I think it is pretty common to pack a sandwich in a school lunch bag, right? Most school age children have no way to heat up their lunch so the sandwich is the ultimate cold lunch fare. The problem is the sandwich quickly turns into blah… ham, bologna or the staple PB&J are as boring as it gets. It’s hard to think beyond that and we all believe that is the only thing our kids will eat.

So let’s brain storm. How can we change that and make it less blah?

We could change up the fillers:

• Egg Salad, Tuna Salad or chicken salad
• Nutella (or other nut butters) with sliced Banana or strawberries
• Cream Cheese with Jams or sliced fruit
• Sliced BBQ chicken with greens
• Add fruit to cold cuts i.e. ham with pineapple or apple slices, turkey with cranberry sauce, grapes or preserves
• Veggie only combinations like tomato mozzarella, portabella mushroom, bean salads, avocado, tomato with peaches and sprouts or a Rainbow wrap
• Mix up the spreads by using Salsa, hummus, soft spreadable cheeses, dips and dressings

We could change up the breads:

• Croissants
• Soft Pretzels
• Wraps
• Rolls & Buns (bulky rolls, dinner rolls, hot dog rolls etc)
• Waffles or pancakes
• Bagels or English Muffins
• Focacia
• Pockets

We could change up the appearance beyond the bread:

• Sandwich on a stick
• Shape sandwiches using cookie cutters or check this out!
• Pressed sandwiches
• Get creative with color using stencils, seasonings, food safe markers or gels.
• Build your own sandwich
• Roll ups
• Sushi style
• Pin wheels

Or we could move beyond the sandwich:

• Kabobs
• Homemade lunchables - or check out this one!
• Cold Pizza
• Cold Hotdogs
• Muffins or scrolls
• Salads
• Pockets
• Lettuce Wraps
• Or taco style like my grown up lunch below

Still looking for more ideas or want to see more graphics for these? Head over to my Pinterest board and follow along! I have just scratched the surface and there are lots more great examples out there!

Let’s do this!

Deb

(Note: The content above includes links to outside websites. I have done my best to be sure they are true and accurate but of course all links are subject to being changed).

So what is my family eating today?

Toddler Lunch of the Day:
Nutella heart shaped sandwich, Pirate Booty, Tomato Cucumber and cheese salad and frozen blueberry Greek yogurt which should thaw out before lunch!

Grown Up Lunch of the Day:
Fish taco with lettuce, tomato and lime sour cream sauce, and also stuffed mushroom, strawberry and green bean and carrot chips.

Related Posts via Taxonomies

• Healthy Color!
• Fast, Fresh and Friendly Skies?
• Baby it is More Than Cold Outside!
• Show a Little Love…
• Football Snacks into the Lunchbox Pack!

Tags: Easylunchboxes, Greek Yogurt, Lunchbots, Salad, Taco
Categories: Uncategorized

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.