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We have the Yumbox Panino and typically send half a bagel with cream cheese, or two mini bagels instead with a string cheese and apple sauce pouch in the big section, fruit or veggies in one of the smaller sections, crunchy carb-y snacks in the other smaller section, and a small treat in the tiny section. My kids have eaten the same thing for lunch for years and have no desire to change so we just keep on doing the same thing!

Following for ideas.

DS starts grade one in September and it will be the first time I’ve had to pack a lunch for him.

I had to return our Yumbox b/c it doesn't fit into the PBK lunch box I already got that's non-returnable

Anyway, we've been packing lunches since the beginning of time as our daycare does not provide. So here are our usual; nothing original, just stuff the girls actually eat.

Variations of sandwiches
- PB&J, cream cheese & jelly, just cream cheese, grilled cheese
Chicken nuggets
Sweet potato fries
Shumai's
Dumplings
Cucumbers
String cheese
Mac&cheese (in thermos)
Boiled egg
Fruit

I’ve been packing lunches for about two years.
Here’s our regular rotation (pick one from each category). We always have a “main”, a veggie, a fruit a dairy and a treat. If the main is dairy heavy then I’ll usually forego the other dairy.

***Main***
Cream cheese and jelly
Sunbutter and jelly (schools here are generally peanut free)
Turkey sandwich (relatively new for him, he likes just turkey and bread)
Homemade lunchable with turkey pepperoni, string cheese and seed crackers

***Veggie***
Carrots
Mini peppers
Sugar snap peas
Cucumber

***Fruit***
Strawberry
Blueberry
Raspberry
BlackBerry
Applesauce pouch or cup
Grapes
(For his lunches, I tend to stick with fruits that don’t require a lot of cutting/a fork or produce a lot of juice to avoid messes)

***Dairy***
String cheese or babybel
Yogurt
Sometimes as a treat I’ll send a vanilla or chocolate milk box, pre-K last year only provided white milk or water so it was special when he had it.

***Treat***
Fruit snacks
Some kind of gummy candy like 3-4 Swedish fish
Chocolate covered raisins
Mini Oreos
Milano cookies
Teddy grahams
Mini muffins
Granola bar

This year my goal is to try more warm meals. I’ve very infrequently done warm items in his foogo thermos and they’ve been a hit. I just usually don’t feel like it in the AM rush.
I’ve done earths best meatballs, Annie’s stars mixed with parm, hotdogs mixed with peas, chicken soup. I’ve done each of these exactly once That’s it in 2-3 years.
It’s also harder clean up I’ve found, more things to wash and whatever was in the thermos rarely stays in the thermos. But I’ll give it a go now that he’s older and can follow instructions a bit better.
Oh and I always forget about something like grilled cheese or a quesadilla. It’s easy enough and works at room temp or even cooler. But again, seems like work in the AM. But we’ll see.

@lindseykaye: i'm really glad to hear those containers have held up well!

We have the bentgo and some bento boxes from Ikea that I love. When DS started kindergarten, we did a muffin, 2 hard boiled egg whites, a fruit, a veggie and sometimes some crackers/cheese. He ate that every day for the first half of the year. Then he started wanting to branch out so we'd do half a sandwich either on bread or a tortilla. Usually just turkey/cheese. Sometimes PB and Jelly. On Weds, I usually put a treat in there. And Fridays get a juice box. But I'm going to have to figure something else out for a drink as he always takes a water bottle to school but he finally told me that he doesn't take it to lunch. Weirdo. A few times I sent him chicken soup but otherwise he didn't ask for a lot of hot lunch.

I will say DS1 is an amazing eater so he's been super easy. DS2 is horrible so I have no idea what I"m going to pack for him next year when he's in kinder. I"m guessing lots and lots of pasta b/c that's about all he eats....

All of these lists are such a great idea to keep on the fridge as a reminder! I always forget what I pack for lunches, so I started documenting for myself. After lots of moms ask me this same question, I decided to start an instagram page of my past lunches (these are for a 2 year old). Follow along on instagram: @elinoreats

Usually a carb type option:
Sandwich, cracker sandwich

Meat:
Pepperette, ham

Veg:
Peppers, carrot, cucumber, peas, anything. He loves veggies.

Fruit:
Anything in season!

Usually some cheese although he doesn’t eat that great.

Then always an apple sauce pouch and a yogurt drink. Sometimes an apple or banana as extra. I pack most stuff in his yum box and the drink, pouch, and extra fruit on top of it. All of it inside a skip hop lunch bag.

I just started an IG for my bento style lunch ideas! They are pretty average(ish), healthy (ish, nice(ish) and totally average ideas haha. I’m using mostly replay plates for now but also using our yumboxes. I will be using our yumboxes as soon as DS starts JK in September.

My account is @youraveragebento

Here is a pic

There are also a bunch of other great inspo accounts on IG

@honey786: I like that your posts are real and not perfect. I need real!!

These ideas are awesome! Nothing to add but I realized like halfway through the school year that my kid likes to have literally the same thing every day. I was doing a lot of variety where I switched it up every day because I hate having the same thing every day, but then he wouldn’t always eat it. DW takes the same.exact.lunch every day for her whole life and she suggested to do the same thing. Lo and behold, he ate his lunch every day when it was the same. So don’t be surprised like I was if your LO is like that and save yourself the work