Anyone else totally burnt out on packed lunches?

school dinners was my solution

If mine has school lunches, he eats the cake they have for pudding and not a lot else. With packed lunch, he's so picky he mostly will only tolerate a jam sandwich, which most of the time he won't eat. If I send fruit in, he doesn't eat it. Yoyo bears he is sick of and has gone off. Crackers, he'll no longer eat. He WILL eat crisps but only the plainest, most basic ones. He doesn't really like cold food at all and won't eat most of the savoury food the school offer.

Most days, he comes home starving because he's barely eaten any lunch. He has his real lunch at 3.30 at home. I try really hard to load him up with breakfast because it has to last him all day.

Ours are made the night before. But my kids make their own. Y5+.

I’m afraid posh packed lunches fall into the same category of “making a rod for your own back” as Elf on the flaming Shelf.

When I was at primary school every day was a marmite sandwich on white, an apple, and a bar of some sort. That was where the only variety came in; would it be a Viscount, a Club or a United? 😀

You have my sympathy OP.

My DS is in year 6 so he makes his own now thankfully.

Dd has school dinners, I don’t have the time or energy to be making pack lunches every day. She’ll occasionally have a pack lunch if she really doesn’t like the school dinner options that day, but they get two main meal options, jacked potato with different toppings, two types of pasta and sandwiches with different fillings to choose from every day so there’s usually something she likes. They’re quite healthy and with a couple of vegetables and a salad bowl on offer each day too and chips are only once a week so I’m happy with the dinners.

Currently sticking with school dinners despite the daily begging. No nuts, no seeds, no hot flasks, no crisps and no ‘sweets’ (which seems to mean anything sweet even homemade) leaves me with so few options that I can’t face it.

This is where having an autistic child can come in handy. DS would lose his shit if I deviated from the usual menu of ham wrap, apple, raisins, wotsits and freddo bar. It’s basically prepared on autopilot these days

If it easier do school dinners. U can usually get a print out of what they are eating. You can do the healthy stuff at home . Primary finners are usually better than secondary I think.

It's the only time my afrid child is easy to feed as has the same every day. 1 box of carrot sticks, one slice of seeded bread with chicken and margarine, 1 bag of crisps, 1 bottle of lime juice. I make up 5 sandwiches on Sunday and freeze, get out each night for the next day.
With my other two I'd have a rotation so they didn't get board but it was easy for me to not have to think. Just a monotonous job.

Oh and I prepare it when I do our evening meal and stick the whole lunch box in the fridge until morning

I do a rotation of:
pizza
crackers and cheese
wrap
chicken nuggets
sandwhich
sausages and ketchup
with a side of fruit or veg

I used to rotate things when my DD’s in school. Sandwiches/pasta salad/wraps etc.

wraps were popular, sometimes

Hated them. Never did them. School dinners every day. Such a relief.

Oh god yes, I hate it. I do lunchboxes for my two the night before and bung in the fridge. I mean it literally takes 5 minutes or less but it’s a chore that I absolutely loath doing!

Get a thermos pot. In the mornings, preheat it by filling with boiling water, put lid on and leave for a couple of minutes. Microwave left over healthy meals you made for dinner in the week, pour out boiling water and add the hot food.

we’re having chicken and veggie noodles tonight mainly so dd can take them to school tomorrow. Today she took a portion of the shepherds pie I made on Monday, on Tuesday she took a portion of left over spag bol from Saturday.

feels less effort to make an extra one or two portions of dinner meals than to make sandwiches. Throw in some fruit and something snacky, done.

I agree about paying a small amount. Free things are often underfunded, so the provider cannot produce something of good quality.

For 2 years I had to send a packed lunch AND a packed tea to the childminders, the relief when she started school and got free meals was huge. But she hates them. We choose at home and at least once a week she doesn’t like any of the options. jacket potato is the back up option each day, but she doesn’t like that. Quite often the choices are: something meaty with potatoes, something veggie which no child will eat (corgette bake, beetroot tart) also served with potatoes, or a potato. If you don’t like potatoes, tough luck!

but my god. I hated making packed lunches and in reluctant to go back to especially while there’s a free meal on offer! And tbh I find feeding 2 children constantly exhausting so any meal provided by someone else is welcomed.

My DSis freezes sandwiches

Can you prep sandwich fillings/salads the night before and then it's just a quick assembly job in the morning? I agree school dinners don't always seem like the healthier option, I did packed lunches when mine were in Primary and they generally bought a wrap or panini from the school canteen in Secondary. They were always starving after school though and had toast & marmite, wraps & fruit/yoghurt as soon as they got home!

I feel your pain

I rotate my kids on

Macaroni cheese
Chilli
Ham sandwich
Spaghetti

Then I add the following 'sides', 1 of each:

Fruit
Crackers
Yogurt
Muffin
Cookies
Cheese
Apple sauce

My mother used to make a big batch of ham sandwiches every couple of weeks and freeze them, bringing out one a day for each of us.

She loved that regime.... the rest of us, not so much. When I had to make my own lunch I used to just take an apple and buy chocolate at the school canteen.

Does anyone remember a woman who used to blog the very amazing fancy vegan bento box lunches she prepared for her child? That was years ago and I bought the book, then felt like the worst mother in the world when I simply could not recreate anything (and nor did my ASD son eat it).

School lunches all the way here- but we are lucky they are really good.

My deal was this; make your own packed lunch, if that's what you want, or you have a school dinner. (Y5-11). One opted to make one and loved doing it, other had school dinners.