Childrens' Packed Lunches....What Do You Include in Your Dc's?

[35andThriving]

I'm going to be doing a packed lunch for my 7yr old for the first time.
They are starting a new school.

If your dc's take packed lunch, what do you typically include? Just after ideas really.

TIA

DC2 has grated cheese in a wrap always. Fortunately, she only has a packed lunch a couple of times a week.
DC1 will eat 1 thing as a sandwich for a few weeks, then decide she doesn't like it anymore and move on to something else. Recently there has been, tuna mayo sandwich filler, sliced chicken breast sometimes flavoured sometimes plain, cheese. Now we are on houmous and salad in a wrap.
Then they have mini sausage rolls or cheese pastry twists or crisps or similar, cherry tomatoes and/ or cucumber sticks, a pot of fruit, a cake bar, a carton of juice.

badlydrawnbear, thank you.

AlexaPlayWhiteNoise, I love the idea of a themed packed lunch too.

And TeaPiglet too. I really like the idea of themed lunches .

I'm pouring all my love into these packed lunches. I really want my 7 year old to be happy in school. I think that's why I'm so focussed on the packed lunch... It's the one part of the school experience I can be sure will be great! Thanks, everyone.

Chocolate spread sandwiches (or sometimes tuna or salad or chicken curry mayo)
Cereal bar
Apple
Yoghurt
Mini cheese
Mini salami

Cheese sandwich
Apple
Banana
Yoghurt
Orange juice.

Every day zzzzz

I often make mine a mini pizza (then slice) with veg (cucumber, tomatoes, peppers and/or carrot sticks), some fruit, a yogurt and or a cheese string or maybe some cocktail sausages. Sometimes I also send stew in a flask with bread and then similar ish sides. She has school packed lunch (sandwich) a few days a week because she likes it, so I try to do non-sandwich options.

Mine have a bento box thing. It makes it brainless.

One section is fruit
One section crackers
One section veggies/crudities
One section small treat
Main section a sandwich, with some protein in

Sometimes add a yogurt tube or granola bar if they are more hungry that week.

Disclaimer my kids are happy to eat a sandwich everyday, not all are!

Also my oldest is 12, I am not nearly as enthusiastic about make a daily packed lunch as OP!

Mine like pasta salad for a change.

My advice is don't make it too complicated to start with. Kids don't need 3 different puddings for a single meal and it won't make her happy trying to navigate it all when her friends are inhaling their crisps and heading out to the playground.

DS has pretty much the same lunch every day:

Ham sandwich
Cheese stick
Cucumber slices
Some kind of fruit - blueberries/grapes/clementine orange

Some times I do change it a little, but then he complains. So I go back to the usual. He does like pesto pasta though so he has that occasionally.

I use a yumbox lunchbox which has different little sections in it to fill. There’s usually a sandwich, sliced cherry tomato, red pepper/cucumber, some grapes and berries, granola with a few raisins or a dried apricot in the little round section, a small square of cheese or cheese string, pretzels or mini cheddars. Her school don’t allow any sweets/chocolate/crisps hence the dried fruit and pretzels as ‘treat’ type alternatives. She has a water bottle, no squash etc allowed either.

Sandwich, cheese, yogurt, fruit, something sweet like a fruit winder or a mini roll and crisps

Carton of juice

A 'main'. So either Sandwich/bagel/wrap/pitta. Or pasta/cous cous salad. Or cheese ham and crackers. Or hummus, bread sticks and veggie bits. Friday is peanut butter and jam sandwich day 🤣

Depending how carby the above has been a few crisps.

Some veggie bits to pad out if not been used in wraps/butties etc.

Then fruit and full fat yoghurt. Or cereal bar and fruit. Or soreen.

I've got one of those sistema be to lunchboxes so makes it tons easier to do a few little bits.

Dd is quite a big eater, she does not like regular sandwiches so a typical lunch box will have

Wrap (one large or 2 mini) or pitta - usually with cheese chorizo and cucumber. Occasionally a pasta salad instead although she says that takes too long to eat for the short time they have.

A small extra ie chicken fridge raiders, mini pepperami, babybel, mini sausage/cheese and onion roll, mini scotch egg or a fancier tapas type one

Veg selection- raw carrot and a couple of mini cucumbers or pepper and sugar snap peas

2 pieces of fruit (banana and plum/ apple and apricot)

Plain popcorn or pretzels or rice cakes occasionally sunbites

An actimel

Soreen or similar

A small treat such as a couple of celebrations or a fun size choc bar.

2 of these items will usually be eaten at morning break. She comes out starving but there isn't time to eat anything else - they get 15 minutes.

In primary it was:

Sandwich
fruit
yoghurt
small treat like popcorn or a biscuit or a small piece of cake (depending on what we baked over the weekend)
box of fruit juice
She had a cool box filled with smaller containers and a small ice pack (large ice pack in Summer).

Secondary now:
Sandwich
fruit
treat option as before
Small bottle of smoothie or a milkshake

She eats in the grounds, not in the hall and needs to have all packed in one box so pots of yoghurt and dealing with cutlery is out. The bottle is extra in her bag.

Thanks, everybody.