What does your 6/7 year old have in their lunch box, honestly?

[Tidyhousemessyhouse]

6yo wants to start taking packed lunches and I'm a bit out of the habit so I'm just trying to get an idea of what others do.

Today he was given a tuna roll, a yoghurt, carrot sticks, an orange and a babybel.

He's a really good eater and I don't think dh thought there was enough food.

My 7yo has a sandwich and then 3 other things such as yoghurt, cake bar, cheese string, fruit, pepperoni etc. He eats a lot usually but at school often leaves something as he just wants to get outside and play.

He has a chicken or ham wrap (only if having a packed lunch, mainly has school lunch) and then the snacks are every day regardless of school lunch:

Peperami
One of Apple/pear
One of Mango/strawberries/melon/blueberries or a mixture
One of crisps/Oreo/small bag party rings

That is very much in line with lunches over here. DD is 7 and has a ham sandwich or roll, a yoghurt of some sort, a baby bel and some fruit. DS at that age would have had some carrot sticks or something but DD doesn't eat them in her lunch box so I stopped sending them.

DS is older and hungrier and more flexible so his sandwiches are often chicken or smoked salmon or tuna which I think is more filling and higher protein and I'll sometimes stick in a meat stick or a falafel with some hummus or similar. He also usually gets a rice cake. He likes salad so I do sometimes give him a little salad and include some feta cheese.

DS is 5 and has packed lunch everyday as very fussy. He usually has;
Marmite sandwich ( only eat PB or marmite and cannot have PB due to nuts )
Crisps
Apple
Yogurt
Pudding type thing cereal bar/little cake

Some times he will have a more picnic style;
Sausage rolls or cocktail sausages
Then the same as above

It's not very healthy but he does eat it and that's all I can really ask as he's super fussy. Xx

My DD9 will take:

A sandwich or sausage roll
Packet of crisps
Cheese string or babybel
Yoghurt
Piece of fruit

Sometimes a small cake bar or something.

I ask her regularly if it's enough and she insists it is 🤷🏼‍♀️ and again, could be healthier, but she's quite fussy and I'm happy with the amount of fruit/veg she eats with other meals so...

6 year old has a school lunch but just chooses a sandwich. 8 year old has a packed lunch of a cheese sandwich, 2 pieces of fruit ( usually a banana and something else). Crisps, yogurt or cheese string and a biscuit bar like a penguin or similar. Sometimes I put cheese dippers in if no crisps.

Super fussy ds 6 has:
ham or cheese flat bread
fromage frais
strawberries (only fruit he’ll eat)
crisps or twiglets
mini pack of gingerbread men or similar
juice box

I’m aware that our school is less militant than some about lunch boxes though.

Mine has his lunchables and fruit every day and a bottle of sneak energy drink, its great it has no sugars

Sandwich -2 slices of bread with ham.
Babybel
Yogurt
Crisps
Small mini size choc bar
Piece fruit

Slightly older but ours have always had sandwhich/wrap/pitta bread, a Yoghurt (frube type thing) or cheese, a piece of fruit banana grapes or a plum usually thne crisps or popcorn and some sort of sweet treat sometimes this is extra fruit or a cake or flapjack etc. Cucumber or carrot sticks would be returned home by dd1.

Sandwich - ham, or tuna typically
Yoghurt
Fruit
Crisps/rice cakes/popcorn

They have a school-provided snack mid morning as well, usually fruit or cucumber.

What you've described sounds fine.

I think that's totally fine and if they were still hungry I'd just make the sandwich bigger tbh.

DD age 5 has:

A roll, wrap or a sandwich with either cheese, tuna or ham.
Sticks of either cucumber, carrot or pepper
One piece of fruit (usually apple, pear or banana)
One sweet treat....pot of yoghurt usually but could be flapjack, malt loaf, cake bar.

DD is 9, but had had pretty much the same through KS2

One of - Cheese sandwich, roll or piece of baguette/cheese scone/homemade sausage roll

-Sliced cucumber and baby tomatoes

— half a bag of crisps in a little tub or breadsticks

-maybe a tube yoghurt, maybe some fruit

and a small treat

They’re only really allowed water, but I know some parents add cordial and school don’t seem to mutter too much

this seems about right for her, re her appetite and time available to eat it (although I’m sure if she did less talking and more eating, she may find she has more time 🤣)

DS (5.5) is a fussy eater so I've sent packed lunches which contain;

• Sandwich (2 full slices of bread) with cheese and ham
• Packet of crisps like Pom Bears or Hula Puft Hoops
• Slices of cucumber
• Fruit (usually grapes or pineapple)
• Yoghurt
• Kitkat, cereal bar or something like Soreen

It feels like a lot but he's already the same size as a 8 year old

Always cheese sandwiches sometimes buttered roll!!! Crisps, chocolate bar and fruit winder. I always put diluted orange in until last month when now he prefers water. Other child was exactly the same. But now because older his friends said he was weird for having same things so has what ever I put in. Has long as they eat and drink and then something healthy at home. Teachers at our school know alot of kids are like this but alter as they get older.

A cheese wrap/sandwich
A piece of fruit
Mini cheddars or mini cookies
Little cake bar
Cucumber slices
Babybel
occasionally - raisins

Child very fussy eater usually

My child is 8 btw not 6 but eats the same amount as they did at 6

Main- sandwich/wrap/pitta, pizza flatbread, pasta salad, couscous, pasty, crackers and cheese,
Vegetable
Fruit
A bite size snack depending on what the main is- cheese/pork pie/sausage roll/samosa/feta parcel/sausage.
Cake/Biscuit/Soreen/popcorn/crisps/ jelly/yoghurt/TUC crackers

Can't you ask your ds if it's enough?

Many kids don't want a massive lunch because it cuts into playtime afterwards.

My 6 year old has a ham, cheese or tuna sandwich/bagel, a yogurt, fruit, cucumber sticks and a pack of mini cookies and a carton of orange juice.

8yo has a cheese sandwich (cream or smoked), 2 types of salad veg and either an apple or home made Welsh cakes. He’s a slow eater.
He's got Oreos today as a treat.

Sandwich or bagel with ham.

Cucumber sticks, apple, yogurt tube and either a small sausage roll or an oat bar.

Only thing that gets eaten is the yogurt and the oat bar or sausage roll. She never eats a big lunch, just doesn’t get hungry in the day, has been that way all her life (weight is bang on average), but the school insist on a lunchbox with loads of items.

It’s such a waste.

She eats the apple when she gets home.

5 yr old has a sandwich (2 slices of bread) usually she just wants butter on it. Or 2 pancakes.
Fruit
Something snack like - low sugar cereal bar, plain popcorn etc and on a Friday a few jelly sweets or chocolate buttons.

8 year old has the same except almost always asks for a ham wrap.

Kids at our school generally have about 15 minutes to eat lunch so there is only so much they can eat in that time. My two have breakfast around 8am, a banana at breaktime and then at 12 a sandwich, some carrot/cucumber/tomato in whatever combo and a piece of fruit. So many kids at the school where I work have massive lunches and they just don't have the time to finish them or they'd not get outside at all, and they all want outside as soon as humanly possible.