Lunchbox suggestions for difficult eater?

[maggiethecat]

DD1 is in reception and as we suspected we are struggling with her caloric intake especially at lunchtime. She has always been a picky eater altho she has a few favourites. At nursery we could rely on her eating meals since she would follow what others were having. Lunchboxes present a problem as she's never liked sandwiches and does not seem keen to follow others on having these. But pasta, rice etc probably mark her out as different.
We have tried to be creative and send her with a variety - yesterday was a chicken, cheese, sweet pepper tortilla wrap plus fruit and juice (one bite of the wrap taken); today was chicken wings, bread, satsuma, juice. It was evident over the Christmas that she has lost weight and is looking gaunt. I am told that a child will not starve herself to any real detriment but I'm not sure. When she gets home it's still a struggle to get her to eat with us - and food is usually good, freshly prepared stuff.
Any suggestions of how we can improve things with the lunchbox situation/encourage her to eat the contents????

[veryberry]

What about a croissant instead of a sandwich sometimes? You could put cheese or ham inside to make it a savoury snack. If you are worried about the calorie intake that may be a good way to boost it. Another possibility is brioche or sweet waffles. Not ideal every day but might tempt her to eat if she likes these things. Does she like pita bread? There are lots of things you can put inside to make it appealing to her taste. It sounds like you are giving her some nice alternatives to sandwiches already. Have you asked her what she would like to eat? She may have an idea of what she wants.

[Mercy]

Any chance of her having school dinners?

I also have a fussy eater and am dreading him starting Reception this year for that reason.

I'll have to come back to this a bit later. Hope you get some helpful replies (btw I'd go for what she likes not what will make her fit in - so pasta and rice salads or whatever!)

[karen999]

I had the same problem when dd1 started school - she was such a fussy eater. In saying that all the stuff that she did eat was very healthy (ie cucumer, lettuce, brown bread, cold meats)

She too did not like sandwiches and so I bought a tray (kind of like tupperware) and she would help me in the morning prepare what she wanted to eat for that day. So one segment would have cucumber, the other would have ham, the other would have lettuce and so on.

I also found that she liked croutons, bread sticks etc. Perhaps if you get her more involved this may help?? My dd always said that a sandwich seemed to much for her but that she liked to pick up various bits and pieces and eat away at her own pace...another good one is cheese and crackers...

[Toothyboy]

Ds1 wouldn't eat sandwiches until I started making star shaped ones (using a biscuit cutter) - only cheese though!

Most of his lunches are 'separates'; tomorrow he's got a plain wrap, some ham, cherry tomatoes and cucumber sticks. He has things like a hard boiled egg and pitta bread or cocktail sausages and bread and butter or cheese sticks and crackers. I always put in some veg as well: cherry toms, cucumber, pepper, carrot etc.

Hope these give you some ideas.

[maggiethecat]

Thanks for all of your responses and I will try some of the suggestions esp Karen's and the tupperware tray of assorted bits (it will still be a struggle as her range of acceptability is so limited - no ham, chicken slices, eggs, tomatoes - I will have to plod on with a few favourites like broccoli and cucumbers)
A big concern is her protein intake - we swear that she's vegetarian and someone suggested adding protein powder to her smoothies - does anyone know anything about these powders? Would love to be able to rely on pulses for protein but she'll not have these either!
School dinners not available.

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

Try pitta breads or slices of French Stick? Thats all dd would have in her packup for the first year. She now eats finger rolls, but not round rolls

Don't worry about the other kids thinking she's different if she's eating rice or pasta. IME they like having something different to show off.

[ChippyMinton]

DS2 (aka Mr Fusspot) has a little plastic box of dry cereal or mini rice cakes

[pointydog]

does she like cocktail sausages? Most kids love them and very easy to bung a few in a tub. Never met a kid who doesn't like 'em.

[pointydog]

aldso other kids will be most envious of sausages

[pointydog]

(meaning their envy might make her more inclined to eat them)

[pointydog]

dioes she like cheese? Cut some little cheese slices and wrap up some ritz biscuits. Yum.

dd1 never that fussed on sandwiches but she liked these things.