Packed Lunches for School

Contains_Mild_Peril

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

I have just looked through the paperwork for her school and they have suggested £2.60 per day for a main meal, pudding and drink. Not sure how much her "token" will be worth, but assume this amount if this is stated as an average cost.

PP
xx

:eek: I suppose that amount is tolerable if you actually get a decent amount of quality food, but it seems an awful lot of money for a school meal. That said, at my DS's school, "free" dinners are to the value of £1.50, which doesn't really buy a lot. I remember my DS telling me that if he bought a bacon roll and a drink, the only things he could afford to avoid wasting the rest of his meal allowance were sweets or crisps. I then started sending him to school with an extra drink for lunch, so he could afford 2 bacon rolls.
I remember the good old days when I was at school, before school meals were privatised. No doubt the large portions of stodgy puddings would be frowned on nowadays, but there was always plenty of food. We could have at least "seconds" if we wanted more after we'd finished, and sometimes "thirds".

savingmum

RubyMurray wrote:

Maybe you could put apple slices in a little container with a little lemon juce to stop them going brown if your boy is not averse to lemon?

I cut up 1 apple between 2 and put the slices into little round containers from the £ shop and there is minimal discolouration - and this is for 2 teens !!! - don't laugh - whole apples would be wasted- also with so many lunchtime activities the easiest & quickest to eat the better.

Queenie

When chopping up apples/pears, toss them in a little lemon juice to prevent them discolouring.


Some of the many different ideas I’ve used for packed lunches:-

HM Sandwich Spreads (Freezer Recipes)
NB: The following applies to all the recipes below.

Put the ingredients in a bowl and beat well.
To Freeze: put into container; seal, label, freeze.
Defrost: Thaw at room temp for 2 - 3hrs.
Yield: Fills approx 4 large sandwiches

Chocolate:
2oz butter
2oz melted, plain chocolate
1 Tbsp black treacle/golden syrup

Honey, Raisin (or Sultana) and Nut Spread
2oz butter
2 Tbsp honey
1oz raisins (or sultanas)
1oz chopped almonds/walnuts

Cheese and Herb
2oz butter
3oz finely grated cheese
1 Tbsp top of the milk or cream
1 tsp dried mixed herbs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other filling combo’s suitable for freezer sandwiches/pinwheels:-

~ Finely chopped chicken with a very small blob of may to bind
~ Ham or grated cheese with pickle or chutney
~ Chopped prawns with a very little mayo or even cream cheese and a pinch of curry powder
~ Cream cheese with chopped dates and orange
~ Cream cheese with chopped gherkin/stuffed olives
~ Tinned fish: pilchard, salmon or tuna
~ Liver sausage with chopped gherkin
~ Peanut butter with marmalade or chopped bacon.

If making pinwheels, freeze them uncut, then slice when partially defrosted.

NB: Be wary of using salad veg or tomatoes or any filling which will turn the bread soggy when defrosted.

Sandwiches takes approx 2-3 hrs to defrost at room temp., so a sandwich taken out at breakfast will be defrosted by lunchtime.

Pitta’s
Tortilla wraps
Savoury scones
Savoury muffins
French stick/ciabatta rolls
Bagels
Different flavour breads (herb breads/sweet breads/teabreads)

Flask ‘meals’
HM Soups
L/o casseroles
L/o chilli with hm cornbread
L/o bolognaise with garlic bread
Baked beans with chopped sausages/bacon and a roll
Curried baked beans with naan bread

Cold ‘meals’
Pasta salad
Chicken salad
Drumstick with salad
Couscous/rice/bulgar salads
Potato salad with chopped bacon/sausage
HM Pizza slices (Freezer)
HM mini Cornish pasty style pies with a salad
Cheese kebabs with waldorf salad
Meat kebabs with hm coleslaw
Quail scotch eggs with crudités and dips (new for this season! :laugh: )
Stuffed eggs
Mini quiches with a side salad

Nibbles: -
Vegetable sticks
Cherry tomatoes
Fruit on sticks with hm yogurt dip
HM crisps
Cheese straws (freezer)
Vol-au-vents
Small tub of dried fruit/seeds

Sweets:-
Muffins
HM yogurt
Fruit cake (from freezer)
HM Everyday Biscuits (from freezer)
Crumble slices
Peanut butter cookies (from freezer)
Tinned fruit cocktail in natural juice (decanted into suitable container)
Cold rice pudding with dollop of jam/marmalade/sultana’s/fruit cocktail
HM Chelsea buns
HM Malt loaf

Tips for those who are starting little one’s with packed lunches:-
~ Have practise picnics using the lunchbox so they familiarise themselves with the catches/lids
~ If you are sending them with bananas/oranges, practise to ensure they can open them themselves!
~ avoid adding something ‘new’ and different to their lunchboxes - introduce it at home first so they are familiar with it.
~ I put a damp flannel in the box in a plastic bag so they could wipe their fingers and mouths
~ I also made some small drawstring bags as a fruit bag so they had something they could keep in their pocket for break times (they used the cotton bag to wipe their hands :laugh: )
~ I used to hide a picture note in their lunch so they had something to ‘find’
~ From experience, I taught my youngest two not to eat anything from someone else’s lunchbox!!
~ our school policy was to return the lunchbox with any and all wrappings/remainders. This was a good way to see what worked and what didn’t.
~ for the first term, my youngest would only eat iceburg lettuce and marmite sandwiches. His cousin would only eat ketchup sandwiches. It’s normal!!! So don’t fret.

thriftlady_2

I'm a bit lazier than Queenie :rotfl: so take a look at the ideas on this site. I've just bought the lunchboxes, they are expensive but you get a lot for your money and my kids can't wait to start using them. The lunch ideas can be used for other types of lunchboxes particularly if you start collecting reusable containers.

http://www.laptoplunches.co.uk/Lunch_ideas.html

patchwork_cat

Lucie yes could you post the list from good food, please.

thriftmonster

Pink-winged wrote:

Hi jcr16,

I know what you mean.....a thread I found on the board earlier today made me feel sad too.

Thriftmonster, I hope that you don't mind me linking to it, but I really think it would be of interest to readers of this thread.

Packed lunches and the "food police"

Sorry Liz, for going a bit off topic.

Pink

Hi Pink
No I don't mind - hope it might be useful to anyone else. My 2 are looking forward to their packed lunches - we've made lists in categories of main things, snacks, fruit veg and drinks of everything we can think of that they like in their packed lunches - a bit like Queenie's list so that we don't get into a rut.

Sometimes as a treat they take hot chocolate in their flasks in the winter instead of having a cake or some thing else sugary - hasn't been banned yet:D

jcr16

oh yummy hot chocolate in a flask for winter, how wonderful. no wonder they are looking forward to it.


i think i'm going to make a hot chocolate now. it's freezing on the isle of wight today.

dlb

Our school doesnt not allow hot foods for packed lunch, which is a shame, even in unbreakable flasks, they say it is because there is a risk of the kids burning theirselfs!

I would prefer it if they could, loads of hot snacks i could think of to make.

thriftlady_2

dlb wrote:

Our school doesnt not allow hot foods for packed lunch, which is a shame, even in unbreakable flasks, they say it is because there is a risk of the kids burning theirselfs!

I would prefer it if they could, loads of hot snacks i could think of to make.

Oh for heaven's sake :rolleyes: Are they allowed to use scissors ?, pencils, paintbrushes - they could poke each other with them. Don't they have hot water in the taps ?

thriftlady_2

More ideas here (US site)
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/lunchboxfood2.htm