Organic School Lunch Ideas – Part II

This is Part II of my organic lunch series. (I’m not sure how many parts there will be.) To see Part I go here, which includes sandwiches without mayo, soup, and leftover rice/noodles. Part II is mostly leftovers and pizza, but a few other things we came up with too. I usually give her ice water with her lunch, with a small slice of lemon sometimes.

Pizza

Of course you can still have pizza in a homemade lunch. There are a few options. 1) Make-ahead pizzas that you have ready in the freezer, 2) leftover pizza from dinner, or 3) a make-your-own pizza (not pictured) that they put together themselves at lunch time. I think the make-ahead pizzas work great. We followed the recipe from the 100 Days of Real Food cookbook and it’s so nice to just pull out a pizza, put it in her lunch, and it’s thawed by lunchtime. And leftover pizza is definitely an easy option. I make pizza at home sometimes and use my bread machine to knead the dough. We did try the make-your-own pizza before. We just put in mini pita pockets, some pizza sauce in a little bowl with a lid (like her pink one shown below), some shredded cheese, and toppings she likes (pepperoni, pieces of ham, pineapple, olives, bell pepper, etc.). It seems like my daughter likes to have her pizza already made for her. 😉

Cheese Pizza (made ahead and pulled from the freezer) – served with veggies, frozen applesauce, walnuts & pumpkin seeds; 

Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza (made ahead and pulled from the freezer) – with salad, Drew’s ranch dressing, and frozen applesauce; or

Leftover Pizza (from dinner) – with apples, veggies, and some pirate booties (a special treat).

(Details: I usually buy Muir Glen organic pizza sauce, Applegate uncured pepperoni, and I usually make pizza for us to have at home for dinner using my bread machine to knead the dough. We usually have leftovers too. For the little pizzas, I used Trader Joe’s pita pockets for the crust.)

Apples or Crackers with Peanut Butter

We tried the apple & peanut butter sandwiches and they were kind-of a pain to make so we just did apple slices with pb to dip in after that. She also likes cracker sandwiches with pb & honey, or you could do pb & jelly or just pb.

Apple Peanut Butter Sandwiches – served with pretzels, carrots, tomatoes, & cheese;

Apples & PB Dip – with Annie’s bunny graham cookies, cucumber, tomatoes, & a Stonyfield frozen yogurt; or

PB & Honey Cracker Sandwiches – with strawberries, pineapple, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, & a Stonyfield frozen yogurt.

(Details: I buy the Trader Joe’s organic peanut butter with just one ingredient – organic peanuts. For the pretzels, I sometimes go with Trader Joe’s brand or the Newman’s Own brand. It just depends on where I’m shopping. I buy the Late July brand crackers. And just a note on the Stonyfield yogurt tube, we freeze them and she only has these once in a while. They do have carrageenan in them. Hoping that changes one day!)

Miscellaneous Ideas (quesadilla, trail mix, hummus, and a hotdog – on occasion)

My daughter likes to have a quesadilla once in a while, or hummus to dip pretzels/carrots and one time she brought in a hotdog because they have access to a microwave on Fridays. This is a rare occasion but nice to have a hotdog once in a while. 🙂  She does bring trail mix quite often. I make it myself by just putting together different kinds of nuts, seeds, raisins, popcorn or Annie’s bunny crackers, and sometimes I throw in a few chocolate chips.

Cheese Quesadilla  – served with salsa, homemade trail mix, carrots, tomatoes, and strawberries;

Trail Mix & Popcorn – with a pumpkin muffin w/butter, cantaloupe, cucumber, and tomatoes; 

Hummus Dip – with pretzels, a few chocolate chips, carrots, tomatoes, cheese, and frozen applesauce; or

A Hotdog – with ketchup and relish, a cheese stick, carrots & celery, and an apple.

(Details: I get my tortillas from our local food co-op, the pumpkin muffin recipe is found here (you could make a big batch and freeze some), I buy organic popcorn sometimes or make my own, I use Lilly’s red pepper hummus, the frozen applesauce is in a smoothie-pop-mold, the hotdog is the Applegate brand, and I buy Trader Joe’s hotdog buns sometimes, we also found a natural Franz brand, or I have also made my own but haven’t done that in a while. I can’t seem to get the shape right but will try again one of these days.)

 

Leftovers (spaghetti, mac ‘n cheese with ham or steak, and tortellini)

We do leftovers whenever we can. She especially likes leftover spaghetti which she will eat cold but now that we have a soup thermos she can bring it warm and it stays warm. The tortellini is in the soup thermos. And FYI, that tortellini lunch was a special lunch I put together for Halloween. Blood-themed, with carrot & olive fingers and pumpkin seeds, lol. We also have Annie’s mac ‘n cheese on occasion, so she will take leftovers of that mixed with some ham or steak and she would eat that cold too but now she can bring it warm in the soup thermos. 🙂

Leftover Spaghetti with Corn – served with a zucchini cookie, cucumber, tomatoes, grapes, and those are actually homemade canned peaches;

Leftover Mac ‘N Cheese w/ham or steak – with cucumber, green beans, tomatoes, an orange (with a Halloween face), and a granola bar or with cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, and frozen applesauce; or

Leftover Tortellini – with strawberries, carrot & olive fingers, and pumpkin seeds.

(Details: The zucchini cookie recipe can be found here. We actually canned peaches during the summer and this was the first time we ever canned anything. They turned out kind-of mushy but really good. We used a honey/lemon/water mixture. I buy Annie’s mac ‘n cheese on occasion. Most of these veggies were from out of our first organic garden. The harvest berry granola bar is the Cascadian Farm brand. The pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe can be found here. I made the tortellini with olives, smoked pork sausage, tomato sauce and different herbs & seasonings. And I let her take a little cherry juice in her lunch that day because we were going with a Halloween-themed bloody lunch just for fun. 😉 )

 

Here are some of the lunch box items from above:

 

And here are some other lunch box items that would be neat to have!

 

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