Ideas for Your Child's Winter Lunch Box: From Soup to Hot Dogs to Macaroni

It's winter. You send your children off to school wearing hats, scarves and jackets to keep them warm. What about their lunch boxes? Fill your child's school lunch boxes with warm winter treats to help warm their stomachs as well.

Soups and stews are always a great option for winter comfort food. Save some of your leftover soup and stews from dinner to put in your child's thermos for them to enjoy at school. Leftover dinner rolls can make great dippers for soup and help to fill your child up. A warm grilled cheese sandwich, wrapped in foil to retain heat, can make a great accompaniment for tomato soup. Tomato soup can also be jazzed up with many different types of additions. Baked fish crackers, shredded cheese, pepperoni slices, and even croutons can help turn ordinary tomato soup into extraordinary tomato soup. Pack these items separately so that your child can add them into the soup themselves.

Macaroni and cheese has long been a favorite of many kids. You can pack some macaroni and cheese in your child's thermos for a tasty lunch. Some packaged macaroni and cheese come in microwavable form making them easy to prepare on a busy morning. You don't have to serve up just plain macaroni and cheese though. Macaroni and cheese can be even more tasty and filling with a few additions. Items like peas, diced carrots, steamed broccoli, diced ham, can all be added separately or together into the macaroni and cheese. You could also pack a ham and cheese melt wrapped in foil to accompany the macaroni and cheese.

One of my family's favorite things to eat in the winter is spaghetti and meatballs. Leftover spaghetti and meatballs can make a tasty lunch for your child to take to school. You can include a slice of French or Italian bread in their lunch box as well. Older kids and adults who brown bag it can use the leftover meatballs and sauce to assemble their own meatball subs at lunchtime. Simply put the meatballs along with some sauce into a thermos, along with a container of shredded cheese, and a hoagie roll. These ideas would make for a much healthier option than canned pastas.

Hot dogs aren't just for summertime barbecues. You can place cooked hot dogs along with hot, not boiling, water into your child's thermos for a delicious and warm lunch box meal. Include a hot dog roll and any leftover ketchup and mustard packets you saved from a trip to a fast food restaurant. Older children and adults can pack the hot dogs in a thermos with chili instead of the hot water. They can also pack a container of shredded cheese to sprinkle over their chili dogs.

Pasta salads, as well as potato salads, aren't just for enjoying in the summertime either. There are many recipes for warm pasta and potato salads available on the internet. These can make great warm side dishes for your child's lunch box sandwich.

But winter isn't just about enjoying delicious comfort foods. Winter is also the time of year for enjoying warm beverages as well. Your child may be delighted to find a thermos filled with hot cocoa or warm apple cider to wash down their meals with. Older children or adults may enjoy a thermos filled with hot tea or coffee.

Keep your children's bellies full and warm by packing some of these delicious wintertime lunch box treats. Remember when using a thermos, you should first place hot (not boiling water) into the thermos to warm it up before placing your food inside.