packed lunches

[cariboo]

Now that both dc are going to an international school where packed lunches are allowed (and all I can afford), does anyone have any ideas? Ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, etc aren't going to work for more than a few weeks. My dc have always been fussy and if they don't like what's served, they simply won't eat. Both are thin and not terribly interested in food - this is partly (mostly?) because xh and I have recently split and I know they're still very upset. However, my budget is so limited that anything 'fancy' is out of the question.

Help!

ham and tomato, ham and cucumber, ham and pickle, cheese, cheese and pickle, cheese and tomato, cheese and cucumber, soft cheese and cucumber. soft cheese and ham, softcheese and salami, hummus, (with cucumber/tomato) tuna and cucumber, tuna and sweetcorn, soft cheese and smartprice/tesco value smoked salmon of cuts spread thinly do several sandwiches over a few days. cheese and ham, (+tomato/cucmber) egg sandwiches, boiled egg and salad.

that is about 4 weeks worth of variations on the basics.

Have you any links for the bento box lunchbox ideas? Have googled but cant really see anything about food ideas. Many thanks.

Ds likes cream cracker biscuits, cold pizza (left over from dinner), bread & carrot sticks with dip (philly or homous), or pasta salad (cook extra pasta for dinner and then add tomato or mayo sauce to it) as an alternative to a sandwich.

I also do different sorts of rolls rather than just sandwiches. Or wraps, pittas etc.

Fruit wise he always gets a box of dried fruit such as raisins or mango. I decante this from a bigger packet as it's cheaper.
Fresh fruit he has melon or grapes. Big more expensive than an apple but I know he will eat it whereas an apple comes back bruised and uneaten.

Get a small drinks bottle (preferable with a screw top rather than a leaky pop up lid) and decante juice into that from a bigger carton which can work out cheaper and again real fruit juice adds towards their 5 a day.

Shake things up with sausages, falafel, bahjis or anything else that you find on offer. I keep stacks these in the freezer and then pop a few in teh oven when cooking dinner and let them cool for the next day's lunch box.

Flap jacks, mini pancakes, home made cake etc is also something I include from time to time.

have a look at
weelicious.com/
fedupwithlunch.com/
lunchinabox.net/
summertomato.com/back-to-school-healthy-packed-lunches/

for some ideas

Oh now come on girls! Surely number one website for packed lunches should be mine surely! Packed Lunch Ideas

Great ideas Rhubarb !

I love these colourful pictures of healthy packed lunches, brimming with fresh ripe fruit and vegetables. And then I remember that my two children eat no vegetables except baked beans (the eldest will eat salad, cooked carrots and a few other things under duress), the youngest will only eat bananas, strawberries and raspberries, and the eldest is a vegetarian who, if given sandwiches with crusts, would happily just go hungry until 3pm rather than bothering to nibble round them. :(

rocketty, my ds is the same. On my site I have a section for fussy eaters which I try out on him. I now cut his crusts off for him cause it ain't worth the arguments - try sandwich shapes that are completely crustless and they love. Also get frozen cubes of spinach and add them to pasta dishes, pies etc. They'll never notice.
Ketchup is also a good source of vitamins so don't discount that and eggs are brilliant.
Just keep eating healthily yourself, don't make it into a big issue with them and eventually curiosity will get the better of them. Right through my teens and into my early twenties I never ate salad or green veg and now I love them and endorse healthy eating with my family, so don't fret, they will grow out of these fads.

Hoorah - cheers matey!

Rocketty my ds is actually really fussy too and is also vegi. I adjust to suit him and what he will actually eat, hence the melon, mango and sweeter fruits I put in rather than an apple. Plus putting a juice drink rather than a squash type drink gives 1 portion of the 5-a-day before he has eaten anything.

You can put raspberries in a lunch box. I put a folded piece of kitchen towel to soak up any juice which helps stop them turning to mush. Then place them carefully into the container making sure no mushy ones go in which will turn the others quickly, and make sure they fit well so there's not too much bumping. Place the container next to the cool pack and they are fine at lunch time.
Same with strawberries. I get those individual packets of sugar and he sprinkles those over when he wants to eat them. If you do it before they go mushy, and if I don't send the sugar he doesn't eat them

Grapes, melon or fresh mango all things he will eat and are fine in a lunch box.

He'll eat a homous roll, cheese and tomoato bread or cold pizza, or cream crackers with butter, and a cheese salad roll/sandwich/pitta etc So I mix these around for variety.

He also like malt loaf, hot x buns, mini pancakes etc and pasta salad (only with a certain type of pasta sauce on though) so I use a combination of those as well or instead of a sandwich/roll.

He may get a packet of mini ritz crackers, nacho chips, bread sticks or carrot sticks etc and the dips he will eat (which are only homous and philly).

I don't put too much in as he will eat what he likes best and send the rest home. So if I put less in he tends to eat more iyswim. And he usually sends the stuff that doesn't keep home - yoghurt and fruit - if there's too much in there.

Just think about what he will eat and don't bother too much on putting stuff in he won't.

DS has the same sandwich filling most days, fridays he might have something different as a "treat". Lots of DC WILL eat basicly the same packed lunch day in day out, are you SURE yours won't? Its not a long slow meal, just eat and go in most schools.

Ds has a friend who won't eat bread so has pasta with ketchup sauce (every day) and another who will only eat chicken paste sandwiches .

I also get berated for not putting a packet of crips in ever every day. My poor deprived ds ;)

Having been on several school trips and seeing what other people send for their dc I feel so much better about what I do (and don't) send.

My guys have sandwiches, wraps, rolls or pitta bread. They have a salad tub (carrot, cucumber sticks or pepper sticks), a fruit tub (often grapes but strawberries, melon, pineapple or blueberries when they're on offer some of the time) a "sucky yogurt" and either a biscuit or cakey thing.

Mini omelettes, cooked in the oven in muffin tins (type you'd cook your yorkshires in).

Fallen in love with the wheelicious website. Looking forward to cooking up some treats this weekend to try with my boys before they go back to school next week