Lunchbox/snack ideas for a child that isn't very interested in food

[LeaveYourHatOn]

DS2's lunch/snack box is coming back with an uneaten sandwich almost every day, and I'm getting to that point where I need ideas again.

He doesn't eat any raw fruit or veg. He likes cooked veg but won't eat it cold in his lunchbox. Nothing that requires a spoon, fork or dipping (partly because he's not going to do that and partly because they only have 15mins to eat so it has to be basically shove-in-mouth type stuff).

No rules or restrictions as to what can be packed (we are obviously not in the UK lol) but I don't want him eating just crap.

At the moment he has: cheese or marmite sandwich, salami sticks, a handful of crisps, 2 homemade biscuits, some apple juice.

He's no longer eating the sandwich or the salami sticks.

What can I give him? Am I missing something obvious?
I've tried a wrap (with cheese and ham) but most of the time he doesn't even take a bite.
Am getting a bit desperate now. I don't mind it being something I have to make/bake, I can freeze things and defrost for school if necessary but I have no ideas at all any more.

Does anyone else have a child like this?
He eats proper cooked food with no problems at all, it's just cold lunches that are difficult....

Crackers and cheese? Breadsticks or oatcakes

Is there no provision for hot school dinners, if he eats hot cooked food?

How old is he?

A big flapjack= (sort of) a big bowl of porridge with sugar

This type of lunch box has a compartment that keeps hot food hot- can put pasta, stew/casserole, curry and rice etc, whatever he likes at home.

When my son was about 9 he was far too busy to eat lunch. He had a banana, malt loaf and a carton of apple juice!

Would he eat a savoury muffin kind of thing instead of a sandwich, eg cheese and broccoli? Maybe that would hide veg (or fruit) enough for him to eat it?

Mine takes hot food in a foogo flask.

He takes:

Pasta
Soup
Different curries and rice
Ramen
Meatballs with pasta

He'll also have any leftover roast meat in a sandwich but nothing else.

A lot of it is leftovers.
Soup is usually shop bought from the fridge.

Others in his class bring stews, casseroles etc. cold slices of pie,

I send a smoothie and some fruit with veg included in his hot food.

He also takes crackers/poppadoms and a yogurt and some fruit. And he finishes it all. I don't know where he puts it.

Crackers and cheese, rice cakes, would he eat cold potatoes? Pasta in a flask to keep it hot, with meatballs or something. Then more snack items such as malt loaf, low sugar flapjack or oat cereal bars to fill him up

You could try cheese and marmite flapjacks, sausage rolls or muffins.
Quesadilla pizza

I've got a child similar- I sympathise!

Quiche, sausage rolls, mini sausages, hard boiled eggs, crackers with cheese slices, yoghurt pouches, mini muffins, cheese scone with butter on, buttered fruit bread are things that spring to mind which have worked.

Thankfully he has agreed to hot dinners now..

Samosas
Sausage rolls
Pizza
Frittata
Spanakopita

How old is your ds?

Mini pizza on a pitta bread base
Mini spanish omelette made in muffin tins
Sausage roll/mini pasty
Slice of quiche

My ds is the same so I feel your pain ! His school had begun to offer hot food and he has tomato pasta every day .
Prior to this I made pasta salads which he ate cold with a fork because a food flask was not allowed . Homemade pizza pitta breads were a hit - cut a pitta down the middle , spread with tomato purée and grated cheese and any toppings ( non allowed by my son ) and grill , allow to cool and slice .

Mini sausages
Chicken wings/drumstick
Fishfinger
Cheese cubes and strips of ham

Yes to oatcakes, bread sticks, crackers. Cheese cut into cubes. Cocktail sausages. Sliced chicken breast. Muffins. Cold sausage roll. Soup that he drink from the cup of the flask.

Mine liked to take rice balls (basically sushi but no finesse!)

Or the Italian version of arancini!

He’s 6, almost 7.
No food provision at school, he’s home again for lunch but he still imo needs a substantial snack as he’s gone from 7.30 until almost 2pm.
They eat at their desks in the classroom, so anything hot or potentially messy is out.
He won’t eat anything that requires a fork or spoon, it’s just more effort than he’s willing to put in.
Sausage rolls though are an excellent idea!
And he might go for a quiche or savoury muffin so I will try them.
Thanks for the ideas.

I would have made many of the suggestions here. But I will add a big success we've had:
Chicken "burger" -
we use mini rolls (they're cuter, less overwhelming. DD only has one, DS has 2-3).
Use chicken mini breasts or, if a regular chicken breast, slice it horizontally so that it's thinner. You basically want a piece of chicken breast that you can fry with just some oil and salt and that will brown nicely on both sides and be cooked through in about 5 minutes.

Stick it on the roll.

Add anything your child would agree to include (we've had success with avocado, mayo, pickles). Or leave plan if he won't.

Wrap and stick in lunch box. They eat it cold and it's delicious and for whatever reason, the mini burger appeals.

Ugh this sounds familiar! DD is 12 and will not under any circumstances eat a sandwich and won't eat the hot meals provided by school as she's so picky. The only thing we have found that she will happily take and actually eat is the Quorn sausage rolls. She's not vegetarian but her older sister is and youngest loves the sausage rolls (but won't eat actual meat ones). So her lunchbox is a sausage roll (sometimes two if she's feeling hungry that morning) a tub of fruit (either strawberries or raspberries - something she can easily pick at) a mini pepperami crisps and a yoghurt (which usually comes back uneaten but I keep trying!). She'll usually buy a cookie or something sweet at school for break time. God knows what we'll do when she inevitably goes off the sausage rolls.

If he's having lunch at home at weekends/holidays what sort of food is he interested in then? What are his favourite evening meals and breakfasts?

How about cold homemade pizza - basically the same as a cheese and tomato sandwich, but much more appealing. See you think quiche may be a goer, so also there's things like small pies or pasties. Hard boiled eggs? In terms of no fruit would he not even consider a couple of grapes, or some sticks of fresh pineapple, more interesting fruit like that?

Really good suggestions here, thank you everyone.
I made some veggie "sausage" rolls for him and older DS (who is a vegetarian) with mushroom and onion and they both LOVED them! So that was a superb idea. I'll make another batch at the weekend and freeze them.

He eats most things at home, but he's not very interested in it and has to be reminded to keep eating iyswim. At school there's nobody checking anything, so I really can only give things that he can be bothered to put in his mouth.
Sadly no fruit at all except watermelon (which is obviously out of season atm but I'll try that in summer).

@SpaceOp The mini chicken burger is a BRILLIANT idea - that would most definitely appeal to him!

And suggestions of pies or pasties - yes, that's exactly what might work. I need to batch cook a load and stick them in the freezer so I can rotate what he gets.

Thank you again, this has been really helpful.

Ravioli?
Or plain cold pasta
Scrolls
Bagels with cream cheese
Dried fruit eg apricots
Cold hard boiled eggs
Sushi