Freeze small juice boxes for food safety, use cookie cutters for
sandwiches, pipe fillings in celery, cucumber, bell pepper halves
or quarters, use various breads .. sliced, bagel, pita, English
muffin, make fillings out of whatever they like mixed in food
processor, shake drinks in thermos, decorate and freeze cookies
(pipe melted chocolate or frosting from sandwich bag .. fun
project with kids). If you learn to pipe even simple things with
either frosting, cream cheese, whatever, it can make food reallyfun and appealing. Making individual loaves of bread is fun, too.
In my home, we were big on individually baked things so there
was no hassle over portions, btw.
.
If you make dough or buy it frozen, make
a bunch of calzone types of sandwiches to freeze. These are
like bread turnovers with favorite things inside ... so easy
but, for some reason, so much more fun to eat. With pureed fillings
you can sneak in more beans and vegetables, for example .. they
don't have to know. Refrigerated biscuit dough from the market
works well for small ones, too. My son & his friends used to
love it when I offered these as a snack.
.
Get small (1 oz., probably) disposable condiment containers
from restaurant supply to send mustard, ketchup, BBQ sauce, etc.
... my son used to love to be able to really flavor/dip things like
that, anyway. The little cups and lids come separately and are
inexpensive. Dip made me think of sending oven fries ... simulate
what kids usually like in terms of fast food.
.
Pizza is easy
with English Muffins, pita, or the calzone idea. Favorite leftovers
were a hit, of course. I make burritos by the dozen, wrap them
individually and freeze them .. great for lunch.
.
I just realized I have no idea how old your children are and what
kinds of things you already do for lunches (and what they want).
That info would help inspire other ideas. :).
Happy brownbagging,
Janet