to not know this....

[flowerpower18]

Hey All

My DS has decided he wants to go back on pack lunches which is fine and I'd prefer it to be honest. He's not very adventurous when it comes to foods but he loves plain pasta and has asked for this in his lunch box tomorrow (plain pasta just means no sauces and he's happy to eat it cold).

I'm happy to make it for him but will it be OK? Shall I make it the night before, let it cool then put in the fridge for the morning after or am I best making it in the morning then just putting it in a tub in his lunch box. I make pasta all the time by the way but for some reason I'm being a bit thick on this one haha! He normally has sandwiches so I'm happy he wants something different albeit a bit plain.

His lunch bag is insulated, however, he doesn't have one of those food thermo pot things. Its just a normal plastic lunch tub.

packed

Pasta with nothing on it will go sticky as it cools and is not nice.

I’d make it the night before. Cook it with a bit of olive oil in the water to stop it sticking.

It’ll go all sticky , so what we do is put a bit of cheese in and also some olive oil to stop it all sticking together . Works a treat (DH likes plain pasta)

I used to send in pasta for my children. I Cooked it in the morning and also added cooked peas and carrots as white pasta on its own is not very healthy.

I have no idea how I added for it to be voted either - sorry about that!

Brilliant, thanks all. I'll add some oil to the pasta once cooked.

We can only try it. He might come to me tomorrow after school and say he didn't like it but at least we tried.

Thank you!

Can you pop a chill block in?

I would stir in a little olive oil as otherwise it will all stick together.

Will be fine, just like a pasta salad, you could mix in plain peas and sweetcorn etc so it is a pasta salad?

Agree, toss the pasta in a little olive oil to stop it turning into a sticky clump. Mayonnaise or salad dressing would work too.

I used to cook pasta and pesto the night before but I appreciate that isn't plain!

Drizzle a little olive oil over it and mix well this should stop it going sticky!

I highly recommend a kids thermo pot i have one for my DD's packed lunch and she she takes in soups, pasta's, sausages, hot dog (on a Friday). etc.

Sorry, when I say plain, I just mean no sauces but I do add meat such as chicken or chorizo and sweetcorn which he loves...He just doesn't like it with sauce which I find bizarre but hey ho!

I've never heard of the olive oil tip - will have to try that one :-)

Mayonnaise or salad dressing would work too.

But only use if you can keep the pasta in his lunchbox chilled. Mayonnaise/salad dressing can cause food poisoning if left at room temperature for more than a couple hours.

Yes I'm going to get him one of those thermo pots because he loves soups too. He was on "packed" lunches last year and I never thought to get him a thermo pot and I used to think how boring a sandwich/wrap must've been for him almost every day but he was happy with it.

Thanks everyone!

If you don't want pasta to stick when it cools, make sure your rinse it immediately in cold water when draining as it's the starch which makes it stick together. Just an alternative to putting oil on it...

Hopefully not one of these fascist schools where the teacher goes through the lunchboxes and heaven help any untermenchen with their perception of unhealthy food.

my kids did this all the time, they had it as school lunches usually a couple of times a week, and no problem making it night before, i generally had cooked pasta in pot in fridge ( stickes together less if you store it in a larger container) ready to go but added bits in morning so it was fresher, my ds school doesnt allow pesto anyway because of nuts, he liked tuna flakes and sweetcorn, or chorizo/salami and some cucumber, or just plain, no sauce no dressing. If my dd sees me making pasta for dinner she will ask me to throw on some extra so she can make it herself to bring to college , as a vegetarian she finds sandwiches get boring very quickly, one of her favs is to add grated cheese, or pieces of haloumi and halved cherry tomatoes, or chopped up pieces of oven roasted veg, or peppers and left over asparagus- basically anything we have left over can be thrown in.

I'm married to the 32yr old version of your DS!
My DH loves plain pasta, he'll eat plain pasta (hot or cold) with nothing else! (Except perhaps a sprinkling of salt)
Try rinsing trick as per NamiSwan suggestion to prevent sticking which is what I do. (If your DS is like my DH he'll not like the oil)
You aren't going to be able to keep it warm so hopefully DS doesn't mind cold pasta. Send with a cool brick. Might take some experimenting to get it right.
The vege pasta plain (made from veges, 3 diff colours) is a favorite with my DH too.

If you don't want pasta to stick when it cools, make sure your rinse it immediately in cold water when draining as it's the starch which makes it stick together. Just an alternative to putting oil on it

I do this. Leave it under cold running water until it cools right down. I love plain cold pasta too but really don't like it with olive oil added. Make it the night before and cool it down as above and then give it another rinse in the morning before you put it in his lunchbox and it'll be fine.

I also like this with the tricolour pasta. Still plain pasta but looks prettier and I can fool myself into thinking I've managed to get spinach and tomato into DS even though I'm sure there's barely any actually in there!

I used to work as a TA in a school and honestly only experience those Thermopot things rarely keep food hot enough to kill bacteria. By lunchtime the food would have been "warm" at best, and it would often be a congealed, unappetising, smelly mess.
Plain pasta would be fine but I'd send it cold.

in my experience not "only"

Cooked pasta and rice are things you need to be extra aware of bacteria-wise. Try Google .

DD just had an extended course about bacteria growth (uni level) and nearly stopped eating left over pasta .

Thanyou astral for clarifying what the op was talking about

*Thank you

The trick with the thermo pots is to stand them for 5 minutes full of boiling water before you put the food in. It then stays decently warmed until lunch time. I think this may be obvious to many people but I only found out recently, after many years of using them !