she can get at school. Or a bottle of Ensure if you have the money.

I ate peanut butter or bologna sandwiches every day for lunch for years, but ate healthy breakfasts and dinners and turned out OK. My daughter is very picky still as an adult, but even though she eats the same foods over & over, she’s healthy. Just give her a kids vitamin before school.

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Have you tried wraps with tortillas instead. Then you might be able to sneak in some veggies.

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Send her with what she will eat :woman_shrugging: who cares what you’re labeled as. If your child is happy and healthy wtf makes you a bad mom.?

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Ignore what anyone thinks… she’s your child… plus it’s better her eating than not eating at all!

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A hungry child will not learn well, send what you know she will eat, little point sending “healthy” food if she isnt going to eat it At the end of the day, you know what your child eats at home so what is taken to school is only a portion of her food intake, if others dont like what she is having then that is their problem not yours

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Send her with what she will eat. I have 3 and my 2 oldest will eat most things I send. My youngest is going into SK and last year he brought chicken nuggets almost everyday. He loves them and he would eat all of them at lunch. We’d mix it up something with some pizza or a sandwich but I figured I’d rather send him with something he will eat than him sitting there not eating

Try making pinwheels, a tortilla with cream cheese and if she likes tuna, or other cooked meats like chicken, add cheese, and roll it up and cut it, my daughter is picky too, she likes to use her thermos for last overs as she won’t eat sandwiches, my daughter also like nan bread with humus, she doesn’t mind egg salad sandwiches sometimes. It’s hard when they are picky

Garlic, cheese and crackers, salsa and chips, thermos full of homemade soups, apple slices and caramel, any kind of fruit with yogurt dip, drinkable yogurt, apple sauce, wraps cut into pin wheels. My daughter loves taking salad :green_salad:

You can use a thermos to keep things warm. Just heat it with boiling water and dump it out when you’re ready to add warm things. Chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs, Mac and cheese, etc

Naan small rounds, pizza sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese make your own little lunchable

Can she not carry a thermos? My daughter warms leftovers from dinner for my grandchild. I know this isn’t a ‘healthy’ choice but she even sends a corn dog occasionally. She just removes the stick and drops it in. It’s not hot but it is still warm.

Listen we are doing the best we can as working moms, stay at home moms etc. As long as the dr hasn’t said she isn’t thriving screw what other people think! Our dr always said “their pallet will change as they get older” let her eat what she’ll eat and ignore the haters :heartpulse:

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Sending food you know your child will eat doesn’t make you a bad mom. Sending food you know your child WON’T eat, all for the sake of appearances, would though. Send the Mac and cheese and the lunchable. You can buy a thermos and put the Mac and cheese in there after making it in the morning and it might even stay warm for lunch.

I mean when I sent my kid his lunch it was lunchables, cold nuggets, leftover pizza, we got s thermos and used it for ramen noodles and they stayed warm in it.

Get her use to eating healthier food.
I put yogurt and granola in a termos for a snack and Apple slices. But my 6.5 year old eats veggies and fruit daily and If my daughter wants a sweet snack she needs to eat her meal first.

 I know it sounds crazy, but have you tried setting out five or six options and letting her pick what she wants to pack for lunch each day? It worked with my kiddo. I guess he felt like he had control so he was more willing to try different things, and  it went really well.

I fully gave up on trying to figure out a “healthy” lunch. Either it came home untouched or they just threw it away and came home STARVING. I’d rather know my kid at least ate something rather than not.

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I send what mine will eat if not he will come home with a lunch box that he didn’t touch. My daughter just throws it away. It’s a waste and my boy comes home starving.

Who cares what anyone else thinks? I’d rather my kid eat than not eat.

Get a thermos. I boil water & leave it in there for 10 mins then wipe out & depending on the food place a paper towel at bottom. My kids take kd, chicken strips, hot dogs, pizza, rice, Shepard’s pie, eggs, pancakes, bacon, tacos. Sometimes they just want cereal for lunch. We also do home made lunchables cuz my kids hate sandwiches as well. Cheese strings, mini muffins, apples, grapes, strawberries, bear paws, crackers, rice cakes, crispers, squeezes, pudding, jello, gummies, yogurt, cookies.

Thats what i could think of just fast of things i send for my 2.

If she won’t eat it, it doesn’t matter how healthy it is. Pack what she will eat and keep trying other things until you find out what all she will eat. Yogurt, pudding, jello, etc

Lol. If she’s hungry she will eat what you send…

You know them moms are caddy and talking about you anyway SO give the kid what she wants for lunch.

Whoaaa! Calm down on the junk food! What do you mean she doesn’t eat veggies? Not even baby carrots or cucumbers? I make my daughter homemade lunchables and instead of cookies and place strawberries and/or grapes. Please introduce new foods at home

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Send your kids with stuff they will eat. You can pack a lunch box full of what others perceive as healthy, but then your child will not touch them and be hungry all day and then their mood and learning/retention abilities will be affected. If she likes fruit, make a few fruit kabobs and toss in. Have her try a pediasure shake and if she likes it put one of those in her lunch every day and she’ll be fine. Feed your baby what she will eat and don’t let anyone live rent free in your read with their thoughts on how to raise your baby.