To hate doing packed lunches?

[toptramp]

Fiddly, annoying, expensive and always running out of ideas, ingredients, snacks and healthy but tasty inspiration. YUK.

Roll on school dinners!

I really don't find packed lunches expensive either.

My 2 DS's take packed lunches everyday but if they liked school dinners, that would cost me £4.40 per day.

I've never added up the cost but off the top of my head, packed lunches for 2 kids cost me roughly £6 per week I think.

I make the week's worth of sarnies on Sunday and stick them in the fridge - I hate making packed lunches!! DSS LOVES my lunches though and he's a fussy bugger so they must be ok :)

We are doing the school dinners thing because I hate packed lunches. No, they are not that hard but they are not terribly cheap, and I hate this putting back what your child hasn't eaten stuff so you know what your child has/hasn't eaten. Okay, so my child ate the whole banana. I don't really need the blackened, stinking, oozing, sweating skin back in the lunch bag to prove the fact. If there is no skin and no banana I will assume it is eaten.

So anyway I am paying £2 a day for school dinners partly because of this...what has he had the 8 days so far he's been at school? "Cheese Forget!" (baguette). FFS. Orange Squash. Chocolate yogurt. I probably break even in terms of cost which I'm not terribly worried about but what made me think he'd be dining on Shepherd's pie and butternut squash lasagne and singapore noodles? Jamie Twatting Oliver that's what

I don't find them expensive either, esp as a week's worth of hot dinners is £10.50!

Cheese sodding baguette my arse he's dining better than me the little sod

I hate them and make the kids make them if they want them. They have a list, so they know what needs to go in them. The little ones need help with sarnies sometimes but most of the time the older two will help.

I started making my brother'swhen I was 13 onwards and I loved it! I'd get really creative. Didn't have much money to spend but the pound shop was a god send and always managed to get him something nice.

I liked making it all nice for him.

YANBU.
DD gets free meals, always has, but begged for packed lunches.
A few years ago I agreed for a half term.
I love food, cooking is my thing, but putting together a packed lunch was hideous.
Yes, just the basic sarnie, fruit, babybel, flapjack etc.

Something just so damn tedious about it.

Luckily she got bored after the half term, and has had school dinners ever since

Anyone's DCs get the 'naice ham' or do we all keep that for ourselves?

Since the broken foot event which happened to our SAHD, the DSs (9&7) have been making their own sandwiches and putting together their own lunches for school. No school dinners here in NZ. They have to take something for 'morning tea' here too (always think that is such a quaint phrase - the Kiwi's are more British than the British in some ways).

I hated making packed lunches in the UK and DSs always had school dinners regardless of the ridiculous cost for what random stuff they were actually given. I got noodles, boiled carrots and scrambled egg on the reception induction day lunch. Nutritionally not bad but what a combination!

DD(7) was allowed to go back to packed lunch under the following rules: she makes it 2 nights (under supervision), I make it 2 nights and DH makes it one night. I hate making them too and this was the only way I could face it

I don't enjoy the chore of making them but it's worth it - £30 a week for dinners is too much!

I cheat with Cheese Dipper things lots

We have to do 6 packed lunches every school day in our house....it makes me quite depressed.

DD1 (9) makes the sandwiches/wraps for herself and DD2 (6) and I add in the extra bits...seems much less painful this way as I, too hate making packed lunches and would much rather the went back to school dinners!

DD's very first reception packed lunch included homemade orange jelly and 'lunchables' ie. Cream cheese, naice ham cut into circles and round crackers

Nowadays I have discovered that she doesn't care about or want variety and is happy with the same things every day. I chuck in a ham sandwich, cherry tomatos, a couple of cocktail sausages, a piece of fruit and maybe a small cake or biscuit. Very cheap and takes about 2 mins while I make dinner.

I am getting the DCs to make their own, with a little help where needed.

I see this as a step towards independence, and have discovered that they are more likely to eat the stuff they've made themsleves.

That's the thing netto; I love cooking too! A fussy time-consiuming fish pie; no problem- love it! A tasty but lots of prep salad; love it too. Love baking, preparing slow cooked caseroles, puddings. I think nothing of toying around with icing for hours but packed lunches; boak. I guess I don't find cardboard-like sandwiches inspiring.

YANBU
DD1 will eat ham sandwiches and a very limited range of other bits.
Shopping for and making her lunch is mind numbingly dull.

You don't need to feel inspired by sandwiches. You just need to make the sodding thing and put it in a lunchbox.

Go to the Tate if you want deep and meaningful sensual stimulation.

Yes but just making the sodding thing IS a bore lets face it! I don't make inspirational packed lunches at lll. I'd love to go to the Tate but the National gallery is even better!

Ours don't vary much each day.
1 slice wheat bread with something on it, peanut butter, or cream cheese etc
1 small drink box, usually v-8 or other 100% fruit and veg drink
1 yogurt tube frozen
1 little pot of olives
1 little pot of cucumber slices
1 cheese stick

Sometimes I miss out one little pot of something or the yogurt or cheese.

YANBU.

Yes only takes 5 mins... But it's a heinous, unrelenting chore. Would rather quickly clean toilet if given the choice.

But you don't need to buy the babybells/ petite yogurts/ cheese stings/ mini packed lunched sized packets. Yes they sell them, and yes they can work out expensive, but that's why supermarkets do it as they know people will buy

I get regular size cheese and cut, regular bags of dried fruit/ pretzels/ crackers blah blah

It really doesn't take long. Throw filling in between some sort of bread or leftover pasta extra from night before. Bit of fruit/ few tomatos/ cucumber, and a pot of something decanted from a large bag