Half term lunch ideas for fussy children?

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

I have 4 fussy dc who snack far too much, and I would like to have some decent but not hard work lunch ideas for half term to help combat the snack attacks...

Can anyone share their fusspot friendly lunch ideas? General things they won't eat:
Fish
Anything saucy/one pot (annoying)
Beans
Mushrooms/courgettes/aubergines
Rice

I have to admit that I find the constant search for variety and interest in foods they will actually eat endlessly tedious... sigh

Is it cooked meals you want for lunches or cold food? My son is fussy too, I usually give him a picnic lunch for school holidays with things like wraps (I mix chopped up lettuce in with his pickle so that he doesn't pick all the salad out 😅) or crackers or a bagel and some raisins and a mixture of fruit I chop up and put in a bowl so he can help himself. Will they eat things like jacket potatoes? Or once I made a naan bread pizza thing that went down well!

are they old enough to have some input? And what are they snacking on? If they are filling themselves up with crap , they can't if it isn't there...

Lunches for us are:

Sandwiches with a side of fruit or veg sticks
Spaghetti hoops/shapes with veg sticks and crusty bread soldiers
Baked beans with same as above
Crackers, cheese, ham, apple cubes

More filling dinner/lunch

Pizza with homemade potato wedges and vege sticks
Cheesey pasta, garlic bread, peas
Fish fingers, chips, broccoli/cauli (frozen)
Tinned meatballs with spaghetti, pita, veg sticks

Pitta pizzas recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/fun-pitta-pizzas or naan pizza recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/naan-bread-pizza
Hot dogs
Savoury pancakes www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/savoury_pancakes_77891

100g off Steamed broccoli + 100g green beans on the side of pretty much everything goes down better than hidden veg for my kids. I double that if theres not much veg in the main meal. I add in more interesting veg for me, eg frozen Mediterranean veg, Brussels.

For your kids I'd go down the meat, potato/quinoa veg route. Soboring stuff like Roast chicken, meat, veg or lean pork loin with bbq seasoning, bbq cous cous, veg. If you oven cook it you can substitute in more interesting stuff like salmon for you

Yes it's boring but a lot of people, kids in particular like boring. As long as their eating veg that's the main thing

Microwave mac and cheese recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/microwave-mac-and-cheese

Tomato soup with garlic bread

Ham sandwich and a banana

Cheese sandwich and an apple

We had this for lunch every day throughout my childhood We grew big and strong

No faffing with little snacks things.

Quiche we add sausage rolls, crackers, grapes, salad including beetroot, cucumber, sliced peppers etc. Depending on what we have in and needs using up.

Tuna pasta salad, tuna, sweetcorn, cucumber, tomatoes, mayo or some sort of dressing sometimes add cheese or onion.

Jacket potato with selection of filling options.

Soup with crusty bread, mine like leek and potato and a chicken and butternut squash/mixed veg soup.

We mostly do cheese/sliced chicken sandwiches with apple or a banana. Sausage and beans on toast at the weekend.

Don't do snacks here either really.

Pick and mix. Get a couple of different meats or sandwich fillings, a variety of salad bits, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, bread, some fruit to chop and let them pick out what they want.

My DS (3) every day for over a year has had the same lunch, even though I’ve offered him other things he always wants the same old thing- he absolutely loves it
Sandwich made with 2 pieces of wholemeal bread, ham, and a thick spread of Coleman’s mustard, with a small chunk of cheese on the side, 1/2 a big raw carrot and a small red apple.
He has lots of variety in his breakfast and evening meals so I’m not too worried, he’s just a creature of habit lol

Other suggestions you might not have thought of:
Jacket potatoes,
Omelette/frittata,
Pizzas made on tortilla wraps or pitta bread,
Pasta with Philadelphia stirred through (or pesto, you can add whatever you think they will eat - ham, sweetcorn, tomatoes etc),
Quiche,
Picnic style lunch- picky bits they like (sausage rolls/cocktail sausages, carrot sticks, cheese, crisps etc)

Thanks for ideas - lots of inspiration

Easy lunch here is broccoli and halloumi, chopped up, into an oven tin and 3 or 4 teaspoons of harissa paste stirred through. Cook for about 25 mins at 180 degrees (ish) then a squeeze of lime juice over to serve. Can add sprouts, if allowed (my dd draws the line there!) or cauliflower works nicely too.

Quiche? Makes a nice change, with some veg/salad on the side.

Soup works well with my eldest (current favourite is pea and mint), plus chunky bread, and then carrot sticks/cherry tomatoes/coleslaw on the side too.

Or, as other posters have suggested, so plain and simple. My ds currently has a cheese sandwich, carrot sticks and an apple for lunch. Every day. He’s happy, and he gets variety with other meals, so I don’t worry too much about him (he used to have a peanut butter sandwich and a banana every day, for about 2 years, so I guess at least he’s mixed it up a bit!)

Ooh, broccoli and halloumi sounds amazing! 2 of them would love it 😂😂 and so would I!

It is so good. It has made my fussy dd2 eat broccoli regularly (and actually like it!).

I often have it as a lazy dinner (with sprouts and cauliflower as well) when the dc are at their dad’s and I can’t really be bothered to cook just for me.