To be dreading making packed lunches every day?

[ParsleyAndTime]

I know AIBU in a way, and obviously whatever it takes to prevent the spread of Covid is a good thing. But is anyone else dreading making (multiple) packed lunches every.single.day?

No school dinners, an endless line of wilted sandwiches until Christmas...

Or does anyone have any great ideas for exciting lunches? I’ve never thought I’d be the kind of mother who gives their child stew in a thermos but it’s been a surprising year...

How old are your DC? If over about 7, then I'd suggest they take the ownership of deciding what they are going to have and making it.

I used to try so hard to make varied meals for my DC; as soon as they had to do it themselves, it turned out that actually they were perfectly happy with the (to me) same boring thing every day.

DS has been on packed lunches for years. My top tip is to buy a thermos flask (the “funtainer” is a good size) and you can send tomato pasta, big soup, stew, leftovers, tortellini, beans, spaghetti hoops, etc.
He also has a divided lunch box, some days I just throw bits from the fridge into each section - cucumber, cheese, olives, cold meat, etc.

Hot lunches at both my DC's schools thankfully!

My DCs have asked to take pack lunches because they don't want to spend the time in a queue and having to be indoors when they can be outside.

Same here. I sometimes give them sandwiches rolls or wraps with cheese, ham, tuna or egg, a packet of crisps or Mini Cheddars, a cake bar or chocolate bar, a juice carton and two "5 a day", and I alternate between fruit or veg for these. It is a bit dull but they are happier and as a bonus it saves me money as I make my own lunch at the same time.

It's my absolute worst chore...I only make a sandwich and cut up some cucumber and carrots and grab a biscuit bar from the cupboard but it always feels like a monumental task in the morning.

I feel your pain! I make 4 packed lunches a day. Like others have said I try to use leftovers where possible. Sometimes cooking some extra pasta or rice with dinner to make a salad the next day can save time and make things more interesting. Pinterest is a useful source for lunch ideas too.

You can make the weeks sandwiches on a Sunday and freeze them. Salad leaves and tomatoes don’t do well but everything else is fine. Just take it out the night before you need it and pop it in the fridge.

Freeze tube yoghurts too. Put them
In lunch box in the morning. They keep the rest of the lunch cold all day and defrost by lunch.

My son regular tales casserole or sausage and beans/pasta bake etc in a thermos too.

Doesn’t need to be a sandwich. Chilly food pot will keep most things hot or cold til lunch time. Try beans and sausages, pastas etc. Warm up with hot water first and then add hot food. Also Philadelphia snack pots with breadsticks or carrot sticks, couscous salad and all sorts of alternatives To a ‘sandwich’ are quick and easy and can be prepared the night before.

We are grab and go only at school so moving to pack ups. I am not happy about it, ds will need to man up and make his own. I'll be blatantly stealing the good ideas from this thread

I hate making packed lunches. My eldest is now starting secondary and never had them at primary, always school dinners. He will take one the first couple of days until the finger print stuff is sorted and he's got the lay of the land on how lunches work, then I'll let him choose what he wants to do.

Middle one will have the school provided packed lunches as he's in year one so they are free. They aren't doing any hot food at least for the first term.

Little one is still in a private nursery who have been open and providing two hot home cooked meals a day throughout.

Packed lunches here too. DC's school is offering school made packed lunches for children on FSM.

My DC are both eligible for FSM. My DC are both concerned, both that these lunches are disgusting (they are, I go on a lot of school trips and they are the cheapest shite in the world. I'd not want to feed it to dogs) and also that they will be teased for having them (which chances are they would be, there are only about 10 people in the school on FSM judging by their PP figures).

So, despite being eligible for free meals, I have spent £16 on new (to prevent teasing for a babyish design), insulated lunch boxes, and will be providing lunch every day. To add insult to injury (or skintness), I really fucking hate doing packed lunches... I am not terribly happy. I feel your pain OP.

Sandwiches are shit. Mainly cheap bread with a tiny bit of usually crappy filling.

There, I've said it.

But struggling to think what else to put in school lunches that are easy to eat, quick to prepare and provide nutrients.

So sandwiches it is...

both of mine on packed lunches. no school dinners. Guess the rationale is that the dinnerhall won't be needed and they can eat in the classroom without mixing with others.

I don't look forward to it either. One with severe ASD who is very fuzzy. I also work and mornings are extremely hectic. I really could do without making lunch boxes ready.

My DD's school are still doing hot lunches but with a reduced menu. My DD doesn't like the food on 2 days so will have to be packed lunch!

Definitely get a loaf - make the whole lot into sandwiches cheese and ham are fine. Whole loaf back in it's wrapper to freeze. Then each morning get out your sandwich cut - wrap. Cut up cucumber/cherry toms/grapes, add crisps/mini cheddars/peperami/whatever the treat is and you are good to go. Also beans/soup in a warm flask occasionally. Maybe a flapjack/cereal bar if you have hungry kids and/or a yoghurt. Easy. Sort the night before if you need to. I used to do packed lunches as DS was eating breakfast. Never too much of a deal - as long as you have the stuff in!! Don't let yourself run out or the headaches really do start!! Good luck!!

2 weeks of packed lunches here and I was running round the house cheering when son said he was going back to school dinners. He doesn’t like sandwiches (tbf nor do I) so he’s had sausage rolls or cold pasta with chicken or similar but I’m so glad I don’t have to think about them any more!

My dc take pack-ups anyway and they've been having sarnies for dinner every day during the lockdown and summer holidays. They've also been making their own so they'll be able to take some responsibility for that chore come September.

The only thing I do on the day is the bready bit. I do a weekly shop and when I get home I batch up the lunches for the week so in a Tupperware goes

5 bits of fruit usually satsumas or bananas
5 bags of fruit claws/yo-yos/winders

In a tub in the fridge goes
5 cheese strings/yoghurt tubes
5 bits of veg - baggies of cherry tomatoes or mini cucumbers

Then on the day I just plonk 1 of each into the lunchbox and do a mini wrap with butter and cheese or jam.

It helps that the above is all DD will actually eat in a lunch box, anything else gets left and then thrown away.

Really stupid question but how do you make pasta for lunches mine has never been successful for my dd so just wondering how it doesn't go hard.

My kids' school says the canteen isn't big enough for social distancing (it's tiny and school has >1000 pupils) so each year group is only allowed in one day a week.

My dcs don't like sandwiches at all so it's going to be a long term.

Buy a chest freezer and make 3 months worth. Yes they'll be grim and freezer burnt but it won't be the end of the world.

No hot meals here either. Children eating in class or usually shoved outdoors. I spend an extraordinary amount of time providing food - breakfast, now lunch, dinner, morning and afternoon snack and shopping (because we always seem to run out of something) BUT the positive is at least I know what DC is eating and I can make sure they have enough to eat - school lunches bit too minimal ...

Limited hot food at our school, so DS is going to take a packed lunch for the first couple of weeks to see what’s on the menu and if he fancies it.

He will make his own lunch though. He went on packed lunches for 12 months in Y6, as the supplier changed all the recipes and he didn’t like the food. He made his own packed lunch in Y6 and will do so again in Y11.

If your kids are over the age of about 9 or 10, they are more than capable of making their own lunch.

There's plenty of things you can do that don't involve plain sandwiches, though.

Potato or pasta salad.
Veggie couscous.
Sausage rolls.
Wraps with various fillings.
Bagels.
Cheese and crackers.
Rice cakes with toppings.
Soup if you're allowed to send in a thermos or flask.

Just ordered these for mine bargain at 2.99