I tend to agree that setting the standard of constant variation in lunches might be something you regret later. If he’s happy with eating the same thing every day, or repeating for a week, then maybe moving on to something else for a week, then going back to the original, so on and so forth, I’d stick with that. Different lunches every day may seem like a fun adventure now, but less so in 4 years.
I have two kids in elementary school, and in a couple of years will have three. I do not have the time or the energy to constantly vary what goes into their lunches. (I like WhyNot’s chart thing, but have to be honest that I am never going to be able to implement such a thing myself. I am just too fundamentally lazy and apathetic.)
What I do is have about three rotating “main-dish” items (lunchmeat sandwich; PB&J where the J can vary – sometimes it’s honey, sometimes strawberry jam, occasionally hummus; cheese & crackers), a variety of side items (applesauce cups, yogurts), and some kind of fresh fruit or veg, usually whatever is on sale at the store that week. None of them has ever complained about getting the same sandwich three days in a row or whatever. The fruit and veg do tend to vary a bit just because I shop for that stuff seasonally.
As for the issue of unsafe temperatures, I have to say that if 98% of the lunches reached an unsafe temperature, as stated in that article, and yet none of the kids wound up with food poisoning, I have to question whether this is something I really need to be hugely concerned about as a parent. Besides which, my kids’ lunchtime is only about three hours after I pack the lunches anyway.
Sushi!
Plus, all he has to do is brandish his toys in front of all the other kids with lunch boxes, and he’s got smorgasbord.
I agree with everyone who says to ask him. You may want to sit down on Friday afternoons and plan a week’s menus, at least in the beginning while he notices what everybody else is bringing. I’m afraid I don’t worry about the bacteria; none of my lunches were refrigerated and I’m fine, which medically really means nothing at all, I guess. A thermos will keep hot things hot, and an ice pack can keep things cold, although I could never figure out how to use one when I packed my daughter’s lunch without making everything soggy. Even the lunch boxes with the pocket on the outside for the icepack made the lunch soggy.
I’m a boring lunch-packer. My kids get:
sandwich (PB/honey or Vegemite & cheese, which would admittedly not work for a lot of kids, but keeps trading to a minimum!) or crackers with sliced cheese and pieces of pepperoni
fruit - grapes, strawberries, orange slices, clementines
vegetable - grape tomatoes, baby carrots, celery, bell pepper, whatever’s on hand
small dessert - a cookie, usually
afternoon snack - usually crackers or pretzels
water bottle
This is all stuff that I know my kids are going to eat. More adventurous stuff - the kind of thing that they might love one day and hate the next, or new dishes - I leave for dinner and weekends.
I tried to be more creative when my oldest started kindergarten, but I found he’d eat all the carrots and leave the fun pinwheel wrap. I think lunchtime can be a little stressful for them, especially when they’re just getting the hang of things. The food itself is a background thing while they focus on getting seated, having good behavior, and talking to their friends. Familiar, boring comfort food gets the job done.
I miss my carefree childhood days before everybody was health conscious and kids have to have fruit and veggies in their lunches. Mine was a peanut butter sandwich, a small bag of chips (Laura Scudder’s potato chips, usually), and a Zinger. I loved it. Never traded with anybody 'cuz I liked mine just fine. 
What’s wrong with the occasional snack cake? Maybe not every day (I know, they’re bad for you–but so are liquor and cigarettes. Let kids have fun sometimes!) but don’t kids still like Ding Dongs and Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies?
I don’t let my kids have liquor or cigarettes either. 
That was pretty much my lunch as a kid, too, except substitute a Cheez Whiz on Wonder Bread sandwich for the PBJ. My poor kids have never actually seen a Twinkie. They’re intimately acquainted with Oreos, though, so I hope that makes up for the sad lack of junk food in their lives.
This is funny because I was recently reminiscing with my brother about our HoHo and Hostess cupcake habits when we were kids.
Hey, I’ve got cookies and brownies on my list, don’t those count? 
(Son’s long since responsible for his own lunch, and Daughter’s gluten free, so Ding Dongs and Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies are out for us, but she definitely gets her share of junk food.)
Actually, cigs come in handy for trading.
Bentos are just lunchboxes. Yeah, the ones you see packed usually have rice and stuff instead of a sandwich, but it’s the same stuff (they are fun because it’s a cute little box, with cute little dividers and stuff but…)
I try to pack myself a lunch most days. I don’t really like sandwiches and tend towards ‘snacky’ type lunches. Some of my mainstays:
- Peanut butter and crackers (either saltines or ritz)
- cheese (I tend to do smoked or aged cheese, but you know your kids’ taste)
- crackers (I like triscuits or multigrain crackers personally)
- baloney or leftover bits of chicken
- grapes, strawberries, or whatever else is in season
I tend to throw in a bite or two of chocolate as well.
Thermos are great for taking leftovers as well. I used to take a chimichanga in one too.
Heh. What I meant by that was just that adults often partake of things that aren’t so good for them–what’s wrong with letting a kid have an occasional tasty-but-bad-for-you treat? A Twinkie or Ding Dong isn’t any worse than an adult having an occasional beer or cocktail. As long as you control how often they’re allowed to have them, they make nice changes from the endless series of veggies and healthy stuff.
(Hey, I grew up in the 70s. Only hippies ate healthy stuff. And I wasn’t at all unhealthy or overweight. But that said, I do get that kids today are a lot less active than even I was (and I was the type who spent most of my time with my nose in a book))
I figured that’s what you meant but couldn’t resist the one-liner. 
I throw in a Little Debbie oatmeal pie on Fridays when I think about it. But generally we don’t keep junk food like that in the house and I don’t feel the need to go out of my way to buy it just for treats. Besides which, you guys are making fruit and veg sound like it’s all plain celery sticks or something. A bunch of grapes, some clementines, a box of raisins, pineapple chunks, sliced apples and peanut butter…all items that meet with my kids’ approval.
Part of it for me is that I did grow up in a house that had readily available junk food all the time, and have been struggling with my weight since puberty. Now, I suspect that due to genetics and other factors, I would have had those struggles anyway, but having easy access to bags of chips, boxes of cookies, quarts of ice cream, etc., sure didn’t help.
Thanks for all the fantastic suggestions!
He and I will probably be discussing what goes in his lunch bag tomorrow this evening, but he was delighted with the idea of a lunch bag itself and kept making sure I’d put his sandwich inside. I think he asked me three times on the way to the garage and twice when we got in the car.
I wasn’t very organized this weekend, so the most fruit he got was apple sauce (hey, at least it was apples-only apple sauce). I also put in three small shortbread biscuits and a juicebox as a surprise along with his water bottle. We very rarely have juiceboxes or sweets in the house. I tossed in a string cheese, too, though it might have been overkill.
I agree that lunchtime can probably be stressful those first few weeks. He’s used to having all the time he wants to eat his food - they were really relaxed about it at pre-school, and I’ve never pushed him to finish food in X amount of minutes - so he’s kind of a pokey eater. But he’ll have to get down to business now when it’s lunchtime or he’ll go hungry until snack time.
When I was a little kid, I think I ate mostly baloney sandwiches with mayo on them and chips. Snacks were usually more chips with American cheese melted on them. When I was in high school, I had eating issues, so I had four triscuits and one slice of fat-free American cheese, carefully divided into quarters plus zillions of diet cokes every day.
Is he in a full day kindergarten? He’s probably going to be ravenous and cranky when he gets out - not because you didn’t pack enough, but because he probably won’t have made time to eat half of it. You may want to bring a fresh string cheese and a few crackers when you pick him up.
It takes a while for pokey eaters to grok that they really have a limited, short amount of time to eat in, but he’ll get it eventually.
Wouldn’t a quesedilla or chicken strips get cold?
My kids never seemed to care much. I mean, at home, it takes her so friggin’ long to eat a quesedilla that it’s cold before she’s halfway through anyhow.
I agree that PB&J plus a fruit and some veggies is about as complex as it needs to get. And the same thing all week is fine- even when I was old enough to pack my own lunches I’d just slam out five identical sandwichs throw them in bags along with fruit and snacks, and call it done.
As an adult, I’m a fan of leftovers and salads. Sometimes I even throw leftovers into a salad. I’ve got a slick designer bento box and just fill it with the most colorful things I can.
If possible, I suggest getting the kid used to drinking water with meals. Learning that water goes with meals and other liquids are treats is a gift that will last a lifetime. If you get used to the idea that “water tastes bad” or that most meals should have juice/soda/whatever on the side, it is a hard mindset to break. An adult reared like that has to work to train themselves to drink plain old water again. It better to keep water as the default drink to begin with.
As for treats- sure, they are fine. But they should be treats, not routines. As a kid, I got a standard issue lunch except when I went on field trips- then I got a good deli sandwhich, a small bag of chips, a can of Pepsi and two whole Hostess cupcakes. The reasons were financial, but it set me up on good footing- I never got used to dessert every day, drinking soda with meals, or mindlessly snacking on chips. I learned to enjoy these thing in moderation- not as comfort or bonding or reward, but as an occassional fun thing.
My kids prefer their quesadillas cold. I have no idea why. Also, Whatsit Jr. refuses to eat PB&J in his lunch because he hates when the jelly soaks through the bread and makes it soggy. That’s the best part, man! Kids these days.