Packed lunch ideas

Pooky

I make mini quiches and pizzas for lunch boxes, bread sticks, cheese straws, sausage rolls. They do get sandwiches somedays but I try and keep it varied, they might get a wrap or pitta bread with tuna and salad. Sometimes they take cream crackers with some slices of cheese or just covered in marmite.

If i've got extra pasta left over i'll make them a salad up and they'll take that (dont forget the cutlery - the schools don't like lending theirs out!!)

I give them a home made biscuit, a small handfull of home made pop corn, carrot or cucumber sticks, a piece of fruit and normally a pot of raisins to nibble on for break and on the walking bus on the way home.

I dont go for crisps or choccy bars as they tend to want those before eating anything else. Given up on the fromage frais too, they either didn't get opened or had gone warm before they could eat them.

misty

MATH wrote:

OH this sort of thing lights my touchpaper. Nothing gets me marching into the head teacher quicker than this kind of despotic rule laying. I would challange the no nuts 'n' seeds ruling deffo. While there may be a child with an allergy this cannot be allowed to control what you child does or does not eat. The school should take steps to keep this ONE child away from what they are alleregic to rather that restrict the diets of the whole school IMO. Vegetarian children for egample, will rely on both banned food stuffs to provide protein in their diet. I doubt whether the no nut 'n' seeds is enforcable and being a tad bl**dy minded I would threaten to send a snickers bar in every day until they stopped bossing me about:o You on the other hand may not be the awkward old begger I am:rolleyes:

People with severe nut allergies can DIE from contact with a nuts. The most severe allergies can be triggered from contact with someone who has had contact with someone who has had contact with one. I would certainly be happy to leave out nuts from anything my son had to enable another child to enjoy mainstream education - it really only requires a bit of thought on behalf of others. I'm sure vegetarian children are able to get all the nutrients they require from other sources and include nuts at breakfast and tea. It's not just a case of keeping one child away from the foodstuffs -

Magentasue

Packed lunches have been a nightmare in our house for years. After failed attempts to ring the changes, we settled for a sandwich or roll, two choc biscuits and a bag of crisps. No fruit or yogurt, they could have that when they got home. Then I found the sandwiches uneaten and cracked down. NO CRISPS, NO CHOCOLATE, just double sandwiches and fruit.

Once I'd got my knickers untwisted, I compromised. I now make a batch of flapjacks to last the week - some with sesame seeds and some with flaked almonds. Yes, they have a lot of fat and sugar but there's some goodness in the oats, nuts and seeds. So I wouldn't take kindly to being told to leave them out. Because apart from anything else, the kids prefer them to just plain flapjacks. In fact, son #2 says they're better than chocolate biscuits!

Spendless

nicki wrote:

MATH, I would love to do that, but I've recently applied to be on a governor so I'm not causing any problems ... yet

To quote the letter that she brought home today :

"Just to remind you that our school is a NUT AND SEED FREE SCHOOL.

Any foods containing nuts or seeds should not be brought into school under any circumstances, whether they are for snacks, treats, packed lunch or to eat on the way home.

Please be vigilant as many everyday foods such as cereal bars, chocolate spread, some breads, sweets and chocolates may contain nurts or seeds without it being obvious.

We ask you to support us in this as we do have a child with a nut and seed allerdy in school so it is of the utmost importance that we keep the school nut and seed free.

For the safety of this child and any opther child which may not have been diagnosed as yet, we will confiscate any of these foods and only return them at home time.

Thank you for your support"

This is coming from a school who sends letters out about events which don't seem to make it to the nursery class, they don't send out a "calendar" at the start of the school year with all the holiday dates on (I had to go in and ask for them), they don't have a PTA and the booklet I received telling me all about the nursery is so out of date and full of mistakes it's stupid. The uniform is £8.50 per item (Daughter only has the sweatshirt, not the matching pants & poloshirts, I bought hers from George at Asda for half the price) and the nursery kids pay 75p a week "Snack Money" while the reception kids pay £1.25 a week.

I looked at their ofsted inspection and I am not impressed at all by it, BUT it's the nearest non-catholic school (not that I have anything against Catholics, my partner and his entire family are catholics) and since I attended there I thought it would be good for her. I'm starting to have my doubts so I can't wait to get outselves sorted out financially and start looking for a house nearer to OH's work.

nicki- what about asking the head to give you more detail on which sort of bread is not allowed. You could then check about wholemeal. At the same time you could bring up the subject of the nursery missing out on some news letters too. This used to happen at my sons nursery too but it was sorted when I mentioned it.

moggins

And what do you do when there are no refrigeration facilities for their lunchboxes? I'm fed up with having to send my son to school with plain ham sandwiches but it's about the only thing that won't spoil or go soggy. He loves prawns but there's no way I'm putting those in a sandwich to get left for hours in a corridor before he eats them

Spendless

moggins wrote:

And what do you do when there are no refrigeration facilities for their lunchboxes? I'm fed up with having to send my son to school with plain ham sandwiches but it's about the only thing that won't spoil or go soggy. He loves prawns but there's no way I'm putting those in a sandwich to get left for hours in a corridor before he eats them

Have you tried putting an ice-pack in the lunchbag. You can buy some with a seperate zip-up part for this to go in so no need for kids to take out and leave at school.

sunnth

What about using the mini ice packs that are made to fit in lunchboxes. Using one of those and an insulated lunchbox keeps the lunch cool even in summer. Or even freezing a small bottle of water and adding that to the lunchbox in summer so that they have a cool drink as well.

Glad

I used to freeze cartons of juice or squash and put it in lunchbox, it kept lunch cool and was defrosted by lunchtime

ditzymuppet

Don't all freak out at me! But Pizza...?

My mum and I used to make up Pizza on a sunday (from scratch) cover it in lots of cheese, tomatos and meats (This was her vain attempt to get me to eat meat... i soon after turned Veggie so it used to get covered in Veg!) then i was allowed a slice of this each day along with my sandwiches (yuck) I disliked the sandwiches... but if i ate the sandwiches i was allowed the pizza...

I also used to make up either flapjacks or gingerbread men with my dad on the sunday (after we'd been swimming!) (he isn't allowed chocolate anyway 'you're all fat enough as it is!' - mothers...got to love them!) and that was better than chocolate cos WE made them!

I used to get laughed at, because i always used to take it clingfilm bags of dried fruit to nibble on... but i learnt that the junk food kids would quite happily swap a crisp for a raisin... woohoo :j

haha... thats all

love ~ditzy~ x

ditzymuppet

Bottles of frozen water/ squash also went down REALLY well.. not only great for impromptu water fights... they were good on hot summery days (and apparently for keeping your sandwiches cool!)

love ditzy x