For always taking pasta!

[Gotabadfeelingaboutthis]

Sorry for the AIBU, but I really need some new ideas! Everytime we go anywhere out for the day as a family, and need to take food for a "main meal" with us (ie not just sandwiches etc, something with some actual vegetables in) I always take pasta of some sort. The logic being it keeps well, easy to store, easy to eat, everyone likes it, easy to pack extra veg in. But there must be other options!! What else could I pack for a lunch/dinner for a family of 4, (2 young kids) which everyone will eat happily, that's easy to prep and store and travels well without needing excessive refrigeration?
Am I asking for a unicorn? Any mumsnet geniuses got any other suggestions to avoid the overdose of pasta?
Thanks 😊

I always did pasta for when my kids were small. Now we just eat out.

Rice or potato based salads?
Can add whatever veg or protein they like

Pitta bread, crudités and dips

Baguettes with pate, ham, cheese

OP- Do you mean on a family day to say a zoo or park or do you mean going to a friends/relatives where you can heat food up? I'm confused why sandwiches or wraps wouldn't be a suitable, portable food?

Mine always enjoyed smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels and fruit.

So as an example, we are going out for the day where we will leave at 7.30am and return at 8.30pm. So the kids will need lunch and dinner. So sandwiches will be fine for one of them, but for the other they need something more substantial and with some actual vegetables in. Because of the type of day out, we are in booked activities and so going to eat out somewhere isnt an option sadly. That's where I always default to pasta!

Couscous, veg, with salad and hummus
spiralised carrot, courgette, other veg, chickpeas, in a sauce of some sort, maybe pesto.
gnocchi, Halloumi, roasted veg, butter beans
various green salad options - with quourn picnic eggs/sausages etc.
tortilla wraps with tinned taco beans, salad leaves, mayo.

those are my lunch box options at work most days.

Soup in thermos king flasks.Keeps hot for hours if you pre warm with boiled water.

Whenever my dad went fishing he would always take a ham or chopped pork sandwich and a thermos flask of oxtail or muligatawny soup! 😋 I remember when he gave me some and the hot soup and tasty sandwich combo, it warmed me up in the cold weather.
Perhaps a flask or two of some soup to go with some tasty ham and cheese barms? 🤔
We've even taken some babybels, with a jar of olives and gherkins out with us in the past 😆
Edited to say, even now when I taste oxtail soup, I am reminded of my dear old dad 😇

My Aunty Win’s cold curried chicken with rice salad. Fry chicken bits with onion and curry powder. Cool and add a pot of cream, a pot of yoghurt and a chopped cucumber. Chill in fridge. Cook brown rice and in the last five minutes add sweetcorn and peas. Drain and stir in olive oil before it cools down. Chill in fridge. Take baguettes to tear up and serve with the curry. It’s a family favourite with my lot.

I don't really understand - you can put vegetables and anything else in sandwiches if it has to be portable. Or take salads. Or anything you normally have for dinner, but have it cold.

Quiche or fritatta could be good, just make it with whatever veg, meat etc in it as well as obviously the eggs.

Wow this sounds really interesting! Definitely want to give this a go!

How many days out are you going on that you can’t just have a sandwich and crisps? Or the pasta you all like?

I always take pasta too!

Ugh I disagree - pasta gets craggy and gross and doesn’t store well and is awful cold. Alternative would be something meant to be eaten cold. Coronation chicken with cold rice, pea and cucumber salad? Quiche? Frittata? Chicken with tabbouleh? Poke bowl?

Put hot Hotdog sausages in a thermos flask to keep warm and take hot dog buns 🌭 and ketchup ( and mustard for adults or adventurous kids) , a bag or tiny container of fried onions if you like, its such a simple. Portable hot meal

Where do you eat the second meal? You'll all be together, in your car or where?

This is genius 👏 💯 🙌 🌭 😋
I need to steal this idea 💡

Oh my god I have just had a brain wave!!!
Cook some meatballs with veggies and sauce, place in a thermos flask!
Then take some baguettes with cheese and a pot of salad, pour it all over, like a hot subway sandwich and dig in!!!
😋 ❤️ 🥖

Edited to say.. I am now starving due to reading this thread! 😔 😆 🤣
@Gotabadfeelingaboutthis

It's just not a thing we do. I'm not clear if you will be heating it up or eating it cold.

If the issue is veg give them a salad with their sandwich or wrap.

"Sushi salad" (sushi rice, tinned salmon or tuna mayo or hard boiled egg, grated carrot, edamame/green beans/cherry toms) is a popular here. You can do a similar thing with cold potato salad as a base - not the bought stuff but boiled new potatoes with a yoghurt & mayo dressing. But rice is inherently riskier germ-wise than most other carbs, and it's really not that different to having a second sandwich meal.

The easiest way to get veg into my kids is home made soup. It travels well but is messy to eat. You could serve in mugs instead of bowls I guess.

I can’t work out if you are needing something hot or cold but anyway we do this loads when we’re out all day at various sporting events with the kids, they need more than a sandwich and I only like eating a fresh sandwich.
Cold suggestions,
chicken, potato salad and whatever salad vegetables you like,
cous cous, mine like chick peas, olives, spinach feta and peppers in,
rice I do a chicken and pesto traybake with courgettes and peppers mine love it cold(I don’t it’s a bit claggy but the DC wolf it down)
wraps, might be too sandwichy they are for me I buy the really big ones and stuff them so they’re pretty substantial.
Hot suggestions for flasks
Chilli with rice,
goulash
chowder
curry with rice
stir fry with noodles
fried rice
the tray bake above or similar
Tagine with cous cous
sausage casserole
stew
burritos- wrapped in foil and put in a pre warmed food flask.

Thermos's of chili?

Baked potatoes, with the fillings scooped out and cheese and sometimes bacon mixed in, then this mixture put back into the skins. Wrap in foil. Put in an insulated bag/ box.

or mini pies, cooked and in insulated bag/box.