To wonder what to actually put in kids lunches

[Sunshineandlollyfucks]

Just as the title says really. DD starts nursery school in September. She will be 3 years and 9 months. Just wondering what everyone actually puts in lunches for this age group? I’ve been told the standard no nuts no fizzy drinks no sweets etc. Assuming they can still have crisps? My daughter isn’t really picky but barely eats anything but I’m planning to pack up her lunch box in the hope that she will follow what the other kids are doing.
I’ve seen some cute kids bento boxes which I want to use to put different bits in like fruit, sandwiches or wraps, cheese etc but know I will end up just throwing a ham sandwich and some crisps in 😂 any easy quick but still healthy ideas?

Sandwiches wraps bagels pittas

Crackers or breadsticks

Pasta salad

Just give her a little sandwich or a wrap, a bit of fruit and a few crisps.

Mine usually get a sandwich, some chopped up fruit and veg and a penguin or club biscuit or something. Sometimes some chopped bits of cheese as well.

My DD is 13 but I give her bento boxes with a mixture of hummus, carrot sticks, falafel, dried fruit, slices of pitta etc. Other things I sometimes make or buy are veggie sausage rolls (ketchup in the dipping bit), veg samosas, sliced Spanish omelette (and put in mayo, olives, some bread, cherry tomatoes and cucumber). Just little picky bits. She eats more than if I give her just a sandwich for some reason but she's a strange fish!

Doesn't always have to be sandwiches, can be cubes of cheese and crackers, mini sausages etc. I struggle as mine doesn’t like yoghurt, raisins, mini cheeses etc and standard pack lunch fare!

I will say she probably won’t need as much as you think as she’ll probably get snacks (fruit, rice cakes, things like that) at nursery too, so no need to pack lots of food.

Little sandwich (I had dinosaur cutter for that age but even just little triangles is nice for them)

We were not allowed crisps but I used to put in a few berries or tangerine peeled and a drink and babybel or yoghurt drink.

You will know if they have enough by how much comes back.

Whatever she eats at home.

At that age my fussy preschooler had a few mini sausage rolls, some cucumber, some fruit and a little yoghurt. She wouldn't eat bread in any form. Her friends had all sorts.

If they don't keep the lunches in the fridge, a little ice pack can be useful.

Mine get a carton of juice, yoghurt pouch, piece of fruit, bag of crisps or breadsticks or cheese straws, some sliced ham/cheese/sausage roll (depending upon which kid it is and what I’ve got in the fridge!) and half a sandwich.

They’re both incredibly fussy in their own ways so this is the safest lunch I know they’ll eat as they are always starving at nursery!

My DS are both on packed lunches. I do them a wrap or seeded brown bread with either dairylea/ jam or quorn slices or cheese. Both love crisps. Youngest loves yogurt covered raisins, maltloaf. Both love salad vegetables.

Couple of portions of fruit/veg
Something dairy (yoghurt or cheese are good)
A carb such as a sandwich, wrap or pasta salad. DS also likes breadsticks with hummus.

That should be plenty at that age but you can also chuck in a couple of small sausages etc.

I use a yumbox which is like a bento box with little sections. Check with your school what is allowed as mine is quite strict - no nuts, no crisps, no sweets, biscuits or cakes. I put in crackers or pretzels instead of crisps and some dried apricot or mango as the 'sweet' item.

You can put in wraps, chop up smaller or think picnic type food quiche, frittata, sausage roll, mini sausages but mine like sandwiches most days. I also bought a thermos to give hot lunch 1-2 days a week - give soup and a roll or some kind of pasta (make a bit more saucy as it stays warmer for longer)

My Dc are much older, but as well as sandwiches they like things like:

Sticks of carrot, celery or pepper and a little pot of hummus or cream cheese to dip - I have little screw top plastic pots from Sistema, and put a heaped teaspoon of dip in.

Crackers or oatcakes and slices of different cheese (wrapped separately to assemble themselves).

A mini pork pie sliced in half.

A hard boiled egg sliced up.

Fresh and dried fruit (if I put in dried fruit I add a piece of cheese to eat afterwards.)

In the winter hot soup or stew or pasta in a thermos.

I don't put crisps in every day, they are an occasional treat.

I usually put in a little chocolate biscuit bar like a Penguin or Club.

Mine get a sandwich (cheese or ham) on brown bread, veg (cucumber, carrot sticks or cut cherry tomatoes), and some fruit. Also a bottle of water.
No juice, crisps or sweets allowed thankfully.

I put a sandwich, chopped veg and something sweet, sometimes some cheese

My DD who is now ten, really likes lots of different things she can pick at, rather than, say, a big slab of sandwich and a huge banana.

Also presentation is everything, so make it look appetising and interesting. The bento boxes are good as long as it is easy to get at all the food inside - so a single box with partitions, rather than a box with multiple layers that is difficult to get into.

My DD’s favourites:
Little cubes of cheese,
breadsticks,
Flavoured rice cakes (the ones for toddlers)
a very tiny pot of hummus
A small pot of salad, just big enough for 2 slices of cucumber, a cherry tomato and some thinly sliced red pepper, celery or carrot etc)
Little pots of either blueberries, clementine segments, a slice of watermelon, grapes, chunks of kiwi or tinned pineapple etc
A yoghurt squeezy
Sausage roll or cold sausage
Small sandwich or roll or wrap with filling
A pot of tuna sweetcorn Mayo, spoon, and half a roll
A nut-free biscuit
A fairy cake
A nut-free muesli bar
Crisps (I’d usually get a big bag and just put some in one of my pots, rather than send a whole bag of crisps which would get mostly wasted)

Friends kids also liked things like hard boiled egg, cold pasta salads, coleslaw, potato salad, couscous, etc but I could never interest my dd in anything too adventurous.

(I collect little pots from takeaways, sometimes you get really weeny pots with ready-made sushi kits etc, or plastic shot glasses with chocolate mousse in etc, if you save them you can build up a little collection of easy-to-open pots that you can fill with interesting things to munch on)

Double check on the crisps - I think we are only allowed them on Fridays.

DS1 did a half term of packed lunches and always had the same thing - ham or cheese salad wrap or sandwich, pepper sticks and crackers in a pot, a yoghurt, and a piece of fruit he ignored.

Then he asked to go back to school dinners because he was starving

Marmite sandwich
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Sliced apply

Every single sodding day

20 years and counting of making kids packed lunches 😩 it's still one of my most loathed jobs, mine get
A main
Fruit
Vegetables
A treat

@Arthurianna
Fresh and dried fruit (if I put in dried fruit I add a piece of cheese to eat afterwards.)

Why do they need to eat cheese after eating dried fruit?

A cream cheese sandwich
Chopped tomatoes, cucumber and peppers

(In a second compartment:)
BabyBel
Soreen malt loaf
Fruit

That was supposed to be a second bracket; I'm not giddily happy about my DD's lunchbox compartments.

I usually put in a sandwich or roll with a filling of one protein item and one salad/vegetable item, a mini cheese of some description, a small box of chopped fruit, some cucumber/olives/tomatoes/ whatever I can find, a few crisps in a food jar, a yoghurt (pot or tube) and a small treat which could be malt loaf, a biscuit, a chocolate bar etc.

Seems to work well for both my 4 and 7 year old on packed lunch days, with portions adjusted accordingly of course!

@MaskingForIt dried fruit is acidic, sticky and sugary, so it's pretty bad for teeth, but eating cheese (which is alkaline) afterwards can reduce the effects.

It's especially important if they're having the dried fruit as a between meals snack, at break time.

My standard lunch at that ages was always sandwich, baby bel or plain Greek yoghurt in a little weaning pot, chopped up veg (cucumber, carrot, red pepper etc) and a piece of fruit. They then ate which bits they fancied but usually had a go at all of it.