School pack lunch ideas for 8 year old

[bex611]

My 8 year old son is a very picky eater and I'm having trouble coming up with things to put in his school pack lunch that he will actually eat. Can you give me some idea of what your kids eat, realistically. There are lot of American recipes online, with things like salad and avocado that he just would never touch. He'll gladly eat chocolate and crisps so that not a problem. Need to get ideas for stuff he can actually fill his belly...!?

What does he like? Does he like bread? Cheese? Crisps? Cucumber? Pepper? Fruit?

I would insist on school dinners and not entertain the fussiness, why put yourself through his stress which could all go to waste anyway? peer pressure may work to get them to eat and you know it’s all healthy and reasonably cheap, certainly cheaper than wasted food, no child ever faded away from only eating few mouthfuls of school dinners

My oldest daughter loved onigiri for school lunches when she was about that age. She helped make them too.

Cold pizza
Homemade vegetable pasties
Hummus wraps with grated carrot, cucumber & pepper
Savoury muffins
Cheese & crackers with bits & bobs

My DD takes half a sandwich or half a pitta made into a pizza, a yoghurt in a tube, fruit - she likes tubs of blueberries, grapes, granny smith apples or strawberries best.

She also likes a few cocktail sausages or chicken poppers in a tub, jelly pouches, popchips, chipsticks, cucumber cut up in a tub, cherry tomatoes, pepperami

OP has said her son us a very picky eater, and although salad or avocado. Onigiri is a great suggestion!

Sandwich/wrap/crackers/breadsticks.
Ham/cheese/tuna/jam/ etc
Pepperami/chicken pieces/boiled egg/pork pue/sausage roll.
Some sort of fruit. Some sort of veg.
Yogurt. Biscuit/Cereal bar etc.

sorry managed to post before I had finished.

My daughter used to help make her lunches. I think kids are much more likely to eat stuff they have at least had a hand in making themselves. Even simple sandwiches are more likely to be eaten if he has some pride invested in them. My son makes sandwiches for himself with the weirdest of combinations - salami and jam, cream-cheese and crisps. He eats the lot.

Let him make lunch with you.

My eldest hates cold food so doesn’t eat at lunchtime. He’s 17 now and survived!
My youngest is 14 and likes chicken satay, sausage rolls and salad, grapes and a treat.

If he got involved he might like pasta salads or couscous or something.

What does he like?

No point anyone giving ideas without that info...

My child had a cheese and ham sandwich, a cereal bar, a use yoghurt and a mini cheese every day of her primary school time. She refused anything else and now at secondary school has food from the canteen.

Don't stress, give him something he will eat and never mind what anyone else thinks.

OP has said her son us a very picky eater

Yes, it was noted thank you. I gave a list of stuff my DC will eat as requested. They won’t eat salads, including pasta or rice salads, stuff covered in mayo , fishy things.
People are picky for different reasons. It doesn’t mean they’ll only eat shite.

I'm another one who didn't eat lunch aged 11-18. Couldn't be arsed and was never really hungry.

God I love lunch now

DD Has just decided she doesn't like sandwiches anymore so I now do her a portion of pasta - with something on that she doesn't mind eating cold (not quite pasta salad but similar)
Then she'll take chicken bites (fridge raiders) some grapes, a caramel snack-a-jack rice cake, but also sometimes opts for a yoghurt, baby bell, pepperami, hula hoop pufts. I do find that if I let her help pick her lunchbox it goes down better!

@PrettyShiningPeople I don't know why you thought my comment was to you? I dont think you suggested Onigiri. Also, if the wasn't enough, I'll add "lighthearted" here.

My dd takes wraps with various fillings, leftovers from the night before in a thermos 'funtainer' that keeps them warm til lunch, sushi, veg sticks and dips, sausage rolls, cold pizza, she likes cold grilled cheese sandwiches - though I think that's a little odd! Soup, chilli, bolognese with bread to dip... basically anything she might have at home. What kinds of things does your ds like?

My 8 year old son loves

Chicken, bacon and mozzarella wrap
Chinese dumpling with sweet chilli sauce
Tuna and sweet corn sandwich or pasta
Pepperami
Cheese and crackers

I had to Google onigiri bit looks like sushi. I used to buy susihi for the fussiest child I know(DDs best friend). One of the few things he would eat.

Thanks for all the ideas. I now have a list for lidl tomorrow. I can't keep giving him cheese sandwiches. Today he complained about the bread that it stunk his lunchbox out and so didn't eat any of it. I was at the end of my tether and did 'in a way' threaten school lunches, bahaha!! Good solution

Getting him to make his own lunch is a great idea, so is onigiri he does likes rice with soya sauce!

Also things like peperami, fridge raiders and dairy dunkers he asks for but reluctant to say yes because I think it's a peer pressure thing, but maybe I need to relax a little.

Cheese and crackers but wholegrain ones? Put some grapes in and that's looking ok. Will he eat any fruit?

I can't keep giving him cheese sandwiches

Why not? That’s what one of mine wants - use wraps/flatbreads/bagel thins, vary the cheese (Brie, Cheddar, mozzarella), vary the ‘extra’ (pesto, coleslaw, tomato purée), vary the salad veg....

Try not to give in to the peperami, it’s like a turkey twizzler on acid. No idea why they seem to be so popular. Horrendous stuff.

6 year old with ARFID, sensory processing and blood glucose storage disorder. Has packed lunch-
Cheese sandwich,
Mini breadsticks and mini pot of philly cheese
Brioche rolls or
cold pizza (this is her fav. I buy the thin crust and then a quarter is a good portion for her. Wrapped in cling film as it's just cooled it keeps far better than in foil in the fridge).

Always with a pot of yeo valley strawberry or raspberry yogurt.
Water or apple juice.
Sometimes kiddilicious coconut rolls as a treat.

Posted too soon, she has in the past taken hard boiled egg, cubbed cheese, pitta bread and cream cheese- however as there's nowhere to store the lunch bag in a cool place now in year 2, these don't keep as well.

We used to have a little chart with a column of Main thing (sandwich choices/pork pies/pizza /pasta salad etc), then a column with smaller protein snack (hummus, nuts, boiled egg, yoghurt, babybels), a fruit and veg column (apple, acarrot sticks, satsuma), a drink column (juice/water/milkshake carton) and finally a treats column (small chocolate bar/flapjack/slice of cake/crisps). DC were picky eaters but when they found new foods they liked they could add them to the columns. Every day they had to choose one thing from each column for their lunch boxes. They couldn’t eat the treat unless they finished all the other food. It worked well as it gave them some choice and control. It was also easy to do as they could often just pack their own choices. I only had to step in for making sandwiches or slicing up fruit.

Mine has:

Ham sandwich
Crisps
Tracker bar or similar
Frube
Cherry toms.

Ten year old twins have the same, minus the tomatoes. They have plenty of fruit and veg at home so I don’t sweat lunches tbh, I just want to be sure they’ve got enough to keep them going.