Packed lunch ideas

[BasinHaircut]

looking For inspiration for packed lunches for my son - yr6.

I was hoping it would be problem solved this year as we are in London so he gets the Mayors meals, but he reckons the portion sizes have got so small it’s just not enough food.

He won’t eat a sandwich, and to date in his packed lunches he has had 2 sausage rolls, a choob yoghurt, a chocolate bar, crisps and I hate sending him in with so much crap, with so much packaging waste. Plus it’s the same every day.

He eats plenty of fruit at home and won’t have it in his lunch. Reckons it goes weirds and I tend to agree that a lot of fruit doesn’t travel well TBH.

what’s going in your kids lunches?

Would he eat a wrap? My son won't eat sandwiches he's but he does like a cold toastie in his packed lunch! Wouldn't appeal to me but he loves it. He'll also have crackers and cheese.
My son also has fruit at home but not in the lunch box so I get those yoyo snacks which apparently count as one of your 5 a day. I'll sometimes send a small smoothie too.

Go bento style.

Some carb, protein, fruit and veg.

Chicken or veg kebab. Couscous with veg. Hummus and veg to dip in.

For fruit I would go for smaller fruit, cherrys, maybe grapes or melon cut in cubes - can be put in a reusable zip lock bag.

Food flask with stew / soup / casserole?

Crackers with cheese.

Can you just top up the school lunch with a couple of snacks?

Working in education I have seen many good ideas for lunch

Sandwiches/ wraps/ pitta pockets/ crackers (some deconstructed so they can pick and choose) fillings are normally cheese, ham, chorizo, cucumber, tomato.

Chicken pieces or fridge raiders or pepperami

Cold pizza/ quiche/ pasty

Fruit/ veg

Dairy - yogurt/ cheese string/ babybel/ diced cheese/ dairylea triangles

Breadsticks, yogurt fruit bites, cheese tuc biscuits, crisps, cake bars, biscuits

Ours like hard boiled eggs
tub of grated cheese / few slices of cheddar
cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks
maybe a cold chicken drumstick?

I’m thinking it can be snacky to top up the school lunch, rather than needing to be a ‘main’, but you could also do a tub with a portion of leftover dinner (that’s what I do for my own packed lunch and the toddler).

what about a food flask with pasta, curry or chilli kept warm in it.

Would he eat a wrap/cracker/rice cakes with a filling?

Overnight oats in a jar with berries, seeds and nuts?

I send mine with a little flask of soup or pasta.

Would wraps/pittas work? Or is he against anything bready?

Maybe a pasta salad? I always seem to cook too much pasta at dinner time, so I rinse it and then put it in the fridge (cools it down and stops it sticking). Then in the morning I add pesto/cheese/cold meat/tuna/tomatoes/sweetcorn/cucumber.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Unfortunately he is a nightmare and I can’t see any of them working that I haven’t already tried.

He does love a bit of eggy bread so might give that a try. Sure it’s fine cold!