I took the same lunch to school every day for years-Oscar Meyer bologna and an American cheese slice on white bread, with mayo, plus a baggie of Ruffles and two Chips Ahoy cookies. Washed down with a healthy pint of school milk, of course. There’s very little actual nutrition in that lunch, except for a serving or two of protein, so ever since my oldest son started all-day kindergarten, I’ve been on a quest to find brown bag lunch ideas that are tasty, fun, and provide servings from different food groups. These are some of my boys’ favorite lunches, and the recipes come from a printout dated 08/19/04, with the URL http://rallieonhealth.com/recipes:

Crazy Eights

8 whole wheat crackers (I like whole grain Club crackers)
8 ham squares (buy low fat ham slices, cut into a shape small enough to fit the cracker)
8 cheese squares (cut two 2% milk cheese slices into quarters)
8 grapes, or a small apple cut into 8 slices
8 baby carrots
8 celery sticks, or 8 small broccoli florets
8 animal crackers

Notes: This always seems like a lot of food to me, but the lunch bags come back empty!

Tic Tac Toe Lunch

1/2 whole wheat pita filled with homemade lowfat tuna or chicken salad
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup crunchy O-shaped cereal
1 cup raw veggies
1/4 cup lowfat Ranch for dipping

Notes: The idea for this lunch is to include an index card with a tic tac toe grid drawn on it, so your child can use the raisins and cereal for Xs and 0s. But my sons assure me that lunch monitors would never let them play tic tac toe with their food, so they just eat without playing.

Safari Lunch

1 Safari Sub Sandwich-Small sub roll filled with lowfat meat,cheese, mustard or mayo, lettuce
1 “Tropical” banana
“Quicksand” pudding cup-butterscotch or vanilla lowfat pudding
1 cup “Rain Forest” veggies-broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, or any combination
1/4 cup lowfat dressing for dip
“Kings of the Jungle” animal crackers-8 large, 15 small

Notes: Pack a plastic spoon for eating the pudding!

Seaside Lunch

1 Peanut Butter and “Jellyfish” sandwich-ONLY if your school allows Peanut Butter
1/3 cup fish-shaped crackers
“Sand Dollar” apple slices
1/3 cup fish-shaped gummy treats
1/2 cup “Palm Tree” broccoli florets
“Sand Pail and Shovel”-lowfat yogurt cup and plastic spoon

Notes: Check with your school if you aren’t sure if Peanut Butter is allowed, many schools have banned it due to children with Peanut allergies. For the apple-use an apple corer to remove the core, then cut slices horizontally through the apple, brush with lemon juice to prevent browning

Pirate’s Treasure-My boys’ favorite!

“Treasure Chest” of chicken-small plastic container with baked and cooled chicken fingers
1/2 cup carrot “Gold”-peel a large carrot, slice crosswise into coins
1/4 cup “Pearls”-yogurt covered raisins
1/2 cup lowfat “Pirate Pudding”-pudding cup, in your child’s favorite flavor
2 “Walk the Plank” pretzel rods

The great thing about Brown Bag lunches is that you can customize them to your child’s likes, dislikes, nutritional requirements, and size them to fit your child. A small kindergartener probably won’t be able to eat all the food in these lunches, so just scale them down accordingly. Pack half a sandwich, a fruit OR a veggie, non-dairy products for kids with milk allergies. The idea is to get a wide variety of food groups into your child at lunch, and to make lunch fun!

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