Packed lunch ideas for my rather fussy 7 year old (lentil-weavers may wish to avert their eyes)

[WigWamBam]

I have lentil-weaverish tendencies but my daughter does not share them!

She starts having packed lunches this week and I am struggling for ideas for things to put in them. She'll have some salad and fruit, it's the sandwiches and stuff I'm struggling with.

She will only eat cheese if it's cooked. The only cold meat she will eat is gammon - and only then if I roast it myself. She'll eat Billy Bear meat (don't tell me it's crap; I know it's crap but it is at least crap that she will eat rather than leave in the box and go hungry), and cold bacon with lettuce. She'll have cold sausages or sausage rolls (yes, I know) and I make little egg and cheese flan things which she would eat cold ... and that's about it.

She won't eat humous or pasta salads, so they are off the list as well. She won't eat eggy sandwiches either. And I don't want to put things in her box knowing that she won't eat them. So what can I give her? There must be something I've missed ... any suggestions would be very gratefully received. Am quite happy to cook stuff myself.

She used to eat anything I put in front of her once upon a time ...

at cold spag bol in lunchbox ... (but makes mental note to suggest it to 7 year old!).

Lentil & cheese wedge (think the recipe is on MN recipes site?)

Slurpers - pureed fruit pouches from Tesco (some flavours are 100% fruit but others have sugar/additives - I know they could just eat the fruit but my DD sees them as a treat).

Cream cheese & marmite sandwiches.

Individually-wrapped brioches - the ones I get have some additives in but DD needs very energizing food at lunchtime as she eats bugger all, and I can't be arsed to make my own

Home-made flapjacks (I give DD Organix cereal bars when I've run out of time to make my own).

Sainsburys do an additive-free fromage frais in a pouch. In the kid range, whatever they call it...

Cold rice salad (with sweetcorn, peas, maybe some chopped ham, prawns... anything really)- though maybe only safe if you have an insulated lunchbox where you can keep the rice cold?

Has she tried String Cheese? I know you said she won't eat cheese normally, but these have play value as well as food value The white cheddar Cheestrings brand are the only ones without crap in.

Roast veg chunks (cold roast potatoes are delicious, especially with garlic mayo!) Or 'chips' of veg - b'nut squash, parsnip, sweet potato etc.

Blimey, I've surprised myself here - DD seems to only ever have ham sarnies

Arrrrr WigWam, that;s where you're going wrong. don't suggest it to her. Just put it in there. Inc a little of something you know she will eat but other than that put new stuff in there and see how it goes. If she leaves it then cool, try again next month.

ooh, yes - TC is right! Don't consult or let her see that you are at all anxious to please or for her to eat something! Just give her the same old, same old of stuff she will eat and bits of other, and DON'T comment if / when she doesn't eat it!

It's a lunchbox, not an entry into Masterchef! Or, more to the point, an arena of emotional struggle!

WWB - Remember that lunchbox threads on MN are not RL. Honestly, most kids (judging by DS and all his friends) have perfectly ordinary and routine and 'unimaginative' lunchboxes. But of course, the people who always supply cheese or ham or tuna sndwiches are not the ones who respond to lunchbox thread titles!

No criticism of anyone who marinades veg and makes felafel kebabs every morning - that's great - but it isn't the benchmark, iyswim.

Whats the problem?

white bread sandwich with gammon or billy bear depending on how busy you are
cheesestring
sausage roll
salad in sandwich if you are lucky enough to have a child who will countenance a mildly soggy sandwich at lunchtime ohterwise small pot chopped cucumber and carrot
piece of fruit

nice healthy home cooked meal at suppertime

repeat 124,883 times

done

lol blu- i was reading this with interet as my 2 ds will only eat limited foods for packed lunch.

ds2 (6) will only eat peanut butter sandwiches and although they aren;t supposed to take peanut products to school, i actually rang the school and aksed how many children ahd nut allergies and is there any chance we could juts make sure ds was nowhere near them, i was shocked when they said they ahd no children at the school with a registeere nut allergy!!!! so maybe worth checking that out beofre dismissing it all together. by the wya this was a phone call i made the dya after receiving a note home to say children shouldn';t bring nut based products in in case of allergies.

the boys eat a good ehalthy and varied diet at home with a few treats as well and luckily enough my children do see a fruti salad as a treat so i cna mix that up with the more 'deadly' mn sin of chocolate and sweets. so i don;t see that a bit of dukll unimaginative food in ther lunch box that you know they will eat will do them any ahrm at all.

And remember the same old thing over and over is what they want, same as us. Do you hugely vary your lunch ideas for yourself every day? I know I don't. I have the same 3 sandwich fillings, possibly the odd jacket potato or salad while I'm at work. Always the same 5 things. It's what i like. Children are the same. My DD is a huge creature of habit. I vary hers but only beacuse she happens to enjoy picnic type snacky foods and I'm able to give her a varied healthy lunch biox. Hot meals however she likes about 3 things. That's where I struggle.

The worst thing you can do is worry about it.

She eats fruit and she eats healthily at home.
You're much luckier int hat respect then most.

Oh, I know it's not a hugely big deal really and I'm not turning it into an emotional struggle; I just want her to have a bit of variety from day to day and not to have to rely so much on feeding her pork all the time! I have been very relaxed about it with her, there are no food battles waiting just around the corner (I don't think, anyway!).

I work at the school over lunchtimes, so I know that there are children there with allergies. I also know that there are a lot of children who are fussier than dd; there is one child whose lunchbox every day consists of two packets of Monster Munch and two Fruit Shoots. At least she's getting some good stuff.

Maybe I'm thinking too much! I just want her to enjoy her lunch, that's all.

Oh God, the poor monster munch / fruit shoot mother. We've got it easy in comparison/

And yeah, I know what you mea, it's sooo nice to see a child tuck into really healthy food that is varied etc. But as monster munch kid has shown us, we have it easy really.

Hope some of the example here work for you both.
TC x

Hello, as a change from sandwiches, I sometimes give my dc's buttered raisin scones + buttered hot cross buns, they seem to go down well, especially if there's jam in the middle!