Veggie sandwich fillings or alternative for lunch box?

[Grockle]

DS (5) eats really well at home but will only have cheese in his sandwiches. To be fair, there are variations on this (cheese & pesto, cheese and chutney or just cheese in a roll, on bread) but I'd really like him to try other things too.

He won't eat hommous any more but will sometimes have cold pizza or fake meat chicken nuggets.

What can I put in to make his lunch more interesting? Or shall I just let him eat cheese sarnies every day?

Actually, thinking about it, I don't suppose there is any harm in him eating cheese sandwiches everyday. I think I just want to break the tedium of making the same thing every day

Does he eat roast veg (thinking roast pepper etc)?

Nope, not cold anyway.

He does occasionally have cold pasta (with cheese!)

Does he eat fish? If so, tuna and mayo always makes a good sandwich filling.

If not, what about mozzarella, basil and tomato (I know it's still cheese, but it's a different kind!)

Egg? I love egg mashed up with salad cream rather than mayo and it's also lovely with finely chopped tomato and a teeny, tiny bit of very finely chopped onion.

M&S used to make a lovely roasted veg sandwich. As far as I remember, it had roasted pepper, courgette and onion in it, as well as herbs.

I make (occasionally) cheese, potato and onion pasties for DS2 - mix mashed potato with finely chopped onion or spring onion and then mix in a good handful of grated cheese. Season with black pepper and then make pasties with it - I use shop-bought pastry, either shortcrust or puff.

I had cheese sandwiches every day for years (cheese and pickle sometimes, to ring the changes!)...never did me any harm!

Does your school allow peanut butter? Or there are various nut butters that you can get in Holland and Barratt.

Would he eat falafel? Cream cheese? Veggie pate?

Cold pasta pesto

Savoury muffins.

No, no fish and no creamy cheeses - mozzarella, philadelhpia and Dairylea are all out.

He might like egg - I should have thought of that since we have chickens

He would love pasties - I might make them tomorrow actually. Savoury muffins also a v good idea.

Funny, I was looking for Almond butter or Cashew butter today but couldn't find it in my supermarket. Will have a look in Holland and Barrat next time I go.

Am feeling much more inspired now - thank you!

DD1 has marmite almost every day, I'm afraid! She did have a bit of a binge on cashew butter at one point.

She sometimes has a pasta salad, with pesto, pinenuts and spinach or rocket.

Veggie sausage rolls (if you're not averse to them!) and salad;

a little pot of tsatziki with carrot sticks and sliced pitta bread;

sometimes I mash some potato with cheese and spring onions then cook it in pastry in jam tart tins. They freeze well and are nice hot or cold.

Dd2 has cheese sarnies almost every day! My dds are clearly creatures of simple means! :)

DD is very fussy. Standard sandwich at school is quorn chicken and marmite. Once every two or three weeks I let her have jam. Sometimes she takes a couple of sausage rolls. I used to make her salad, or mixed beans in pitta, but she's got to the age where she can't have anything that looks unusual.

If she'd eat cheese I'd be delighted!

Mashed avocado sandwiches
Slice of broccoli quiche
Veg samosa
Soetimes I roll a cooked asparagus spears in brown bread and butter
Veggie cornish pasty
Tomato sandwich
Salad sandwich

But if he's happy cheese sandwich every day is fine!

Fab ideas, thank you! Not sure about quorn chicken and marmite though! Might have to try that later (we had quorn chicken nuggets for tea as a treat. DS thinks they are real chicken and was thrilled)

We also have problems with food looking different. He cannot have yoghurt unless it is a Frube or a munchbunch type thing which I won't buy cos I'm mean and he has to have a whole packet of crisps or none at all rather than a few in a little tupperware pot. Peer pressure at 5

You said he was "thrilled" at quorn chicken nuggets as he thought they were REAL.........are you veggie and trying to feed him veggie as well??

OK, just re read thread......Grockle...you have chickens, presumably by now you'd have tried egg?? I only ask as DH & I both eat eggs but Ds refuses.

No, I forgot to try him with egg sandwiches Ridiculous, I know.

I am very picky about meat and until a few weeks ago didn't eat it at all. DS knows we don't eat meat at home. If we ever have meaty-like things, I always tell him it's not actually meat but he is convinced that it is. He wasn't thrilled because he thought they were real chicken but because we had 'chicken' nuggets for supper. We never have them.

Can he not chose to be veggie when he's old enough to make up his own mind?

I have the same problem as you _ try tortillas wraps with roasted vegetables.

Sorry for hijacking - becausei am worth it.
Can you explain what do you do with your mashed potatoes and onions I am not very good with baking .sounds like a good idea

I wouldn't bother. I tried getting mine to eat different things, it didn't work. One has cheese everyday and one has honey everyday. Has been the same way for years.

Saying that, they do really like Quorn ham slices, but they are very expensive.

'Can he not chose to be veggie when he's old enough to make up his own mind?'

Of course he can, he can also choose to be a meat eater as well.

If he likes pesto, would he have cold pasta salad with pesto?
(Also marking place as I have veggie DD and I need lunch ideas)
I tried my DD with egg mayo - she rejected them and said she didn't like the 'smelly butter'

Zeus - he picked up some tortilla wraps this morning in Tescos and asked if he could have those so we'll try that. He'll still only eat them with cheese but at least it makes it slightly different.

Orienteerer, no. He will try meat occasionally and I don't mind but he is quite happy not eating it so I am not putting it in his lunchbox. If he desperately wanted ham/ sausages/ bacon/ fish in his lunchbox, I'd reconsider.

He'd probably eat meat if it had cheese with it

We are veggie and ds takes a packed lunch to school.
He has quorn ham, cheese, cheese and grape, peanut butter, ketchup (I know but he loves them), cucumber, houmous and grated carrot, nutella (when he is having a tough time and needs a wee smile).
Sometimes I give him a wrap with grated cheddar and sour cream.
Sometimes I give him a little box of crackers and a little box of slices of cheese and squares of quorn ham.
Sometimes he has cold pasta salad (pasta, grated cheese, sweetcorn, or pesto)
Sometimes (very rare) he has rice and peas and sweetcorn and grated cheese.

orienteer the same could be said about a meat eating child - don't want a row but just something to consider

lol at smelly butter!

DS doesn't like creamy things (hence no cream cheese) and mayo seems to be in that category.

He loves pesto. Almost as much as he loves cheese. He sometimes has it for lunch (with cheese).

I think really I just want him to have a cheese-free lunch once in a while. I don't know why. This is obviously my issue and not his. There's nothing wrong with it at all.

Hmm, quorn ham. Hadn't thought of that. Might spice things up a bit!

Mine would happily just have cucumber or quorn ham but he is very very very skinny so we have to pile calories into him (HV orders) and cheese is one way of doing it for us.

You are doing better than us, my DS will only have marmite sandwiches every day in his lunchbox for nursery.

My DS is incredibly skinny too, despite the vast quantities of cheese he eats. You can count his ribs from his back and he tends to look rather emaciated at times. Yet he is actually very healthy & energetic and is growing well so is fine. I just don't like when people comment.