OT: Passover school lunches ideas (xposted)

I don't remember if there is anyone here who keeps Kosher or not. I was
looking for ideas for DD to take for lunch. This will be the first year
that she will be in school all day. I only have 3 maybe 4 days that I
have to plan for but the only thing I can come up with is maybe fruit
and cheese. We don't keep strict kosher so I could send meat and cheese
but what would she eat it on? Just when I thought I was getting a handle
on Passover. Any ideas?

MsLiz...

I grew up in a kosher houshold but have not continuted the tradition so
forgive me if any of these foods are not allowed:

yougurt
peanut butter (on matzo)
tofu dogs
any type of tofu cubes (teriyaki,etc.)
cheese
fruits
veggie sticks with dressing
cottage cheese
bags of nuts
tahini and honey on matzo

That's all my brain will allow me to come up with at 7:23 am.

Irene...

One of my favorite Passover lunches was always cream cheese and
strawberry jam on Matza - yummy! You can do peanut butter & jelly on
matzah, too - the gooey stuff helps keep it together when it crumbles.
(Especially hazardous for packed lunches vs lunches you eat right after
preparing, of course.) You have to be careful not to use too much jam,
or it gets really messy. ;-)

Barbara...

Peanut butter isn't kosher for Passover; sorry, You can do cashew
butter, though, or even easier, cream cheese.

Irene...

Iirc, that's Ashkenazi rules vs Sephardic rules - I sometimes get
confused on that one. I guess that explains where my mom started doing
the cream cheese bit.

Since you don't keep strictly kosher, I assume you'll eat gebrokts.
web-search a kosher for Pesach roll recipe instead of bread. Otherwise,
you can do tuna or cheese in a plastic container; salad; cottage
cheese; chicken or some other leftovers from dinner.

Irene...

I'd never heard of gebrokts before! I had to web-search it - and I have to
admit, I would really miss a lot of my favorite Passover goodies if I
didn't eat gebrokts. Tho I have to admit I prefer stuff that's
specially Passover rather than imitating regular food, iykwim.

Oh, and for salad, if you are being strictly Kosher, you have to be
pretty careful about salad dressings...

(I don't keep Kosher, but do keep Kosher for Passover, mostly)

I also eat gefilte fish or yogurt w/ sweet potato, tho of course the
sweet potato isn't a good packable lunch. It's been a while since I
had to pack lunches at all, so I'm trying to remember some of this
stuff!

LAdezio...

Let's see....it's been ages since I've had to pack lunches, but let me
dig into what's left of my brain:

When I was a kid, mom just made matzoh sandwiches (she'd try her best
to break the pieces into quarters and make mini-sandwiches) -- pd&j,
cream cheese with strawberry jam, peanut butter and apple
butter....I've seen what amount to basically matzoh crackers, so you
could send them along with various toppings and let her make her own
combinations.

Irene...

Garlic Tam Tams! :-) I only discovered them as a grownup, actually,
but now they are my favorite Passover munchy (sp?).

LAdezio...

Those are the ones! Couldn't remember the name of them. I don't think
they were around when we were kids...

MsLiz...

Then of course there's the sweet-tooth treats:
Twizzly chocolate covered marshmellow
Chocolate covered rasberry jelly things
Chocolate covered matzoh

For the Aussies, this is something altogether different from Tim
Tams...

For my kids, I'd do little baggies of things like cubed cheeses with
cut veggies along with a little container of something to dip in. If
your kids like gefilte fish, that works -- especially if you also send
some pieces of lettuce to make roll-ups. Rolled up cold cuts with
veggies. Soup in a thermos. Tuna fish, made how she likes it --
either on lettuce rolled up, or let her put it on matzoh. Fruit, of
course. Cold chicken, done up as a finger food. And, FWIW, when I was
a kid, I used to love to take charoset in my school lunch. It always
felt subversive to me to know that I was eating something at school
that had wine in it. :)

(Aw, man...now I want to go get the makings for charoset!)

Also, check out the Kosher aisle -- there are special Kosher for
Passover mixes for things like pound cake and the like...you might get
some additional ideas, too.

You could also keep an eye out for yogurt, pre-made jello and puddings
that are marked as Kosher -- even if they're not parve, if you don't
have a problem with letting her have meat mixed with dairy during that
week, then just the standard Kosher marks should be okay for you (I
don't keep Kosher, either, FWIW)