Typical lunch box

cyclingyorkie

Mrstim wrote: »

ye we sometimes wonder about that, she assures me she is. And from what I believe the school is quite strict at lunch times and kind of patrol what goes in the bin, if they dont eat it it goes back in the lunch box rather than than the bin. The lunch box goes on a trolley when they go in and they pick up at the end of the day so its not like she can sneak it in the bin at play time etc.

I think I may give her a wrap instead of a roll and put cheese on it as well as ham, then stop the cheese string.

I work as a school dinnerlady and I wish our kids brought lunches like you give your daughter!

We police very carefully what goes in the bin - we will bin yoghurt pots, but the uneaten stuff goes back home so you can see what they've left.

I would go with the home baking and the pasta sald things sounds good - we do have kids who bring pasta. Rice with salad and meat in is nice too ..... or couscous.

jcr16

packed lunches for my eldest two usually consist of a sandwich or wrap with a filling of either tuna mayo, marmite , jam ( my sons favorite all time filing), ham and cheese or laughing cow. 2 little fromage frais yog, or a little pot of homemade jelly ( jelly made in normal way but poured into 100ml lock and lock pots, completly watertight ), they may have a homemade goodie of either a fairy cake, jam tart or cookie. often they have chunks of cheese or a cheese string , bottle of drink ( water, squash ) and then fruit. generally 3 or 4 pieces will be few chopped up strawberries, melon, grapes, kiwi (peeled and sliced) whole apple, banana, few tinned peaches. i spend a fortune on fruit a week but my children can't get enough they love it , so i don't begrude it one bit.

As for hubby lunch, he likes to have a couple of rounds of sandwiches or wraps with any filling really tuna, chicken, hams and cheese, blt he is very easy going. he will have a few bits of fruit, flask of hot water if no kettle on site, bottle of squash, and he loves sticks of carrots and celery with houmous or philly or even just on their own. in winter if he has a nammit hut on site he takes things for a microwave . and i bought him a hot food flask from lakeland and one layer is a jacket spud, the next chilli con carne and the top layer i put grated cheese so he can have a hot snack on cold days.

if i have things like left over pizza from the night before my children love cold home made pizza in their lunch box. also i will make quiches which my hubby loves. he also enjoys pasta with various veg and mayo in, or rice with lots of chopped up veg cooked and cooled like mushrooms, peppers, onions, courgette,spring onion etc.

i also put in a couple of ice packs into lunch boxes to help keep them cool.

for my and my youngest at home we have a real variety.

FatVonD

My son loves pate (which is pretty cheap if you buy the tub type) in sandwiches with red onion and lettuce or the Tesco value smoked salmon trimmings with lots of black pepper on it. Far and away favourite though is for me to save him the skin from roast chicken (ick!) and some stuffing.

I don't have as many lunches to make as you but I buy a loaf and divide it into sandwich bags and freeze so it doesn't go stale then take out what I need the night before and reuse the sandwich bag once it's made.

The Tesco value fruit juice is lovely (I think it's about 45p for 3 small cartons?) and, I know you're talking of cutting them out, but the cheese strings are BOGOF at Tesco at the moment! Don't those things last for ages, you could stock up on them?

Have you tried getting your food shopping delivered to cut down on costs? If your local one isn't very big you won't be getting all the special offers or the full selection of Value products (you would easily recoup the delivery charge.) I start my order by going though the bogofs and half price and then build the rest of my shop around those. Try it, it works!

knittingcathy

Thankyou for this thread. my kids go back to school on monday after 2 weeks off and they get a packed lunch every day but I feel they are getting the same thing all the time so have been looking for new ideas to get them away from the sandwich, crisps and biscuit every day. I have been baking for them for a wee while and they are loving it. I just need more ideas for savoury things to replace the crisps. Some of the sites that people have put links up for look great and some great people have had too so thank you.

4weeladdies

I'd still say your dd was getting too much in her lunchbox. I know you say you give her so much because she's a thin wee thing but if a huge lunchbox like that isn't putting weight on her then maybe she's just meant to be that size (my 5 year old is like that so I do understand where you're coming from!). My eldest and second youngest sons attend a dietician's clinic to keep an eye on their weight and she is adamant that all they need in their lunchbox, to see them through play piece and lunch, is a sandwich or roll, 2 pieces of fruit, a biscuit or similar (up to 100 calories) and a drink. I have sports bottles which I fill each day with squash or water. Speaking from experience, it's one thing making up one large lunchbox each day but once the little ones start school you will REALLY notice the difference!

I buy virtually all my fruit & veg from Aldi, it's so much cheaper. I stock up on biscuits/cake bars when they are on offer and decant smart price squash into branded bottles so that they never realise they're actually getting the cheap stuff!

rachbc

I would give her more breakfast to start with and cut down on the processed stuff. Instead myabe give her nuts/ seeds as these are nice and energy dense but have far more protein and nutrients than sugary biscuits, a chunk of real cheese or some cream cheese (not cheese spread) in a little tub with veg sticks/ bread sticks to dip in to replace the cheese strings. Home made bisuits (Twinks etc) as maybe a once or twice a week treat but certainly not twice a day.

Whats wrong with water to drink?

toffifee

Mrstim wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I have started the home baking, made 12 blueberry muffins but they were hard by the next day

There's a recipe on here somewhere for chocolate muffins with beetroot. You can't taste the beetroot but it stops them from going dry. They just get stickier and (on rare occasions when we've forgotten there's one left in the tin) eventually grow white mould on the top. That takes at least 10 days though. They freeze well.

I also do traybakes, cut into portions and freeze - these come out really well.

I'll look for the recipes.

Found a chocolate beetroot one: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=44993#post44993
It's not the same as the one I use but seems to be popular.

DFWJane

Mrstim wrote: »

Hubby has breakfast at work most days, we are up most nights with the baby so he always sleeps in a bit later and has a 15 min shower as he is shattered . im not the best mum really, I suffer with chronic insomnia so mornings are a huge struggle for me, I should maybe get up earlier and feed him! My dd has a small bowl of cereal for breaky and sometimes a bit of toast but that is very rare as she takes about 15 mins to eat her cereal :eek: . She is a pain in the bum! Judging by what she tells me some people have in their lunch boxes ( can of coke mars bar and a pepperami) maybe she is so thin because I am too strict with healthy food

I feel for you! Why not pop over to the Fly Lady thread too. Fly Lady is great for getting organised a little step at a time, whatever your circumstances.

Also Nigella has a recipe for breakfast bars (google it) which may be something DH and DD could grab quickly in the mornings.

kateweb

I never have breakfast before leaving home, but a banana in the middle of the morning is really filling - might help keep your daughter going till lunch. Or how about a little pot of nuts/raisins? (Cheapest to buy a big bag and portion it out, rather than buying snack box sizes.)

If your family like cheese spread or hummous, either of those are a lot cheaper than cold meat as sandwich fillings - also good with veg sticks, which are cheap, healthy and easy to chop a bit extra while you're cooking something else. If you want sandwich alternatives, I think quiche and cold pizza have already been suggested; both filling if you have them with some salad. I love coleslaw - as do my friend's kids - the low-fat version is fairly healthy, or if you have a food processor you could make your own without the mayonaisse. Cold pasta salad/pasta with pesto's delicious and cous cous is very filling (and takes almost no meat - one chicken leg would do at least two portions). You could maybe also try them on tortilla/frittata; basically a Spanish omelette, made with potatoes and peppers (or mushrooms, sweetcorn etc). It's quick to make, full of protein and might be a nice change from a sandwich.

For snacks, pretzels or tortilla chips (own brand in a big big) are both healthier than crisps and cheaper too. Or Japanese rice crackers are nice; quite a strong flavour, but that means you tend not to neck them the way you (I certainly!) do with crisps. Not suggesting you should stop packing packing fresh fruit, but would they eat dried fruit as well? A few dried apricots or a handful of raisins are quite filling snacks, but not expensive or unhealthy. It's surprising how much you can save, once you start looking at what you buy and trying some different things.

SunshineBear

For DH cut out the rolls and replace with a cheaper sliced bread. Drop the chocolate and replace with and extra sandwich like jam. Plenty of nuts will stave off the nibbles. You should be able to reduce your food bill to less than £100.

Why not do a shop and only spend £80 and see how the week goes. Often when we shop we see things we 'need' and if they are in the cupboard will eat them. If you don't buy them in the first place you wont eat them.