What do you put in your DC' school lunchbox?

[CamouflagedManeuvers]

I'm looking for ideas for September as my DC have decided not to have school hot dinners anymore.

Thank you.

Packed lunches at the moment so I put in a sandwich (ham or chicken, cucumber and tomatoes) and a piece of fruit and bag of crisps. They are only allowed water. She misses her school lunches though!

Get a bento style lunch box (eg lunchbox then you don't have to buy wrapped products. This will save you money and the envrionment as you can just decant (for example) chippies or grapes or yoghurt directly into a compartment or cup. You won't have to fork out on invidually wrapped stuff and you tend to use more healthy food as you have a place for it.

I try to include:

• at least one protein item e.g. a sausage stick or a boiled egg or a small quiche or a cheese stick
• an apple or mandarin
• yoghurt
• a biscuit or a handful of crackers

I try to avoid sandwiches as they never eat them.

Our school has a no plastic waste directive (NZ) and is nut free so that restricts some of the stuff.

Please try to avoid juice boxes as they are entirely un-recycleable and the straws are devastating for wildlife.

Small tuna mayo sandwich , boiled egg, 1 whole apple , little box of raisins.
Water in water bottle .

Mine love bento boxes with different sections for variety in the meal. Almost always:

Sandwich (sausage roll for a treat), often using decent lean meat from night before eg chicken
Breadsticks / mini cheddars
Vegetables and hummus or other dip
Fruit like apple / blueberry
A treat like mini party rings, mini jammy dodgers etc

Sadly they don’t like egg, yoghurts etc

For slightly older ones maybe an extra portion of pasta / potato salad from night before or similar with grilled meat or fish

I don't have children but I do have a bento box, I actually use mine to try to get a balanced diet, it has 5 compartments so I go for:

1 protein
1 carb
1 fruit
1 veg
1 other - this might be yoghurt or a bit of chocolate or nuts (probably not allowed at school)

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Sandwich, roll, bagel, wrap, pasta salad or pitta bread
Cubes of cheese, Babybel or Frube
Cherry tomatoes, slices of pepper or carrot/cucumber sticks
Grapes, satsuma, apple, mini banana, pot of dried apricots or a box of raisins
Rice cakes, breadsticks, cereal bar, cheese biscuits or popcorn

Sandwich/ wrap/ pasta salad/ pita and hummus
Cucumber/tomato/ carrot
Pom bears/ mini cheddars/ popcorn
Banana/ apple/ strawberries
Yogurt

Tuna mayonnaise sandwich
Cheese and crackers
Chicken salad wrap
Chicken tikka, mango chutney and salad wrap
Bbq chicken salad wrap
Cold toasted bagel with soft cheese
Ham and cheese wrap
Pasta with chicken and sweet corn
Large pretzel/pastry from Lidl or make my own

Followed by some sort of dairy, a yogurt tube or 2, rice pudding (dairy at a stretch but filling), soft cheese and breadsticks, cubes of cheese with grapes/cucumber if not had cheese and crackers

I sometimes put what I call 'fillers' in like mini pretzels, flavoured crackers, ritz biscuits, rice cakes, puff pastry twists, nachos

Plus at least 2 portions of fruit /veg... sliced pepper/cucumber, carrot sticks, celery, satsuma, apple, banana, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, grapes, melon, pineapple, raisins
Plus a treat....flapjack, muffin, breakfast bar, rice crispy bar, oreos, cookies
Flavoured water in a sports bottle

Mine have snack plates/picnic plates at home as lunch most days at the moment and it generally consists of the above. This is what they have on packed lunches too. Mine tend to eat lots of small portions rather than a huge sandwich and a piece of fruit/yogurt. More interesting for them.Depends on your dc

Sounds lovely .

Cheese and chorizo sandwich
Apple
Pear
Breadstick and rice cake
Piece of dark chocolate
Dried mango
Salted popcorn

He had ASD and likes crunchy food and the same thing everyday which makes it easy!

I do:

1. cheese, quorn sausage or corned beef on wholemeal roll or rice with lots of veg
2. A little pot of veg (celery cucumber or cherry tomatoes
3. A little pot of fruit
4. Something extra like a baby bel, a small falafel, mini quorn scotch egg
5. Pudding (a yoghurt, a scotch pancake or a mini malt loaf or similar).

Similar, sandwich, fruit, veg, other. Then always something like oatcakes that can be reused the next day if not eaten, but there is very hungry.

I found they sometimes ate less than I thought, but the sandwich was alway full sized in case.

He always has left overs stuffed into a roti, when hes at school on tuesday it will be veg chilli.

He then always carrot/cucumber/pepper sticks depending on what we have in the fridge.

An apple/clementine/banana

My dd aged 4 always wants pasta and pesto. Then we add cheese to sprinkle on. She always gets a 'treat', might be flapjack or gingerbread or something.
Also a piece of fruit and one more thing. Might be veg, yoghurt or mini cheddars.

Pot of pasta
Pot of fruit ( strawberries, grapes, blueberries)
Drink
Yogurt

DD has a ham or chicken & cucumber sandwich
Packet of crisps
Fruit- strawberries or grapes usually
Fruity bar or winder
Every so often- cheesestring or mini pork pie
Bottle of squash
Occasionally she has pasta salad instead of sandwich (pasta, mayo, chopped ham, cucumber)

Large Ham and cheese wrap
2 plain rice cakes
5 mini sausages
Mini plum tomatoes
Kit Kat

DS has a wrap or sandwich, a pot of cucumber or pepper sticks, an apple, a bag of crisps and a biscuit. Water bottle.

@Guineapigbridge you've made me just go and check out juice boxes. Mine (Tesco) claim they are totally recyclable.

Anyway, just made DS's lunch.
Ham and pickle sandwich
Handful of crisps
Chunk of cheese
Chunk of cucumber
Half an apple (other child munches on the other half when home schooling)
Some grapes
Biscuit
Carton of juice

Water bottle in bag too

DS isn't at school yet but he loves a packed lunch style lunch...he always has
Hummus sandwich
Slices of pepper
Cherry tomatoes

Bowl of strawberrys
Sometimes a little treat like a rice krispy bar - probably not allowed in school though.

DS10 has
Ham sandwich
Pot if grapes
Pot of olives
Frube
Ready salted crisps

Apple at break time

Not particularly inspired, but he has ASD and likes a predictable lunch.

Ds14 likes sweet corn fritters, wraps. Used to like bagels but they weren’t great for his brace.

DS16 takes a salad, crisps, kitkat. As Kong as the salad has a decent source of protein he’s okay.

We just do sandwiches or wrap, chicken or ham. Banana or grapes, crisps, yogurt tube and a mini flapjack or biscuits. Water or juice.
Mine make their lunches the night before so choose their stuff. Makes it fun for them.

Thank you for your suggestions, they were really helpful.