to asl what your kidd take in their packed lunch?

[happylittlefish]

Ds9 & Ds11's school just introduced a healthy eating policy and I'm stuck for 'acceptable' things to put in. They usually have a mix of dinners and lunches but dinners have also been stopped.

So what do your dc's take for lunch?

[Strokethefurrywall]

Errr, leftovers or sandwich
Apple or banana
yoghurt
crisps
cereal bar
raisins

Repeat ad nauseum

[WreckTangled]

Ds is only at pre school but today he had:

Cheese and marmite wrap
Cherry tomatoes
Raspberries
Yoghurt

He usually has a wrap of some sort often hummus in it. Or maybe crackers. Then two types of fruit. I would do veg sticks but he wouldn't touch them. Cheese if he isn't having any in his wrap. Yoghurt. Oaty bar if I have any in. I tried cold pasta but he didn't like that.

[formerbabe]

Cold chicken drumsticks
Crudités
Any fruit
Pitta bread and hummus
Pasta salad
Mini sausages
Wraps
Plain popcorn
Yoghurt
Dried fruit
Cubes of cheese

[Pyjamaface]

Cheese sandwich because he won't eat anything else.
Crisps
Cake bar
2 types of fruit
Drink

How he doesn't get bored of them I don't know but if I change anything he moans

[formerbabe]

Obviously not all that everyday!

[Bocolatechiscuit]

Mini wrap with ham and cheese OR a slice of quiche
2 mini chicken skewers
Yoghurt
Yoghurt covered strawberry pieces
Small square of flapjack

[Lilaclily]

Ds - cheese and ham sandwich
Dd - ham sandwich
Both- cherry tomatoes, grapes, fruit winder and coco pops snack bar

[hels71]

Ham or cheese sandwich on brown bread.
tomato or cucumber
some kind of fresh fruit
yoghurt
crisps (one bag usually lasts her 3 days...)
choc biscuit/flapjack/other small treat
water

[fuzzywuzzy]

Leftovers normally.

[BlackeyedSusan]

sandwich, four portions of fruit and veg (medical needs) usually tomato or peppers, cucumber, sometimes onion, grapes strawberries, apples plums etc. sometimes sweetcorn and peas in a divided pot. or corn on the cob section.

sometimes they have a cold jacket potato with a little bit of cheese, or wholemeal roll.

you can do pitta or wraps if they like it.

one of them used to take pots of leftover dinner and a spoon/fork. (they may have asked for bean soup in order to inflict flatulence on the rest of the class. )

they never have crisps or biscuits as I am the worst mother in the world, apparently. they do not moan about it, much. they have those at home for a treat every now and again.

I don't put yogurt in as it is sugary and makes a hell of a mess of the lunch box.

[SaucyJack]

Sandwich/wrap/pitta
Cheese portion or yoghurt
Fresh/dried fruit or salady veg.
Juice/smoothie tube.

Remember it's just one bog-standard meal. It's not a special birthday picnic. Nobody needs crisps, cake and a chocolate biscuit every single day.

You can always do them two rounds of sandwiches.

[alltouchedout]

Sandwiches, two pieces of fruit, drink, cake bar or biscuit. Have tried many many times to jazz things up (cold pasta salads and the like) but if i do, they don't eat it. Not worth the battle. I seriously cannot be doing with the lunchbox wars that rage on Facebook etc every so often. "Oh my god you put bread in? And products containing refined sugar? And squash is poison! Ptolomey has rice cakes and raw kale and water that comes from a spring in the himalayas, I don't think he'd even recognise crisps if you offered them to him!"

[Ginslinger]

the DGC have had chicken and avocado wraps, cheese sandwiches, couscous with salad bits, ham sandwiches and pitta sandwiches (tzatziki, humus, egg mayo,) with a piece of fruit - usually banana

[TheyOnceSaid]

2 Jacobs cream crackers with butter
Handful of grapes
And a bottle of water

I've got a very fussy eater.

[ILoveAGoodBrusselSprout]

I bought DD a bento style lunchbox and she decides (more or less) what goes in it. There are sections for each food group, which we don't always follow, but she likes to. Eg, protein - chicken, leftovers from previous night's dinner; dairy - yoghurt or cheese; grains - bread, pitta, crackers; fruit - blueberries, strawberries, orange; veg - baby tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, etc. There's a tiny space for Mayo, chocolate dip or a few sweets.

It's a yumbox which I ordered online

[AppleAndBlackberry]

Sandwich, babybel or yogurt, 2-3 x fruit or veg, either crisps or cake or yo-bear type snack.

[rosy71]

My boys usually have dinners. They tend to be fussy over packed lunches & won't eat things they'll normally eat. They have a packed lunch once a week & it tends to be:
beef or cucumber wrap/roll or a sausage roll
yoghurt tube
cucumber or some tomatoes
fruit: melon/grapes/apple/banana/blueberries
crisps/cereal bar/cake/mini Cheddars

Ds2 eats hardly any of it!

[TattyDevine]

My packed lunch formula for my key stage 2'er (who bring their own playtime snack) is sandwich with protein (ham for instance), drink (sugar free or water in our case as they need to watch their weight a little) 2 x fruit (usually an apple and banana, one gets eaten at playtime) and "treat" which is a penguin, or sometimes a muesli bar or a biscuit.

[inlovewithhubby]

All touched out - I agree that kale and chia seeds (or equivalent) might be seen as condescending to those who choose to eat differently, but as someone who has historically volunteered on supervising school lunches, packed lunches are mostly packed with crap. Most kids have high sugar juices, cakes, biscuits, chocolate bars and/or crisps in their boxes every day, which is unhealthy and take the place of alternatives like fruit, veg and healthy proteins and carbs. Kids aren't supervised as to the order they eat in, so they eat the crap first and then eat a fraction of the good stuff. Then we wonder why they don't concentrate well in the afternoon, once the sugar dip comes about an hour later and they are hungry again because they were full up on crap. PP said they don't need those things every day and I completely agree. We are breeding a generation of junk food addicts.

My kids have a sandwich/wrap with chicken, tuna, cheese etc, or pasta, sometimes soup in a flask if I've made it, with bread or roll. Plus salad (cucumber, carrot, pepper, tomatoes) fruit (berries, banana) and a yogurt ( no added sugar Yeo ones are fab). They get water to drink at school/pre school.

My kids used to hate salad, but I put it in, day in day out, and encourage them to try it. They now have a good go at it and know they need to eat a decent amount of that before they move into pudding, just like at home.

I do give my kids treats, but it is on my terms and when I want to. I don't want them filling up on crap when they need loads of energy to face the day. Our school has now banned all sugary food, chocolate bars, crisps and sweet drinks (water only). Funnily enough, kids are fine with it, because no one has boxes of crap with which to compare.

[happylittlefish]

Thanks for replies. I usually put in:
Sandwich
Piece fruit
Frube
Snack

Will change it though 😊 the thing I struggle is calories because they're very thin but get full very easily. Tomorrow I have packed them:

• Tuna wholemeal sandwich
• Carrot sticks & hummus
• Cherry tomatoes
• Apple
• Satsuma
• No added sugar yogurt

Any more examples are welcome 😊

[Welshmaenad]

Sandwich/wrap/pitta or box of cold pasta salad etc
Crisps
Water or juice
Yoghurt
Flapjack or oaty bar thing
Fruit

[Strokethefurrywall]

I've found that if I've cooked something new that I want them to try, I put a big portion in their lunch and then cut back on everything else.

That way they're starving by lunchtime and more likely to eat it. I'm a bit mean like that, they're too tired when they get home to entertain the idea of new foods so I make them hungry enough to try new stuff.

They're only 4 and 2. DS1 is obsessed with apples and broccoli for some reason, so I let most other things slide, as long as he eats something!!

[happylittlefish]

Haha stroke, ds9 is also obsessed with broccoli!!! He's asked for it raw in his lunch 😂

[BakingBunty]

I make sausage rolls (using ready made puff pastry and good quality sausage meat, super easy) which isn't the healthiest thing in the world but makes a nice change from sandwiches. DS also has a few mini cheddars, a babybel, sticks of pepper and cucumber, fruit and a mini muffin or biscuit.

[alltouchedout]

Thanks, ilovehappy, I never knew any of that.