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

If DS complains that everyone else has dairylea dunkers, crisps, kit kats etc. I just say 'really, that's interesting...' and then change the subject.

TBH he usually eats everything in his lunchbox, more so recently because my mum bought him a cool new box with different compartments for everything. And he told me his mate was eyeing up DS's cake the other day, so must be getting it mostly right.

I hate doing lunchboxes, but DS not keen on the cooked dinners (and it is cheaper)

Do lunchboxes tend to always work out cheaper than school meals?

It depends I think. Ours are £2.20 per day, but that is for cooked meal + pudding. I always do cooked meal at tea-time so think sandwiches are fine for lunch.

Looking at DS's lunchbox, I don't think it costs £2.20 to put together...

I don't think it always works out cheaper - depends what you put in it of course! Our school lunches are 1.90 which is quite good value. My kids have packed lunches twice a week (as these are the days DD has lunch club at nursery) and DS1 has school lunches three times. Works well as I can do a mixture of hot and sandwich type suppers. The only problem is I always have to remember which day of the week it is!

The - everyone else has crisps issue. I am in charge, she is 4 I say, well you get crisps every Friday as a treat, it wouldn't be a treat if you had them every day. She is still falling for it so far. Or I just tell her that we need a mixture of foods to grow healthy and strong blah blah blah and when she is a grown up she can eat crisps as often as she wants.

Our school won't let you have a couple of days of hot dinners per week, you have all week or none. DD wouldn't eat them, she is a PITA with cooked meals and they are £10.50 a week here.

Wow over £40 a month on school dinners - do they even fill them up?

I'm thinking about September lunchboxes as well btm - you're not the only one - I have never had to do them before as ds has school meals.

DD is a protein queen so am thinking mini sausages and sausage rolls occasionally as well - you could do cold cooked chicken tenders as well - they're really easy and you'd know what meat was in them - maybe a slice of fritatta if yours like omelette?

Am liking the savoury muffins idea - am going to get a recipe for them.

My little boy had nursery dinners and initially we started half and half (school diners and packed lunches so that he had a hot dinner on the days he had after school stuff). He then asked to have school dinners everyday as he felt grown up that he got to choose and also it was quicker than packed lunches. They definitely filled him up but he has never been a fussy eater.

Unfortunately now we have to be on wheat free diet so I have to do packed lunches until we can sort out wheat free dinners but he has decided that he likes my packed lunches. I think do whatever suits you and your child. What is most important is that they are happy and filled up.

Now my staples are:
rice cakes or wheat free sw or crackers with sausage, ham or cheese
or pasta salad
fruit a different variety every day
cucumber, pepper and carrot
homemade treat e.g muffin, flapjack or cake (makes him not miss school dinners so much as they always seem to have some cake for pudding!)
Yogurt and water.

All his seems to go but as I say he's not a fussy eater and if I am going to try something new I tend to try it at home first so it's not a big unwelcome surprise.
I would say not a bad thing to be thinking of it now as you can try some things out, especially coming up to summer and picnics to see what your child likes.

Sorry for very long winded message but hope that helps.

Ours is quite a big school so you can drop in and out of school dinners, just pay in the morning even, which is v flexible. Although I would hazard a guess that the regular school dinner eaters are mostly free school meals, as with more than one child the cost adds up.

The meals are pretty good and balanced, when DS has had them he seems satisfied, just not keen enough to have them regularly.

My ds, 5, started foundation sept '11. He has

1 slice of bread sandwich - marmite / cheese / ham etc
piece of fruit - plum / apple/ satsuma
small portion dried fruit - apricots, raisins or maybe a humzinger
cucumber in a pot
savoury snack - small pack of 4 cheddar biscuits/ big snackajack/cheese dip
Yogurt

DD started school in September. She has

2 small ham wraps or rolls
cheese string
Frube (or similar) from the freezer
2 small biscuits (custard creams)
apple/grapes/banana

DC2 starts Reception this year and is the fussiest eater ever. Christ knows what I can give her. Yogurts and more yogurts..

Are frubes high in sugar?

God yes btm. We arent allowed them anyway only yoghurts with spoons.

OP - thanks for starting this thread. Reading it with interest as my DD starts school in Sept as well. Currently she is at nursery and gets a cooked meal at lunch time, so I think I might go for the half and half option to begin with and see what she prefers (if the school allows this). Great tips on what to put in lunch boxes from everyone - really useful as I didn't have a clue! :)

Sandwiches are definitely cheaper than school dinners. When all 3 of mine get to school (in a year or two) it would cost (at current prices) more than £6 a day for them all to have a school dinner. For that price I can a lot of sandwich fillers!

• one pot of yoghurt or mini rice pudding (I put it in the freezer the night before so it cools the lunchbag until lunch time)
• one carton of juice (water is offered at school but dc would not drink enough otherwise)
• one sandwich (one slice of bread with butter and cold meats)
• one muesly bar, homemade flapjack, slice of raisin bread...

school has a ban of nuts and chocolate and cake but offeres fresh fruit all through the day (which is why I don't put any in the lunch box).