Lunch Ideas for a Picky 5 Yr Old

Will he eat celery or carrot sticks? I send in my kids lunches cut up fruit, red salad peppers and cucumber slices. I also send with them the snacks they prefer. My kids are more likely to eat the nutritious stuff when I balance it with a desert.

Would he be excited to eat a slice of pizza?
How about a hot dog sandwich? or a hot dog on a regular bun?
Would he like to create "cracker buildings" with lunch meat, cheese and crackers and then gobble them up? Maybe a few of the cracker buildings can be PB&J to help ease the new foods? (Cracker buildings... yeah, I know that sounds funny but I find that if I change what I call food to be more appealing to my daughter, she gets more excited to eat it... Like, meat balls are "cannon balls"... crackers on soup are rafts/boats...)

What kinds of lunch/sandwiches does he eat on the weekends? Maybe start introducing those new sandwiches and see how it goes, if you can just carry it onto the next day...?

I don't know if he will like any of these but it's what we send. Boiled egg whites, thermos with hamburger helper, spaghettios. His favorite soup. Cheese, w/ lunch meat no bread. Hot dogs cut up. Chicken breast cut up with ranch to dip. Dry cereal seems to be a favorite. Fruit of any kind. Sometimes if you just throw it in you never know what they will eat when your not there. Keep trying new things, it gets easier. It's hard to get creative. If he like fajita meat, or burger meat just cut it up and put it in a baggie with something to dip it in. Breakfast bars are semi healthy, and the kids think they are snacks. Good luck.

N.

My daughter is in 5th grade and all she ever wanted for lunches were pb&J or pb&honey (and still does!) But, the pedi checked her cholesterol at her last checkup and found that it was too high. So, I've tried to limit the pb sandwiches somewhat (but she really doesn't like anything else). I use 100% whole wheat bread, sugar free jelly, and I found a pb at Walmart called Naturally More. It is fortified with flaxseed and flaxseed oil, Omega 3 and Omega 6. It's made with roasted peanuts, wheat germ, cane sugar, egg whites and honey and is lower in fat and higher in protein.

Ranay is right. Many children will want to eat the same thing every day. The child finds comfort knowing what to expect.
If you want o encourage a variety, each week when you go to the store, just ask him if he would like a different kind of sandwich. Make a few suggestions, but do not push. At some point I remember telling my daughter, if you ever want something different in your lunch, just let me know. At some point she asked for a green salad with chicken pieces. Yes this was in kindergarten. Then in first grade every once in a while she would ask for a plain turkey sandwich. I would switch out the piece of fruit from an apple to an orange. She loved dry fruit, apples, apricots, mangos. One time when I had run out of bread, I gave her some pretzel sticks with a small container of peanut butter for her to dip, she liked it, so every once in a while I would do this as a treat.

Tortillas, pita bread and crackers can be exchanged for the bread. Cheese sticks hold up well since kindergartners eat so early in the day. Cold pizza, if you child likes it is one of the favorites at the elementary level.

my 4 year old daughter ALWAYS wants a PB&J or PB with honey! I just send a half a sandwich and then add a couple other items like animal crackers, pretzels, yogurt, string cheese, banana, pudding, jello, homemade cookies (oatmeal or peanut butter), a muffin, goldfish crackers, raisins, applesauce, etc. can't think of anything else right now...I try to make it different each time so she's not eating the same thing every day. and I send her a thermos of water for lunch and a juice box for snack time
if you can get your son to try new sandwiches when he's at home, maybe try turkey or ham with cheese or bologna. Some kids like to just have the meat or meat and cheese but no mustard or mayo.
hope this helps!

He may be a creature of Habit! PBnJ may just be his noon meal for school, and he likes the norm of it! We all grew up on PBnJ on (hold the phone) WHITE BREAD! AAAHHHH! LOL But as for your kiddo, is he eating diff stuff at diff times of the day like dinner?
Send PBnJ with veggie sticks, or "aunts on a log" as a side. Or fresh fruit peices.
Best wishes!

My daughter (1st grade) has eaten PB&Js the majority of her lunches. She loves them and eats them, so I'm not too worried. I have purchased the more expensive multi-grain wheat bread with 6 grams of protein and the sugar-free jelly, so I feel it's a good nutritious lunch. She also LOVES the Turkey cubes (found by the ham steaks at HEB) with string and/or cubed cheeses. So sometimes I'll switch it up and make grapes/cheese/turkey cubes on tooth-picks. Good luck!

Well,at least he is getting the protein that he needs from the peanut butter. I really wouldn't worry about changing his sandwich obsession but maybe try to add some healthy sides. My boys like little mini "salads". Garbanzo beans, crunchies, celery, carrots, etc. You might look also into getting sugar free jelly or almond butter. You can also do the "deceptive" thing and put some puree of veggie onto his sandwich. Or sprinkle some flax seed onto it. Anyway...He'll outgrow it. At least he isn't obsessed with those expensive and salt laden luchables.

for my daughter's lunch:
peanut butter and jelly
lunchable
i roll up little pieces of ham and cut pieces of cheese
snacks:
jello with fruit inside
pudding
gummy snacks
cheese crackers with cheese or peanutbutter

my daughter is real picky also...i sometimes ask her what she wants for lunch that way i know she will eat it.

peanut butter is a meat sub. and is good for him. No problem with that. But see if maybe you can put some on crackers and add some with meat and cheese.Add fruit with cheese also these are easy finger type foods and are also good for him to eat. Good luck.

When my daughter started school we had a taste-athon where we made a whole bunch of different things and decided if we liked them. Its funny what we found out. She loves tuna salad sandwiches! She likes ham and swiss with mayo! She likes peanut butter and banana! She likes grilled chicken on a salad with cheese shreds. She likes cucumber(who knew?)and cream cheese on a sandwich. She likes those vegetarian corn dogs! Once she realized that she could have a variety she became excited to see what I would pack her next! In the winter when its cold she loves it when I send her a thermos of hot soup. She also likes those little separate plastic cups of corn and peas that they sell at Walmart. They don't have them at HEB yet. Some stuff has been added and some taken away. But she still gets excited over lunch.

I can't really suggest anything to correct the pickiness except we eat foods that are good for us and comment on how good taste and 'wow I can't wait to have dinner'. It has conned our kids into eating all kinds of foods.
But with the PB&J here's a thought. Depending on what the concerns are you could modify without him knowing really. We don't use actual peanut butter very much. I personally don't think that peanuts are good for people. We use almond butter, almonds are the best nut a person can eat because of the oil and fiber. We use real fruit preserves instead of jam or jelly. Smuckers has a low sugar jam that tastes great and has no artificial sweeteners. And you can buy light wheat bread where the carbs in 2 slices is the same as the carbs in 1 slice of other breads. I buy whole flax seed, grind it in my coffee bean grinder until it is powder, and store it in a glass jar in the frig. I sprinkle this in all kinds of sandwiches. It sticks to spread inside the sandwich. You can't really taste it and there is nothing to crunch. Flax seed is great for you because of the oils in it. Good essential fatty acids. All added together this makes for a relatively healthful sandwich.
God Bless

I have found that when I try to send something different, they aren't really eating it at school. Peanut butter and Jelly isn't a bad lunch, especially if it's good quality peanut butter. Peanut butter, true peanut butter, is highly nutritious with the right kind of fat and high protein. It's excellent for growth and brain development. There are a lot of good choices in jelly too! If you're giving him good quality, then he is eating healthy. If you're trying to switch him over to good quality jam and peanut butter, you might have to start slow, mixing them together. Something is better than nothing. You can also send fresh fruit with it, grapes/apple/banana.

There's nothing wrong with pbj everyday as long as there's not too much jelly. Does he eat the whole sandwich? You might try a Lunchable, but you'ed have to put a little cold pack in the lunchbox to keep it cool. PBJ has fed millions. If he likes it, let him have it. That rather than turning him against lunchtime. Have you tried just peanut butter and crackers?

Take him and allow him to pick stuff out. If he is able to pick out his own lunchables or sandwich fixins he might be more inclined to eat other things.

Good luck!

Take him shopping with you and let him pick out what looks good to him.
I don't know if your son is in public school yet but some schools are peanut free due to so many kids allergic to peanut butter.
I was in the same boat as you and the school my son goes to is a no peanut school and he eats lunchables when he doesn't buy the school lunch.
Good luck/

I would try to send a disposable cup of p-nut butter and apple wedges, carrots and celery to dip in the p-nut butter. If he eats this then he can have a sandwich after school. Or those extras and the sandwich in his lunch. PBJ is good as long as it is not for every meal.

My son took peanut butter sandwiches to school every day for two years. I agree that this is a "comfort" food for your child. Remember, this is just lunch. As you have previously been told, there is a lot of nutritional value in peanut butter (I use organic). Does he eat a good breakfast and a good dinner? If so, I wouldn't worry too much. Best wishes!