Packed lunches for very fussy 8 yo

[CountFosco]

DS's school aren't doing cooked meals for juniors and DS won't eat the school packed lunches (options: ham or cheese sandwich) so we have to make them ourselves. Usually he only has a packed lunch once in a blue moon so I don't worry about nutritional content but I'm really stuck for what to give him every day for school.

He was allergic to milk and eggs when younger and still won't eat them unless they are well hidden, most suggestions online seem to include lots of cheese or eggs. He is fussy about meat and won't eat ham or chicken or burgers or fish (except fish fingers). He will eat sausages (all kinds, loves black pudding, chorizo, haggis etc), mince and pâté.

He eats 3 kinds of sandwiches normally: pâté, hummus and peanut butter. School is a nut free school so he can't have peanut butter. But alternating 2 sandwiches for lunch doesn't seem very healthy for months on end.

Vegetable wise he eats no common salad ingredients (so no lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, avocados, carrot sticks). Of the veg he eats hot I can just about see him eating the following cold: peppers (the nice antipasti type roasted and in oil) and peas but I'm not sure what to do with them.

He eats crisps (and the banned nuts) but not popcorn or other savoury snacks. Won't eat muffins (savoury or sweet).

Thankfully he is less fussy about fruit so we're OK for pudding.

[CountFosco]

So, em, help! Anyone got any suggestions to save me from making the most boring packed lunches in the world?

[formerbabe]

Fish fingers in a pitta bread with a salad that consists of anything he's prepared to eat...grated carrot, sliced peppers?

Mini pizzas?

What does he sat for dinner? Can you just adapt that for lunch?

[formerbabe]

*eat

[ButteryPuffin]

Does he eat cheese at all? Or yogurt?

If he'll eat fruit then I would give more of that. Sausages and hummus alternating - well, I remember eating exactly the same sandwich day in day out at primary school for months. I think there's a statistic that gives a surprisingly high percentage of adults who eat exactly the same thing for lunch every day. It's not that unusual is what I'm saying.

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Hmmmm! Tricky! Would he eat any kind of pasta or cous cous salad?
You may just have to change type of bread to give a little variety, pitta strips with hummus dip, pate on crackers, pate on baguette, hummus wrap.
Roasted chickpeas are a bit like nuts, might be worth a shot.
Savoury flapjack.
How about a little tub of sweetcorn?

[sitckmansladylove]

I don't send mine to school with a massive variety due to allergies(no nuts etc) and so on.
I tend to send homemade bread or a scone or sandwich
Or crackers and cheese
Sometimes breadsticks and cheese dip

Then fruit (apple or an orange or berries) and a yoghurt

The crackers and cheese is the favourite.

[Elouera]

Does he like sushi? I did a yo sushi course and its suprisingly easy to make with any filling you like. Lots of videos on youtube also. You can buy the rice, nori, rolling mat and vinegar from tesco, asda, sainsburys etc.

Quiche with roasted veg (or whatever veg he eats) or fritatta- bascically the same but no pastry. I realise its egg, but would he eat that?

Wraps with homous and fillings he likes

[Beamur]

I'd get one of those divided lunch boxes and just rotate the items he will eat.
Crackers/breadsticks/pitta/bagel/
Pate/chorizo/hummous/cocktail sausages
Would he try vegan alternatives if still nervous about dairy?
Piece of fruit/crisps and/or something sweet.
My DD ate the same 3 sandwich type fillings (peanut butter, hummous and soft cheese) in this style for years!

[DriftGames]

Rice cakes with cream cheese? Would he know cream cheese from regular cheese?

Malt/banana/apple mini loafs? Fruit? In any form - fresh, dried etc?

Rice with peas & sweetcorn? Or pasta with the same or pesto?

A chocolate/crisp treat would be fine too.

[StyleandBeautyfail]

No wonder hes so fussy!
Why all the angst?
Hummus/pate sandwich, crisps/ fruit
Done

[CountFosco]

Definitely won't eat quiche or frittata. Cream cheese is a no but we have had success where the cheese is very well hidden (in other words: he eats pesto) but not always, I often get a hard stare and 'this has CHEESE in it, doesn't it Mummy'.

Sweetcorn is a very good call, he loves that.

What does he sat for dinner? Can you just adapt that for lunch?

He quite often refuses to eat dinner and the things he likes don't work as a cold lunch, e.g. he loves chilli con carne. He is the youngest child and his older sisters are much less fussy so he often gets fish fingers or sausages and a small amount at the edge of his plate of whatever 'poison' the rest of us are eating. DH was a very fussy child so I just blame him!

[DriftGames]

Could his home lunches not be lunchbox adaptable? Or is it meals like dinner time?

You could try savoury flapjacks too - can chuck lots of hidden veg in those! Does he eat tuna? You can do so much with tuna.

Fritters & pancakes could work and you can hide fruit/veg in them, batch cook and freeze!

I know he's not a baby, but have a look at WhatMummyMakes on insta or buy her book. I'm weaning my 9 month old and her recipes are amazing and can usually be served cold and in lunchboxes!

[KillerQueen35]

I send DS with soup in a thermos and a sandwich (which he dips in the soup ). His sandwich preferences are fairly limited but he will eat any kind of soup so that helps with variety.

[SummerHouse]

Ploughman's? Mini pork pie, bread roll, apple and pickled onions.

[Elouera]

• chicken drumsticks? Either with a crumbed coating, or sticky soy or just plain in a lunch box with kitchen paper or foil around the leg to hold onto it?

• meat balls with hidden, puree veg inside

• falafel balls with homous

[UniversalTruth]

I agree, I'd have no problem sending him with hummus sandwiches every day if that's what he likes. Or a roll with just butter and then sausages, some crisps and fruit. Sounds fine to me.

[BlueSwathesChoose]

Would he eat cold pasta salad with peas and sweetcorn? Maybe with a bit of olive oil?

[BlueSwathesChoose]

Also breadsticks and salsa if he will eat that?

[Drumple]

I would honestly just make the boring packed lunch. As long as he eats it. That’s the main thing.

[partofyoupoursoutofme]

Chilli con carne in a food flask, would still be hot at lunch time. A food flask might offer a few more options? Otherwise I would alternate pate and hummus in different forms - sandwich/crackers/breadsticks/pitta /baguette etc
if he eats peas could you do a little pot of them? Alternate with roasted peppers? Ask him for ideas after a few weeks, there might be something his peers eat that he fancies?

[RedCatBlueCat]

Dont worry about it being nearly the same every day. Better to eat the same thing than to not eat anything!

Other thoughts -
Sausage rolls?
Cold pasta with pesto, peas and the peppers he likes?
Cold sausages with pasta and sweetcorn.

Dont worry about salad. Put some fruit in. Veg him up at supper time. Dont worry about variety. My Dad has had the same lunch 5 days a week for about 40 years!

[formerbabe]

You could put chilli con carne cold in a wrap I would think with some shredded salad veg

To be honest, my DD is fussy with her lunch and has the same thing every day

[CountFosco]

Ask him for ideas after a few weeks, there might be something his peers eat that he fancies?

That's a good idea, I'll do that. DH (he of the fussy genes) said that he ate things at school that he wouldn't eat at home so I'll put something challenging in each day and see what happens. I am fairly relaxed about him not eating much for lunch, I doubt he'll starve himself and he has a decent breakfast anyway.

Thanks everyone, some useful ideas