Packed lunch ideas with protein for restricted eater

[SprigatitoYouAndIKnow]

Ds2 is very difficult to make packed lunch for. He will eat a limited number of mains, so it is fine at home, but they all require cooking. They wouldn't be things we could keep warm until lunch either eg scrambled egg, super noodles, pizza. He likes a food until he goes off it. We recently lost tuna wraps, so have no idea what to give for lunch at school. Awaiting autism assessment, so this is not just average picky eating.

He currently has a bread roll that comes back vaguely nibbled, fruit and veg, yoghurt fruits type thing and a snack bar suck as a penguin. He is fine with peanut, but school ban that due to kids with severe allergies. It means he comes out of school starving and in a big ball of rage.

I am thinking of swapping the snack bar for a homemade muffin or cookie. Does anyone have recipes for making these high protein and suitable for children? All the recipes I can find seem to be for gym bunnies and are packed with protein powder and artificial sweetener.

Would he eat mini crustless quiche muffins? Does he eat cheese at all?

My DS is like this. Literally the tuna wrap. He does like chicken and will eat cold sliced chicken in a wrap with mayo and barbecue sauce. Has to be a specific type of Asda chunky chicken breast. You could perhaps keep it cool with a cold block.
Would he eat a chocolate protein pudding like Aldi sell?

As he eats pizza, would he eat cold pizza? Hard boiled eggs (already peeled) instead of scrambled eggs?

Cheese scone?

Noodle salad as he eats noodles at home?

You don't mention his age, could he manage lentil or bean soup in a flask?

Also cold pizza?

What age?
Could use a food flask and send hot food if he's old enough to be trusted with it

Watching with interest. My solutions include babybels, grated cheese in a pot for the days when babybels are "wrong", homemade cheese scones, any form of ridiculously overpriced cooked chicken (this often changes in acceptability too lol), homemade wraps with milled flaxseed sneaked in. Full fat greek yogurt with berries or good quality jam.
Kefir drink, good quality croissants with chicken and cheese inside. Leftover pizza but only one will tolerate this. Homemade baking with powdery things added (flaxseed, chia etc)

@Rebootnecessary will only eat cheese on pizza, no other way. Doesn't like quiche as it is mixed in with other things.

@NotMeNoNo he hates the taste of sweeteners and all the protein things seem to have them in. He likes chocolate of course!

@AdaColeman he won't eat cold pizza. He does eat boiled egg white, but not cold. Wouldn't eat soup.

@dementedpixie he is 6. Wouldn't really eat anything that would go in a food flask and wouldn't be able to do the lid

Any of these possible?
Felafels
Carrot sticks with hummus
Mini pork pie
Rolled up ham slices
Pieces of cold chicken breast in a little pot
I used to cut cheddar and Red Leicester into little bricks: cheese Lego
mini scotch eggs

@QueensOfTheVolksAge thanks for the tip on adding powdered seeds. Shame he doesn't eat croissants, as that would be perfect. Doesn't eat much meat. He was a vegetarian until we went on holiday and they didn't have vegetarian marshmallows 😂. Will occasionally eat sausage or bacon, but only hot.

In your situation I would look at going for a high protein breakfast and dinner and not worry about the protein at lunch.
Would he eat cream cheese on crackers? Or as a dip if flavoured with something he'd like.
How about roasted chickpeas? They go crunchy like nuts.

Does he drink milk/milkshakes or smoothies?

You can get high protien yogurt or rice puddings. Iceland sell some nice protien enhanced rice puddings.

Greek yogurt or cottage cheese are naturally high protien if he will eat either of these.

@AtleastitsnotMonday he might try chickpeas, that's a good shout. Dinner is fine for protein. Currently breakfast is cornflakes and fruit, so not long lasting energy.

@Forgottenmyphone he will drink flavoured milks, but not sure if school would allow that. He won't drink cold milk, otherwise I would pay for thr school one. Not smoothies though, or any other drinks other than water.

@Almostwelsh he currently has a frubes type yoghurt Tube, but they aren't big or filling. I think I need to work out a tub he could open and do a higher fat yoghurt.

just a suggestion on the yoghurt, have you tried pouches? More quantity than frubes and he may still be able to open them himself , if not you can sometimes unscrew them just enough to hear the plastic lid seal break but it isn’t enough that the contents leak. I’m sure I’ve seen high protein yoghurt pouches in Aldi but couldn’t promise.
Have you tried the “fake” peanut butter made of soya? My friend who’s son has ARFID has had some success with this at her nut free school.

There are also refillable washable pouches that you could put any yoghurt in (bit fiddly, need a funnel, some have a zip lock bottom for ease of filling but I never quite trusted them!)

If school are allowing Penguin bars, they’ll allow flavoured milk.

Very similar problems with lunches here. I make red lentil chocolate brownies and freeze them individually - pop them in the lunch box straight from the freezer and they're defrosted by lunch time.

@LauraMipsum that is a great idea! He would definitely eat brownies.

@moggle will check that out, thank you. Even if just to up the fat content in cooking.

I have a 5 yoPp who is the same and also going for autism diagnosis.
I was having to send him a bowl, cereal and milk in his packed lunch for a while as he wouldn't take anything else but he went off that.
He often eats pancakes so I butter them and he takes fridge raider chicken things sometimes. With some fruit and a treat.
He doesn't like store bought bread so sometimes I make a loaf and give him a chunk of that with some grated cheese or ham separately so he can make his own sandwich at school and he accepts that sometimes.
He loves a scone too so I make them quite often but it's not very healthy.
He won't take anything not in it's original packages anymore so it really limits what I can send. When we were having a bad week the school let me send in crumpets which are the current safe food and they toasted them for me but that's purely because we had a lot going on at home so what he will eat had become so constricted it was hard to even find main meals.
It can be so hard and such a worry.

Just stumbled across this thread . I have a teen with the same issues !

I make a lot of flapjacks or oat cookies with added milled seeds and chocolate chips to get him to eat it .

At dinner time pudding always involves a pudding with a portion of cashew nuts on the side - just an extra portion of protein . Useful on the days when he’s not eaten his lunch or had a jam sandwich !

My son has a habit of liking something for a couple of weeks then never eating it again . So far this term we’ve worked our way through tuna sandwiches and also cottage cheese . We are currently on thinly sliced Brie sandwiches or sausage rolls

Like the sound of red lentil brownies and the chickpeas

Also silken tofu chocolate mousse which is very easy to make is very high protein

For a carb option, I used to find focaccia went down well. I made it with 40% white flour, 40% wholemeal and 20% rye. Pretty it up with bits on top)eg olives, jarred pepper, rosemary, seeds, maybe cheese) and plenty of extra virgin olive oil. A sprinkle of rock salt at the end. They love it.

Cashew or almond butter with veg sticks and flatbread strips? (Plus a note to school explaining it’s not peanut!)?
Sushi might work.

My protein difficult autistic is 20 now!!’ I feel your pain.

Handfuls of weetabix protein crunch cereal with yoghurt pouches. The protein ones have artificial seeeyejers but Sainsburys own brand fromage fraud pouches or Suckies are Ok

Weetabix protein breakfast drinks (chocolate, strawberry or vanilla)

rice pudding pots

will he eat flapjacks?

mine lived on dairylea dunkers!

The other horrible thing my son will eat are lunchables .

I Share the pain though - he would happily eat peanut butter sandwiches several times a day given the option - nothing else matches up in his eyes