To be worried about putting ds on sandwiches?

[Pinkhoodie]

Ds 9yo wants to take sandwiches to school instead of dinners. I wouldn't mind and it would save me money, but I'm worried about him getting a varied diet at lunch time.

All he wants to eat is cheese or ham sandwiches. I can't think what to give him.

He will eat bread, cheese, ham, chicken, yoghurts (certain ones), cake, crisps, biscuits (not allowed), apples, bananas, carrots, breadsticks and can't think of much else.

Won't eat, tuna, salmon, cold boiled egg, salmon, peppers, tomatoes, hummus, cold pasta, fruit apart from apples and bananas.

I think he's imagining cheese sandwiches and penguin bars everyday which isn't going to happen.

A cheese sandwich every day won't do him any harm, especially if he's having fruit and a yoghurt with it too. I eat an apple pretty much every day and regularly have the same kind of soup for lunch because it's the quickest to make - I am perfectly healthy and I eat a very varied diet.

I'd also say that at 9 he is more than able to make his own packed lunch. (SEN aside) My DC all make their own lunches and the youngest are only 7. They tend to take a variety of things but they choose it and make it themselves. He might surprise you by being more adventurous if he's choosing things himself. It doesn't have to be fancy either. My DC do like things like couscous, pasta salad, sushi etc but often they are just having a variation on a cheese sandwich!

Today's lunches:
DS - chicken, brie & cranberry in a flatbread, couple of plums, yoghurt and a carton of orange juice.
DD1 - edam & salami in a flatbread, carrot sticks, small tomatoes, plum, yoghurt and a carton of apple juice.
DD2 - wheaten bread with butter, small tomatoes, cucumber sticks, cheese, sliced chicken, grapes, yoghurt & apple juice.
DD3 - wheaten bread with butter, salami, cheese, small tomatoes, cucumber sticks, coleslaw, plum & apple juice.

None of it fancy stuff (ok - I admit that not all DC will eat sandwiches with brie and cranberry, but the rest is very normal) and they made it all themselves. I check to make sure they have enough food, and will sometimes ask them to add cheese or chicken if it's light on protein, or a yoghurt if I think it's not enough food, but they are pretty good at getting a good balance themselves. They also know what is the right amount/type of food to eat in the time they are allocated.

The 3 girls all hate school dinners and only have them once a week due to necessity, but I honestly believe they are getting a healthier, more varied diet by taking packed lunches anyway.

@user1484167681 It's just a flask with a wide neck - www.amazon.co.uk/Thermos-Stainless-King-Food-Flask/dp/B00DGPPY20/ref=cts_sp_1_vtp?tag=mumsnetforum-21

It's great, you can put all sorts in!

For those feeding daily tuna sandwiches: Children shouldn't eat more than one tin of tuna per week due to the mercury content

It's not the law or anything, it's just advice.

Make him feta and rocket wraps with wuinoa salad-he'll be begging for school lunches in a well! Or you would have done him a massive favour. Worth a try at any rate.

Can you do a mixture?

Mine have sandwiches 3 days and dinners on 2.

What flasks would people recommend ? I have visions of me sending in gourmet meals in one.

my kid will only eat a plain wrap with chicken in a separate box

Tuna, the new killer food.

I worked with a lady in my first job and she had a cheese sandwich and ready salted crisps for lunch ever day for 2 years! As far as I do she had no ill efffects.

Your ds will be fine with the same lunch everyday as you can make sure you have variety at dinner.

Will they let him choose which days he has packed lunch? Dd has it twice a week

DD gets a cheese and vegemite sandwich, babybel, three strawberries/raspberries/grapes and a small stack of crackers for lunch every goddamned day.
In three years it is the only lunch that doesn't come home. I tried fancy lunches and interesting lunches and you-beaut lunches, all came home with two bites out of them.

At least I can do it in my semi-catatonic morning fugue.

I wouldn't worry, OP. A good tea at night and it won't do him any harm.

What’s wrong with him having a penguin every day? He’s 9 and growing and they are not so high in calories. I’d do cheese sandwich, fruit, carrot sticks and a penguin! The penguin would do course depend on him also eating the fruit/veg but I think that’s a normal amount of calories for a growing kid, provided he’s not overweight

Thank you, lots of advice and reassurance. I'm probably just overthinking, we've probably ate lots of junk food over Christmas so just wanting to get us all back on track with a more balanced diet.

We've just been having a chat about it getting some ideas of what he'd eat.

Oly5 penguin and similar, (breakaways, trios, 54321s, clubs) were perfectly normal in my childhood, we'd get one for our supper with a cup of milk every night.
Squash was normal too, a flask of weak squash with your packed lunch.

Did anyone else go to school with something similar to these?

Yes, I had that Care Bears one

I didn't have the Care Bears one. I feel robbed. It's a cheese sandwich, not cocaine.

The schools over here(Ireland) don't do school dinners so I'll mine always have packed lunches, they probably end up healthier than what a school dinner would be anyway!

all mine*

I was at boarding school so I didn't get a packed lunch box at that point. I would have LOVED that care bear one though.

As an asides, my two eat pretty much the same thing every day.
A ham wrap (they prefer wraps to bread).
A piece of fruit (usually discarded by DS1, unless I treat them with mango. Mango is always eaten)
Something crunchy - crisps or crackers or popcorn.
Some cut up veg (cucumber always eaten as is sweet pepper. Tomatoes usually left. Carrots hit and miss)
Frube type thing.
Sometimes they get cheese cut into cubes if I can be arsed.
Water
Treat. Some kind of cereal bar. If they are very lucky then a treat like a wagon wheel or something equally unhealthy. At the moment its gingerbread men simply because DS2 made a ton at the weekend (about 35) and I'm trying to get rid of them but its a slow process...

For some reason parts of this thread have reminded me of this Catherine Tate thread

should say Catherine Tate sketch not thread.

OP give him what he wants. Don't worry about it.

My daughter has the same every single day. She doesn't like change.

Why do they need variety?