School Meals v Packed Lunch

plumpmouse

Hi just wanted to add a bit.

My little boy isn't at school yet but he loves most of the things listed but also loves humous(sp?) with pitta bread.

My main point though is my mum buys lunchboxes for my little brother from matalan. They are blue and have a section for the ice pack (which is included) not sure how much they are though

HTH

Sarahsaver

My kids love cheese and crackers bcos they think its 'grown up'!
other yummy fillings for sandwiches - peanut butter and marmite, tesco value meat paste, JAM (greatly underestimated in my opinion) cheese and marmite, a thin spreading of pesto with whatever you fancy, such as chicken, ham etc. I dont use margarine unless the filling isnt itself sticky. Also my daughter likes the filling separate if its cheese or ham or salami, she likes to make ker own sandwiches. You could provide a banana for a banana sandwich to be made if your child can cope with this - yum! Schoolday memories flooding back.
I no longer buy crisps or chocolate coated biscuits. If my kids need a packed lunch they get some dried fruit - apricots or sultanas, breadsticks, frubes are good as you can freeze them, so they keep the rest of the lunch cool, or freeze the juice bottle and get it out in the fridge the night before so its still very cold but not totally chilly. Make little buns, one egg, 3 ounces each of self raising flour, sugar and vegetable oil, cook for about 10 minutes at gas 7 in the middle of the oven. If your kids help out they will usually eat what they have made proudly ;D
I tend to only pack apples as most other fruits dont survive well being in a lunchbox.

halloweenqueen_2

Remember we all liked things as kids we wouldn't eat now!
I had a two year love affair with salad cream sarnies = poor mum was almost gagging when she made them! We also have a favourite in the house of peanut butter and cucumber (might be worth checking if any kids at the school have such a bad nut allergy that other kids having them set them off as happened at our local school).
Ham and cheese is a more mundane favourite - or cream crackers make a nice chnage with those squares of plastic cheese.
Mine take pitta breads with ham in, my oldest has never eaten a sandwich at school in her life and made it fairly healthily to her teens!Slices of cold pizza, homemade rolls are a very strong favourite (even the oldest will have those!).
I think half of the battle is to get the children involved with the making of them and that seems to make them think more about actually eating them.
Homemade cheese and ham scones are something kids will eat without thinking about it ebing more or less the equivalent of a sandwich.

Lucie_2

I think I lived on salmon paste sandwiches for about 5 years when I was a kid! They were always better with prawn cocktail crisps in them if I remember correctly..... wouldn't touch the stuff now.
I would never eat all 4 sandwiches (1 round of bread cut into 4 little squares) so my Mum used to cut them up into 3 long "soldiers" & I would eat all 3 - despite it being exactly the same amount??!! odd child!

Peakma

I seem to be giving my kids the same stuff over and over cheese/ham/marmite sandwich. Piece of fruit,packet of crisps and chocolate bar.Seem to leave fruit and sandwich. sometimes give olives,raisons,apricots. Has anyone got any intresting,healthy options that kids go for?

Edinburghlass_2

Jamie Oliver was talking about this in the Daily Mail tv supplement, he reckons packed lunches are even worse than school dinners!

He has a new book out and devotes a chapter to this. Two things that were mentioned in the article were a bag of cherry tomatoes, my daughter loves them, along with mixed leaves and a little cling film wrap of dressing that they add before they eat. The other was freeze a carton of fruit juice, I use the Tesco value orange for lunches, while cold it acts as a cool pack and is squashy by lunchtime.

Jamies website, http://www.jamieoliver.com is worth taking a look at for his diary, recipes and there is a forum there.

Quackers

My girls take a cold tuna or chicken pasta thing sometimes. Just cold pasta, mayo, tuna or chicken & some sweetcorn or cucumber. You can add whatever they will eat or whatever leftovers you have to this.

Dont use just bread all the time - my girls love pitta bread filled with tuna or soft cheese or chicken. Add some chopped up cucumber & a bit of lettuce if they'll eat it?

Another thing which I wish I'd started ages ago is - get them involved in deciding & making it! My girls come up with all sorts of ideas & they're more willing to eat their own creations. ;D

tru

Cheesestrings, frubes, mini peperami, mini salad, breadsticks (these are great cos they come in loads of different flavours ;D) There's more but I'm suffering from brain frazzle at the mo ;D

sce37

Apples, grapes, bananas - no preparation
Mix a few fruits together (fruit salad) to pick at.
Kiwi fruit with top cut off like a boiled egg (don't forget to pack a plastic spoon)

Chuck a few lettuce leaves, cherry tomotoes, feta cheese, olives, tuna and mayo in a box - salad nicoise very quick.

Mine like the M & S duck wraps (only usually as a treat) but make own too - wrapped in tortillas

I have stopped putting any chocolate bars in their lunches now - part of the retraining of their behaviour towards healthy eating.
They like the part-bake crusty baguettes too.
Try finger foods carrots, peppers, cucumber with dips

Sarahsaver

Put the fillings in separate from the bread, my daughter loved making her own sandwiches at school.
Freeze frubes, they keep chilled that way. Provide a piece of kitchen paper or a serviette so your kids can set out their table 'all proper like'
Peeled carrots are great.
Use leftovers, cold pizza, cooked sausages...
I think involving the kids is a good idea too and make it on the evening before bed to avoid the morning rush.