To ask you all for help in putting together a healthy lunchbox for my dd age 5?

[Florenceandgrace]

Dd1 has decided she does not want to eat the free school meals for reception children as she doesn't like them. I am having real trouble putting together a healthy packed lunch for her. At the moment she is having a ham sandwich, cucumber or red or yellow pepper slices, a pack of skips and a penguin, and a carton of apple juice. I am not happy with this in the context of the rest of her diet, I feel it is too much junk for a 5 year old? Her breakfast is Nutella on toast, morning milk at school, her packed lunch, after school is a fig roll or cookie (or several), dinner is a healthy home cooked meal and desert is ice cream or jelly. She hates all fruit even dried fruit, will not eat yogurt or malt loaf and she hates cheese. I am at a loss what to put in her packed lunch. I am happy with the ham sandwich and cucumber and pepper strips but what can I put in for desert?? Also looking at her daily intake it doesn't look great does it? She is so fussy though :(

My ds is 5 and he usually gets a tuna sandwich, banana (his all time fave), juice and a treat - usually a homemade raisin bun etc. If I remember in time I put a frozen yoghurt in so it defrosts by lunchtime.
I also put an ice pack in to keep the sandwich cold (tuna mayo)

You could try spinach and Parmesan muffins or any old muffin made with savoury stuff or banana with half sugar.
Quiche made in little muffin trays?
Wrap with ham salad or leftover fajita type thing?
Cold pasta salad?

To make her lunch the healthiest you can, in light of her fussiness, make sandwiches wholewheat with the best quality ham you can afford (watch out for salt). If she is hungry, give her two rounds of sandwiches. The veggie sticks are good, maybe add some hummus for extra protein.

If you want to give her a treat, give her only one and make it healthy, ideally homemade as you can control the fat/sugar/salt and it is cheaper too. Also try sneaking fruit and veggies into dessert e.g. Banana muffins, blueberry muffins, beetroot brownies, carrot cake etc.

Assuming the juice is pure fruit juice and not a juice drink, this is ok. I was brought up on fruit juice being one of your five a day, but the current thinking seems to be that it is not that healthy as it is full of sugar and has no fibre. However seeing as your dd refuses all fruit, currently this is probably a good thing for your daughter to drink.

Also I think you should up her milk intake at home, have a glass of milk with her breakfast or afternoon snack. If she doesn't eat any yoghurt or cheese, (or tofu or leafy greens) she may not be getting enough calcium.

In terms of her general diet, try and do homemade as much as possible e.g. homemade pizza not frozen, homemade fish goujons instead of fish fingers, and when you make pasta sauce and spag bol, stick a load of veggies in there and blend it up.

We don't even do desert on Sundays.

Christmas/Easter, yes or if we eat out.

I didn't know it was a 'thing' to have it after every meal.

Dessert^

We desert all the time, of course.

Would she eat egg? Or pasta? In terms of that controversial dessert, how about homemade rice pudding?

In terms of desserts, one that my mum did for me and my boys like is very simple; banana chopped in bowl, or strawberries with yogurt on top. Or bananas and custard? Is a bit more like a pudding as is in a bowl :-) also does she like pasta? My son is 5 and loves tuna and sweetcorn with pasta and mayo instead of sandwiches.

Or banana pancakes for brekkie? Google it; is literally just banana and egg, no added sugar

I don't blame her, school meals are awful! Ours are just shitty white wheat

By the way why does she need a dessert in her packed lunch or after her evening meal? Unhealthy puddings, unhealthy biscuits snacks and unhealthy crisps daily sounds like a recipe for an overweight diabetic adult with a shorter life span. Poor habits being established.

Does it matter if she eats a bit less while adjusting to a healthier menu? In your shoes I'd chuck out the ice-cream, biscuits, crisps and crap and replace them with other stuff. Take her food shopping and get her to find things she would like to eat.

Tanaqui - my child is the one without an unhealthy treat in their lunchbox and they don't mention it at all. I only know because I asked DS. But he gets lots of very nice healthy food he thoroughly enjoys and understands that eating crap daily is unhealthy.

If she only likes ham sandwiches then give her ham sandwiches everyday. Ham sandwiches , small banana/apple, yoghurt/fromage frais. You can vary what she eats at tea time when you are with her. There seems to be a lot of healthy lunch box competitiveness these days. There is nothing unhealthy about a ham sandwich and really is there much difference between a sugary flapjack and a penguin bar.

Sorry haven't read full thread so these might have mentioned but what about a boiled egg, cut up in a pot? And a smoothie. My dd also takes in soup in a flask but she is eleven, might be a bit awkward for a 5 year old but maybe something to think about when she's older.

Fussy DS (5) has two different types of crudites and a bag of lentil crisps, ryvitas minis or marmite rice cakes (through his own request - will complain if I put anything else in). Usually he will have a tiny little nibble of veg and eat his crisp thingies, but he just does not want to eat at school. He has late lunch at home (usually pasta pesto, tomato soup, pea soup, quorn curry, home made pizza or fish fingers and chips). They're all individuals.. Do what you need to.

I'm sure the teachers have a snigger over DS's lunch. I would tbh! I think he will get hungrier when he grows a bit. He is still small and capable of fasting for days if circumstances and food offered don't suit him..

You said your little one will eat fish fingers,could you make her fish finger sandwiches or a fish finger wrap.If she likes pasta how about making her a pasta salad for lunch.You could also try her with couscous or a rice salad.

Would she eat a slice of cold homemade pizza for lunch,you could make your own sauce for the base and hide veggies in it(you blend them in with the sauce,it gives it a lovely flavour and helps towards they're 5 a day)you could do the same with sauce for the pasta.

Have you ever tried making her smoothies(good way of sneaking fruit in to her)juicing is a good way of getting vegetables into a LO that isn't keen as well.You could make your own ice cream,heavy on the fruit(for at home)buy natural yogurt,puree some fruit and add to the yogurt,you could send that in a little pot with her packed lunch.

With the jelly and ice cream you could buy low sugar jelly and add fruit to it before it sets and low sugar ice cream.You could also make your own frozen yogurt and frozen yogurt Pops.No where near as much sugar in them,nothing artificial and it'll be another way of getting her to try new fruits.

I've had a lot of experience with fussy eaters we have 5DC and two of our children are autistic and they were both extremely fussy.

It's a good idea not to introduce to many changes at once as that can be stressful for a child that's not a great eater.

Another really good idea( a lot of child specialists suggest this)is to let your daughter help make her packed lunch.Let her help cook things and have fun with food together.When you go shopping let her suggest new things she'd like to try.Let her touch and smell different food types,it helps a child to not feel stressed around new foods.

My DD (age 4) is fussy but slowly getting better. I use a yumbox so there is instant portion control and it helps with keeping things reasonably healthy. today's offering is:

Fruit- a clementine and some red grapes.
Veg- thin slices of carrot, thin slices of celery and some little cucumber wedges with green olives (she loves these) and cherry tomatoes.
Dairy- 2 babybels
Protein- 5 Lincolnshire cocktail sausages
Grain- a marmite wrap
Treats- some dried apple, 2 chocolate coins and one little biona raspberry heart.

Yesterday's which was all eaten was:

Fruit- Red grapes and dried apricot
Veg- Same as above
Dairy- natural yoghurt
Protein- same as above
Grains- mini rice cakes
Treat- dried apple and one chocolate coin.

I am thinking about using the bread maker to make some pizza dough then making some pizza rolls and stashing them in the freezer. I think they may go down well. I often cut her sandwiches into shapes and carve little things into the babybel- todays was a flower and the first letter of her name. I think to imagine her little face when she opens it up. Invariably it comes back empty. Sometimes a couple of bits are not eaten but that's normally down to slowness. Last week she came back with the chopped up kiwi and declared emphatically- MUMMY!- Do NOT put kiwi in my lunchbox AGAIN- its HORRIBLE. Apparently the black seeds (which I love) were the source of discontent.

I think we worry way too much about lunchbox content.
It isn't a massive deal to gave a plain old sandwich everyday, a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar.
I have always spent much more effort on a healthy breakfast and supper.
Much easier to control and invest in.

Is she happy with her lunch box? If she's healthy, reasonable weight, teeth o, I would save the stress of trying to get a perfect diet and just do what you're already doing. My DD is a teen now and I know now that the hours I spent fretting over what she ate for breakfast were completely wasted, wish I'd just relaxed about it at the time, the outcome would have been the same, well minus my own stress of course.

will she eat any of the dried fruit bars like bear yo yo's or school bars. I struggle to get my son to eat fruit other than the occasional apple but he will eat those. you used to be able to get jellies made with fruit juice but not sure if you can still get them - or you could make your own pretty easily with juice and gelatin

How come your DD has so much input in what she eats? I'm not saying forcing her to eat but if she doesn't want something but you are the parent and it's your job to make sure she eats healthily. Penguin, nutella, cookies and ice cream or jelly everyday is not healthy!

Does she really not like any fruits or cheese or does she know you will give in and give her sweets?! I will offer her a choice of two healthy things and if she takes none make it clear there is nothing else on offer. She can have sweet one day a week.

I think we worry way too much about lunchbox content.

I so agree with this ^^. Just wait until your PFB is at secondary school and the height of sophistication is a Pot Noodle. .

Just give them one sandwich and a piece of fruit, no one needs more than that for lunch. Fiddling about giving 'one chocolate coin' or a 'raspberry heart' as a treat must be a such a faff - and haven't you all got anything better to do. .

And actually if kids were allowed to feel hunger a bit more often, I'm sure there wouldn't be as many fussy eaters as there seems to be nowadays.

My son loves hummus and brown bread or bread sticks, he eats raisins and banana but not much more fruit than that.

What about a fruit flavoured rice cake for dessert? kallo do vanilla ones that are great, or my son loves sweet popcorn that is low in sugar, high in fibre and you just pop it in the microwave for 2 mins and have enough for a few days snacking.

Nuts are good, I don't know if children should have them but I break up walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts into halves and serve them as a healthy snack, people say nuts are fatty and so is hummus but these are good fats for growing children

TiedUp is that not loads of food?? It's more than I would eat for my lunch!

Blimey I couldn't eat what TiedUp's 4yr old eats in one sitting

*We have never really had dessert confused. My kids have always preferred a sweet or chocolate bar to a dessert and apart from ice cream or lollies in the summer I can't think of any desserts we have had in the last year or so.

It probably adds up the same calorie/fat/sugar wise but it allowed the kids the fun of choosing their own treat and eating it when they wanted.*

Those things are all desserts in my book, I think there's some confusion over the terms used by a few posters. To me everything you've mentioned counts as dessert/pudding/afters, as does any yoghurt other than plain yoghurt, for me it's not just things like apple crumble we're talking about.