School holiday lunch and snacks

[booklover164]

Summer holidays are fast approaching and I want to vary the lunches the kids have as they get very bored with beans, egg, cheese on toast etc. Any one got any good recipes or idea they could share please? Also any snack ideas to fill the bottomless pit!

Pasta salad - ham, tuna or chicken with mayo and sweetcorn tends to go down well in our house - could also add cucumber, tomatoes etc.

Egg muffins with different fillings

Jacket potatoes with different fillings

Wraps, pittas, sandwiches - depending on the age of your children they might like to choose their own fillings and make their own

Pizzas made on wraps or on a puff pastry sheet

Edited to add snacks - fruit (have prepped ready if necessary so it doesn’t seem like a faff!), cheese and crackers, no-sugar banana bread

Mine have ramen, frittata, sandwiches, rolls, cheese and crackers, same as they would if at school.

snacks tend to be a couple of biscuits, cheese and apple, dairylea on crackers, ice lollies

Quesadillas - I mix tuna, grated cheese, chopped pepper and onion together, a tortilla wrap with a bit of oil in a frying pan, put the tuna mix on top, then another wrap. Fry it on both sides till it is golden and cut into slices.
Pasta and pesto is quick, easy and filling - you could add peas too.

my ideas are pasta and tuna salad with cucumber and tomatoes added in,
baked potatoes as many fillings can be used
hummus and pitta bread
an at home picnic
various dips and crusty bread
a cheeseboard and crackers
these would be my ideas.

Please suggest for a teen: doesn't want a proper meal but prefers to just graze 22 hours out of 24 (ie like a toddler).
Is a Veggie too so everything needs to be high protein but as a veggie, she obviously hates 90% of veg!!

2 weeks into her summer hols and I am losing the will to live with feeding her. Any help appreciated!!

We already have: humous, French stick, quorn sausage rolls + pasties, beans on toast, soup, sandwiches but she will have all of that in 1 day leaving me nothing for next day!!

@twistyizzy - black bean quesadillas. You can make stack and store in fridge a few days and reheat as needed. Add veg and cheese according to preferences.

Thank you but she 100% wouldn't eat it. For a NT child weaned + raised on a wide range of homemade food she is the fussiest thing alive.

@twistyizzy - maybe. It’s actually one thing my fussy child does eat. I mash up the beans with paprika and other spices. Spread onto quesadillas like a paste and add a bucket full of cheese.

He wouldn’t eat an actual bean.

It's worth a try definitely, thank you

Pizza muffins- English muffins cut in half and toasted (or could use tortilla wraps/naan bread etc) top with tomato purée, cheese and whatever other toppings they like and pop under the grill

Eggy Bread,
ramen noodles- can add egg/veg/cooked chicken if wanting to make more nutritious but mine prefer it just plain
crumpets with cheese and marmite,
get a proper cheap toastie machine- makes ‘boring’ sandwiches feel more fun and mine love choosing random things from the fridge to try in their toastie 😂

@twistyizzy - maybe use white beans? Cooked up with seasoning and spread like a paste, and hidden underneath cheese they won’t be so obvious

Sandwich maker is actually a genius idea thank you

We used to have Heinz chicken soup and garlic bread on cold or wet days.
Occasionally, instead of sandwiches, I’d put the salad stuff and bit of pork pie / ham / quiche etc on a platter and butter some bread and he made his own lunch. Both options were favourites of his all through the school years.

Second the suggestion for toasties. Toasted sandwiches are so much yummier than regular sandwiches. Or panini’s if you have a press.

Mine have some form of sandwich or wrap most days but never get bored because we vary it. So egg mayo sandwich, ham sandwich, chicken wrap, tuna sandwich, cheese wrap etc.

Just cycling through ham, egg, cheese, tuna, chicken and two sarnie types.

shakshuka and frittata go down well here.
Homemade cheese straws, or give them a sheet of puff pastry, cheese and random stuff from the fridge and let them get creative!

Eggy bread
Omelette
Scrambled egg
Frittata (not popular)

Cheese toasties
Various sandwiches - usually ham or cream cheese and cucumber
Something on toast - pate, cream cheese, beans, peanut butter & banana

Bits & pieces - Hummus and crudites, cheese, salami, nuts etc

Salads - tricolore, chickpea & crunchy veg, Waldorf, green salad with fried potatoes, apple & bacon bits, three pea & feta

Soup (gazpacho if hot - the Alvalle one is good)

They don’t like quiche 🙄

hot buttered crumpets
jacket potato filled with whatever
noodles plain or add whatever
rice bowl add whatever
left overs from night before
bao buns

stuffed pepper

Mine love a pasta bake and if I make a big tray it usually does lunch one day and dinner the next. Roasted veggies which they can eat with pasta or crusty bread is also popular and again a tray usually lasts a couple of days. I also make a big pan of curry or bolognese which can be portioned up into the fridge/freezer to last a few days as well. Other than that lots of fruit and things like peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes etc for them to graze on. We also go through vast quantities of bread.........

In my dreams!

Japanese or polish filled dumplings. Itsu do a good range. You can buy them frozen and they cook quickly.

These are great. I am bookmarking this thread for the week after next when they finally finish! I’ll add cheese scones to the list!

I get them to write down ideas and theb we go to the supermarket together

Loving this thread!

My two like what they call 'packed lunch', which is basically a sandwich lunch with a few bits on the side.

I do a bake at least once a week - a tray bake, or squares of sponge, or flapjacks, etc. That helps as they can have it with lunch, or as a snack.

We have waffles/mini brioche/bagels in the bread bin available for snacks. I buy waffles but I do have a waffle maker, it's just finding the time and energy to do a large batch to freeze. But if I do, that saves money as I can defrost them.

My teenager is obsessed with bloody roast chicken pasta Mugshots. At around 50p per time, I don't mind having those in but I'm going to try making a big batch of similar pasta to keep in the fridge and see if that works.