Hi anon,

When my son was a tot, he went through a hot dog phase. Of course, it really depends on whether your child's school allows heated food. We used the fat free turkey dogs.

My daughter likes cold pizza the day after we have it for dinner.

Bottom line, I always had them help me food shop or at the very least make their lunch--just so they would have a vested interest.

Another thought -my kids loved being able to have finger food with choice. If you get a divided Tupperware plastic - have some sliced carrots,raisins,apples,cucumbers - and some dressing to dip it in. That with juice, water or milk was a favorite. Freezing the water or juice the night before - also sent them to school with the perfect "slush" by lunch.
You can also vary lunch a bit - by having crackers, cheese or yogurt.. I found that the kids enjoyed building their lunches. Pita bread with jelly and cream cheese was always a hit!

I always try to make sure it's something I know they eat at home....although the pre-packaged things look easy, it seems just as easy to toss together some lunchmeat, cheese, crackers and a fruit and know for sure they'll eat it!

My child love peanutbutter sandwich and chicken fingers.I'm trying to get him to eat more fruit.

My son and daughter always ate the schools lunch,and was happy, but when they got in middle school I know it was the pressure from the other kids that they did'nt won't the school lunches. they always said it was nasty and the food did'nt taste good.so I would treat them some times with a pizza,ham,beloni,with cheese and crackers,and a drink (Lunchable). High school they paid at the snack stand for the good food like hot wings,pizza,french fries,and soda pops.

A sandwich, a piece of fruit and a fruit drink with a sweet treat like sultanas. The kids are made to eat their sandwiches first, no sweets or "red" unhealthy foods allowed.

The older kids try to sneak into going to the canteen everyday, but I make sure there's always lunch food in the pantry, crackers, nibbles, snacks.

My middle daughter used to not eat her sandwiches so I'd cut them into funny shapes or into strips so she could tell me what I cut them into that afternoon, so I'd know if she wasn't eating them.

I'll pack a cream cheese and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread, or a fried egg sandwich on Ezekiel raisin bread. Or sometimes I'll pack a hot lunch with a Thermos filled with home hot refried or ranch-style beans or some sort of soup that he likes.

The sides are usually a cheese stick, and juice and maybe some fruit and rarely a couple of Nilla Wafers or Cheese-Itz.

Almost everything is organic.

The school is Jewish, so they require vegetarian dishes so they can control the kosher factor. If we order hot lunch from the school, they have meat, but of course, it's guaranteed kosher.

I pack my daughter the dinner from night before in a thermos (the ones with wide mouth that can be purchased at Target). She loves noodles mixed with chicken and edamame.