School Lunchbox ideas for year 1

[TheSquareCube]

School have asked that a packed lunch is sent in.

DD is 5, almost 6, year 1.

Rules:

• All packaging must be able to be opened by the child without help
• All packaging must be disposable apart from 1 plastic type lunchbox is allowed to bring the stuff in
• No fizzy drinks
• Only 1 cake, chocolate or biscuit type product allowed that is no bigger than the childs hand (although my DD has tiny hands and I’ve sent normal sized chocolate bars in and it’s been fine)
• Only 1 savoury unhealthy snack (sandwiches or bread “mains” don’t count as this, school include things like crisps, sausage rolls and cocktail sausages under this)
• At least 1 piece of fruit or vegetables
• No Nuts, Hummus or Kiwi Fruit
• A healthy snack can be included for snack/playtime during the morning (it then says things such as fruity malt loaf, fruity flap jacks or fruit is advisable for snack)

DD insists that her chocolate is a penguin or a chocolate digestive.

DD doesn’t like pears or blueberries.

I’ve been doing a sandwich, chocolate, crisps and a piece of fruit but wondered if there was a way I could make it healthier and fun for DD, she loves having a lunchbox and wants to carry on having one even when they bring the hot food back. She can’t open yogurts or anything herself so I can’t include these and I usually decant the crisps and chocolate from wrappers into the box itself, so something that’s easy to eat and open please.

Any better ideas?

could you get a bento style lunchbox for her? like this one
www.amazon.co.uk/Yumbox-Classic-Bento-Lunchbox-Children/dp/B07C9CQL1H/ref=asc_df_B07C9CQL1H/?hvlocphy=1007097&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=226548440125&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-465766960683&hvrand=18244481482385249639

It would mean that you could include things like carrot sticks with a bit of hummus to dip them in, or a few spoonfuls of yogurt out of a big pot (there would be room for a small spoon within the box).
You could include wraps, or cold cheese quesadillas, or cold tomato pasta etc. there are loads of ideas here
www.parents.com/recipes/nutrition/bento-box-lunches/

[quote sleepismysuperpower1]could you get a bento style lunchbox for her? like this one
]]

It would mean that you could include things like carrot sticks with a bit of hummus to dip them in, or a few spoonfuls of yogurt out of a big pot (there would be room for a small spoon within the box).
You could include wraps, or cold cheese quesadillas, or cold tomato pasta etc. there are loads of ideas here
www.parents.com/recipes/nutrition/bento-box-lunches/[/quote]
Not allowed hummus but the other ideas are great, she'd love that lunchbox, so I will definitely look into that thank you

ah ok, you could offer thousand island dip instead?
Thousand Island dip recipe:
2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp ketchup
Juice of half a lemon
1-2 drops Worcestershire sauce
I find it makes dc eat more veg if they have something to dip it in.

You could also try offering sugar free cookies like these (you could make them together at the weekend) in place of a chocolate bar- and save the chocolate for fridays as a special treat. For the morning snack, try mixing fruit some days, with these bars other days.
all the best x

@sleepismysuperpower1

ah ok, you could offer thousand island dip instead? Thousand Island dip recipe: 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt 2 tbsp mayonnaise 2 tsp ketchup Juice of half a lemon 1-2 drops Worcestershire sauce I find it makes dc eat more veg if they have something to dip it in.

You could also try offering sugar free cookies like these (you could make them together at the weekend) in place of a chocolate bar- and save the chocolate for fridays as a special treat. For the morning snack, try mixing fruit some days, with these bars other days.
all the best x

Love thousand island, thank you definitely got some more ideas for her now

Falaffel
Cheese cubes/babybel with some crackers
Slice of banana and chocolate loaf (YUM)
My DC won't eat sandwiches ( ) but loves a wrap with ham and cheese (all kept separate - I use small plastic pots but you could wrap in foil or cling film).
Bread sticks
Popcorn
Slice of quiche if she will eat it?
A cheese scone

I'm hungry now!

Why does all packaging need to be disposable? Surely if you put pasta salad in a pot that she can open herself, the pot could just be closed and put back in the lunch box??

You can also get little boxes of raisins, or packets of yogurt coated raisins, which both my DC enjoy.

@OhTheTastyNuts

Falaffel Cheese cubes/babybel with some crackers Slice of banana and chocolate loaf (YUM) My DC won't eat sandwiches ( ) but loves a wrap with ham and cheese (all kept separate - I use small plastic pots but you could wrap in foil or cling film). Bread sticks Popcorn Slice of quiche if she will eat it? A cheese scone

I'm hungry now!

Why does all packaging need to be disposable? Surely if you put pasta salad in a pot that she can open herself, the pot could just be closed and put back in the lunch box??

Due to covid the packaging needs to be disposable, in normal times they don't mind if you send in multiple boxes or packaging that needs to be sent home.

At home both kids would prefer veg sticks, crackers and a dip. However at school there wasn't that long for lunch and we found they wouldn't bother with much, preferring to get out of the lunch hall ASAP.

We settled on a small quick lunch, generally a roll/sandwich with some fruit (peeled and cut up, sprinkled with a bit of lemon juice to stop it going brown) and one extra thing (cocktail sausages or sausage roll small flapjack). They made up for it when they got home, with an after school snack.

Most of DDs class had these lunchboxes, it's not quite sealed enough between the sections yo keep crisps from going soggy if you have something wet like cucumber in there, but otherwise it's pretty good for keeping stuff seperate and is reasonable easy to open

DS is 6 he takes
Ham, cheese and cucumber wrap.
Cherry tomatoes
Banana
Peach
Podded peas
Tube yogurt
And if they are on offer a peperami.

@gigglingHyena

At home both kids would prefer veg sticks, crackers and a dip. However at school there wasn't that long for lunch and we found they wouldn't bother with much, preferring to get out of the lunch hall ASAP.

We settled on a small quick lunch, generally a roll/sandwich with some fruit (peeled and cut up, sprinkled with a bit of lemon juice to stop it going brown) and one extra thing (cocktail sausages or sausage roll small flapjack). They made up for it when they got home, with an after school snack.

Unfortunately DD doesn't make up for her small lunch at home, she prefers to eat a big meal at lunchtime then smaller at teatime I'm finding she'll sometimes eat nothing when she gets home.

She gets 20 minutes for lunch but is allowed to finish any uneaten food at afternoon playtime

Sandwich, wrap or pitta.
Fillings could be anything: cheese, ham, chicken, marmite, cucumber etc

Crudités - little tub of any of combination of celery, cucumber, tomatoes, carrot, courgette, broccoli, cauliflower etc.
Dips: salsa, mayo, ketchup, salad dressings etc

Savoury 'snacks' - omelette bites (bake in bun tin), crackers and cheese, babybel/cheese portion, crisps, quiche portion, pretzels etc

Sweet snacks: fruit (sliced if needed), fruit roll ups, yoghurt/fromage frais,

@00100001

Sandwich, wrap or pitta. Fillings could be anything: cheese, ham, chicken, marmite, cucumber etc

Crudités - little tub of any of combination of celery, cucumber, tomatoes, carrot, courgette, broccoli, cauliflower etc.
Dips: salsa, mayo, ketchup, salad dressings etc

Savoury 'snacks' - omelette bites (bake in bun tin), crackers and cheese, babybel/cheese portion, crisps, quiche portion, pretzels etc

Sweet snacks: fruit (sliced if needed), fruit roll ups, yoghurt/fromage frais,

She can't do yogurts herself but I do like the idea of fruit roll ups - I assume you mean like the yoyo ones? She loves those.

Pittas are a good idea too thank you so much

Can she open and would she be allowed Yollies?

My daughter in reception uses a Yumbox (the bento box on the first reply). The boxes are very good quality and don’t leak through to the other compartments. You can put yoghurt in them. I usually put philladelphia or hummus in the small round part and veg sticks or bread sticks to dip.

Forgot to add what I actually send her! I do a mixture from the following list, not all together obviously!
Small sandwich (She’s not keen so I often try to make the main savoury part from other bits)
Homemade cheese muffin
Sausage roll/cocktail sausage with ketchup dip
Breadsticks and Philly
Veg sticks and philly
Hummus plus something to dip
Cold homemade pizza bites
Chicken chunks or goujons.
Mini cheddar type product
Strawberry’s, mango, raspberry’s, pineapple (any fruit that chops up well into bite sized chunks)
Yoghurt (spooned in from a larger pot)
Flapjack, or whatever traybake type thing we’ve got
Sometimes a small mcvities cake bar but I tend to try to avoid anything that’s individually wrapped.

Lots of ideas above. Mine also like dried fruit - particularly apricots and cranberries.
Mine found opening the tube yoghurts easier than pots of yoghurt - maybe work on this over the holidays?
Chunks of cheese straight off the block.
I also have one child who like pickle in his cheese sandwiches, mustard in his ham sandwiches, AMD also that garlic-herb soft cheese stuff. Think creatively about sandwich fillings and bread types (slices, rolls, wraps etc) to very it a bit.

@Hibernocaledonian

Can she open and would she be allowed Yollies?

Unfortunately she has a mobility issue which causes a slight fine motor delay so she can't open anything like that. School were working on it pre-lockdown but now she's back at school all that helps disappeared for now as it's hands on, I will try as much as I can though.

Squeezy yogurts that you crack open for her?

I'd be that annoying parent who questioned if pesto pasta salad is allowed.

I'd be sending in pasta or rice salad, cold Hot Dogs, maybe even cold burgers (the school I work in are serving these - they supposed to be hot, but they're not (the kids really don't mind!) and staff are opening ketchup sachets but antibacterial-ing hands between children.

Cheese cubes, water melon, pineapple chunks, smoothie drinks, banana.

I'd also get her to practice opening Petit Filou at home, just for the fine motor skills.

Pasta salad, chicken tikka, beans salad tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole, chopped up sausages, cream cheese and cucumber bagels, homemade banana bread or flapjack, yogurt with dates or shredded coconuts.

Pesto has pine nuts so no pesto. Himmus has sesame.

Wrapz, cold pizza, popcorn, dried fruit (not great for teeth... )

Rice cakes or oat cakes instead of bread carbs

Hummus will be because of the tahini (sesame seeds) , but other dips will be OK, my DC liked tzatziki or natural yoghurt with a swirl of pesto. Mini breadsticks as well as veg sticks went down well.

Cut sandwich into small pieces to make it easier to eat, and make sure satsumas, etc are peeled so no struggling needed.

Those yoghurt tube things are evil; no small child can open them without help... Just FYI 😉