Ideas for kosher dairy school lunches

[Kajikit]

cheese pizza, mini-quiche, tabbouli, salad, cheese balls, rice salad with tuna, soybutter or sunbutter (tastes pretty much like PB only sweeter so kids should love it), mini muffins (savoury or sweet), veggie sticks and hummus...

[NWKate]

I've spoken to friends elsewhere about this, and nut-free seems to be fairly common even in the middle of the country. The uniquely ridiculous thing we seem to be doing in Manhattan (which probably includes Park Slope) is, whenever one kid in the school has a (real or imagined) allergy to one thing, that thing gets banned school-wide.

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It does seem like mass paranoia. Did some school get sued, because some toddler with a nut allergy took a bite of some other toddler's PB&J? My wife attended a meeting for parents at the school where the food policy was discussed in very serious tones, suggestive of the pronouncement of a moral imperative, and the parents of the children in question seemed thoroughly unapologetic and even to profess a sense of entitlement about their child's school's adoption of the nut-free/allergen-free policy.

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It may seem like mass paranoia unless you are the parent whose child develops an anaphalactic reaction after a classmate coughs spraying peanut oil on them. Having worked in classrooms with such children, I can assure you that these very real health risks are taken VERY seriously.

[PopsicleToze]

Lots of good ideas. Please keep them coming. August we will be conducting tastings to see which things he likes.

Some thoughts I had today on the subway: chunks of mozzarella and grape tomatoes, cold sesame noodles (I wonder how this would work with penne or something easier to eat than spaghetti-type noodles), yogurt with fruit, muffins,  mini quiche, hard-cooked eggs (of course).

Larb stands out as a fun and different lunch. 

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Is there such a thing as a meatless version of larb?

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I forgot about the vegetarian and was thinking of larbed chicken.

Oops.

Carry on

[snowangel]

Lots of good ideas. Please keep them coming. August we will be conducting tastings to see which things he likes.

Some thoughts I had today on the subway: chunks of mozzarella and grape tomatoes, cold sesame noodles (I wonder how this would work with penne or something easier to eat than spaghetti-type noodles), yogurt with fruit, muffins,  mini quiche, hard-cooked eggs (of course).

Larb stands out as a fun and different lunch. 

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Is there such a thing as a meatless version of larb?

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I forgot about the vegetarian and was thinking of larbed chicken.

Oops.

Carry on

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Larbed squid is good (although in that case, it just might be a yam).

What about dan dan noodles?

[Fat Guy]

Squid is unkosher, unfortunately.

The one thing PJ won't deal with is anything particularly spicy, so dan dan noodles wouldn't work at least not in their traditional form.

[Fat Guy]

This week I started doing some tastings of products that might be inclusion-worthy. The first thing I tried were some supermarket vegetable gyoza, which I boiled and let cool to simulate a morning in the lunchbox. He took one bite and spit it out. I then took one bite and wanted to spit it out. The product was just not good. Today I think I might make a frittata and see how a slice of that is received.

[Kerry Beal]

Is there such a thing as a meatless version of larb?

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I'll bet that mushrooms would 'larb' well.

I'm thinking that baked mac and cheese would be good even cold - with a squirt of ketsup of course!

[feedmec00kies]

This week I started doing some tastings of products that might be inclusion-worthy. The first thing I tried were some supermarket vegetable gyoza, which I boiled and let cool to simulate a morning in the lunchbox. He took one bite and spit it out. I then took one bite and wanted to spit it out. The product was just not good. Today I think I might make a frittata and see how a slice of that is received.

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Vegetarian supermarket gyoza are usually pretty awful in my experience. In my tenure as a vegetarian, my mom made up a vegetarian potsticker recipe that I've used with great success in college; vegetarians and omnivores alike enjoyed them. I've never committed the recipe to paper, unfortunately, but I can tell you what was in it and you can eyeball it. Filling them would be a good father-son activity, too, especially since nothing is raw.

The filling consisted of scrambled egg, chinese chives, and bean thread noodles.

Prep for the filling:

- Scramble the eggs, using soy sauce and white pepper to flavor them.

- Cut the chinese chive in 1/4 inch segments and saute.

- Soften the bean thread noodles and cut into approximately 1 inch segments

- Mix everything together, and fill dumpling skins.

Now the proportions of eggs to chives to bean thread I've never quite gotten right; I think I usually end up with way too much bean thread. The amount of eggs and chinese chives should be about equal. I think bean thread should probably be a third of the amount of egg/chinese chive. It's more in there for a little texture, not flavor, so maybe you can use that as a guide.

Instead of the method of frying the bottom and adding water to steam afterwards (a potsticker method of cooking that I've never quite gotten the hang of, honestly), I've usually steamed them and had a hot pan close by that I threw them into to sear them. They don't really need any more cooking than the time it takes to cook the dumpling skin, anyway.

[DanM]

I have always been partial to pasta salads for lunch. A particular favorite is small pasta of any shape, a hand full of basil and mint diced, onions, fresh mozarella, roasted peppers, grape tomatoes, capers, lemon zest, and olive oil. Easy to make and very kid friendly. Clementines are in season and are kid friendly given their size and lack of seeds. Trail mix works well as a snack. A many layered bean dip with cut veggies is another option.

Good luck on your son's first day, if it has not happened yet.

Dan

Edited August 10, 2009 by DanM (log)

[CaliPoutine]

Clementines are in season

Where? I always thought Clementines were a winter fruit!!

[DanM]

Clementines are in season

Where? I always thought Clementines were a winter fruit!!

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I just looked at the box... ummmm it is a winter fruit... from South Africa! They are good though.

Dan

[Fat Guy]

Armed with all these ideas, and having started recipe testing, I'm moving on to the construction phase. You can find the successor discussion, along with some photos of the conveyances I've acquired, over on the larger Bentos topic.

[DanM]

My eldest is about to start summer camp with the same lunch rules. There are lots of great ideas here. Does anyone have new ideas?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

My mother used to send me off with grated carrot/raisin salad sandwiches on Roman Meal bread, not an easy trade in those days. But actually a rather good sandwich.

Edited June 17, 2012 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[LindaK]

My mother used to send me off with grated carrot/raisin salad sandwiches on Roman Meal bread, not an easy trade in those days. But actually a rather good sandwich.

It is a favorite of mine, too. If I have any feta around, I like to crumble a bit in. My bread preference is pita, since it holds the mixture safely. Line with lettuce or arugula (the grownup variation) so the bread doesn't get soggy.

When I was a kid, pita made every sandwich more fun.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Chinese bao (steamed buns with veggie fillings) or veggoe dim sum would fit the bill. I used to send those in school lunches.

[jrshaul]

I actually attended a Jewish school for 6th and 7th grade. (Disclaimer: Sending your children to a religious primary school is guaranteed to fast-track them to apostasy faster than Ozzy Osbourne. You have been warned.)

Anywho, favorite included:

-Morningstar Farms Vegan Corn Dogs. Given the highly artificial bizzaro nature of real corn dogs, starting with textured vegetable protein can't do any harm. The "chicken" patties were pretty good and the soy breakfast links passable, but avoid anything approximating beef.

-Pizza. It's good cold.

-Bagels + Lox. Bagels + Whitefish. Bagels plus anything.

-Falafel. Come to think of it, anything in a pita.

-Cold tuna/swordfish/whatever steak. Trader Joe's Tuna, at $6/lb, works really well for this.

-Sushi.

-cold lasagna.

I've also had a bit of luck with leftover tofu I put in my smoker. Marinade it in something to hide the tofu taste, and cook it at ~200-225 for about two hours until it goes squeaky like cheese. I'm not a super-huge fan, but cold deep-fried tofu is a traditional sushi ingredient.

Also consider the use of a vacuum thermos. You can keep a risotto piping hot for four hours easy.

Edited June 30, 2012 by jrshaul (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Crustless muffin tin quiches are something I make frequently for my LUPEC meetings. A few of the girls have gluten allergies and several are vegetarian. This covers that ground and the variations are endless. Broccoli-cheddar. Roasted red pepper-pepper jack. Mushroom-Swiss. Apple or pear-gorgonzola. Leftover whatever and whatever cheese you have lying about. Great for cleaning out the fridge.

If you have a Russian or Eastern European market near you, fresh frozen pierogies are great. Or any of those lovely prepared salads, eggplant a thousand ways, rice stuffed cabbage, vegetarian pelmeni or vareniki, etc. If you come to Philly for the Heartland Gathering I can send you to the Bell's Market on your way back to New York and you can stock up and get a million ideas of stuff to make yourself. The prepared foods are to die for.

edited to add:

Sorry - just realized how old this thread is and was directing that answer at Fat Guy. Probably of no use to him at this point, but I hope it's helpful to someone.

Edited July 1, 2012 by KatieLoeb (log)

[DanM]

The first week of camp has come and gone. I found some nice rubbermaid two compartment plastic containers. A typical lunch will include some cut up fruit (mellon, apricot, peach, etc...), a couple of mini pitas or a mini bagel, sliced cheese or cream cheese on the bread option, and either baby carrots, cut up cuke, or other veg.

Mini quiches are a great idea. I just bought a mini muffin tin and will give it a try.