What's in your young child's lunch box?

[CoalCraft]

Just looking for inspiration really
DC are soon to move to a nursery that doesn't provide lunch, so we'll have to send them off with something. Back in my day a lunch box contained a ham sandwich, a chocolate bar, a packet of crisps and a cheese string, but I imagine that's frowned on a bit nowadays!

They'll be aged 2 and nearly 4 when they start and are not picky eaters. Looking for suggestions that are quick to prep if possible!

DS who is 3 took cheese and biscuits, raisins, fruit bar and blueberries today.
Yesterday was pasta pesto, strawberries, yogurt.

He won’t eat sandwiches and nursery don’t allow any kind of crisps or biscuits so it can be hard to think of things he will eat as he’s used to a hot lunch at home!

DS3 had a ham sandwich, little fromage frais, cucumber sticks, raspberries and a little cake yesterday. I don’t have time to do anything wildly creative but aim for the ‘main’ which is normally a sandwich, veg, fruit, protein and then a little treat.

This is my where I'm drawing a blank really. At home and the current nursery they have a hot lunch every day, so I'm not used to having to think of cold lunches and the only things that come to mind would probably be frowned upon as a daily meal!

Today my 5 year old had

Ham and cheese wrap
Grapes
An Apple juice
Yoghurt covered rice cakes
Cubed cheese
Bread sticks

Mine takes the same combo everyday to nursery. They aren’t allowed to take anything pre packaged or processed.

We have a Mepal lunch box which has three sections.

Main section: Sandwich
Small sections :Mixture of fruit cut up in one, mixture of raw veg in other.

I don’t bother decanting anything like Greek yogurt to take as he makes a mess still so he just gets that at home for breakfast or after dinner.

We have one of those five section bento box type ones. Typical lunch box for my three year old is a sandwich, veg (carrot/cucumber/tomatoes normally), fruit (strawberries, grapes and pineapple chunks are favourites), some sort or protein - cheese chunks, falafel, baby bel etc. and then normally a fruit roll up/oaty bar/breadsticks.

Would the nursery staff assist with opening, and potentially pouring from, a flask? I can see that would be a big ask independently for the two year old. But then you could get a wide necked thermos and do pasta, soup, bolognaise, chili, ratatouille, goulash or any other spoonable lunch they would have at home. I usually save some for this purpose when I batch cook, quick to heat up in the morning.

In warmer weather sandwiches can be nice, or pasta salad, potato salad etc. Or on really hot days mine like really nice bread with a pot of oil and vinegar, or crackers with cheese/salami, and a bunch of different crudités and fruit. Which is a bit more fussy to prep if you’re aiming for variety but those days I make some for my lunch too.

I bought my DSD a little thermos flask and give her soup or hot pasta for her lunch. She will eat sandwiches but prefers soup or pasta.

I also give her grapes, an apple, a cheesestring/babybel and some popcorn.

DD took the following to nursery today:

Squeezy yoghurt
Cheese string (we let her have them occasionally)
Tuna pasta
Cucumber, red pepper, carrot
Strawberries
Grapes

Thanks all! I like the idea of doing hot food in a Thermos. I'll admit meal prep is not our strong suit but perhaps we should start.

Would something like a small bowl of pasta, a pot of cheese cubes and veg sticks plus an oaty bar sound about right? The nursery mandate that am and pm snacks HAVE to be fruit so reluctant to give yet more fruit for lunch too, and they tend to have yoghurt for pudding after their evening meal.

My daughter (age 4), likes a cold picky plate style lunch, so the following items feature a lot on rotation:

Wraps
Bread sticks
Buttered crackers / oat cakes
Hummus or soft cheese (to dip wrap / bread sticks / carrot sticks)
Grated / cubed / sliced cheese or babybell
Torn/rolled ham slices
Satay Sticks
Cucumber rounds, carrot sticks
Fruit – usually: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cut up nectarine or tangerine
Yoghurt coated dried fruit
Yoghurt / mini Custard / mini Rice pudding / small amount of left over overnight oats

I use an omie box for my daughters lunch Here
It has a removable thermos so I either do pasta/ soup/chill or the section is the right size for a sandwich
you then have two sections left for other bits like fruit, crudities, cake etc

I often put in last nights leftovers, today she has some of last nights chilli with some tortilla chips to dip in it. Some strawberries and grapes and a small cupcake.

So does that mean they’re not allowed like ham or cheese spread or anything like that in the sandwiches? Sorry I’m just curious. My DD has dinners so I don’t know about all the rules.

@Tellerium - I think it’s generally just nothing overly processed like sausage They don’t go digging in sandwiches. And packaged Ie they can take yogurt decanted in pot with fruit, but couldn’t take say a frube or yogurt in pouch ( even though theoretically someone could squeeze it out tube at home). So snacks like pre made cakes/ biscuit bars/ etc all not allowed.
It’s ok, I quite like it as then all children are taking similar of just main carb item like sandwich or pasta, and fruit and veg. They can eat whatever at home.

Makes sense - I was just being nosy really! My daughter does take a packed lunch to a holiday club but with it not being school they don’t really police what they take.

I make dd a cheesy pasta salad usually, there's usually a mix of crisps, fruit, biscuit etc as well. It's quite filling and relatively cheap.

"Provides meals" was literally the sole prerequisite for the childcare we used for dc. Even now I take the hit on the cost of school dinners as the thought of preparing their lunch every morning/evening on top of breakfast and dinner and making sure it's all "right" is literally my least favourite part of parenting

I'd make up a big batch of pesto pasta and a big batch of couc cous with veg and cooked bacon lardons. Then just scoop a tub of each up for them each day, alternating. Buy the bags of carrot battons and hard boil some eggs. Add each to their lunch box with some sort of flapjack bar or those fruit winder things.

Kids generally like routine and probably won't tire of the same two or three things on rotation like we would

My son is slightly fussy so we are kind of a samey lunch every day unless he gets it from his lunch app (we're in Ireland & there is lunch delivery service) & also not allowed anything with nuts or may contain nuts,no crisps,no chocolate, no biscuits,buns or cakes, only on the odd occasion. So he takes roll/sandwich with chicken or ham,apple slices or banana,sometimes strawberries, a few mini tuc crackers,raisins, popcorn or veggie sticks, he will have a smoothie or juice sometimes but school prefer just water in their bottles & a frube now & agai n

Sadly we aren’t allowed pesto due to nuts 🙁 otherwise pesto pasta salad would be in ours.