Did you not get the email from Mumsnet with all the tips on a couple of weeks ago? Have C&P'ed it below.
The weather may say otherwise, but the summer term is almost upon us, bringing with it for many the horror that is the packed lunch. For some folks this will mean topping up the tupperware for the first time, but as seasoned sarnie makers will attest, thinking up delicious morsels that your kids will actually eat (as opposed to leave/give away/throw in the nearest bin) can rapidly become a chore. With that in mind, we?ve asked our culinary experts - you - to help us put together a list of Lunchbox dos and don?ts. So whether you?re a new girl on the lunchbox block, or a veteran finder of week old sarnies mouldering at the bottom of the schoolbag, read on?
Do
Copy the leading branded lunchbox ideas but substitute your own healthier versions. Get mini pots of cream cheese and do your own "sticks" of veg or toast. You can even buy a cartoon-branded container to rival the supermarket marketing ploys. MissHaversham
Allow your kids to be creative. My daughter hates sandwiches with a passion so we do a combo of; pitta breads/tortillas/mini crackers with slices of cheese/ham/cucumber/cherry toms/carrot. The combos are packed and she?s left to put her lunch together herself, who needs lunchables eh? VictorianSqualor
Count to 5 for each child. This is a good ploy when you?re a bit brain-dead in the early morning: One ? a sandwich/wrap/pasta. Two ? a piece of fruit ? plums are a good alternative to apples and the right size for most lunch boxes. Three - a drink (usually a carton of juice/bottle of water). Four - something else healthy - yoghurt/cheese/pack of healthy crackers. Five - a treat ? whatever that means in your house! Maisykins
Utilise leftovers. Chicken drumsticks with the skin removed and cold frittata as well as cold rice or couscous with bits of veggies mixed in are popular. Also home-made chicken nuggets, cold sausages or fish fingers and pasta pesto with peas. Thomcat
Make extra when cooking for the grown-ups - I make meat/vegetable pasties, big ones for my husband?s lunch and little ones for my daughter?s lunch. Use leftover veg and pre-rolled pastry and they?re really quick to make. Dingalongacow
Offer things you?d like to eat yourself. I love a tortilla wrap, spread with cream cheese then filled with chicken and grated carrot, rolled up and sliced into chunks. For dessert add some natural yoghurt with a handful of frozen raspberries, which defrost during the morning. No more faff than a regular sandwich lunch but a bit more tasty. Janeite
Mix and match. If your child only likes sweet sandwiches, try giving them jam, then adding cheese or satay sticks alongside, so they get carbs and protein, just not in the same sandwich. Another trick for kids who hate veg is raw sugar snap peas - they're really sweet and great for dipping in cream cheese. Willow
Go with a theme and surprise them (assuming they don?t mind a bit of adventure). So falafel with hummus, pitta bread and vegetables on one day, mini samosas the next and a mini portion of Greek salad with feta and olives the next. ELR
Vary the monotony occasionally ? for everyone?s sake. Going to the supermarket the afternoon before a school trip and choosing their favourite items of crappery snackery was always a huge treat for my three older kids - they had uber-sensible packed lunches the rest of the time. JanH
Get them involved. Whether its getting them to butter the bread or being more adventurous and whipping up a batch of super-healthy flapjacks packed with seeds and dried fruit . Anything they?ve helped to prepare is much more likely to get eaten. Carmenere
Use cutter shapes to make sandwiches more interesting. We have a teeny rabbit cutter that we used for Easter and heart-shaped cutters for Valentines as well as stars for everyday use. You might waste a bit of bread, but before we used cutters the sandwiches were often completely uneaten, now there are never any left. Thomcat
Re-use water bottles with sports caps. Those supposedly well designed leak-proof special water bottles just end up breaking or leaking all over the place, so you?re better reusing a normal bottle of water or squash. Mummypig
Use those 'lock and store' or clippit type containers with the 'flaps' which hold the lid down and are airtight. Not only does this help save the planet by cutting down on plastic bags, it can also help save your sanity because you can make the lunch the night before and store it in the fridge without sandwiches going soggy. Hippipotami
Don?t
Despair if you don?t have the time/ energy/inclination to be creative every day ? stick to the familiar formula if it works and then pick a day ? say Friday - when you do something more original or exciting like savoury or sweet kebabs, or fruit dipped in melted chocolate (choc spread for the time-strapped). Maisykins
Forget to ask what the other kids in their class eat . Be prepared for some exaggerations ? ?oh they all bring ten bags of crisps and six chocolate bars? - but it can work in your favour. If you suggest hummus/ soup/ carrot salad (delete as appropriate) they might dismiss it out of hand, but if Ollie always brings hummus/ soup/ carrot salad it suddenly becomes very desirable. Carmenere
Worry too much if they change their tastes. I was surprised how much influence my daughter?s classmates had on her when she started school full-time - and this included debates about the contents of their lunchboxes! As long as they?re still eating healthily you might need to go with the flow for a bit. Mercy
Forget to add an ice pack if there is anything that could go off in your child?s lunch bag. Get gel filled, malleable ones (the solid water filled ones are too heavy). If you can?t get these freeze tubes of yoghurt/fromage frais ? they do thaw a bit, but they keep things cool and you get less mess/wasp-attracting goo because they're in a tube. WanderingTrolley
Forget to test the temperature of hot food. Before you start sending your older child in with flasks of soup, do a couple of dummy runs filling the flask at breakfast and opening it at lunchtime, both to gauge how long it'll stay hot for and to make sure no-one gets scalded. WanderingTrolley
Get too stressed about this variety business - after all, lots of adults eat practically the same breakfast and lunch everyday and we seem to survive! Gobbledigook
AND FINALLY...
Don?t forget that what you pack is open to scrutiny - not just by other kids but by other mums. So if your child is going to a friend's house after school, make sure that's not the day you give in to Fruit Shoots and Greggs' sausage rolls. Stick a few stray aduki beans/arugula leaves/seaweed sachets in the lunchbox. Your child might be a tad confused but your position as Alpha Mother will be assured for ever more! Willow