High School packed lunches

[WonderWoman30]

My son starts High school next year he has packed lunches at his current school, and I'm wondering what to put in his lunch box when he starts High school, and what is an appropriate lunch box for 12 year olds, I know it's not a trivial thing but it's playing on my mind, so any ideas would be a great help. TIA.

He need to be making his own packed lunch. A first step towards independence

My DD puts in hovis biscuits, cherry tomatoes sliced pepper, handful of salted popcorn and a lump of cheese
They only get 20 minutes lunch break so not a huge amount of time to eat

Understandable to think about it. ☺️ These things are what they judge each other on at the beginning.

I guess ask your son what other people have now.
I guess the cooler options would be more packaged and less homemade. A roll seems cooler than a sandwich for some reason.

So, depending on how much he eats, I’d go for a roll with whatever he likes in it, nothing stinky like tuna though, a packet of crisps (branded for his first week), a wrapped chocolate biscuit. I’d like to add some fruit, but I don’t know what. Maybe for the first week a mini pot ready chopped from the supermarket. Not a banana.
Then he can report back and you can work it out from there.

Sandwiches and fruit seems to be the norm where I am. Some kids bring food to heat in the microwave but there’s a long queue for that.

Yeah, but there still needs to be some thought into what goes into it.

My 12 yr old DS has a sandwich or roll, some cucumber/pepper, a piece of fruit and pack of crisps.

Some thought into what goes into it is fine. 10 months thought is somewhat excessive.

My kids just take a plain box (sistema, but don't think this is important) with a sandwich, crisps, chunk of red pepper for DS2, cheese for DS1, a biscuit and some fruit.
All gets eaten. If I send in jammy dodgers, apparently everyone tries to steel them!

I found my DC like a hot packed lunch. Get a wide mouthed stainless steel flask (not expensive in Wilkos or on Amazon) Warm it with hot water in the morning then add food made piping hot in the microwave. It's actually as quick as sandwiches etc. Give them left overs from previous night if it's the right sort of food (chilli, pasta with sauce, curry with rice) Or make instant noodles with added peas, sweetcorn and chopped chicken. Or half a rice sachet with meatballs and tomato sauce etc. Or hot soup with a cheese roll on the side, fruit and a muffin or crisps

If not, they loved bagels with ham/cheese/cream cheese with a salad of carrot sticks, cucumber chunks, baby tomatoes, a small bag of crisps, tortilla chips or pretzels, a piece of fruit and a yoghurt of slice of home made cake.

DS takes the same sandwich he has always had since primary. Apple and banana, club/penguin or similar. Maybe a bag of crisps. Cereal bar either bought or homemade if we have them. Refillable bottle of water.

DD often makes pesto pasta or wraps with (aldi) meatballs if she doesn't want a sandwich. Bagels are popular too. She also likes graze snacks or almonds and a can of costa caramel latte if we have some in! In winter she will sometimes take hot blackcurrant in a chilli bottle. She tried taking a hard boiled egg but realised the smell is not great.

We have sistema lunch bags and sandwich boxes. DH will make a basic sandwich for them (if dd hasn't made anything the night before) and leave it on the side and the kids organise the rest.

Is “what’s cooler”, eg. what specific type of bread in roll or slice form, actually a thing? Gosh poor kids get judged on everything these days. Bad enough in my day but I feel sorry for them
if it’s gone as far as this now

DD doesn't like sandwiches or fillings, so she has some kind of carb pitta/french bread/bagel/bread sticks/etc, with some chopped up veg carrot/celery or cucumber. A babybel or piece of parmesan, and she has recently added chicken satay skewers to the menu! Box of juice, something fruity and something sweet. Usually gets eaten unless she's very busy.
Popular with others seems to be pasta salad but bog standard sandwiches/fruit/crisps are the norm.

Sandwich-wise, mine would rather have (in preference order): a wrap, a bagel thin, a pitta, a roll, regular bread sandwich.

Pasta salad etc.

Then I buy snacks & juice boxes as usual and there’s fruit available and they take what they want.

Money on the canteen system to supplement with some days.

It’s not that much different to primary school, honestly. Your DC still likes what they like, so send that.

Thank you everyone, its been a while since I've been High school and I dont know whats in or whats not. I dont want him picked on cos of something I put in his lunch box you know. Hes very fussy so he doesn't have school lunches and most of his friends dont have packed lunch. But I'm sure after the first few days he'll let me know. Gosh its not for another year yet I was just thinking about it

DS1 has just started Y7. He takes what he's always taken, variations on sandwiches, fruit, crisps/popcorn and some sort of pudding. He told me that he likes the giant cookies at school so some days he eats the packed lunch but buys the cookie for dessert.

Some days he opts for buying a school meal, but tends to do that on days where his lesson before lunch is right by the canteen so he's goy a decent selection to choose from. His school site is enormous and if he's down the other end, he says there's nothing left (that he'll eat) by the time he gets there.

The only thing we changed was he stopped taking his Fortnite lunchbag and started just using a plain Sistema lunchbox instead.

Mine use a plain food storage tub for their lunches. Or an old ice cream/brownie tub if they feel so inclined/can't be bothered to find their proper sandwich box. Cool bags etc are often used by students in year 7 but by the time they end KS3, they're less common.

Dd1 is in year 10 and ds1 in year 8. We've done this since they both started. In summer months, they'll take frozen yoghurt tubes in their boxes to help keep food cooler.

"DS, I'm going to the supermarket. What would you like me to get to put in your packed lunch?" (a few days before he starts)

That's as much thinking as it needs.

Depends how secure they are in themselves and their friendships.

I definitely noticed stuff like that as a pre teen and teen - and was made fun of for the bad options I had, so I don’t think it’s a new thing. Maybe you were luckier.

It’s totally separate from them making it themselves, was my point.

As a teacher in a Secondary school, I know that most children do not use a lunch box or cool bag. They seem to prefer stuffing a sandwich and snacks into a plastic bag in their school bag. Remember they need to carry everything with them so a large lunch box might not fit. Lockers might be too far from their last class before lunch or from the dining room to collect lunch.

Children who enjoy playing ball games outside tend to eat “ on the hoof” even if it is not really allowed, I’ve seen many kinds stuffing a sandwich into their mouth as they come into my classroom because they did not bother eating at lunch time.

Also older kids often just bring in huge bags of crisps or sweets with energy drinks as it’s not cool to have a healthy lunch. My school day was 8.30 to 2.45 so lots of kids did not bother with lunch, eating when they got home.

DD started high school in September & takes the same as she did in Year 6. A drink, a sandwich, fruit & either Crisps or biscuits.

The smaller sistema bento boxes. DS won't have noticed or cared what his peers eat out of, but DD wanted this because it was what her friends have.

Don't over think it. A sandwich and some snacks