Anyone else totally burnt out on packed lunches?

Can your child/ren make their own lunch? I used to put post-its above the worktop listing the things that we typically had in, grouped by food type, and my kids would choose / find / make an item from each list, plus something from the 'anything else of your choice' list.

I agree that many six year olds are perfectly capable of making sandwiches - my kids' nursery got the three and four year olds to assemble their own sandwiches at tea time, i.e. choose which bread they wanted, spread on butter/marge/mayo, add a filling or two from a box of prepared stuff, e.g grated cheese, salad, tuna mayo, various meats and so on. I'm very grateful to the nursery for giving my kids a place to practice these skills and clearing up the inevitable mess afterwards.

My greedy kids did usually eat all their packed lunches, I would find it pretty soul destroying making them day after day if they weren't getting eaten 😔 is it because they're not keen on cold food/sandwiches or because they can't be bothered to sit and eat when they'd rather be outside playing?

Mine definitely preferred wraps/bagels/rolls to sandwiches and they liked rice or pasta salad with chopped ham, tomato and cucumber, I would often sneak in some chopped spinach or celery too! They liked chicken salad with leftover roast chicken, halved grapes, spring onion & a herby mayo/sour cream dressing with parsley, chives and dill. They also liked 'bugs bunny' salad which was grated carrot, chopped apple, sultanas, pumpkin and/or sunflowers seeds. Would they go for something like that?

Sandwich/wrap fillings varied between ham and cheese, soft cheese and cucumber, tuna mayo with red onion or sweetcorn, egg mayo, coronation chicken or sliced roast beef and mustard.

DS has pretty much the same thing every day with a little variation...cheese sandwich, veg sticks, berries and a yoyo, which he seems quite happy with.

I'm lucky I only need to make 1 but I quite enjoy the 10 mins in the morning while making it...I watch morning TV on my IPad while I'm doing it and clearing up and it's a nice relaxing way to start the day. Same again when I'm cooking dinner...I always have a series on the go in the background.

He's nearing end of primary years so no doubt will change soon.

God I used to find it an absolute drudge. Hated it.

I sometimes made cheese scones and the kids liked them (and they Freeze well). Crackers / veg and houmous.

I feel you op, I really do!

I cook a bit extra the night before and we take leftovers

Yeah they can do! Have high expectations and children will rise to them. A 6 year old should be able to make simple butties and wraps.

one year and one term to go...
one year and one term to go...
one year and one term to go...
one year and one term to go...
one year and one term to go...

Ahhhhrgh! I tried the school lunches but they were SO BAD she was coming home starving.

And this was corroborated by other parents - one kid kept getting the baked potato just to eat the cheese, and in general the school lunches went downhill when they became free for all (thanks Sadik, i'd rather pay £2 or whatever and have better quality food) so packed lunch it is...

one year and one term to go...
one year and one term to go...
one year and one term to go...

I worked as a parent volunteer at the lunch tables one year. My first day I saw a child who had a gourmet sandwich on a croissant with turkey, lettuce and tomato, and other healthy bits in his lunch pail. I was feeling quite ashamed of myself with my DC's peanut butter sandwich...that is, until I saw the cheeky little monkey dump the entire healthy contents of his lunch pail in the bin as his merrily ran off to play. His mum probably sent him off to school every day with similar since his lunch pail came home empty, but at least she had a clear conscious that she tried to provide a healthy packed lunch.

I'm not sure a 6 year old would put together an adequate packed lunch really.

My 3 DC's are in their 30's, and I am still burnt out and scarred from those 1000's of packed lunches I had to put together for over 20 years.
Although, my last DC was kind of easy as all he ever wanted was one peanutbutter and honey on whole meal sandwich....every day for over 10 years. I made sure he had a proper supper, though.

Get them to make it!

I was a busy working Mum and I booked mine in for school lunches until they were old enough to do their own packed lunches if they wanted them.

been there my go to ham cream cheese wraps or ham sandwich occasionally egg.Once a week pasta salad i make night before but yep pretty samey

I feel the same as you. My son won't eat cold healthy food (he's a little better with hot food), so his packed lunch isn't even that healthy. He has healthy bits in it, that at home, I'd insist he ate, but at school, he just ignores them.

But the school meals are so equally crap, I don't think it's a better option.