School lunch boxes

Don’t overthink it:
a carb - wrap, sandwich, pasta
a fruit or veg -eg apple, carrot or cucumber
a treat - penguin bar, pepperoni, cake
drink - water or juice carton
they dont get too much time to eat so don’t pack too much

How about a food flask to change things up? A couple of days a week I’ll pop a portion of left over pesto pasta or spag bol in for DS

It’s been a while since I made a packed lunch but when I (or the dc) did it was a sandwich or a wrap, some crackers or crisps, some fruit, veg sticks and something like a jelly/cake bar/bear yo-yo/biscuit.

Usually for most kids it's:
Sandwich/wrap/roll/crackers
Crisps
Some kind of treat - cake, biscuit
Fruit

A few might have pasta or a flask with something in but the majority are probably no different to packed lunches from the past!

Sandwhich or wrap
Piece of fruit
Biscuit
One other thing - chopped meat, bit of cheese, small sausage roll, etc etc

(By the time they are 14 - 2 sandwiches, something in a hot flask, fruit, biscuit, crisps etc etc etc )

We've got lunchboxes with compartments for DD7 and DS5

Wrap- Tuna, ham or cheese swap occasionally for ryvita.
Half a bag of crisps or popcorn
Yoghurt (plain Greek from a larger tub decanted into a smaller tub)
Chopped fruit and veg (dried fruit for fussy DD)
Occasionally homemade cake (beetroot brownie, blueberry muffin, carrot cake)

I try to keep it simple and generally. If I'm mixing it up change from wraps to rolls, bagels or pittas for example. If I have ham or cheese needing to be used up I also make the wraps up ahead and freeze to save food waste.

I refuse to do them because it’s another job and also they’d insist on a plain ham sandwich every day. School dinners here.

Ham wrap or sandwich, cucumber and carrot sticks, a small sausage roll or a few cocktail sausages and a couple of chicken satay sticks, fruit salad with whatever fruit I’ve bought that week and a small sweet treat e.g cake bar, mini own brand twix type thing etc.

The idea of putting vine leaves in a child’s lunchbox is delightfully bonkers 😂

My son has a box with 3 compartments sandwich cheese and ham, 10 cocktail sausages and then a biscuit/ chocolate muffin plus a drink

Mine has;
Sandwich (usually chicken)
Bottle of water
Crisps
Peperami
Satsuma
Cucumber & cherry tomatoes if I've got them

He doesn't usually eat it all, but eats the rest when he gets home. He's 9. But he mostly has school dinners so it's only once a week

Wrap/sandwich with either tuna, cheese, chicken and some salad
Fruit
Piece of cake/small muffin

That's it . This is 3 boys aged 6, 8 & 11. They will tell me if it's not enough. My 15 Yr old sorts himself out but will occasionally take a lunch. He and the 11 year old have 2 wraps.

We did cheese and tomato sandwiches yogurt piece of fruit cut up veg/fruit (carrot cucumber pepper and a little treat (usually a mini choc bar)

Been a while but you could add malt loaf, some kind of dip (not houmous), vine leaves if your kid likes them, cold ham or chicken, hot dog sausages, ritz crackers, a small yoghurt, grapes cut in half, cherry tomatoes (ditto) if your school isn't madly strict, flapjack.

We had free school meals all through KS1 so that saved a job. School is nut free and asks that we don't send processed snacks, cake etc.

I use a Sistema bento box with three sections: cheese sandwich, chopped veg (cucumber, tomato, pepper, carrot are our favourite, one dc likes olives) and some fruit (chopped apple, pears, melon, strawberries, I try to keep it seasonal).

Some people at school do the whole teddy shaped fruit kebabs, hot pasta in flasks, etc, but my dc eat the above and dont complain so I'm sticking with it.