Packed Lunches for School

Pink.

I've added this to our main thread on packed lunches for children where you should find lots of ideas for lunchboxes.

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Poppy9

loupy wrote: »

Thanks for this Poppy9. I went to have a look thinking it would be full of useful tips but...apparently a banana doesn't count as a piece of fruit! Basically packed lunch = bad School dinner = good.

As other posters have said, you have no real idea what your child is eating at school. The advertised menu at my son's school doesn't tend to mention the daily pasta choice which he inevitably picks from. I don't mind him eating pasta (we have it at home once or twice a week) but I spoke to him about trying to have different things every day.

We're now trying packed lunches as my son wanted to and I find it's not taking as much time as I thought it would. I have enough variety at home to send him in with different things every day including fruit and veg options and when he comes home I have an idea of what did and didn't get eaten unlike when he has school dinner and can't remember what he had (and certainly not how much).

Still can't get over that leaflet!

The banana puzzled me till I re-read and it says that the packed lunch contained no vegetables not no fruit. So the banana is okay as the fruit but it's saying that the lunch should contain a fruit and a veg!!

DD primary was only small and I had a 3 week menu up on fridge so we knew what she should be eating each day and I would ask her each day about her lunch (I know a PIA mother as far as DD concerned). The school was very good though and the canteen assistants were LA too and they would tell parents if children were wasting food etc. The comment about DD were "she never finishes it all but she tries a bit of everything and says she is full" which I knew matched how she was at home as she never had a big appetite and would only eat enough to keep her going. Parents were also allowed to try out the meals by arranging with the Head who had no control over canteen staff so you saw a true picture.

As I was often on site due to PTA stuff I saw the lunches and thought they were generous in portion and quality good. What I didn't like were the plastic plates as I have a thing of eating proper meals off proper china!!

Also lots of staff eat school meals in our LA which they wouldn't do if they were rubbish as they get the same meals as the children.

chirpchirp

Week 2 and beginning to think that this packed lunch idea can actually work. Daughter is being helpful and making her brother his packed lunch at the same time as doing hers. He understands that he gets a packed a crisps and one cake/biscuit bar a day and that I will "stock take" and if I find any missing then he will be back on school dinners.:T

I've noticed he's not eating all his dinner during school time, usually leaves the vegetables ( he's in year 6, schools I've taught at have done school lunch checks and not let children move on to the "goodies"/"baddies" until all the nutritional food has gone). However, he's bringing it all home and tucking into the carrots and tomatoes when he gets home. On some days he has even eaten his crisps at home, so no afternoon snack to provide when he gets home:j:j

homesteadchick

Hi all!

I am showing up as a newbie, because of a name and account change but some of you may remember me as Becca

So anyways!
The new school years is approaching fast and I for one am starting to gather idea's for the school packed lunches.

Here in Holland, where I live, we don't have school meals anyway so all kids bring their own lunch. But the Dutch tend to be quite boring, with just sandwiches with cheese or cold meats.

My 9 yr old daughter however only eats properly if mum is a bit more creative.
So I thought I'd start a thread to see if we can inspire eachother with idea's for fun, nutricious and cheap school lunches.

Today I bought here a new lunch box as she had very much outgrown the old princesspink one.

It only cost me 3,95 (euro) and I think it is brilliant!
It has different sections and it's own built in cool pack! (and it's food safe, I checked)
I can't post the pictures as I'm a new user now.. lol! oh well...


So, what do you pack for your child's lunch?
Sandwiches? Salades? Crisps?

and what kind of container do you use?

Mrs-s_4

I'm in! My oldest DS is starting full time school in September and will be taking packed lunches. He's quite fussy but not so much with lunchy stuff so we should be fine!

Sandwiches -

Bread - bagels, wraps, pittas, white, brown, slices, baguette, sandwich thins, bread rolls, crusty rolls.

Fillings - ham, cheese (grated, sliced, soft), chicken, beef, tuna, salmon, egg, hummus, salad, bacon, different sauces

Pasta salads, noodle salads, veggie sticks, cheese sticks, bread sticks/ crackers with dips, left overs, soup in a thermos, cold pizza slices

Yoghurt, fruit, homemade or bought cookies, cake slices, muffins, flapjacks, dried cereal, dried fruit, smoothies, crisps, tortilla chips,

Hope that's given you some ideas! Maybe we should do a 'what did you pack for lunch today' thread when September arrives!

xxlouisexx56

My dd is 7 and going into yr 3 in sept.

She usually has a sarnie or a roll (I buy when reduced and freeze) with ham/ cheese/ salad/ marmite. Or leftovers like pasta / pizza slices

Then she has a yogurt and a piece of fruit. Then she gets one treat item which is usually a homemade cake / flapjack or a cereal bar.

Then she has a water bottle with some squash in it


No sweets or crisps in school lunch boxes!

Cheapskate

We've had a boring few months, packed lunch-wise, so have dug out the book I have about lunchboxes, and borrowed a few more from the library. Some ideas are fab, others work out too expensive, but overall there's enough choice (that DS will like) to not repeat anything for several weeks.

He usually has a sandwich (savoury filling), a yogurt, flask of squash or diluted fruit juice, sometimes a cereal bar or homemade similar. Sometimes he has a split box with veg in one side and hummus or cream cheese in the other, homemade muffin (to get some fruit/nuts in him!), leftover pizza/cheese and onion tart/cold cuts etc, salad tub. This time I'm going to try some savoury muffins or scones - put in things like cheese, onions, peppers, ham, tomatoes, herbs... or use pizza dough to make whirls with similar ingredients. These I can batch cook and freeze. I sometimes buy a big pot of plain yogurt, put some in a small tub with fruit/nuts of his choice, but am going to try making my own during the hols and see how it turns out. If it's ok, then I could make some a couple of days before we need, and always have some to hand, for the price of a pint of milk!

We need to make more of an effort food-wise, so it's a good time to revamp his lunch box, too - sorry to waffle!

A xo

Lindy_-_Loo

my boys are going into year 2 and year 4, both are super fussy eaters.

They have either pitta, wrap or sandwich with crisps, piece of fruit and cereal bar or on fridays something like a kit kat. They take water or squash in a reusable bottle which they store on the outside of their lunchbag.

They used to have a tub of pasta with a slice of garlic bread - which I would make in the morning but they said other people on the table made fun of them having something different. xx

homesteadchick

School here does not allow crisps, biscuits or musli bars...
And deff. No chocolate bars or sweets.

I will pack those yoghurts in squeezy packs sometimes and they do them in fruit puree as well.
And missy won't faff with forks or anything, so it must all be finger food.

Lots of ideas already!

Mrs-s_4

Our banned list is fizzy drinks and sweets/ chocolate. So they are allowed chocolate biscuits and things but I won't be giving them every day.
The cereal bar is a good idea I hadn't thought of and the fruit pur!e pouches too. My ds likes cheese strings and babybel type things too so they will be on our lists too