help! i need new lunch box ideas!  

Hi there RLF!

I find this easy-to-fix roll recipe:

This ham salad sandwich is a snap to mix up in the food processor, or mince the ham by hand and mix the ingredients together for delicious sandwiches or filled rolls.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups diced ham
1 rib celery, cut up
1 onion slice, about 1/4-inch thick
6 to 8 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced sweet pickles or sweet pickle relish
1 to 2 teaspoons sweet pickle juice, optional
dash pepper
1 hard-cooked egg, diced
lettuce
soft rolls, split
PREPARATION:
In a food processor, combine the ham, celery, onion, and pickles or pickle relish. Pulse until minced; transfer to a bowl. Mix in mayonnaise until well-moistened, along with sweet pickle juice, if using. Add pepper, to taste, and stir in the diced hard-cooked egg. Arrange lettuce on rolls; fill with the ham salad. Serve with chips or French fries and pickle slices or sliced tomatoes.
Serves 6.

I got it here: http://southernfood.about...

You can find lots of other similar recipes there.

My daughter loves hot pockets. or I will make up a bunch of pizza rolls and freeze them. I take a cheap pizza dough mix, put some sauce, cheese and pepperoni, roll them up, crimp the ends, bake at 350. Then I freeze them (after cooling). Then on school days, I heat them in toaster oven, wrap them in foil. She loves them! You can also make meat pies like this!
Salads are good too. You can put the dressing in a little zip lock bag.
I also take the idea from lunchables, but pack my own. Do the kids have access to a microwave? I would send easy mac, ravioli and soup. If they don't , you can still send these but you will have to get them really hot on the morning then put in a thermos or wrap in foil. I can't seem to make ramen in the morning and have it edible by lunch time.
I know you were looking for ideas outside of sandwiches but a little side note, some of her favorites - pizza sand, put sauce on the bread, cheese and pepperoni.
She also loves peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwiches.
Good luck and it's only the beginning of the year!

How about some Japanese sushi for your boys's lunch box. The sushi taste nice. May be you can browse for some sushi recipe online, or buy some cook books - just pick a few simple ones for a start. You'll never get tired looking at sushi as you can arrange them according to your creativity. Or you can try fried noodles or fried rice.

You can arrange your ordinary ham and cheese sandwich in a creative way if you wanted to. For instance, cut a slice of cheese in different shapes (square, star etc.) with assorted cookie cutters and arrange it on the bread based on your creativity. I've seen photos of bento (lunch box) fill with sushi, rice, vegetables in a very creative way. I'll try to upload a few pictures of them in my photos profile...just take a look. It's hard to explain creativity in words.

Hello, It is not easy to decide the menu of lunch boxes every day. You could try pancakes, veggie stuffed rolls, shallow fried veg cutlets, fruit cakes, french toasts, fruit and jelly, noodles. If you need the recipe for any of them do let me know. I will be glad to help.

Hi RLF,

How about trying egg, pancake, and homemade cookies! Just guessing, I have not tried preparing a lunch box but having a variety is great so that they will be not be bored, I mean you know kids, once it is always what they have, they tend to just eat little on it in the long run!

I used to make a batch of Pepperoni Rolls. The kids love those
instead of a sandwich and they actually look forward to eating it!

http://www.cooks.com/rec/...

I put about a tablespoon of Mozzarella Cheese in the middle with
the pepperoni...yum

Not the healthiest food, I know..lol

Do you put a lunchpak that you freeze over night into their lunch boxes? this keeps everything nice and cold in the summer.
For an intersting lunch you could make:
a crisp green salad with vinegar and oil dressing in a tiny container at the side
a small container of tiny pickles to go with a sandwich
a small container of cherry or grape tomatoes
a granola bar
fresh cucumber, celery sticks and baby carrots
an English muffin with cheddar cheese
1/2 bagel with cream cheese
a hard boiled egg shelled.
1 small container with chunks of fruit, such a grape berries, melon chunks, fresh pineapple chunks or strawberries or blueberries, add a plastic fork to the lunch box
a small container of pecans or walnut pieces
in winter you could also send chili or soup in a small thermos or in a container that could be microwaved if there is one at the school.
Kids like those tiny containers and are interested to see what is in them. It is important that they look forward to their lunches. It gives them energy for the afternoon.

Instead of a sandwich how about a taco salad. fix the lettuce, tomato, olives, cheese and pinto beans in a dish then have the kids add the corn chips (or put in a wrap) when they eat their lunch. With this you don't have to worry about meat spoiling. How about some fruit cups you make your self. Mix peanut butter with mashed bananas add some raisins for a different sandwich. If you freeze the juice and to keep the lunch box cold you could send frozen chicken strip or nuggets. They should thaw out by lunch time.

I use to also send our girls with a cheese sandwich and sometimes bologna. Chips of any kind also worked very well along with a cookie or a few cookies. I had trouble giving our kids fruit. They would trade it with other friends. Rice Krispie treats also was a snack they loved. There was no way the girls would let me pack a lunch when the school was serving pizza....lol

lunch-ables, they come with a variety. also leftovers from the night before I used to love packing that for lunch, if there isn't any leftovers just make it a habit to put some aside. they have mini sized gatoraids now too so they don't just have to have juice. maybe a soda they have small cans now but that depends on how you feel about soda and there age. (mine are 5 and 1 and they don't need soda)