Ana is starting high school!

[conuly]

In, like, a week and a half! OMG!

So, please - lunch suggestions. It's been a while. She has this dream of eating outside lunch every day but, realistically, her allowance + lunch money is not going to cover that. (She might eat school lunch every day, I guess. That's her choice. But I doubt she wants to do that either.)

Either thermos-worthy or cold is okay, I'll have Ana pick and choose a rotating list. "Leftovers" is not an option :)

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Comments

[the_rck]

An insulated lunch bag-- with or without a cold pack insert-- can be useful in terms of increasing options. For some of what's below, you can buy the portable, single serving option or use small, reusable containers.

They sell single serving cups of hummos. Those go well with pretzels, baby carrots (or other veggies), or any sort of flat bread.

Fruit cups and cups of applesauce can work (I tend to eat those without utensils, but I'm told that's barbaric).

Boiled eggs travel well; as does any type of egg cooked solid enough to be eaten with fingers actually. The main thing is to peel boiled eggs in advance because there's no time at lunch.

If the school (or the child) is nut free, sunflower seed butter tastes better than soy nut butter, IMO, and goes well with apples and celery and the like.

Yogurt tubes travel well but are very high in sugar and may be viewed as baby-ish. Small yogurt cups are good if one has an insulated bag, and those can be varied with granola and/or cereal of various sorts as an add on.

I strongly recommend pre-cutting fruit like apples and pears because of the time limitations. Kids who take lunch tend to have more time to eat, but that can still mean under twenty minutes, depending on the school. Eating school lunch tends to mean much less time for actually eating because of the need to wait in line to be served.

[conuly]

In NYC high schools, lunch takes up a full period - so 45 minutes + the passing time on either end. That, at least, is not a worry.

[we_protect_each_other]

That's amazing. I'm a teacher, and my students and I only get about 25 minutes.

[conuly]

So does everybody have the same lunch or something? That's not the norm in NYC schools. Either they're a big school and lunch is spread over multiple periods, or they have a shared campus and each school gets their own period for lunch.

(In NYC, lots of the big schools were broken up but they still use the buildings. Each school gets its own floor and they share the gym and cafeteria and whatever. And, at Ana's campus, they share the amazing rooftop skate park.)

[we_protect_each_other]

No, we have three lunches in a school with under 700 students and they're still that short.

[conuly]

How does that even work? What do the kids do during the other 20 minute stretches?

[we_protect_each_other]

Most high schools here have a block schedule where classes are an hour and a half, give or take, and switch at the semester change. This is more similar to college than traditional period schedule. In this case, the third period each day is two hours, give or take, instead. Different classes are assigned different lunches, so they go to their lunch and everyone else is in class.

[the_rck]

Wow. Elementary and middle school for Cordelia had 20 minutes for lunch, including passing time. I'm not sure about high school. I just assumed.

[conuly]

I don't think that'd work at NYC schools. They'd have to have everybody eating at the same time.

[hannah]

Risotto is one of my go-to lunch options. It takes a while to make, but it travels really well. I'm also fond of this - just at the end of tomato season.

[we_protect_each_other]

As mentioned in above comment, I'm a teacher. I sort of go back and forth between eating school lunch myself and packing it. When I pack my lunch, I do the usual sandwich thing occasionally. I also get single-serving salads sometimes at the grocery store salad bar. I purchased some of those tiny salad dressing cups so I can bring the salad dressing I choose with me and put it on at the school. That works, especially when you have some form of protein with the salad like cheese or chickpeas to make it not wear off before school is over. I love vegetables and try to be a sort of flexitarian, especially during the week because I feel better, so that's my go-to when I don't just take my chances with the cafeteria.

[kyrielle]

My go to list:

"Lunchables" (not the actual things but the same ideas, so crackers/meat/cheese with the meat being salami or bologna or turkey or whatever) (or pizza lunchables, which means crackers or small flat rounds of bread, pizza sauce, cheese, maybe pepperoni or sausage bits)

"Breakfast for lunch" (Thermos with 'scrambled omelet' - scrambled eggs with omelet ingredients because wedging an omelet into a thermos is a ridiculous concept; one or two waffles or pancakes, syrup in a little container to add if you want, a fruit of some sort, and either orange juice or a milk option)

Any form of sandwich allowed by school rules and eaten by the kid. When my kids are in classes that allow peanut butter, PB&J; they both reject the sunbutter even though it's very close, so I don't even try with that. Sometimes I use a 'pocket cutter' to make that into a quick/cheap uncrustable, although really you could as easily do it with a butter knife. Lunch meat of whatever favored kinds with whatever veggies are accepted by that kid.

Cut bits of fruit/veg as sides for any of that.

Pasta with (and sometimes without) sauce. (Mac'n'cheese; spaghetti with sauce; alfredo; ramen.) Just make sure the sides balance anything that needs it (for example, I tend to send a cheese stick with ramen).

Salads and fruit salads are awesome if she'll eat them; one of mine will and the other won't, so there's really no point.

If you can afford to toss money at it, bento boxes are a great thing to have, especially ones that seal well. (My kids are younger, I'm using YumBox ones, but they may be smaller than you need for her age.) Because it's only one thing to open, it's a little faster, but also it's tidier and gives a bit of a framework.

Wraps! Tired of sandwiches? Tortilla or wrap bread instead. Possibly chopped into pinwheels if you're obliging that way, but that's not necessary.

Whole slices of pizza; tastes fine cold. Grilled cheese sandwiches do fine cold as well.

[pauamma]

*grumble* What does it take for the NYT (and other neswmedia) to learn that Hokkien (and others) are full-fledged languages, not "Chinese dialects"?

[conuly]

A miracle.

And what really gets me is that a lot of their articles nowadays are written in English and Chinese as well - but not this one.

[archangelbeth]

When I was a kid, I had various things.

1: Tub of yogurt. (This gets kind of warm and bleah, even with a freezer-pack.)
2: Baked Potato with melted cheese over it, gone room-temp. Edible if you're weird like me.
3: Tomato, Lettuce, and Cheese sandwich. I forget if I had mayo with it. Kept better than the others.

My kid tended to get leftovers (Chinese noodles, especially), sandwiches of various sorts (ham and cheese, ham alone, cheese alone, ketchup (at one point), etc.), snack-packs from the store... Pizza leftovers are good, too. Boiled eggs sometimes. Fruit cups sometimes. (School lunches a lot, for a while, thank the Elements, but then the school lunchroom started triggering their sensory issues, both with noise and the odors of the hot lunches...)

edit: oh, and cold pasta (usually the veggie-medly multicolor stuff) with marinara or meat sauce.

I am jealous as sin about 45 minutes for lunch. Kid had 20 -- and only 5 minutes between classes, in a large highschool. No one uses their lockers; it's backpacks carted everywhere.

Leftovers

[gatheringrivers]

I actually don't mind leftovers, but I'm probably strange that way. :)

Cooked chicken with a basic alfredo-ish sauce might keep well enough in a hot-food thermos until lunch.

* diced cooked chicken (I tend to use thighs because they're cheap)
* cream/(real)butter/parmesan cheese, slowly melted together
* salt & pepper to taste

Hard part for me is getting the cheese melted without "breaking" it. Can throw in some broccoli or other veg to add some variety.

Use chedder instead of parmesan for a different twist.

Advantage when you make it yourself: You know what the ingredients are
"Big 8" allergens for this: Dairy

Cheese sauce in stores tends to have soybean oil/soy lecithin and a lot of chemicals. :(

If you're watching out for certain things, be sure to read the ingredients of whatever you're buying.

[gingicat]

Sandwiches and cut-up vegetables worked for me.

With boychik, it's Clif bars in a plastic box so they don't get crushed, supplemented by soft pretzels from the cafeteria.

Girlochka ate cold pasta with pesto and cold chicken fingers last year because she suddenly didn't like the school lunches. (Some lunches, yes, but not the ones guaranteed to be there every day.) I expect that we'll be putting turkey and cheese sandwiches into the rotation.

[moem]

I'm from the country where lunch = bread, because that's just how we roll (or rather, slice) so the question got me confused for a short while. My reply would be: sandwiches, with some veg or fruit added.
I grew up on sandwiches, like pretty much all Dutch children do. My mom always used wholewheat bread and often added some carrots, a piece of cucumber, some slices of bell pepper, a tomato or something like that. Cherry tomatoes weren't a thing yet!

[mindstalk]

I grew up on a mix of PB&J or cold cut + cheese sandwiches in ziploc bags. (And lettuce, butter, or mustard, as much for moisture as anything else.) Hard boiled egg. Maybe bags of carrot or celery pieces, don't quite remember. Apple or banana, maybe?

My work lunches aren't much different. Pita and hummus is an alternative, though I can just put a whole hummus tub in the office fridge. Hmm, for that matter I can make my own sandwiches there, too.

Anime gave ideas of bento boxes with protein over rice and scrambled egg rolls and stuff, but I haven't acted on them.

You could put rice or pasta + something in a small plastic box.

Chicago had civilized lunches. I think a full hour in elementary school (including running around recess or cartoons time, depending on weather), and a 40 minute period in high school (with 4 periods being open for 'lunch' in various students' schedules.) What the hell is this 20 minute lunch crap?

[conuly]

What the hell is this 20 minute lunch crap?

NO IDEA.

[mindstalk]

I guess eating right and socializing would take away from valuable test-prep time.

My quasi-nieces in Glendale report maybe an hour in elementary/middle, and 30 minutes in high school, which also has a 15 minute recess (! recess in high school?) They bring bag lunches, so high schooler doesn't have an eating time problem. She eats fast anyway.

[jo]

Pasta salad is every easy to make, keeps well so you can make a big batch and use it over a few days, and easy to vary. Use a good shape pasta (e.g. rotini or penne, macaroni is too small). Add whatever you want to the cold, cooked pasta: diced veggies of your choice (cuke, peppers, zucchini, shredded carrot, etc.). Add a protein (diced cold meat, e.g poached or grilled chicken breast, cold cut sliced and diced, diced cheese, hard boiled egg slices, etc.). Add a little vinaigrette of your choice. Done. Tastes fine at room temperature.

[conuly]

I'll suggest it to her :)

[pipilj]

A variety of fried rice or pulao are an easy option and can form one pot meals. Some basic Prep can be done previously. You can even look at flat bread rolls with different fillings. Some schools here have started "recommending" lunch options for parents to send with their wards. This is in a bid to promote healthy eating habits - not sure how much it works though

[conuly]

And people don't get pissy at the schools "butting in"?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Woohoo, yay Ana; best wishes to the freshman!

Every lunch ought to include at least one whole piece of fruit; more if she'll eat more. Salad or raw veggies with dressing/dip on the side, so they don't get soggy before lunchtime. Add hemp, sunflower and/or chia seeds to salads to up the protein and fiber. Almonds, peanuts, cashews or pumpkin seeds, either plain or added to recipes. Yogurt or kefir. Chicken, tuna or salmon salad with crackers or tortilla chips. Carrot cake, zucchini bread, sushi, hummous, tabouli, string cheese, hard-boiled eggs. Hot soup or stew in a thermos once the weather gets chilly, with crackers and grated cheese on the side.

It will save all of you a whole lot of hassle if you just resolve right now that high-school students pack their own lunches from the groceries on hand, which means they submit their grocery lists each week to the person who does the shopping, and that if they fail to do so, they'll be eating the school lunch.

If by "eating outside lunch every day" you mean "buying restaurant food", that's a totally stupid habit to cultivate. I hope that after Ana has blown all her allowance that way, you don't enable the habit by 'supplementing', either in money or in purchases. Hasn't she got a future to save for? Wouldn't she rather increase her bank account than her hip measurement? The whole purpose of school is to make people smarter, and 'outside lunch' does not further that purpose.

[conuly]

I hope that after Ana has blown all her allowance that way, you don't enable the habit by 'supplementing', either in money or in purchases.

Hahaha, no, that's sort of the point of allowances.

But eating outside lunch also means a chance to socialize with friends without teachers hovering - or, alternatively, to not socialize with kids you don't like. And that also is a big part of school, and an important one.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"And that also is a big part of school, and an important one."

It certainly never used to be. I'm kind of amazed that students are even allowed to leave the school grounds during the school day. Socializing with friends without teachers hovering, not socializing with people you don't like, and blowing your allowance on junk food are all traditional after-school activities.

[conuly]

Her school day doesn't end until after 4pm, at which point many of her classmates need to go home. I'm okay with her doing this during lunch when she has the cash.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, her school day doesn't end till after 4pm, and then no doubt she'll have several hours of homework...? That's hard.

For sure, one's allowance is one's own, to blow or not blow as one chooses. I'm just surprised the school lets them go off school grounds in the middle of the day. Were you allowed to do that in high school? (I was at boarding school; we weren't supposed to go off-campus at all without specific permission, but of course that rule was totally unenforceable.)

[conuly]

Sheesh, her school day doesn't end till after 4pm, and then no doubt she'll have several hours of homework...? That's hard.

It starts at 9:20, so....

Were you allowed to do that in high school?

Sure. That's pretty standard for NYC high schools, though they may reserve the right to revoke that privilege if you fail to return in a timely fashion. That was actually Ana's sole question at all the open houses: do you have outside lunch? Most of them said either yes, or yes for some students (based on grade level, grades, or both).