Packed Lunches for School

twofishes

Hummus is really easy and cheap to make. Cooked chickpeas (imo ones cooked from dried are nicer but canned are fine), lemon juice, crushed garlic, olive oil and tahini or peanut butter - you can get tahini cheaply if you have a turkish/middle eastern shop near you, but if not, smooth peanut butter works just fine.

GwylimT

We are a gluten free household so we tend to avoid sandwiches as gluten free bread isn't great and making your own with gluten free flour gives it a horrible texture.

Ours often have left overs from the night before unless it is something awkward, such as a roast dinner. We have a special sistema cup so if we have soup it can be taken into school the next day. I always put in raw veg, it might be carrot, pepper, broccoli or some fruit.

Sometimes they have a yoghurt which I tend to freeze otherwise it will be warm by dinner time, then she has a bottle of water.

glitterkitty

I don't have kids, but I do take a packed lunch to work every day, and I still eat like I did when I was at school! I also make a packed lunch for my BF... He always has a jam and cheese sandwich, crisps and 3 Bourbon biscuits. I take some chopped up fruit in a little tub, and either a salad or something similar, like pasta or rice. I also take a small pot of homemade yoghurt and a packet of crisps or mini cheddars.
I really like boiled white rice with tuna, garlic and sweet corn. Very easy, cheap and filling - older kids might like that.
And if you have the time, why not go full bento box?!

daftmummy

We have a stable in our house my little un loved baguettes, so would get them reduced and put grated cheese and freeze them and take them out the night before. I used to give them left over pasta/pizza but again some kids on there table said they smelt and looked funny so had to stop. ( coming from kids who eat cr*p like dairly snack packs! )

I do chocolate spread ( nut free ) with bananas and rasins once a week to offset the chocolate spread.
Savory cheese with grated cheese etc
But as my hubby is selfemployed and we don't get free meals when things are lean its lemon curd or jam with something home made.

My kids love homemade soup but know other kids will say stuff if I sent it in, shame thou.

troll35

check out weelicious on facebook. She does some really healthy, simple but lovely looking packed lunches.

kboss2010

Apologies if you've heard me wax lyrical about this before but Japanese-style bento boxes are the way to go!

*Brightly coloured veg sticks (carrots/peppers/cucumber/sugar snap peas) with home-made hummus

*lots of snack-sized fruit (cherry tomatoes, grapes, clementines, berries)

* rice crackers (sweet or savoury)

* homemade "sushi" balls (sticky rice balls with a bit of tuna/cucumber/salmon paste in the middle)

* a few ham/chicken/sausage slices (think those dairylea snack boxes with a few slices of ham, cheese and ritz crackers)

* homemade mini fish cakes

* herb tortilla wrap mini sandwiches (cut into 1 inch strips, coat with spreadable cheese/ham/pesto and roll up like a swiss roll)

*mozzarella chunks with cherry tomatoes

- I know a lot of people say "oh, my kids won't eat that! All they like is dairylea dunkers and nutella" but if you make it look good (google bento box ideas) it's surprising what they will eat - be gone soggy sandwiches on cheap, flavourless bread!

homesteadchick

Here in Holland we get these tiny dry sausages, called BiFi. Don't know if you have them. They are individually wrapped and lovely and savory.
Little girl loves them!

And her friends in class as well! ;-)

It's a shame that your child has to adapt his/her lunch just because other kids say that they are weird!
What kind of attitude is that!?

We do have to stick to the rules of the school ofcourse, which can be a pain sometimes. I'll have a word with the teacher about healthy cupcakes! I'm sure she'll have a hissy fit if she spots a cupcake in the lunchbox! I'll have to warn her in advance! hahaha.

I love those metal lunch boxes, those planet things..but I'll be b.ggered if I spend 40 US dollars on one!

Bento is great! I love looking at Bento pictures. But going full on Bento is a bit much. Get quite expensive too I think.

A slice of bread, rolled flat with a rolling pin, then topped with some cream cheese or Pat!, and rolled up is really good too. Stick a toothpick or one of those bento cute pins in to hold it together.

School starts on August 19th again here.
Time to get geared up!
Checking supplies needed, and gymnastics shoes and clothes sorted out. Now all we need to do is get back to normal bed times!

Molly41

Some nice ideas here:

http://mortgagefreeinthree.com/2013/07/in-search-of-the-perfect-lunchbox/

glitterkitty

Going with the bento idea - what about getting a sushi/egg mould? I have a hello kitty one (because I love hello kitty) and I make hello kitty shaped boiled eggs :-) you can get them really cheaply on eBay, and they come in various shapes. It might make things a bit more interesting for kids without too much hassle! You simply put the de-shelled boiled egg in while its hot, fasten it up and put the mould in cold water for 10 min, and the egg retains the shape of the mould!

thriftmonster

Lindy Loo - at primary school my kids used to get grief all the time about stuff in their packed lunches - but at secondary school noone has ever commented - except to say "I wish I had that" - but it was a long 7 years at primary school!!