3 weeks into term and I am so over luncboxes. Inspire me?

[SquongebobSparepants]

I make lunches for DD1 (5.5) and I.
She doesn't like anything liquidy in her sarnies (so no mayo or anything) and normally has
peanut butter sarnies cut into shapes,
flapjack,
satsuma/grapes/apple,
chopped cucumber/carrot (sometimes, if she is being undramatic)
frozen/cold yoghurt tube and
water.

[Readyisknitting]

Maybe wraps instead of a sarnie? Cheese and a bit of cucumber, once rolled fold kitchen towel into a narrow strip and wrap round and stick with selly to keep it rolled?

Muffin instead of flapjack?

Cold pasta and pesto?

[BlueChampagne]

cold pizza slices?
Pasties? Not just Cornish style but Greek spanakopita (puff pastry, spinach and feta)
Is hummus any good or too liquid?

Problem is these all require more time and effort than sarnies!

[acatcalledbob]

I made a load of pizza rolls the other day. Jamie Oliver's pizza dough stretched out square and spread with pizza sauce (I blend my own with roasted courgettes, aubergine, tomatoes, onion, peppers etc), then sprinkle on mushrooms, peppers, salami, ham, olives and grated cheese (it all needs to be chopped small). Roll up like a swiss roll, cut into 2 inch slices and place on a baking tray - cook for about 20 minutes at 200C. They are gorgeous, I made a dozen so lots in the freezer too (once DH had had his share!)

DD will also get cold sausages or pasta with sauce from previous night's dinner

Individual carrot cakes are great too and freeze well (I put raisins in mine to sweeten them up).

DD1 has been back at school for 5 weeks now and I've been trying to cheer up her lunch boxes too....

[BleughCowWonders]

also, don't forget that little ones like routine and repetition, so she'd probably be happy with the same lunch box five days in a row...

So don't fret, just pack what she'll eat. And repeat til the end of term

[ShowOfHands]

DD takes crackers, cold pasta (tuna and sweetcorn or tomato her faves), pittas, veg sticks and humous, sandwiches, pizzabreads and cheesebreads (homemade), cold sausages with dip, dry toast and a little pot of pate to spread etc along with the normal fruit, yoghurt stuff.

I'm thinking of getting her a wide flask so she can take pasta/rice/soup and eat it out the flask or dip rolls/bread in it.

[anklebitersmum]

We have the wide flasks (more like pots with a handle) and they're excellent. My 12, 6 and 5yr olds all love them and by lunchtime they're just the right temperature to eat.
We make soups mainly (Jamie Oliver to the rescue) but truth be known you can put pretty much anything in them so mine go to school with shepherds pie, pasta bolognese or selected left-overs on a fairly regular basis.
I add a drink and fruit and they're good to go...morning lunchbox routine consists of whack food in pot, nuke for 3 mins or so and pop on the lid.

[couldtryharder]

I've been looking for a suitable pot/flask type thing for DD as it gets colder because I'd like to pack her up something hot for lunch. Anklebiter, could you tell me what make yours are, they sound perfect. Breastfeedingbride - where do you get the crisps from?

[ShowOfHands]

You can get those veg crisps all over the place. Most supermarkets do them. DD doesn't like them. She says she likes them 'uncrisped'. So just veg then.

[StealthPolarBear]

SO if you put shepherd's pie in a flask, do they take a plate to tip it out onto?
DD takes lunches to the CM, and I started off full of good intentions which were soon ground down by her lack of enthusiasm and lack of time. Most times she goes with buttered bread, sometimes with ham or cheese in, sometimes alongside. Apple/carrot, yoghurt,and a snack bar thing. Really need to do something different but she won't eat it!!

[StealthPolarBear]

Might try the crisps but I can't believe they are particularly good. Probably not unhealthy though, which is good

[largeginandtonic]

I make 7 lunchboxes every bloody morning. Dh included in that.

It is DULL. I have bought them all the Sytema boxes with compartments to make it a bit more interesting to pack.

They get a wrap/roll or cold pizza leftover. Juice box in one compartment, homemade cake/fudge whatever i have made the day before in another, raisins/rice crackers/pretzels/dried apricots/pears or someting similar in another and fruit chopped up in the last one. Usually melon/grapes/kiwi/orange. Apple etc.. goes brown unless i rub it with lemon and tbh this is just TOO faffy at 7 in the morning.

The smallest lunchbox eater who has only just started taking them in the last week gets pickles and olives too. They are his favourite. He is a bit odd though.

[largeginandtonic]

I also sometimes put in a sausage roll instead of roll etc.. they moan if i don't put in the obligatory pot of ketchup though. I hate those days. The ketchup is EVERYWHERE.

[ShowOfHands]

I sent cold sausages and ketchup today ginny. Haven't braved opening the girl's lunchbox yet...

[largeginandtonic]

Don't do it. Throw it away and buy a new one. The SMELL. Yeuch. I hate ketchup so that may not help.

[Myhouse2011]

acatcalledbob those pizza rolls sound fab, do you freeze before or after cooking them? TIA

[MonkeysPunk]

Goodbyn lunchboxes are great. No more cling film or sandwich bags necesary.
Freeze the drink to keep everything cool until lunchtime.

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

DS1 takes his lunch to preschool 4 days a week. He has a cheese sandwich, every day. Sometimes he has a little tub with some hummus, cucumber and carrot in. I always put in a cereal bar, or some flapjack I've made, and then 2 kinds of fruit. Fortunately he prefers his fruit whole, so I am spared the chopping.

I would love him to eat a bit more variety, he will at home, but I'm concerned about sending him with anything too messy.

[SquongebobSparepants]

Thanks guys, some great ideas here. She is a bit fussy and (lucky for me it seems) doesn't like sauces or anything like that, so dips etc are out.
I forgot she does have a widemouth flask i got from poundstretcher which is aces for pasta or stew. and it was only a couple of quid, I am sure that will get dug out once this sun passes.
Oh, and peanut butter and apple sandwiches are great, and get the apple in them without it going nasty as it is IN the sandwich...

[privateprancer]

we aren't allowed peanut butter, hummus or pesto at school due to allergies, am surprised that you're allowed to take them...?

how about pitta bread some days instead of bread? Cold rice salad? Oat cakes?

[MonkeyJuice]

One of my children carries adrenaline for nut allergy. The adrenaline is the last chance in case of severe allergic reaction. There's no guarantee it will actually work.
I am so very thankful that nuts are off the menu at my child's school, and thankful to all the parents who don't send their children in with nuts.
However, I think a lot of people who don't have nut allergy in the family are not tuned in to reading the label on packaged foods and will not realise that some things do contain nuts even though you can't see them! Even if you do read the label, sometimes you need to know the Latin names too. Arachis oil is peanut oil. Prunus dulcis is sweet almond. Etc.
From the parent of a child with a severe allergy, that allergen (nuts in our case) may aswell be arsnic.
We've turned up to family parties before where there were bowls of peanuts out for guests. I then have to consider not only keeping my child away from these, but which guests have had their hand in the nuts, so who needs to wash their hands before hugging my child, who has traces of nuts on their lips (so may not give my child a kiss) etc.
Nut allergy can make situations incredibly stressful and difficult. I'm sure it must feel like a huge imposition to parents being asked not to send children in with nuts in their lunches, but it really helps keep an allergic child safe. Thank you so much to those who do this.

[MonkeyJuice]

Ps I wish I could send mine in with flasks of soup/pasta/stew etc. On the grounds of health and safety we are not allowed to send anything hot.
However the school dinners are hot, so in the winter we have those.