Packed Lunches for School

Pink.

Hi little,

There are some great ideas that should help on these older threads:

back to school packed lunch os ideas?

Kids paked lunch for under £1.85 per day

Cheap healthy playground snacks

Kid's packed lunch ideas! Help!

Pink

bertiebots

Hi I am sure there must be something on here to give me ideas but finding it is another matter...! Does anyone please have any ideas for kids lunch boxs on a budget. I am making 99% of our food from scratch and trying to cut back my food budget.
With 3 kids on packed lunches I am really stuck for ideas for fresh kid friendly grub that isnt going to come home at the end of the school day. I have been making my own bread rolls but What do I put in them? I can do the egg mayo , tuna , cheese ,left over chicken but now my mind is a blank:o . I really dont want to give them processed meats so any ideas would be very welcome.
At the moment they have a sandwich roll, piece of fruit, fruit juice (lidl) and a yogurt.:D

WorkingHardDFW

Hi bertiebots

I struggle with this as well. Although I don't make my own bread. I make a cake or muffin for them, they have a piece of fruit and a sandwich/pitta bread.

One my kids particularly like is a pasta or rice salad. I stuff in grated carrot, peppers, mushroom as well as either some protein, some pesto mixed in and it goes down well. I send them in with plastic cutlery (they've a habit of losing it) which gets washed and reused.

Another one they like is cold pizza. I don't usually make this specifically for their lunch but sometimes I cook two and use one of the lunches.

I struggle with drinks. I've tried sending them with cartons of fruit juice which they love but its expensive. I've tried drinks bottles of squash/water but its doesn't really get drunk. I've been looking around for a better value fruit juice for lunches - Anyone any ideas.

lil_me

Refillable juice bottle would be a good step to save you on the juices. If they are thirsty they will drink it even if it's water, water is usually also on offer at school all day in most schools now aswell.

Sandwiches - jam/marmalade, cook a ham yourself and slice for sandwiches, cooked and cooled bacon, salad if they like it. To be honest I think 3/4 options is enough variety but you might want to do more. Could do curried/tikka chicken, add sweetcorn or similar to the tuna/chicken to bulk it out a bit and add some variety.

Some kids like different things, sausage rolls and pasties easy to make, pasta salads, samosas/pancake rolls, cheese with crackers, tortilla wraps

littleredhen

houmus
boursin
guacemole
light philadelphia
carrot sticks
raisins
cheese & crackers
pitta bread
i buy Tescos own cartons of juice but they are only allowed a carton of juice once a week and have to have water the rest of the time;) make no apologies its the best thing for their teeth

lil_me

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=8354541&highlight=packed%2Blunch%2Bideas#post8354541

Think there is a few on there that might or might not be on those Pink just posted

Atalanta

I should probably look at some of these ideas....I'm afraid I'm very unadventurous in what I give my 6 year old for his packed lunch - but I've never had any complaints and he usually eats the lot. It's always sandwiches (using HM bread) - 2 fillings, usually some ham, some hummus, sometimes cheese instead or as a special treat smoked salmon. Plus a piece of cucumber or carrot or a few cherry toms, a HM cake or flapjack and a piece of fruit. I don't have to put juice in as they are not allowed it at his school - they just take a bottle of water which I'm quite happy with as it makes it cheaper as well.

champys

This is of no use to you whatsoever, but I can't resist telling you that when I grew up (in the '60s), my brothers and I made up our own lunch packs to take to school. My mother suffered badly from insomnia, and whatever sleep she could get happened early morning, so she was never present to see us off to school. The choice for us was either eat stale sandwiches she had made the day before, or make our own in the morning - which for us was normal procedure. There was always plenty of fresh brown bread, and cheese, ham, boiled eggs, lettuce leaves, tomatoes & fruit available. Needless to say we always ate and enjoyed our lunch as we had chosen and made it ourselves! We also made sure we prepared the right quantity for our appetite, enough, but nothing wasted.
In hindsight I think it did a lot in teaching us at a young age about food needing some effort being prepared and not just coming up from 'somewhere'!
(But if my mother had been healthier, I don't think it would have happened like this - it is not as if I would recommend it!)

blitz

It was a waste of time making my lot sandwiches to take to school, they just wasnt eating them, so now on Monday & Thursday they have 2 large slices of HM banana loaf & fruit loaf. Tuesday garlic bread & soft cheese, & now they only have a sandwich on a Wed, which i cut into small bite size pieces, now i get a nice empty lunch bag. Friday they have pizza & a pud at school.

They also have in their lunch box
HM cake, muffin,flapjack or scone etc(if its fruit or banana loaf day, I give them crackers & cheese instead)
Rice pud, yoghurt or mixed fruit
pket of crisps.

fruit juice or milkshake

bertiebots

Thanks ..I am going to try the yogurt idea and see what they think.If they dont want it I will eat it ,yogurt and honey is yummy! (dont know why I didnt think of that before!) pizza and pasties will be another added to the list!
I think that will bring down the cost a bit as yogurts for 3 x 5 adds up! As I am trying to cut my weekly budget from £75 to £60 every bit helps! (for family of 5 + 2 cats & 2 dogs!)