After-school snacks & school dinners

[tryhard]

DS1 starts Reception next week sniff!!! he's an August birthday so will be one of the youngest & most exhausted having only done 2 full days at nursery before & I've heard other Moms say they come home from school ravenous so have snacks ready...does anyone have any suggestions of things that won't ruin his appetite for dinner?

Which leads me too...he'll be having school dinner which I'm guessing is a hot meal & a pud...I normally sit down to a meal together with DC at 5pm but I'm thinking he won't need this if he's eaten a big meal at lunchtime at school, but then I like us all eating together in the evening, how do others work around this? Does he just need a sandwich in the evening?

I still do family meal in the evening. School dinners on this L.A are getting worse and worse so inevitably my kids come home starving after eating very little.

My two will still wolf down a hot meal in the evening, even after a school dinner. Just check the menus so you don't end up with double pasta, like we did once

Snack wise, we do either a piece of (homemade) cake/flapjack type things, fruit, breadsticks, slice of toast, small bowl of cereal etc.

School dinners seem to be shrinking in our LA, so my DCs get 2 hot meals a day regularly. Though some days, especially if evening is busy with clubs (kids a bit older than yours I think) we have a very quick meal like eggs on toast or pitta bread pizzas or gnocchi in tomato sauce. Snack wise either fruit or a biscuit, often my DCs forgot to ask for one so didn't eat one, not all kids come out of school very hungry.

Another one here whose DC have hot dinners and then a family meal at 5pm.

For snacks, I sometimes take a banana to eat on the way home or give them juice and a biscuit at home. DD always wants milk but if she had that she then won't eat her tea.

My son always has a snack after school and then has a proper dinner in the evening with us. If I'm prepared I make up some fruit slices or carrots and hummus. If not I just give him crisps or biscuits

School meal portions are not especially generous added to the fact that a lot of it does not get eaten it is best not to rely on them as the main hot meal of the day.

My children always have dinner at the table with the family whether they have had a school dinner or packed lunch.

Ideas for snacks that we have coming in from school are

Crackers with any of the following, peanut butter, cheese, butter, soft cheese,
Small Pita bread with houmous
Toast with above toppings
Natural yogurt with fruit
Carrot, cucumber and pepper with sweet chilli dip or houmous
A pancake, crumpet, toasting muffin etc

I find giving a small snack like the above as soon as they come in means they are more than able to hold off till around 6 and then eat a decent meal

Bare in mind he will probably having his lunch about 11.30/11.45 as reception children tend eat first.

Mine have a snack- banana, toast, raisins etc and a hot family meal after school. School dinner is served mid morning (11.30! After their fruit snack at 10!?!) so by 4pm they're ready for another snack ( which they wouldn't need if the school had any sense to give them their fruit in the afternoon!) and more than up for another -real- hot meal.

Firstly, big hugs! So sad when they go off to school! Mine also has school dinners but I find he doesn't struggle to eat another cooked meal in the evening with us at all. However, on the days when it's inconvenient for whatever reason, it's great to know he's already had a decent meal so I can get away with just giving him a sarnie. As for snacks, I range between anything from ricecakes and marmite to slices of banana loaf, fruit or yoghurts. Ice lollies are fairly regular in summer too...

Wow I never would have thought of them having dinner so early! She'll be starving by 4pm if they eat that early, I'll be planning family meals all this week then. Some great ideas for snacks, thank you ????

I went through a stage of bringing tea massively forward rather than giving snacks. Then giving them a treat after (chocolate / ice cream with lots of sauce and topping / slice of cake....). They would all fill up on the post-school treat and then claim they weren't hungry only to be "starving" once tea was cleared.