Lunch bag delivery?

[Poppy2394]

I had to go in to junior school yesterday and I was so shocked at how disgusting the school lunch (burger, chips and sweetcorn) looked.
We pay £2.50 a meal.
I don’t have time to make packed lunches - is there an alternative that I haven’t thought of?
Like ready made lunch bags so I can send him in with packed lunch but I don’t have to make it myself??

It literally takes 2 minutes to make up a lunch box, how can you not have time?

Of course you have time. I am single parent, working full time and am chronically disorganised on top of that. Even I manage to make Dd a healthy packed lunch.

It takes minutes. Do it the night before, stick in fridge, take out when you have breakfast and out by the front door. Done.

Unless you want to send your kid off with a Tesco meal deal which I can’t see is any better than burgers and corn.

For convenience....supermarket Meal Deal (sandwich, drink, crisps) plus a Dairylea Dunker and a Kit Kat 🤣
Or just spend 5 minutes making a packed lunch.

How old is your child? Supermarkets sell individual cheeses,dips,breadstick,pots of fruit,yogurt the list goes on.Make a sandwich the night before with extras put it in the fridge,job done.Refill water bottle.

Yes, there is an alternative you haven't thought of.
Make your child's packed lunch yourself.

It's really not that difficult to make a packed lunch.

I don’t have time to make packed lunches - is there an alternative that I haven’t thought of?

If you've got time to start a post about it, you've got time to make a packed lunch. And if you think the food that's being given to your DC is that bad, then I'm sure you can make the time, it really doesn't take long.

Hi OP, realise not what you're asking, sorry :)

But I am also time-poor and this is the healthy (ish) lunch box routine that works for us:

Plain yoghurt in re-fillable squeezy pouch (amazon)
Mini babybel or similar cheese
Apple or banana or grapes
Packet of oatcakes
Small portion of hummus or guacamole for dipping
Either carrot sticks or celery sticks or mini tomatoes
Optional raisins if it all looks a bit sparse

Other options we don't use but that I see other kids eating:
mini quiches, mini sausage rolls, chicken skewers, leftover pasta, etc.

Apart from chopping a carrot/celery once or twice a week, and washing the fruit, there is no prep.

I decant some yoghurt and a dip, and grab everything else and shove in the bag.

It can be done the night before but honestly takes under 3 mins so I just do in the morning. MUCH better than the options provided by school.

You could have made packed lunch in the time
it took to post this and check the replies. It’s minutes

When DS had packed lunches it took me about 90 seconds to make.
If you are that bothered you will find the time

How in earth can you not have time to make a packed lunch?

It takes 5 minutes to make a packed lunch.

Burger, chips & sweet corn is never going to be a pretty meal.

Even I, the laziest person in the world, has time to make a sandwich! If dc have two parents they can share the difficult part (the sandwich making) between them. Once a week wash cherry tomatoes and grapes and store in the fridge. Add ready made stuff to your shopping list eg yoghurts, sausage rolls, cereal bars, crisps. Have fruit in the bowl. Then in the morning the junior age dc can assemble their own lunch box. A quick check by a parent to make sure it's not wall to wall haribo and it's done. Otherwise if that's too onerous then burgers it is.

Another thought, all the schools I've worked in have a lunchbox option of sandwich/roll, bag of fruit/veg and a cookie.

@WoolyMammoth55 no sandwich or roll?

I used to make the lunchboxes up the night before, @Poppy2394 - everything that didn't need to be chilled went in the lunchbox, and the sandwiches were made, wrapped, and put in the fridge - then all I had to do in the morning was get them out of the fridge.

You could do a few days' worth of sandwiches at a go, as long as the filling will keep in the fridge and won't make the bread soggy - sliced ham or chicken, marmite, peanut butter (if you are not a nut free school), cheese, cooked sausage etc.

It isn't a big or time consuming job, but I do realise that, if your life is very busy, finding those few extra minutes can seem impossible - but if you set aside 15 minutes one day to make up three lots of sandwiches, the rest of making up a lunch box is very quick and easy.

My dd has always had hot food in a thermos funtainer. She's 16 now. She has a mixture of stuff I've batch cooked, leftovers or stir fries that I make in the morning (three minutes tops).

Bento boxes are a good idea, prepare the contents at weekends and freeze, or buy ready to serve. My two made their own from 12 or so

I make 2-3 days’ worth of sandwiches at a time so in effect only make 2 packed lunches a week. If the bread is fresh and the filling not soggy then it’s fine.
as others have said I just buy the fruit, crisps etc as part of the regular shopping. I do occasionally buy a meal deal they are not all poor quality. I get dd to decide what she wants which also saves me the hassle of deciding.

dd doesn’t like the queues to buy a school lunch.

So these packed lunched that only take a few minutes of every day, how does the extra food arrive in the fridge? Who planned what to buy and maybe had to negotiate with a fussy eater? Maybe someone needed to do a top up shop because the fridge isn't big enough for the extra food? Someone has remembered to get the lunchbox out of the school bag and washed it up and dried it.
That would definitely be more than a few minutes of my time and my time is worth more than the £2 a school dinner costs.
If the child eats school dinners without complaint OP, I'd put the energy into making sure you are happy with the food at home.

My two have packed lunches and I make them up the night before. DS15 likes peri peri chicken and rice so I make a batch of chicken which takes 10 minutes to cook and lasts 3 days in the fridge. DS12 likes things like a tuna wrap. I have one drawer of the fridge so I can just put in the extras - drink, fruit, yoghurt etc. then put their lunch bags in the fridge to grab in the morning. Very minimal time spent on them.

Packed lunches take 5 minutes to make, unless you work 23 hour days, you have time.

Also - FYI - sandwiches freeze really well - bag them up, write on the bag then freeze. Take out as needed.
I make a batch, freeze them and they last for ages.

Or get your kid to make their own lunch, depending on their age.

It's quicker to make a packed lunch than drop into a shop to buy one (which you will have to do some of the time as pre made won't last a week).

You can freeze sandwiches too if you pick the right filling and make them all on a Sunday night. I did this for my Dad once when he needed to have food made for him

To answer the original question, a village cafe type place near me was doing packed lunch bags for children, it was near the school and people could order by x time the night before and collect as they went past on the way in. Cost about £4 from what I remember - included good sandwiches with fruit and a drink, not sure what else.

If there is a similar place near you why not ask? They’d probably do it even if not on the menu as they are likely making a lot of sandwiches all day anyway.

in my case the food “arrived” at the same time as the rest of my shopping.
I knew what my fussy eater liked and made the lunch accordingly.
Taking the lunchbox out was done as soon as we walked in and it was sprayed with Milton and wiped in seconds.