School Age

1. Everyone loves pasta salad. Throw together some leftover pasta, some veggies, ham or whatever else your kids like, and you're set. Pack some dressing to add at lunch time.
2. Grill an extra chicken breast while you're using the barbecue. Chill it, then cut the meat into strips. Pack some containers of dipping sauce (sweet and sour, honey mustard, barbecue) to go with it. Or, if you have some leftover turkey, cut it into cubes and pack it in a plastic container. Send along a container of cranberry sauce for dipping.
3. Pack some homemade bean salad in a plastic container. Add a muffin or a buttered roll to go with it.
4. Sprinkle shredded cheese on a tortilla, top with another tortilla, and cook on an ungreased griddle until the cheese is melted and it's lightly toasted on each side. Let cool, then cut into wedges like a pizza. Pack some salsa for dipping.
5. Spread a tortilla with cream cheese, sprinkle with chopped raw vegetables, and roll up. Cut into 1 in. (2 cm) slices and pack in a plastic container. Or do the same thing with peanut butter (if there are no peanut allergies at your child's school) and banana or jam.
6. Pack some delicious hummus in a plastic container. Cut a pita up into wedges for dipping along with some carrot sticks, celery sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, green pepper - whatever your child likes. Send along a few potato or tortilla chips - just to make it seem like party food.
7. Make some salami roll-ups. Spread thin slices of salami with mustard or cheese, lay a pickle spear on top, roll up and secure with toothpicks. Pack into a plastic container.
8. Cut up some cheese and meat (chicken, ham, kolbassa, whatever) into cubes and pack in a multi-sectioned plastic container. Use some fancy toothpicks to spear the cubes. Or send along a few crackers.
9. Cut a pita bread in half, and pack it in a plastic bag. Send along assorted things to stuff in the pocket like shredded lettuce, tuna salad, alfalfa sprouts, canned chickpeas, grated cheese, chopped hard-boiled egg, and a little container of salad dressing to drizzle on top.
10. Contrary to popular myth, cold pizza is not disgusting. Wrap a slice or two in plastic for lunch. Or make a bagel pizza. Cut a bagel in half, spread with spaghetti sauce and sprinkle with shredded cheese and pepperoni. Bake until the cheese is melted, then let cool completely and wrap in plastic.
11. Make a banana bread sandwich. Spread homemade banana bread with peanut butter or cream cheese, cut into long fingers and pack in a plastic container.
12. Spread a tortilla with refried beans and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Fold in the sides, roll up, and wrap in plastic. Send along a container of shredded lettuce and some salsa to add at lunch. Or make a chicken taco instead. Spread some salsa on the tortilla, top with shredded, cooked chicken and shredded lettuce. Fold up and wrap.
13. Make some mini-quiches using frozen tart shells or your own homemade pastry, or pick some up at the deli counter. Pack a couple in the lunch box - they're good cold!
14. Make a mini-submarine sandwich out of a hot dog bun, some sliced meats and cheeses and shredded lettuce (hot peppers? olives?). If you really want to go all the way, pack a small container of salad dressing to pour over the fillings at lunchtime.
15. You've heard of ants on a log - what about ants in a log? Stuff lengths of celery along the crease with peanut butter or cream cheese. Insert the ants (raisins, by the way) into the stuffing, and then squish another peanut butter- or cheese- stuffed celery on top - trapping the ants inside. Wrap tightly in plastic.

Little Lunchers
If your child is in kindergarten or the primary grades, his lunches have to be easy to eat as well as yummy. Remember, little kids don’t have a lot of finger strength or fine-motor control, so packaging that’s easy for us can stump them. Hold some “trial runs” at home: can she actually get the lids off all her plastic containers? How about the foil seal on the yogurt cup? If you’re sending extra condiments, can he manage to get them open and spread on his food? There’s nothing like accidentally squirting a sea of ketchup over the cookies to put a kid off lunch! Better add a few napkins, too, just in case.

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Evelyn Raab on packing 4,725 lunches

2001