What would you put into a 4yo's lunchbox, that has just started reception?

[bytheMoonlight]

DD1 starts in September. Thinking of how to prepare her for that (after reading a MN thread!) got me thinking about lunchboxes. So what would you put in? And how does this sound?

Sandwiches (houmous, cheese and tomato or cheese and pickle are dd1's fav)
Carrot sticks and cherry toms
Babybel
Banana/apple/satsuma
box of Raisins

that's pretty much what dd1 gets each day. sometimes a biscuit or a slice of cake instead of fruit, if we've been baking.

Id give a few more carbs perhaps so that he lasts the day. Fruit is good but not always filling. Here's some other ideas
Yoghurt/frube/jelly pot
Tub of tuna & sweetcorn mayo
Pasta in sauce if he likes it cold.
Homemade cakes (I make loads freeze them and take one out every morn)
Cheesy cheddar type biscuits - a few in a tub- or a few twiglets
muslei bar

I often do lunchboxes for DD, who also starts reception in Sept.

I do the above also
boiled egg (I know)
humous & breadsticks & cucumber
rice balls

Great suggestions, thank you

Freezing homemade cakes are a great idea, do you just do fairy cakes Chundle? Does the pasta in sauce get messy?

RillaBlythe how do you make rice balls? I like the idea of a boiled egg tbh, wonder if dd1 would ....

I usually put:

Tuna/lettuce/cucumber sandwich/or cheese/lettuce (ds is very picky with his sandwiches)
Or instead of a sandwich tuna and sweetcorn pasta
Apple/grapes (either)
Banana (if he hasnt had this for snack time)
A frube
Babybel
Mini chedders (sometimes instead of something else)

Ds started school last Sept and this is what he mainly has now.

Full size Mayonaise sandwich & maybe a little yogurt. It's all he eats at preschool now!

I do muffins usually as they don't have any icing etc to get messy. We had fig & hazelnut and choc muffins this week :)

I only do a very small tub of pasta or tuna mayo perhaps 7 or 8 mouthfuls. Put it in small tub with disposable spoon and a piece of kitchen roll :)

I find if I give dd small portions of everything then she doesn't get bored of them. So small tub pasta, a handful of cheddar biscuits etc that way its bit like a nice picnic for her.

Sausage rolls or brioches make nice change from sarnies

DS usually has sandwich (cheese, houmous or tuna), a piece of fruit, sometimes cherry toms/carrot sticks and a cereal bar or homemade cake/flapjack.

Sometimes leftovers from the night before like cold potato wedges (along with sarnie)

DD in reception has a ham sandwich on wholemeal or seeded bread, cherry toms, frube from the freezer and small biscuit. She has v. diluted sugar free cordial to drink.

DD used to have a piece of fruit but at the moment she doesn't want any in her lunch box as she has a piece at snack time. (She usually has fruit as a snack after school too!) My DS who is in Yr2 always has the extra fruit at lunch.

Atm dd1 has natural yoghurt mixed with fruit, I don't buy small yoghurts. Are frubes similar to petit flous etc?

Brioche is a lovely idea to make a change

I get lidded yogurt pouches from tesco/asda as you don't need a spoon for them. I sometimes get the little 6 packs of jelly from Tesco too

Some suggestions:

Sandwiches - different varieties of bread (toppings in our house have included: egg mayo, cream cheese and grapes, cheese and celery etc)
home made potato salad
Pot of home made pasta salad
Cucumber/carrot sticks
Chunks of cheese, breadsticks and grapes (sometimes olives but my DS is strange that way)
Fromage frais
Pot of fresh fruit (melon is a fave, kiwi, grapes, apple etc)
Pot of yoghurt with honey
Home made flapjacks (as a treat on Fridays)

I think I'm a little less virtuous than the rest of you! Sandwich is ham/chicken, and mayo (no crusts) or when I've run out, strawberry jam or peanut butter!. Not a big sandwich as they have to eat them first and he doesn't always fancy it! Packet of quavers/wotsits/Walkers/Monster munch, piece of fruit, biscuit or cake and occasionally yogurt or raisins and capri sun or carton of juice. Lunch box always comes back with everything or virtually everything eaten and a comment that it was lubbly.

DS2 has a sandwich/roll/pitta bread/crackers with salami in. If no salami he has strawberry jam.
Cucumber sticks
cherry tomatoes
grapes
occasionally a plain cake/biscuit (i.e. chocolate free as not allowed cocoa products)
occasionally a packet of crisps

For snack he takes in an orange or banana. Has to have his name written on so easy to write on the skin!

My DS has:

Finger sandwiches or a nice soft roll with a filling that he will definitely eat - not wishful thinking fillings
1 or 2 pieces of fruit
A little yogurt
A Goodie bar or a digestive biscuit or a cracker and a slice of cheese/babybel
A carton of juice or smoothie

just in the interests of balance I will offer my suggestions

sandwich - cheese, ham or peanut butter
carton of apple juice
banana
chocolate biscuit

not very exciting but DS doesn't really go for the interesting stuff and I can't be arsed

DD is in reception, she is not a fab eater but does really well with lunch. She has - A round of sandwiches (2 slices bread)on granary or wholemeal, or a wrap, with ham, ham and cucumber, cheese, ham and cheese, or chicken and stuffing

• A yoghurt
• A pear if I have any left
• A chocolate biscuit/cake like a penguin or a tunnocks teacake
• A bottle of water. On Fridays she has a bag of skips or other small bag of crisps. Once in a blue moon she gets a carton of pure fruit juice instead of the water. She thinks she is hard done by because apparently everyone else has crisps every day. And fruit shoots Tough titty.

DS in nursery and nearly 4 gets

Ham/sliced boiled egg/jam/cheese or roast chicken sandwich (he is fussy on fillings) this is on 1 slice of bread cut in half to make 2 little squares

2 portions of fruit
yogurt or cheese cubes
and either raisens, a few crisps in a tub, little cake or cereal bar etc

im now thinking maybe to much fruit in the day? If he gets snack of fruit in morning and usually same in playgroup? Hmm may re think and cut one out as he will also eat some at home but not always.

Often a babybel too if no cheese in the sandwich.

Not too much fruit, Girders, unless he is having bowel issues from it. DD won't eat most fruit, or at least she only likes the v expensive/tricky kind - precut pineapple, strawberries, kiwi fruit. The pear normally just gets a 1 inch strip nibbled all round it , hungry caterpillar style. (School send back all the rubbish include half eaten pots of yoghurt, niiiice)

Ds is in reception and has a ham sandwich (cut out with dinosaur cutter) a frube, a banana, a flapjack or fairy cake and a carton of apple juice.

Mind you, according to the suggestion list we were sent from the school, he should be have a roasted vegetable and quinoa salad, home made museli bar, exotic fruit salad (again home made and probably home grown), water from the spring in our garden and for a treat some baked organic parsnip pieces. Yummy!

My ds1 gets:

Sandwich (e.g. ham and pickle) or cold pasta with bolognase sauce or couscous, veg and tuna;
Two mini cheeses or a yoghurt;
Fruit (usually either apple, grapes, satsumas, bananas or cherry tomatoes);
Fruit juice or fruit smoothie

DS is loving a bit of Parma ham in his lunchbox at the mo.

Raw fruit and veg.....anything else and you will be judged as a slut mother