I'm looking for ideas for school lunch box contents. Can you suggest anything good/interesting?

Fruit, cut up veggies, soups, bread, leftovers. Anything that isn't pre-packaged or filled with empty calories.

No, because my son was always complaining about getting the same old stuff when he was at the age where I still fixed his school lunch for him. I guess I'm not a very inspiring lunch maker.

When I was a kid, I liked to find cold fried chicken and pie in my lunch. I didn't like finding a bologna sandwich and an apple.

My mom was very creative with my lunches when I was a kid. Some of my favorites were hamburger sandwiches made from hamburgers my mom had made for dinner the night before (just slice it in half lengthwise and place it between bread with ketchup, lettuce and whatever toppings your kids might like); mini pitas stuffed with tuna and alfalfa or with peanut butter and sliced bananas; and although I was not a huge fan of hard-boiled eggs, I liked it when my mom put one in my lunchbox (in the shell) and drew a funny picture or wrote a message on it. Oh yeah, and a thermos of Alphaghetti was always good.

hummus...you can either dip vegetables into it or serve it with pita bread. It's my daughter's favorite.

peanut butter and jelly ?

I just love home made burritos. You can put whatever you want in them pretty much. I through a couple on the dash of my truck while I'm working out in the pasture and when I get a little hungry I unwrap and eat. They are even good cold.

Don't forget the hot sauce!

I'll tell you what my mum makes me. She usually makes me sandwich, either a turkey or an egg sandwich. And then she'll pack me some chocolate chip cookies or something else. Sometimes I bring raisins. Always, I will bring water and a juice, just so I have something to drink throughout the day.

You can always pack them fruit in a little Glad box, or even better, prepare them some Caesar salad and out it htere.

Left overs are always good. Like, my mum makes those pastries and she packs them for me. I saw a lot of other people having spaghetti, though I never tried bringing that to school.

I always loved pudding - but my mom rarely packed it for me. Lasagna would be wonderful (good lasagna). Lots of interesting fruit - persimmons, pomegranites (so they're not bored by apples and oranges).

chicken or turkey, veggies (raw, or you can forget about the vitamins), something sweet but not too fat like jam or nutella or whatever he likes to eat on his bread. And bread of course.

Go for something healthy but not so healthy that a kid doesn't want to eat it.

I had a hard time eating sandwiches at school (the thought of getting salad cream or margarine int the corner of my mouth so people could see made me paranoid, so I just wouldn't eat all day - bizarre I know. I'm mostly past that now....) so my mum would make me salads - pasta salads, egg salads, potato salad - whatever she had in - it would be finger food or fork food so I could be sure I was going to get it all in my mouth without getting it on me. (Even so I would - and still do, just not so much - wipe at the corners of my mouth with my fingers after almost every bite). It would be things like a bag of lettuce, little cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, sweetcorn, cheese, nice bread, a boiled egg....etc.

Make spanish omelettes the night before then stick them in the fridge and give your kids a slice in their lunches, or put some squares of it on cocktail sticks with chunks of fruit/vegetables/meat/cheese.

Little tubs of cottage cheese are great.

Make them cheese sandwiches, maybe with some tomato in as well but using fairly crusty bread. Then they can microwave them for a few seconds and have melted cheese sandwiches.

Make mini pizzas (the bases are very simple to make, then just spread with tomato puree, stick on some cheese and then some veg) and then they can have them hot or cold.

Cook a potato in the microwave for about 15 minutes, let it cool then put it in their lunchbox. They can reheat it at school and then have it with grated cheese/butter that you've put in their lunchboxes (it's fine to reheat things like potatoes once).

Soup is very easy, and doesn't take long to reheat.

SNACK PAKS!!!

Carrot sticks with guacomole dip.
Frozen juice drinks.

Oh, don't worry about wiping your mouth after every bite. I do that, too, and when I do it it looks very neurotic.

Thick soup with chunks in a sealable cup type container. Warm and with vitamins and stuff.

I'm getting over it. I do it far less around people I trust than I used to - every few mouthfuls, or if I feel there's something there, rather than all the time. I can even eat in public quite happily now, even sat opposite someone I don't know all that well. I mean, I wipe my mouth, and I'm careful not to take huge mouthfuls, but I can do it

I always had the standard sandwich, granola bar, fruit, cookies, whatever else might be around...
I like taking leftovers for my own lunches, which works well if there's a microwave. I like having soup, too. Especially when it's cold.

As long as you don't do it with your fingers/hand (what I always do), it's not that bad.

I use my fingers.

Aw well.

Don't forget carrots and apples.

I used to have the usual - a few sarnies, a piece of fruit, a bottled still drink, a yoghurt and a chocolate bar. I didnt like packed lunches though and went back to school dinners. Mmmmmm.

drinkable yogurt
mochi
savory scones
bread with cheese and meat baked into it

My favorite as a kid was an egg salad sandwich on toast. My mom would scramble an egg, mix it with mayonnaise and mustard, add some paprika and put it on toast.....It was delectable to me!
My son, on the other hand, prefers the hot lunch in his school cafeteria. School lunches have quite improved since I was in school, I assume, or he wouldn't eat it.

mmmmm...hummus. I forgot about hummus! Yummy!

celery stuffed with cream cheese or pnut butter

I always ate the school cafateria lunches.

A $5 bill.

Campbells tomato soup (made with milk) and peanut butter crackers. I love that lunch.

I ate the following every day for years: 1.) either a peanut butter/jelly or balogna/mustard sandwich 2.) Fritos 3.) Twinkies

Oscar Meyer Lunchables--if you can afford it. They're really expensive.

And really crap for your health

A discreet note from mom..

Any limitations as far as sugar or fat?

I always loved Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Roll-Ups with character peel-outs. Lunchables get boring after awhile. Make your own fruit cups at home using their favorite fruits, leave out the ones they don't like. Soups were always a favorite too. I brought leftovers for lunch sometimes. String Cheese was new then, I think. I begged my mom until she caved on the string cheese, she thought it was gross.