Packed Lunches for School

Possession

Those would work just as well as a freezer block anyway Freya'sMum!

cutestkids

I got gel freezer packs online I think it was ebay, they are smaller and more flexible than a block and can squeeze in a small space in the lunchbag to keep things cool

tessasmum

I freeze the Frubes as well - double benefit because I can then buy them when they are on special offer and just chuck them in the freezer, and they also double up as ice blocks to keep the food colder.

coldcazzie

coldcazzie wrote: »

I shall report back with feedback?

Reporting back as promised. Frozen instant whip was a roaring success. Took them out of the freezer at 9am and they were almost defrosted at 1 when we ate them. With a bit of a stir the frozen bit mushed up and made it seem a bit like ice cream. Will definitely do it again :T :T

Tesco shop arrives tomorrow with jelly mixture, so I'll make some up and we will try little jellies for lunch on Thursday. Then I'll try rice pud with a spoonful of jam or some frozen berries next Monday.

Pink.

Hi Holly,

We have a great thread with lots of ideas that should help:

Packed Lunches for School

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

chirpchirp

I think my son's lunches are now £2.20 per day at school and they get given so little. My daughter is at secondary school so already has packed lunches but I find them expensive. Neither are great at eating fruit or veg. Daughter insists on having the following:

Sandwich normally cheese
Cake bar/biscuit bar
Packet crisps
sometimes a yoghurt
drink

Son will have the same but the packed lunch shop always seems to cost so much, perhaps because I'm struggling with them helping themselves after school to the things which I've bought on offer so ends up costing me more.

What do you all do to sort this?

Mel1979a

I wouldnt get away with putting that sort of stuff in my little ones lunch box. There school has a list of banned foods inc crisps, choc, cake, buscuits, sweets etc etc. If you send them an unhealthy lunch then they give them a school dinner and bill you for it. I even had a 'special k' cereal bar sent home with a letter explaining it was because of the sugar content.
So im afraid my kids are limited to a sandwich, fruit, dried fruit and nuts and a yoghurt.
Dried fruit and nuts can be pretty cheap if you by a big bag full and put them into little tubs for each day, same with grapes and other fruit, the snack packs can be expensive.
I sometimes get adventurous and put in a chicken drum stick or some cheeses or something to liven it up a bit.

cherrypies

I don't do 'fussy' eating. The children have been given fruit and veg by the bucket load since they started solids and luckily, they now love it, but it took years of perseverance! Youngest is not in school yet. Eldest gets what he's given! Lunches vary depending on what I have in but can contain any of the below:

Leftovers! I send in sandwiches made from leftover meat from roast dinners. Pasta, cous cous, salads left over from the previous nights dinners.

Wraps, sandwiches, stuffed pitta breads, bagels. Filled with anything I have that needs eating.

Bread sticks, dried fruit, cereal bars.

fresh fruit, vegetable sticks, dips such as hummous or cream cheese mixed with pesto.

Sausages, vegetable fingers, roast chicken pieces.

and on and on. No two days are the same and I even have hot food lunch pods so I can send him to school with hot soup or leftover chilli / bolognese etc.

you can put together a really healthy lunch for a very small amount of money. M&S wholemeal pitta breads work out at 10p each, add a filling of your choice, a piece of fruit (M&S bananas are only about 12p each), a yog (Tesco about 10p each) and another item of your choice and you can put a decent school lunch together for well under £1.

You can make a tray of flapjacks for under a £1 that will last 2 kids a whole week.

Most kids enjoy having lunches that are different to a boring old sandwich so sending in cheese and crackers, pasta, veg sticks with a dip, cold potato wedges with a corn on the cob and a chicken leg, cold homemade pizza slices with salad etc really gets their interest and it can be done very cheaply without a great deal of effort :-)

couponqueen123

Mel1979a wrote: »

I wouldnt get away with putting that sort of stuff in my little ones lunch box. There school has a list of banned foods inc crisps, choc, cake, buscuits, sweets etc etc. If you send them an unhealthy lunch then they give them a school dinner and bill you for it. I even had a 'special k' cereal bar sent home with a letter explaining it was because of the sugar content.
So im afraid my kids are limited to a sandwich, fruit, dried fruit and nuts and a yoghurt.
Dried fruit and nuts can be pretty cheap if you by a big bag full and put them into little tubs for each day, same with grapes and other fruit, the snack packs can be expensive.
I sometimes get adventurous and put in a chicken drum stick or some cheeses or something to liven it up a bit.

our school had the baned list and my dd1 was school lunches untill they sent home they menu she then confesed they were rubbish and cold and that she was still hungry


ALSO I shuld point out the band list had drasticly down sized as when they parents of kids who have sandiches seen it they went mad as they school dinners kids were getting choc cake and custard , ice cream , flapjacks with choc drizzled all over , ice lolly:eek: chips 3 times a week , it was a joke and my dd1 confesed they were rubbish cold and not enough for her and when she asked for more dinner they told her that shes had her portion and that she shuldnt be still hungry (this was final straw for me so i decided to
invested in a bento box (AMAZING) and now my daughter had hot lunch and normaly a kitkat,(or a small choc bic) yogert ,drink ,and fruit ,

if she wants a change we have sandwich or pastie and i split a bag of crisp so make them last 2 days , yogert fruit & cheese and cracker, ceral bar

and best of all i save so much money as school diners for a 4 year old were £9.95 each week :eek:

Poppy9

If you have a fussy eater then just give them a basic lunch that you know that they will eat so you don't worry they are hungry in school and you can sort out ensuring more variety over breakfast and dinner. They are only in school for 6 hours and one meal out of 3/4.

I know lots of parents who have resorted to giving plain piece of bread and butter for lunch to ensure they are eatting something.

I was a fussy eater as a child, much to the annoyance of my mother! I decided pre-school I wouldn't eat meat, fish, eggs and lots of other foods. I can remember sitting at the table on my own while my brother and sisters had finished and gone off to play with my food in front of me as my mother would tell me there was nothing else to eat! I physically couldn't eat it though so I went hungry. Eventually my mother got the message and just served me up the same meal as the rest of the family less the meat/fish etc. and I was happy!

I'm sure some people would still class me as a fussy eater because I don't eat red meat or fish.

Most schools now have a lunch box policy which bans junk which makes it easier for parents to put together an affordable lunch box without peer pressure for crisps and cake bars. Dried fruit was also banned at DD primary.