Lunch box ideas

[beadyboo]

I've just reluctantly notified DDs school that she will be stopping school dinners and moving to packed lunches.
Other than sandwiches, wraps and pasta / rice salad what do provide your DC for lunch?
I don't want her to be eating much too much sugar, but I'm happy for her to have a "pudding" or treat included.
She's not a fussy eater, but not keen on houmous, nuts or egg (annoying as they're all so healthy and filling!)

You could do home made pasties filled with meat and veg or cheese and spinach (if she likes that sort of thing.)

DC used to have things like carrot, cucumber and pepper sticks, chunks of salami or cold roast chicken drumsticks, cream crackers with cheese.

For treats try mini bags of pop corn, pretzels, home made fruit muffins, banana bread or carrot cake as well as the usual crisps or hula hoops.

I always included a fruit smoothie and a piece of fruit and often a yoghurt too.

we had this week
crustless quiche (not much use to you)
Flask lunch of mac and cheese
Flask lunch of noodles with salmon
cold chicken tenders with salad (spinach, tomato, peppers)
crackers, cheese, veg and chicken drumsticks
Ham roll and a tuna roll with cheese
Snacks were some of the following A piece of fruit. a pot of greek yoghurt with honey and a spoon of jam veggie crisps (usually have aldi potato teddy heads) some almonds and cashew nuts, a purple snack bar, a pot of grapes and strawberries, cheese stick with oat cake, cheese scone,
5 DC who choose what they want within reason and the night before.
I use the aldi food flasks as they can all open them anf the food is still warm at lunch time.

My DD (8) is a bit fussy and I would love her to have a more adventurous packed lunch but she only likes a few variations so she has ham sandwiches, a yoghurt, portion of fruit (which she usually doesn't touch) and a treat such as homemade scone, flapjack etc.

Other variations include malt loaf and crackers and cheese but what she really enjoys is when I give her a flask of hot food such as pasta bolognaise, mince and potatoes, soup or pasta and sauce. On flask days I don't really put a lot in her lunch bag apart from a drink and maybe a scone as she always eats every last bit of whatever is in her flask.

Mine have wraps/bread/rolls with various fillings...egg mayo, chicken/tuna mayo, cheese, ham salad, peanut butter, smoked salmon & cream cheese etc

Greek yoghurt with passion fruit or honey on top

Piece of fruit

Veg sticks & cheese cubes

Small bottle of water.

Thank you all. Looks like food flasks will be a good investment.

Would she eat pasta salad? Or couscous salad?

Dd isn't keen on eggs but will eat mini frittata ( cooked in the oven in a muffin tin) - worth a try?

Savoury muffins are nice too. They freeze well so you can just take them straight from the freezer and pop into her lunch box.

But I have to be honest my dcs mainly have some kind of bread based lunch with veg sticks, fruit and sometimes a treat.

Wholewheat bagel with cream cheese
Salami in a bread roll
Pitta with tuna and sweetcorn
Oatcakes with cheese or cream cheese
Pitta and humous
Ham or cheese sandwich

Are the usual options.

I've gone with rice salad (brown and wild rice mixed) with bits of tomato, pepper, cucumber and chicken in.
A mini frittata type thing as an experiment, yogurt and a piece of fruit.
I'll report back. I've deliberately not included anything treaty as I don't want to set up an expectation of cake / biscuits on a daily basis like at school

Meusli made with apple juice
Granola and fruit
Fruit salad
Cheese and pineapple
Mini pizza
Savoury scone with filling
Quinoa Snackpot (you can buy ready mixed from Merchant Gourmet range)
Hot Soup
cold soup in summer
tzatziki and pitta with tabbouleh

She ate everything and even liked the frittata.
Whilst I'm still motivated and keen, tomorrow I've gone for pasta with roasted veg, mini frittata, pot with berries and grapes and a babybel.
I also collected her friend from school and the dinner was sausage roll, chips and beans with chocolate brownie for pudding!!