If you had to make a pack lunch right now, could you?

[Updatemate]

As in at 8pm on Sunday night, for a 5yo for school tomorrow? What would be in it?

Because that's what I'm having to do!

We got a text at 6pm saying the kitchen staff are isolating so all kids need a pack lunch this week. Typically the online delivery is coming tomorrow and all the shops are now shut.

So I've russled up a home made pizza (flour and greek yogurt base) with a defrosted portion of hidden veg sauce and the last dregs of the block of cheese, a slightly bruised apple and a couple of Jaffa cakes from a pack I forgot i bought at Christmas!

Thankfully school are the pack lunch police even in normal times but I think given the extremely short notice they'll say nothing at all!

The alternatives were a batch cooked portion of beef stew, frozen sausages or fish fingers.

So what would be in your pack lunch?

Yes, either bread or a wrap with choice of three fruits, a yoghurt and either tuna, sandwich spread, ham, chicken or one of two cheeses for the filling.

I would literally always have bread or crackers, if not wraps or pasta I could do. I don't see the issue really failing that there are shops open until 10 in most villages nowadays 🤔

We always have sandwich stuff in. We always have wraps too and eggs and cheese.
Fruit, crisps, yogurt and snacks.
If worse came to, it I’d go to the supermarket for sandwiches or wraps.

What I don't get is why don't you buy bread? You obviously won't have it if you rarely buy it.

Our online order arrives tomorrow too. Is a can of gin & tonic and a kitkat an appropriate packed lunch?

I have bread but nothing to go on it for sandwiches 🤷🏻‍♀️
Carrot, cherry tomatoes, mini yoghurt, blackberries...all healthy but wouldn’t fill Dd up! Bread with just butter isn’t great 🙈
It’s the big food shop tomorrow.

I had to make myself an unexpected packed lunch for work tomorrow, I'm on site for the first time since last March, thankfully our food shopping came this morning.

Yes, we always keep spare bread in the freezer and there is always something like cold meat or cheese in the fridge, there is also crisps, fruit l biscuits and yoghurt, cucumber etc, in but if I was running low and due a shop I’d still usually be able to rustle something up.

If we had nowt in there's a Tesco Express about 3 minute walk away that's open till 11.

Yeah, and the shopping isn't coming until tomorrow. Right now, she'd probably have cous cous or soup in a flask but there are some ham and cheese sandwiches in the freezer, plus fresh bread. Plus red peppers (always), cucumber and carrot. Crisps. Smoothie. Last Monday's plums and kiwis are probably too ripe for her now (she only eats them sour and crunchy) but I have banana chips in a jar so would go with that. Yogurt if she wants it.

She's 13 but ate the same pack up at 5. I always have some stuff on standby, as OH can also be suddenly be called in (the frozen sandwiches are for him, mainly)

Yea, because the kids are home all day atm (if they were at school, yes too)

So they'd want sandwiches/toast/crackers cheese, ham, crisps, fruit, choc bars.

AccidentallyOnPurpose

We don't really eat it. It used to be a staple of our shop, just to get thrown away a week later all mouldy and green. The kids don't really eat it either - DC3 is the only one who eats toast or sandwiches.

I occasionally bake my own sourdough if I want bread.

I'll buy it if we have guests (currently never) or I'm making something specific that needs bread.

Definitely could. We always have bread or wraps, cucumber, cheese, portions of chicken in the freezer ready to cook, tuna, all sorts of things for sandwiches. At least two or three kinds of fruit. Loads of savoury snack foods.

Day before a shop would be store cupboard like tuna pasta salad with sweet corn, peas and mayo.

Apple juice
Pizza
Date cookie
Yog
Banana
Apple compote

Yesterday was food shop day so no worries here. The milkman brings bread for DS and I am low carb so there’s always sandwich meat and cheese in to stop my head falling off and me inhaling a pot noodle if there’s nothing in.

It’s tough at the moment though. Unexpected demands coming from all sides. Of the 3 Mondays I’ve been back at work I’ve woken up on two of them with a temperature, necessitating a COVID test and isolation for us all so I’m trying to have meals/extras in the freezer now. On the first week of Jan I had to get my mum to do an emergency mince delivery!

Cold lunch no, unless you include a frozen pizza cooked and wrapped in foil in the morning. But we have a decent thermos lunchbox which is fantastic for such occasions, canned soup, quick egg fried rice with mixed veg, pasta etc...

I have the fussiest 7yr old on the planet, but thank god she’s happy to eat leftovers from the soups I make...so I’ve bought her a food flask for school lunches (she won’t eat ham, cheese or jam sarnies...or most visible salady type things, fruit or veg - apart from some really random stuff!)...

Yes. We always have bread, fruit, eggs, cheese and tuna. Worst case scenario is make bread in the bread maker and cut the sandwich in the morning. If I had no cheese or eggs, I'd use peanut butter. Or cooked from frozen fish. Or fish pate made from a microwave salmon fillet. For a veg I'd manage cherry tomatoes or cooked green beans, why hare fun for kids.

*which are fun

Yes easily. Wrap, bagel or rye bread. Sweet chilli chicken, plain chicken, honey roast ham, cheddar, applewood, Brie, cream cheese. Carrots, pears, raspberries, apples. I buy crisps in bulk. I buy Rubicon drinks in bulk. Ditto chocolate bars and biscuits.

I could go on but I think it just shows up what an overspending foodie I am

Really low on supplies as a delivery is imminent and I stringently meal plan so the fridge is almost empty when a delivery comes.

If I had to, I would have the following options:

• tuna salad baguette
• cheese and fig chutney baguette
• pasta salad with peas, carrot, red onion, and cucumber
• bean salad with the above veg
• steamed vegetable dumplings

I would add:
-yoghurt with mango purée

• orange/satsuma/apple
• oatmeal raisin cookie

We won't be doing a big shop until next weekend but still have a good choice of lunch options, DH can't WFH so we've had a range of stuff for him to take in as well as things for the DC to make their own lunches when I'm busy.

So you would have a choice of:

• sandwich or wrap with ham, cheese (so many different types of cheese too), egg mayo, or tuna mayo, with optional extras of Branston pickle, salad cream, lettuce, or tomato depending on what you like. Maybe some weird pickles/chutneys if you dig in amongst all the jars. With extra prep you could manage a BLT.
• or homemade lunchables with the ham and cheese and some crackers
• carrot sticks
• grapes, pear or banana
• mini gherkins
• crisps (all main flavours) or biscuits (lacking there though, think there's a couple of bourbons and a pack of custard creams left)
• variety of yogurts to choose from
• possibly a brunch bar
• water or Vimto diluting juice or a large choice of cold infusion teabags

Bag of crisps and a deep fried kit kat.

Oh no, sorry I meant olives in a gently steamed spinach and cous cous medly, drizzled with balsamic and lime juice, served cold in a little gem lettuce leaf.

Fairly easy , our online shop comes on a Wednesday but I could do sandwiches ( cheese , ham , salad , peanut butter ) , yoghurt ( raspberry or Greek vanilla) , fruit ( satsumas , oranges , bananas or apples ) , crisps ( variety ) , chocolate biscuit bar ( Kit Kat , wafer , Yorkie bar , twirl ) , carrot sticks , cucumber sticks , bottled water or squash .