Packed lunch ideas please

astep70uk

My 5 year old started school last September but decided he doesn't want school dinners.
He starrted taking packed lunches on Monday and he's eating everything in the box but I'm running out of ideas.

He doesn't like sandwiches/buns or wraps and prefers to to eat things like cooked meat, cheese and crackers etc.
I was thinking of giving him things like cold fish fingers with tomato sauce to dip in. (Anything he would eat hot, he also loves cold)

Can anyone give me ideas for packed lunches or tell me what you put in your little ones boxes??

Thanks in advance

ravenfire_2

Does he like any salad, pitta bread, bagels, breadsticks, pasta. Dont mean to be rude but I dont think cold fish fingers is particularly healthy for a lunch time snack.

lil_me

My son doesn't eat sandwiches, wraps, pasta etc etc he takes slices of cooked ham, slices of cucumber, grapes (or another fruit depending on what is in) raisins and a bottle of fruit juice. As your son will eat crackers could include those, my friends son (strangely called Jacob I don't think it's coincidence) takes crackers every day instead of sandwiches.

morganb

What about pasta salad or couscous salad .. with broad beans, chopped up cherry tomatoes and diced cucumber? Veggie sticks with houmous. Meatballs with a tomato sauce. Sausage and rice salad. A stanley flask filled with homemade soup or baked beans that he could have with some bread? Those stanley flasks are really good and keep stuff warm for ages, I got mine from Wilkinsons. He could then have last nights tea warmed up, if you see what I mean.

lil_me

ravenfire wrote: »

Dont mean to be rude but I dont think cold fish fingers is particularly healthy for a lunch time snack.

Not being rude but can I ask why ?

Morgan those ideas sound great, just a shame my son wouldn't touch any of them or I'd give it a go myself.

astep70uk

No me neither, but getting him to eat ANYTHING at lunchtime is good.
He doesn't like pittas or anything 'salad', but I did think he would probably eat a pasta salad of some variety.
He also usually takes 3 pieces of fruit, piece of cheese and a fromage frais so I didn't think giving him (grilled) fish fingers was too bad. It's the main part of the lunch I'm having trouble with. Here is what I was thinking (he eats all of these) - let me know if you can add any ideas to this list:

Fromage frais
Cheese
Banana
Blackberries
Strawberries
Satsuma
Apple
Plain crisps
TUC crackers
Cold cooked meats (ham, chicken, beef)
Cold fish fingers/chicken dippers (occasionally)
Homemade cake/biscuits

He won't eat
sandwiches/buns
pittas
wraps
salad
quiche
pies
cold rice

Thanks again

ravenfire_2

lil_me wrote: »

Not being rude but can I ask why ?

Morgan those ideas sound great, just a shame my son wouldn't touch any of them or I'd give it a go myself.

A lot of fishfingers actually have a high fat and salt content - unless they are home made and you know whats going into them.

lil_me

Homemade pizza if he'll eat it ?

Careful with raspberries, sometimes they are a little soft and end up like mush.

Sounds like you already have a lot of choices there already. My son takes same thing every day, doesn't like me to change it especially without warning.

As long as the OP is cautious of what she buys when it comes to foods like fish fingers and is careful of the content, or makes her own as I do I don't see a problem with it myself. Of course not here to judge what other people feed their family anyway.

astep70uk

I buy 'premium' fish fingers, and they aren't for him to take every day, so I guessed they were OK. I'm asking for help as I need to give him 'exciting' lunchboxes otherwise he might want to take things like Dairylea lunchables and all the other plastic food. It's really awful, but even at 5 year old there's peer pressure :eek:

mel123

Is it bread he doesnt like? I used to make mine sandwich wheels. I cut the crust off the bread, put in the filling (thin sliced ham, creamed cheese) then rolled up and cut it into inch wheels. they wouldnt eat a sandwich but they liked these. hope this helps.

vpmamt

My daughter likes tuna and pasta twists with a little mayonaise mixed together.