Anyone else totally burnt out on packed lunches?

[SouthernRev]

I’ve only just started term and I already can’t face doing another packed lunch. I try to make them healthy-ish but I’m bored of the same ideas and they often come back untouched. Anyone cracked this? Or is everyone secretly winging it?

My kids pack their own and have done since they were 7/8. The rule is one carb, one fruit or veg, one protein and one bigger snack. Then they can grab whatever else they fancy that day. They put things on the grocery list on the fridge and sometimes my daughter (12) will make something on a Sunday to bring that week if she wants pasta or whatever. My son would get free school lunches (in Scotland) but he hated them so wanted to pack his own.

See my first disclaimer, because discussions like this always get hijacked by parents of ND children and children with eating disorders. Different rules apply there, of course.

But I've clearly hit a nerve with some of the more lazy people who have time to post on mumsnet, but no time to make nutritious food - one of the basic necessities of life - for their children.

I’m pretty lucky that my DS is happy with a cheese and ham sarnie, portion of fruit and some cucumber. Sometimes some yoghurt. He eats really slowly so I don’t pack him much as it goes uneaten otherwise. Our school send home the leftovers so it’s easy to see what’s been had or not.
It takes me about 45 seconds to make his sarnie while I make tea and then I pop the whole pack up in the fridge overnight.

As a parent of young adults now (early 20s), I'd say don't tie yourselves in knots about stuff like this .... at the end of the day it doesn't matter whether it's a jam sandwich and a packet of crisps or a tupperware of homemade sushi covered in home grown organic mung beans. As long as they aren't hungry, they'll be fine.

I spent so much time fretting about their diet all through primary school and early secondary ... then they start walking home from school with friends and buying blue fizz and chips. A couple of years later they're in the smoking and drinking vodka phase.

Just chill, they'll all be fine in the end.

I am such an odd one out! I loved making packed lunches, and was so sad when I didn’t have to do them any more!

@MonkeyPuddle I'm genuinely intrigued by the school sending home the leftovers - at my kids' schools, the food stays with the child so anything not eaten just stays in the lunchbox / flask, unless the child is motivated enough to find a bin to put the uneaten stuff in. Does your child's school do something different?

@rzb yeah just that, they don’t have bins to put anything in so it all comes home, leftovers, wrappers, the lot.

And yet you have time to do both

My DC has packed lunches AND is vegetarian. My god it's hard.

We usually do wraps instead of sandwiches - a bit easier and quicker - plus fruit, chopped raw veg, Greek yoghurt and a sweet treat. Occasionally do a hot flask with soup or pasta.

We decant the yoghurt though to save on packaging and usually make our own unprocessed sweet treats too, which I think makes me a lunchbox wanker.

Yes? I manage my time to work, look after my children, feed them adequately, post on mumsnet, work out, look after the household and do many other things, including judging the pride at which some women on here declare that they cannot be arsed to make healthy food for their children.

I pay for hot school dinners until Y5 when they can make their own packed lunch if they want. That's the deal in my house.

Son is 9yo makes his own grated cheese wrap, has a small chocolate bar, cuts his own cucumber portion (or takes fruit) and has a packet of crisps. Not the most inspiring lunch but does the job and he makes it all himself. He has school dinners once a week because he likes those days on the menu.

Hi, Sorry to keep you waiting...I live in the US and am old, so I still call a lunchbox a 'lunch pail'
@SherlockHolmes

The quality of the school lunches in the schools my children attend are abysmal. So not only do they not actually like either the food on offer, but the few options they do like, are so badly made that they’re inedible. I simply couldn’t justify the expense each day for food that is so woefully inadequate. Half of what gets served I wouldn’t set down in front of a dog.

Finally onto all packed lunches for very fussy eater 10yo as the school meals are awful apparently and the portion sizes don’t increase for the older kids, plus for me as I’ve started a job where there is nowhere to buy lunch from nearby. It’s turning into such a chore in the mornings.

DS would typically have a thin bagel with Marmite, yoghurt, fruit, and two plain-ish biscuits. He has just had a ham wrap for the first time this week as he’s always refused anything other than Marmite bagel and he liked it. Occasionally will have houmous and breadsticks or cold sausage. Baked beans in a flask. Refuses all other hot food in a flask.

The dietician said not to worry about what he eats at school as long as it’s not utter crap and that he is not going hungry so that he can’t concentrate in class.