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He starts kindergarten this week, and I'm going to try to give him his favorite meals to help with the adjustment. Normal lunches are just leftovers in our house, but I'm going to pack him a ham sandwich with pickles on the side for Thursday and dumplings for Friday.

I need this thread. My toddler rotates between peanut butter on bread (no jelly, and I can't even toast it because our toaster oven broke and we aren't buying a new one until we move!), and cheese with pouches or grapes and carrots. I need more ideas that are super easy. We like to bring a picnic to the playground for lunch since we are trapped inside between the baby's naps a lot and lunchtime is the only chance we get sometimes.

I have a newborn at home so I'm not overthinking it. Plus, when she's home, she either eats pb&j or pb&shoney or Mac and cheese (we let her choose her lunch).
School is nut free, and they provide snacks.
She has camp m-th this week, when school starts it will just be twice a week.
I will probably pack:
Sunbutter and jelly (or honey)
Carrot and bell pepper sticks with hummus
Fruit
Milk

Maybe occasionally throw in some goldfish. She will also sometimes eat hummus and cheese wraps, so maybe we will do those occasionally.

Super easy!!! For the crescent rolls, I boil frozen pre-cut broccoli, open the crescent roll, peel each out (seriously the hardest part), take the coldcuts and spread onto each triangle, and by that time, the broccoli is done. Drain, add to each, wrap them, and bake! I follow the directions on the can - think its 375 for 12 minutes. Cool, and then freeze! The crescent rolls are extremely versatile and you can put pretty much anything in them. Nutella is my favorite

For the rice balls, we eat rice pretty much every night, so I'll take some hot rice straight from the rice cooker (won't work with cold rice), put in a bowl, add some apple cider vinegar, and let it cool just a touch. Then I take whatever we ate for dinner, chop it up, mix it in the rice. Then just scoop out and mash with my hands into small balls. Dd1 loves it!

@Foodnerd81: Do we have the same kid? DD will basically only eat two lunches- either peanut butter with no jelly on untoasted, crustless bread (or salami and crackers), served with cheese, fruit, and raw veggies. Every. Single. Day.

I once tried to make her a grilled cheese- she looked at me like I was crazy and said "Sandwiches are peanut butter, mommy."

Turkey
Blueberries
Blackberries
Raspberries
American cheese
Shredded cheddar cheese
Avacado
Black beans
Cottage cheese
Etc

My LO likes:

Greek inspired chicken I cook in the oven, and eats it in a pita with tzatziki.

DIY lunchables with meat, cheese and crackers.

PB&J

Salami sandwich

Most kinds of pasta

Quesadillas

Chicken nuggets

Tacos

Mac and cheese

Instead of a sandwich I stick the ingredients in a tortilla and make a roll up

DS is starting preschool in September so I'm trying to offer meals like he will get when he packs his lunch. He usually doesn't eat sandwiches and he's still getting the hang of utensils so it's tricky.

In the rotation (for either lunch or dinner):

- Rice balls like @yerpie110 but we do plain rice with crushed up nori, furikake, scrambled egg, and frozen corn usually.

- Mini tortellini tossed with butter and parm.

- Pigs in a blanket

- Pizza pinwheels (take Pillsbury pizza crust dough, spread with pizza toppings, slice and bake like cinnamon rolls).

- Chicken and cilantro wontons (frozen)

- Pressed ham and cheese pockets in the sandwich toaster (hoping the smooshed/grilled aspect will hide the sandwichyness).

- Mac n cheese with shredded veggies and ham mixed in.

- Chicken nuggets.

- Aidell's chicken meatballs with pasta.

- Corndog bites.

I will serve with carrot chips or frozen peas or corn, and fresh fruit. This week we have blueberries, blackberries, and pluots.

I always send (1) hummus and crackers and (2) a cut fruit or veggies for snack, and (3) some sort of "main course" and (4) cut fruit or veggies for lunch. He only takes lunch 2-3x per week because sometimes his grandparents take him out for lunch, and sometimes there is a pizza day at school.

The "main course" is either a sandwich, a deconstructed sandwich (cubed turkey, sliced cheese and a piece of bread), pasta with tomato sauce or pesto and often with chicken sausage mixed in, or some sort of leftovers.