Packed lunch guilt: is it just me?

[SouthernRev]

I try to do packed lunches but it’s a battle. Time, ideas, waste, refusal to eat what I make… and school dinners feel just as bad. I’m not looking for Insta-worthy boxes, just something decent they’ll eat. Has anyone actually found a solution that works long-term?

What do they actually like to eat? I’ve always done the power of five

• sandwich or crackers and cheese or a slice of pizza if we have some leftover
• cut up veg like cucumber and carrots
• fruit - either an apple or grapes, sometimes something a bit more exciting
• a small sweet treat eg soreen, home made muffin, shortbread, those healthier Nairns oatcake biscuits
• Something like crisps, not always crisps - popcorn, ritz crackers, pretzels etc

basically two things that can be grabbed from the cupboard (sweet treat and savoury crisps), chop the fruit and veg and into pots and make the sandwich. Doesn’t take long.

they generally eat it all and if they haven’t eaten their veg I put it on their plate at dinner time!

DS is only 3 in preschool and he does a mixture of school dinners and packed lunches. I have a copy of the school menu and if I think he’ll eat what’s on the menu that day, he gets a hot dinner. We can tell them on the morning. I find he eats more variety and much better if he’s having the same as his friends. If it’s something I know he doesn’t like and won’t eat, then he’ll get a packed lunch. I struggle as he doesn’t like sandwiches unless they’re jam! His typical packed lunch is usually:

• Innocent Kids smoothie carton
• Fruit (usually a mixture of strawberries, kiwi, mango, raspberries or a nectarine)
• Little pot of Fage Greek yogurt or a Babybel
• a slice of wholemeal bread and butter or half a toasted plain flatbread cut into slices
• A small tin of spaghetti hoops or beans in his hot flask.
• An Organix flapjack or another biscuit treat

I make it all the night before except the hoops or beans, they get heated in minutes on the morning. His flask keeps them warm pretty well.