How do you make a nice cold pasta salad?

[CaviarAndCigarettes]

Please help me! My son will be having packed lunches next year and does not eat bread, wraps, bagels or really any type of bread based product which makes packed lunches a nightmare. We were briefly onto a winner with cold pizza but now he had also gone off pizza!

Pasta is an all time favourite. He will eat the tomato based pasta pots that you buy from the supermarket and will happily eat them cold, but whenever I offer homemade leftover pasta cold it's a hard no.

How do I make cold pasta taste better? Do I cool it after cooking and then add the tomato sauce etc? I can't afford for him to have school dinners next year so I really need to crack this in an affordable way!

You always needs more sauce than you think, to keep it nice and saucy and not all stuck together. Sometimes a little oil in the pasta when it’s cooking stops it all sticking together.

I think that the cold pasta pots have a fair amount of oil and vinegar in them to keep them from drying out?

Pasta salad with yoghurt. I mix in some wholegrain mustard, then chopped ham, peppers, coriander leaf, chives... whatever gives it colour and adds variety.

You do need to judge the amount of yoghurt nicely, though, somewhere between tasteless and a stodgy lump. Maybe whisk a bit of oil into the yoghurt, same as PP have suggested with tomato sauces.

Cook the pasta then cool it immediately under cold running water to stop it sticking together and going claggy. Use the right kind of pasta - the spirals are best. I wouldn't add a sauce but I have pasta salad with lettuce, tomato, olives etc and I add vegan protein - he could have cheese or tuna or something?

Oh and he'll need some dressing on the side to add before eating or it will be dry

Might it be worth trying chickpea salad? Tin of chickpeas, vinaigrette, then chopped ham etc as above, and plenty of time for flavours to steep.

My DS has the thermos funtainer and I heat the pasta in the mornings and it’s still warm at lunch. It really does keep the heat in. Ravioli and tortelini work very well and you can vary the fillings. Also fried rice is a good alternative to sandwiches/ wraps etc.

I rinse the cooked pasta in cold water and then stir through pesto, can’t be the reduced fat one though, needs the oil in it to stop the pasta sticking together. And it’s best with the spiral pasta.

Would he eat it with a vinaigrette or mayonnaise dressing? Have you tried adding other things such as sliced chicken/ham rocket/watercress cheese mushrooms olives for interest?
Or adding pesto or tapenade for flavour?

Get a thermos food flask and send him in with it hot if he prefers that.

DD takes soup most days during the winter, I heat up a tin or homemade one in the morning and she has it with a roll for lunch, if she hasn't eaten it all it is often still warm enough to eat after school.

Pasta with pesto and whatever you got available eg. Peas, peppers, chicken.

Season the water well, and drain and toss through a tbsp of oil before cooling (for four portion worth pasta)

Grated cheese. Always grated cheese once it is cold.

I make the following cold pasta for lunches

• BBQ pasta - chicken, sweetcorn and BBQ sauce. Usually use a hunters chicken sauce. Add grated cheese once cooled.

• Pizza Pasta - tomato and basil sauce, pepperoni chopped up, tomatoes and peppers. Grated mozerella once cooled

• cheese and ham - Mac and cheese sauce, ground pepper, chopped ham and red Leicester once cooled.

• Tuna Mayo - tin of tuna, chopped cucumber , mayo and salad cream and sweetcorn. Cheese optional

• Greek Pasta - natural yogurt, fresh mint,.olives and feta

• tikka pasta - tikka curry sauce, chicken peices, Tom's, peppers , onion and crumbled onion bahji

• fajita pasta - Passat's, fajita mix, chicken, peppers and onion. Cheese once cooled.

I went through a similar phase whilst pregnant. Couldn't get enough pasta, ended up making pasta dishes from whatever I was cooking the night before.

My Mum used to make a cold pasta salad using farfalle pasta cooked in fish stock. Then when cold mix with Hellman's light mayonnaise - better than full fat for this - prawns, sweet corn and fresh dill. Can change the prawns for salmon if preferred. Very simple but so tasty. I might make it this weekend actually.

There is no such thing as "nice, cold pasta"

Cold pasta is vile and is like chewing snot.

@YgritteSnow that sounds incredible

@Peanut55 I love your dedication to cheese!

Thank you all for the responses. He is very reluctant with creamy dishes so I fear the mayo may not be an option, however I will certainly try the majority of these!

And yes I quite agree Cold pasta is grim but I really don't know what else to send him with 🤷‍♀️

Any ideas are extremely welcome

Would he eat grain salads? Cous cous or bulger wheat with veggies through?

What about a burrito bowl (beans, rice, chicken, veggies, salsa, etc in a lunchbox)?

Frittata? Make a big one and send him with slices.

Scotch egg? Pie? Pasty? Sausage roll (obviously not every day of the week but it would help vary it up).

Obviously not pasta but just trying to think outside of sandwiches.

Twirly pasta, cubed red Leicester, cubed cucumber and red pepper. Make a vinaigrette with olive oil red wine vinegar, some herb and pepper and voila. Delish.

Mixed bean salad perhaps, with tuna/salmon or ratatouille? Traditional picnic foods like hard boiled eggs, sausage rolls, chicken legs, pork pie, scotch eggs.
German or Russian style potato salad with cold sausage or meats?

I have been known to put super noodles in a thermos for a packed lunch for a wee change DD loves it as she usually has soup.

I am going to try all of these things! Dairy and cheese really disagree with him. Never tried cous cous but definitely worth a try!!

He enjoyed my homemade sausage rolls when I made them so I will try that again!

What about rice salads?

It's a very versatile grain and you can really ring the changes with it.

(Apologies if he doesn't eat it and I missed that bit)

And all of AdaColeman's suggestions sound good.

marinaded mushrooms, marinaded artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and pepperoncini peppers chopped and mixed through the pasta with tuna and pepperoni. The dressing is the oil out the mushrooms and or artichoke hearts and the vinegar from the pepperoncini peppers
I guess any spicy pickled pepper would work though