Comments on: Kindergarten corner: Home lunches beyond PB&J?

By: Lulu Bee

Lulu Bee — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:14:10 +0000

I have a picky eater, with a repertoire of about 5 foods that he will eat despite my families ethnic and diverse foods.

Seriously, a Bento box for kindergarten! My child barely has time to open his lunch box, let alone, dip and graze. What schools do are you talking about? He has a half and hour and much of that is spent trying to open a juice box straw wrapper while being screamed at by lunch aides to eat faster!!!

By: john

john — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:21:08 +0000

Thanks for the great article. I put together the lunches daily for my Pre-K girl, and finding something I can make in the hour between waking and running out the door is always a challenge. I write about the food I cook for my family at http://www.stayatstovedad.com.

By: dr

dr — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:00:19 +0000

Thanks for the links and the ideas. My oldest child went to a preschool where we had to send lunch daily. He was content, in fact insistent upon, having the same meal of spaghetti-o’s or mac and cheese virtually every day. My daughter, now in K began questioning why I always send a sandwich whenever she needed a bag lunch for camp or school. Having also read Bread and Jam for Frances, she has been demanding some variety! I guess I’ll be buying a bento box of some kind.

By: Queens Parent

Queens Parent — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:12:16 +0000

Most kids love choice, and grazing. In pre-school, for lunches, and for kindergarten snacks, I always sent my child with little bits of things, nicely presented, and with spices and sauces to dip into (soy, mustard, ground pepper, low fat salad dressing, etc.). A big favorite was hummus, carrot and celery sticks, or cherry tomatoes, and mixed Japanese crackers, with peanuts (I mixed up various bags of good crackers and nuts myself), or mini pita bread, as well as some berries or grapes. For years I heard from the teacher and other kids how everyone else always wanted to have my child share with them!

By the way, there is very good, fairly healthy, and inexpensive frozen Chinese good, such as dumplings, steamed buns, etc. that are easy to prepare and if made in the morning, before sending a child to school, will keep nicely in an insulated container. My son’s friends were nuts for dumplings such as pork with celery. And they loved soy beans in the shell (fun to eat!).

So you can be creative cheaply and easily in NYC, with all of the great ethnic food and stores. Cheers!