Hot packed lunches - please help!

debbym

Here in southern Germany we have had snow on the ground since mid-December (another 6 inches just last Friday - had enough of this now....) anyhow as a result I want to give my kids hot lunches at school. School dinners cost 4 euros for a cold lunch (a filled roll and two pieces of fruit!) and hot lunches 6 euros!!!!!!!
However I have managed to save enough dosh to buy "food flasks" (24 euros each eek!) and now need ideas on what to fill them with. Not an easy task as my 6 year old is very fussy and will only eat cheese, smoked salmon, bacon (which is nearly impossible to get and paper thin and very expensive when you do!), prawns or sausages as protein (plus the occasional baked bean but this can't be counted on).

So far we have been giving the kids:
Pasta with home made tomato sauce
same with sausages
pasta with home-made cheese sauce (not a success it set as the pasta absorbed all the sauce and was to quote DS yucky)
beans and sausages
pasta with tomato sauce and sausages (tinned -from a stash we bought from the UK, stash is getting smaller every week though!)
home-made tomato soup (made slightly thicker than normal so it was easier to eat) with a bread roll and butter

Any other ideas folks? Inspiration running low at this end as it is kinda the same with evening meals and I am beginning to feel that I am turning into a bratwurst;)

Stryder

The best suggestion is something between soup and pasta. Take 1 tin of soup and throw in a load of pasta, and frozen peas/sweetcorn etc. You can even do this with uncooked pasta as it cooks in the hot soup, in the flask.

How about hot savoury rice? if you carefully pur a sauce in the bottom of the flask and the rest of the rice can be added on top.

Oh and soup/sauce with meat balls - always good.

OR Noodles - mixed with either meat and veg, or soup

debbym

Thanks for the ideas but tinned soup over here is "too German" and meatballs (either home-made or the shopbought frikadellen) result in the whole lot getting left without it even being tried. He is the only boy I know who will beg to be taken to McDonalds as a birthday treat and then throw away the burger and eat just the bread as the burger is yucky!:rotfl:

michael1983l

My suggestion would be (and don't take this the wrong way) is to find a way of changing your kids diet. The foods you describe them as eating isn't exactly healthy and all seems to be high in saturated fat. I have kids myself and know how difficult it is to get them eating the right foods especially when your on a budget. However kids eating habbits are just that habbits and those can be changed, if they gradually get used to eating healthier food and treat foods like bacon and sausages as occasional treats then not only will you open up your options for what you can pack for them it will also do untold goodnes for your childrens well being.

There are plenty of healthy eating cook books for cooking for children out there. Some of the recipies are really inventive and may help persuade your kids to eat healthier. Also to do this you will have to lead by example in what you eat as parents. We try to focus on eating only white meats, fish and peas and beans for protiens, we never ever use processed food as this is normally very high in salt, sugar and saturated fat. A high fibre diet which includes lots of vegatables and wholemeal products cereals and breads. We also replace cooking oil with olive oil and try to bake and boil things rather than fry them. sometimes a little creativity with the presentation of the food can help the kids get on board.

I hope I don't seem like I am preaching I am just trying to help. Like I said I know how hard it can be as healthy food tends to be pricey food too.

debbym

Thanks Michael - Your not preaching but talking sense and this is exactly what we are trying to do long-term. It is something that we have tried to do with all our kids and it has worked with the other two (ages 8 and 2) but not DS1:( . For evening meal I try and put something else that is homemade and not smothered in salt,chemicals and fat in front of him (in the UK this would have been chicken or turkey in Germany pork is cheaper) but this never gets eaten. Lunch is the one meal when he needs something he will at least eat a little of so that he is in a better mood for school (he has special needs and his behaviour is a little challenging at the best of times) - He will literally not eat at all if he doesn't like the food offered so the old saw of "They will eat it if they are hungry enough" doesn't work either

Stryder

to be honest, i would opt for the "let them starve" approach. Never known any kid actually starving before eating a meatball. Mind you - would starve before eating at McDonalds!

I have found going camping helps - there is nothing like getting people into eating hot stews like spending a week cold and miserable on a campsite.

my fav. budget option is to use dried pulses. nothing like tomatoey bean stew with a bit of chilli

cheeswright

are these food flasks those wide necked ones ?
if so you can microwave a pre cooked baked potatoe back to heat in the morning and that will fit in - this with a small tub of cold tuna on the side works well

hotdog sausages in hot water - to fish out and put in a bun with ketchup sachets...on the side
also
paella ( frozen so you can microwave portions)
cous cous with little bits of chopped anything...again freeze and microwave portions..
hot sphagetti ( tinned) to pour onto cold toast - or with cold toast fingers - or with a small bag of grated cheese to add and eat straight out of the flask.....
quite a few meats work well pot roasted then shredded back into the sauce or gravey and can then be poured / scooped onto crusty bread for and outrageously delicious sandwich - pork being one of the best of them ( check out american recipe sites for good ideas on this front )
erm..thats all I can think of within the given limits....
good luck ...I'm sure both he and the weather will thaw eventually.....:D

cheeswright

sorry ! just noticed youd nailed the sphagetti / pasta thing...not paying enough attention...

Penny-Pincher!!

I would try:

Hot dogs (in flask) with rolls and ketchup
Spagbol mixed together
Chilli mixed with rice (mild if needed)
Curry as above
Salami chopped into pasta or rice
Burgers & noodles/spagetti
Beans with cheese + buttered rolls or wraps

What hot food does the school serve for 6euros?

HTH

PP
xx

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

Im out in Germany too and ....and this snow just won't give up :eek: it HAS to go eventually doesn't it :rotfl:


I have been packing hubbies work lunches up in a wide necked flask since about october ....How about some of these, if DS would be OK with them;)

1. HM corned beef hash
2. HM chicken n sweetcorn soup -with a few noodles added if he likes them
3. minced beef with veggies(grated to hide if need be) -made runnier so it doesn't set in the flask
4. chicken casserole -again with any veggies he will be happy with and chunks of cooked potato
5. soups made with different dried beans, lentil -really warm n filling -and once blitzed you can't tell what is in there

hmmmmm I will carry on thinking

Butterfly_Brain

If he is not a lover of meat what about Macaroni cheese