Can you tell me what you pack your (horribly fussy) child for their packed lunch please.

[justanotherneighinparadise]

DC about to go into year 3. Im keeping school dinners for one day, so need packed lunch ideas for four days.

He is really, really fussy. If at home he won’t have butter on his bread so sandwiches are tricky. He generally will only tolerate things like a bacon sandwich or cocktail sausages or sausage roll 😬. He’ll eat junk happily but the school will only let them eat healthy options. He won’t eat a wrap.

He’ll eat things like mini babybel, yogurt, berries, crisps, obviously cake chocolate etc. I just don’t know what to substitute for the sandwich/roll/wrap element you’d normally put in a packed lunch!

If you use a lunchbox with lots of compartments it’s less daunting as it’s just a few items in each. It also looks healthier if the stuff is not in packets...

DD (7) also super fussy. She has crackers/ritz biscuits + ham + cheese (in separate pots. She doesn’t eat the cheese but I live in hope!); small pot of grapes, small pot of cucumber/cherry tomatoes, sometimes an apple/satsuma, a yoghurt, a packet of crisps and a barney bear/small packet of mini cookies/2 finger Kit Kat/some other smallish sweet thing. It’s pretty dire but I stick to it or I just end up chucking most of her lunch in the bin at the end of every day. She is really good with fruit & veg, which is a saving grace. I just try and get plenty of protein into dinner 🤷‍♀️ She’s skinny as anything but strong and healthy & her teeth are fine so it’s apparently not done her too much harm!

Carb: rice cakes/ crackers/ bread sticks/ bread roll/ malt loaf
Protein: cheese/ ham/ chicken/ mini sausage

Plus fruit (fresh or dried), tomato/ cucumber / pepper/ olives if he eats those and a yoghurt. My school don’t allow crisps/ biscuits.

My son was fussy, he won't eat sandwiches of any description. He does like pancakes, wraps etc but wouldn't eat them at school 🙄 so I struggled like you to fill the 'bread' part of the lunch.
I used to send him with a tub of grapes, an apple or banana, cooked cocktail sausages as he liked them cold and a tube of Weetabix minus or other cereal. He liked to pick at this and found it quick to eat. In my head none of these items seem to go together but I knew he was not going hungry.

Some great suggestions, thank you. I’ve just bought him a bento style lunch box with compartments so that should work nicely. I need to go and see if the school has written directives re. packed lunches.

My 3 year old is extremely fussy. When I make him a packed lunch he will have any of the following:
Houmous
Bread sticks
Crackers or oatcakes with butter
Peanut butter or plain butter sandwich (he won't eat any other sandwich, occasionally jam)
Mild grated cheese or babybel
Black olives
Pepper sticks
Fruit (luckily he will eat most fruit)
Bear fruit snacks
Plain hot cross bun
Organic goodies bars (my 7 year old has those still too)
Plain croissants and soft pretzels (Lidl sell the pretzels and they also sell mini croissants)
Tortilla chips

He likes plain fried tofu as part of a main meal so I've started to give him it as leftovers cold the next day in preparation for nursery packed lunches. It's hit or miss but he will have it sometimes.

My two are very fussy and won't eat sandwiches or wraps. I sometimes put in a mini piandina (flat bread) so they can either eat it alone or make their own wrap. As a carb option, they will also eat oatcakes or rice cakes. They quite like tofu weiners from waitrose cut into pieces. Also tuna mixed with mayonaise in a little tub which they can just eat or put in a piadina with cucumber or sweet corn. I have a lot of tuppaware! Essentially my two are super fussy about texture and anything soggy will not get eaten so sandwiches are an absolute no! I also buy those mini freezer blocks to keep everything chilled. I completely get why nuts aren't allowed in schools, but sometimes I wish I could add nuts as they do provide a good energy hit!

piadina not piandina!

Buttered cream crackers and a peeled satsuma.

Some schools might not be doing hot lunches next term as will be easier to have packed lunch if they need to stay in the classrooms and not mix with other years.

I would so love a child that eats pretty much anything! DD11 is a nightmare for packed lunches. She’s gluten free too & has just announced she’s cutting down on meat. She eats no fruit or veg 99% of the time. Goes through phases of not liking stuff she was perfectly fine with for ages. I used to much prefer ordering school dinners but they are struggling to get GF bread products now & only offer picnic foods.

This is a non exhaustive list

1- Fruit salad in a Tupperware container
2- Sandwiches wrapped up in foil
3- Slices of cake
4- Quiche
5- Pie
6- Sausage rolls
7- Salmon and lettuce wraps
8- Panini
9- Burgers
10- Jacket potatoes
11- Curry
12- Noodles
13- Lasagna

Be aware that most schools will say nothing with nuts in (so no peanut butter or Nutella) due to allergies.
I sympathise as my youngest is super fussy, and will have to have packed lunches from September
He's expecting spag bol/chili etc in a flask every day...

If they are hungry they will eat it!

My son loved home cooked sausages wrapped in a wrap. Plus cherry tomatoes. And some fruit, a pack of crisps. Job done

Leslevandes - no, some of them really won't!

OP - try crackers, rice cake, cold pizza (nutritionally not far off a cheese sandwich) etc. My best advice (my youngest child eats no fruit or veg at all) is not to use up all the options at once. Have stuff like babybel every third day or he will end up getting bored. DH always puts in everything and it makes things harder in the future

Um, no @LesLavandes some won't
The one bonus of lockdown has been being able to take my son (45th centile for height) from the 1st centile for weight to the 9th, because I've been providing three meals a day instead of him (not) eating at school. I cannot get across to you how worrying and soul destroying it is to have a child that will not/can not eat.

Chicken, pate or cheese& ketchup sandwich on brown.
Or little pork pie or sausage roll or cold chipolatas.

Tub of cherry tomatoes & cubed cucumber
Crisps or cheddars
Cereal bar without nuts
Satsuma or grapes
Bottle of water

I would say cocktail sausage/sausage roll would be ok + in a fruit/veg + yoghurt or babybel + a piece of home made cake/biscuit bar...that would look like a pretty standard lunchbox in the schools I've had experience of.

If they are hungry they will eat it!
...or they really won't.

Bento style lunchbox is a winner, cheese and crackers sounds good. Cinnamon and raisin bagels are popular here. Also pasta salad with whatever salad veg he eats (grated carrot and sweetcorn here). Or just plain bread in the "sandwich" section and protein (cubes of cheese cut off a block, smoked cheese, hard-boiled egg, tinned beans in water) in another section.

If he dislikes mayo then sweet chilli sauce or mild mustard might work instead.

You could look up recipes for savoury muffins but don't go mad. You need something that fits into your family life.

Lunches drive me mad. I don't think I've ever given the same packed lunch to everyone in the family - one hates mayo, one butter, one salad etc etc.