More:Check out new, healthier prepackaged fare for lunchboxes | Add pizazz to your homemade sandwiches

As the morning bells ring in classrooms all across Palm Beach County this week, they signal the promise of a new year for schoolchildren, of new books, new lessons, new friends. For those of us who pack their lunches, however, the start of the school year brings the same old pop quiz: How does one fill that empty lunchbox quickly, creatively, frugally and healthfully? We've got ideas, tips and simple recipes for lunches the kids will love - so much, in fact, they'll give you an A. But as you stock up on your ingredients, there's one thing you can do to make your mornings easier - include your kids in the planning and prepping stages of your lunchbox-filling task. It's their lunch, after all! NIFTY LUNCHBOX FILLERS: Send warm soup, leftover stew, casserole or chili in a thermos. For added crunch, pack a small plastic bag with diced raw carrots, zucchini, cucumber, hard cheese or toasted tortilla wedges to be sprinkled atop soups. Spaghetti sauce is loaded with vegetables and nutrition. Mix with leftover pasta and a little shredded cheese. Use mustard, guacamole, Dijonnaise, or other spreads instead of mayonnaise to reduce fat and add flavor and surprise. Substitute plain low-fat Greek yogurt for half the mayo in your egg salad, chicken salad or tuna salad recipe. Substitute baby spinach leaves or thin slices of cucumber for lettuce in a sandwich. Pack smalls cups of salsa, hummus, or ranch dressing with cut-up vegetables and chips for dipping. For a double-duty item, pack a yogurt smoothie. It makes a great lunchtime drink or a terrific snack. Seal your sandwich and other lunch goodies in reusable plastic containers instead of one-use plastic bags. SWELL SANDWICHES: Think outside the sandwich: Use wraps, pitas, tortillas, sub rolls, hot dog buns, big leaves of romaine lettuce or crackers instead of ho-hum sandwich bread to give a new look and texture to your usual sandwiches and wraps. Thin slices of apple and cheddar cheese with mayo or mustard on whole-grain bread make a refreshing and sturdy sandwich. Dip apples in water with a squeeze of lemon juice beforehand to avoid browning. Perk up the usual by layering ham or bologna with lettuce and honey mustard dressing instead of mayo. Make a wrap of turkey, bacon, avocado slices and sprouts with mayo or mustard. Reach for a taste of Thanksgiving: turkey, lettuce and a little cranberry sauce on a sandwich. Add a fiesta touch with sliced deli chicken, a sprinkling of shredded cheese and a bit of salsa rolled in a flour tortilla. Pack a do-it-yourself lunch: crackers, rounds of cucumber, cheese, and ham or turkey. Use a biscuit cutter or cookie cutter to make deli meat and cheese the right shape and let your kids build their own cracker sandwiches. FOR EXTRA CREDIT, GET THE KIDS INVOLVED: Make a healthy snack mix, choosing from cereal, pretzel sticks, nuts, raisins, cranberries or other dried fruit bits, M&Ms or Reese's Pieces. Send a quarter-cup or half-cup serving to school, depending on your child's age. At the grocery, ask your kids to pick out fresh fruit they like: bananas, apples, oranges, plums, pluots, apricots, berries. At home, ask your kids to help you make potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw, carrot-raisin salad or this salami-mozzarella pasta salad: 2 cups uncooked small pasta, like rotelli; 2 cups baby spinach; 1 cup halved grape tomatoes; 4 ounces mozzarella, cubed; 2 ounces cubed salami; salt/pepper to taste; and 1⁄4 cup Italian vinaigrette or your child's favorite salad dressing. Cook pasta according to box directions. Cool. Toss everything together, and serve about 1 cup of this pasta salad per child. Encourage your child to help choose items at the grocery. If he or she chooses the ingredients, he or she will be more likely to eat them. Portion out apple sauce or mandarin oranges slices for a sweet ending to the meal. Don't forget to include a spoon! Make your kid's favorite cookies, snack cake or cupcakes. Making desserts yourself, you can not only save money - you can healthier ingredients, perhaps whole grain flour, or reduced amounts of sugar, and avoid high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. Make an unusual homemade gelatin of puréed and strained watermelon, root beer, white grape juice, or black-cherry soda. (Use 2 cups fruit juice or soda, 1 tablespoon gelatin powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, and optional 1⁄2 cup of fresh fruit chunks, like grapes, blueberries, strawberries. Dissolve gelatin in 1 cup of the liquid. Heat remaining cup of liquid with sugar, just to boiling, to dissolve sugar. Pour warm liquid over cold. Add optional fruit and chill in small, watertight containers. Chill 4 hours or until firm.) Wash, peel and portion out carrot sticks, celery, sugar snap peas, slices of mild peppers, or whatever vegetables your kids like. Pair them with a mini container of homemade dip (ranch, onion, veggie or salsa). For a thick but lower calorie dip, use low-fat Greek yogurt or reduced fat sour cream. LUNCHBOX DRINKS: Freeze water, juice pouches or fruit juice in non-BPA containers. They'll keep the entire packed meal cool, and thaw in time for lunch. Encourage kids to drink water. Add a few slices of lemon, lime, orange, strawberries or a sprig of fresh mint for extra flavor. Make a healthy, low-sugar lemonade, limeade or orangeade using stevia or a drizzle of agave syrup. Choose reduced-fat milk. It has plenty of calcium and Vitamin D, just fewer calories.