NOW CLOSED: Walkers Baked Stars would love you to share your top tips for tasty lunchbox fillers and snacks - you could win a £100 Amazon voucher

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

Launched earlier this year, Walkers Baked Stars were designed with lunchboxes in mind and ?are baked for 70% less fat than potato crisps on average, contain 94 calories a pack and are a source of fibre. Available in 3 great tasting flavours: Cheese & Onion, Salt & Vinegar and Mild Sweet Chilli.?

Now those friendly folk from Walkers are keen to know your top tips for making up great kids lunchboxes which make sure they get eaten! What makes a great packed lunch for your family? How do you keep it interesting and appealing?

We're thinking ahead to back to school and MN are putting together the annual emails which go out to provide tips and advice for parents whose children are moving up school or starting for the first time. Please think about the advice you think would be useful to those parents for lunchboxes and snacks during or after school. Tips posted on this thread may well be used in those emails (MN name will not be used).

We would also love to know what your general advice on snacks for children would be. For example, do you stock up on snacks? Do you let your children choose what they have? What's most popular? What's least popular?

Share your tips and advice here and you would win a £100 Amazon voucher. Everyone who adds a comment will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win!

Thanks
MNHQ

[acsec]

DSS is 8 and loves his packed lunches (so he tells me). He's quite happy to try new things but always tells me if he hasn't liked them.

In his lunch box he gets:
-piece of fruit for playtime, favourites are nectarines, plums, grapes and bananas
-ham and cheese/ egg mayo/ tuna mayo wholemeal roll
-little box of carrot sticks/ cucumber/ cherry tomatoes/ pepper sometimes with houmous to dip in
-probiotic yogurt
-carton of apple juice
-raisins or other dried fruit
-a treat such as a Nutrigrain, cereal bar, Viscount biscuit or if we've baked then whatever we've made
-sometimes some little savoury crispy things (Japanese snacks I discovered and he likes) or a bag of crisps but only ever twice a week at the most.

[MegBusset]

Crisps aren't allowed in DS1's lunchbox (or chocolate, or sweets). He gets a cheese sandwich/roll/bagel, some cucumber or carrot sticks, raisins or grapes and an apple.

[aristocat]

My two are 10 and 8 yo and have packed lunches at school. DD will have a school dinner once a week but only on the Roast Chicken day!

They have a piece of fruit, sandwich, water or juice, savoury snack or crisps and a few biscuits or small cake.

My priority is to give them food that I know they will eat. I love experimenting with new tastes and flavours but school lunch is not the time for this. We try new things at home and that is the best way.

I dont think my lunches are interesting but they appeal to my DCs.

Yes, we do stock up on snacks, however I will buy the ones that I done eat. Their favourites at the moment are quavers, wotsits and french fries. We do like Cheese/Onion Baked Stars but they are very difficult to find in the shops? Will they be more readily available?

[mumnosGOLDisbest]

My dd likes to play with her food and gets bored when eating so packed lunches have to be fun or she 'runs out of time' gets distracted chatting to friends

things that have worked well are: crackers with a tub of grated cheese and ham so she makes her own (kind of homemade/cheaper dairylea lunchable).
Mini fruit kebabs: a tub of mixed fruit and a couple of cocktail sticks, again she makes her own. --wouldnt trust ds with cocktail sticks in his lunchbox though)

[mumnosGOLDisbest]

My dd likes to play with her food and gets bored when eating so packed lunches have to be fun or she 'runs out of time' gets distracted chatting to friends

things that have worked well are: crackers with a tub of grated cheese and ham so she makes her own (kind of homemade/cheaper dairylea lunchable).
Mini fruit kebabs: a tub of mixed fruit and a couple of cocktail sticks, again she makes her own. wouldnt trust ds with cocktail sticks in his lunchbox though)

[mumnosGOLDisbest]

Oops sorry

[Chulita]

I have a stock of dried fruit: apples/figs/dates/apricots/cranberries and put some of those in every day. Over the weekend we sometimes make mini muffins together and then DD can have them in her lunch throughout the week. We also make up a jelly packet and put some in those small tubs that chutney comes in with Indian takeaways

We have a snack box which usually has small cheesy crackers/mini cheddars, dried fruit, breadsticks and mini malted milk packets. The fruit bowl is always full, satsumas, bananas and pears are always favourites. Mine are 3 and under so what's not liked changes by the day.

[down2earthwithabump]

DD (4yrs) has had a hot meal at nursery on nursery days but we have often gone out for day trips and often take packed lunches and DD will soon be at school and this is what I (do and will) include:
triangle sandwiches of ham and soft cheese, soft cheese or cheddar, if I am accompanying and can keep the lunch cool then chicken mayonaise made out of our fortnightly slow-cooked chicken. If a packed tea then jam sandwiches are added in as well.
crisps - pombears or hoola hoops (sorry walkers!) - before little one was 3 this was organic apple rice-cakes and or bread sticks
fresh veg sticks invariably carrot and/or cucumber accompanied with hummus if I can keep it cool
fresh fruit pieces invariably grape, or stoned cherries (if in season) and/or
whole fruit apple or banana and/or
dried fruit DD not keen on raisins but mango slices are possible but be careful on which brand for levels of sugar
cake - I find flap-jack works well and can be a healthier type of cake??
chocolate biscuit - club or penguin type as I am not against sugar when needed, though this won't be allowed at school
longlife smoothie usually ellas as even though baby food, DD doesn't drink anything other than water and this can be a good alternative/addition
individual cheese portion - babybel or just a chunk of cheddar
fromage frais only if I am there and have remembered to pack a spoon
bottle of water

If I am really organised then I maybe add in a Nigella Lawson Cheesy Feet www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cheesy-feet-116 or other novelty shape, and sometimes cut teddy-bear and/or star shaped sandwiches.

[NorbertDentressangle]

A friend of mine has 2 children who have the same thing every day and are happy with it (ham roll, yoghurt and apple). This has been going on for 3 years!!

OTOH my 2 have always got bored if they have the same thing too often so I find I have to vary the contents eg. for the 'main' part I vary the bread eg. sometimes rolls, sometimes mini pittas, sometimes crackers, sometimes straightforward sandwiches etc

Other items (other than the more straightforward fruit, biscuit, yoghurt etc) can include:

• diced fresh fruit in jelly (made in small individual lidded pots)
  
• a small pot of pasta with added toms, cheese, olives etc (great if you've cooked too much pasta the night before!)
  
• mini sweetcorn or pot of tinned sweetcorn
  

I've also given in and occasionally buy things like Cheesestrings or mini pepperami (only if they're on special offer though!) just to give some variety and for a quick and easy savoury addition.

[Bosgrove]

My children have school dinners, so only have a packed lunch on school trips, so it is a special treat. I try to put in a sandwich (ham or tuna usually), a small cheese, a yogurt or two, two pieces of fruit, a juicy water type drink and a snack of either crisps or a mini pack of biscuits.

I have found that if I put too much in they will leave the fruit and eat it on the way home from school.

[Vicky08]

My DD loves to help me bake so on a Sunday we often bake something (banana bread, fairy cakes, victoria sponge, carrot cake) which she then takes with her in her lunch box during the week, this way I can control the amount of sugar etc. she's consuming.

I also always make sure she has a piece of fruit, cut up apple, peach or pear are her favourites,ut up veggies as others have suggested but I've tried giving her cut up veggies but she never eats them, it's hard enough getting veggies into her when she's at home with me but when I'm not with her it's impossible.

She also takes a ham sandwich (the only type of sandwich she'll eat) and a yogurt most days.

Sometimes I also give her a little homemade jelly which I've put some fruit in.

To drink she always gets a little bottle of water which she's never challenged.

[SirBoobAlot]

DS's favourite packed lunch fillers are as follows:

-Cheese spread sandwich (because he pulls the bloody filling out with anything else) on seeded bread. Or peanut butter.

• Mini tub of cheese cubes
  
• A rainbow of fruit; putting in a piece of fruit of every colour of the rainbow. Its great fun.
  
• Sliced pepper, carrot and cucumber with a dip (cream cheese / salsa / humus).
  
• Dried fruit; strawberries, apricots, raisins, banana chips.
  
• Organix savoury snack bars.
  
• Home made granola bars.
  
• Natural yogurt with honey.
  
• Pasta salad with tuna and veggies.

[IwishIwasinLondon]

Ds would love a Greggs sausage roll, some pombears and a fruit shoot!!!

Instead he gets a ham, chicken or jam sandwich or roll (50 50), a yoghurt in a tube or pouch (we lost count of how many teaspoons he'd lost!) a biscuit or flapjack and 2 portions of fruit - usually some berries (mixture of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries) and a satsuma. He washes it all down with some water.

He's not the most adventurous eater and he doesn't like cheese, but this gets eaten every day so he must think it's ok!!!

[DollyTwat]

I have ds1 who isn't very fussy and ds2 who is very fussy
I recently bought some cool looking bento boxes for me, but the boys kind of took them off me!

So I do wraps with just ham for ds2 or something more adventurous for ds1 roll them up and cut them to fit in the bento box. Ds1will have rice, pasta, potato salad and coleslaw, spring onions and even raw veg. The trick is to get them to try to make something artistic they can show off!
I never thought I'd get either of them eating healthy stuff but if they can try to make a face out of tomatoes etc it seems to be fine

[SpringSunshine]

I like to try and balance calories / fat content with taste. I often use quavers as they are low calorie for a bagged snack. Baked crisps are OK too.

The type of bread is also important - thin slices for dd with no crusts and plenty of filling; ds prefers chunky rolls. Simple fillings - cheese (mild), ham, chicken etc

Current favourite snacks are Medley bars - I am reasonably happy with these as there is some protein in the hazelnut one and ds needs a regular protein intake. They also like Special K bars and brunch bars. I try to keep bars under 100 calories as they are an 'extra' at break time.

Berries and grapes are popular as easy to eat

We keep a stock of snacks in the cupboard and dcs help themselves for break snack. Usually try new based on what others at school have - that seems to be where they taste test all the new stuff! Lunchboxes I tend to do, but dd especially likes input (ds doesn't mind as long as it's got food in!)

[thisisyesterday]

much as I hate kids being given "novelty" food, I've found that bento box lunches go down really well with my kids.
they'll eat all kinds of stuff if it looks pretty

mine are vegetarian, and 2 are vegan as they have milk and egg intolerances so lunches can be a challenge, especially in places with nut bans!

my top tips are:
no yoghurts! they make too much mess.
don't use hundreds of tiny pots either, wedge everything into the smallest box you can and you shouldn't need to pack it into other containers. this saves on washing up later
filled wraps, or filled rice balls go down far better than sandwiches with my lot.

I don't really stock up on snacks that much, the children can eat when they are hungry but I don't always have specific "snack" foods

Can I take this opportunity to ask Walkers why it puts MILK in pretty much all its crisps?
I actually looked at the baked stars the other day, but my kids can't eat them because of this :(

[PavlovtheCat]

vary it. DD loves sandwiches, but gets bored, so we use rolls, bagels, wholemeal, white etc, same with fillings, mix it up.

If the weather is cold, we sometimesuse a thermos soup bowl/flask thingamy for leftover pasta, soup, shephards pie, or put cold pasta salads in tupperware.
Box of mixed raisins, fruit, again varied.

We mix it up with some treats, sometimes adding crisps, chcolate bar such as s penguin, and amongst the grapes I quite like adding two or three jelly babies and a note in the lunch box saying 'i love you'! or a heart for DS as he cant read yet.

Give them boxes/post that are easy to open when they are younger, these are good for them to put their rubbish in too as they have to bring it home with them, makes it easier to clean.

Don't bother with yoghurt as you end up with lots of teaspoons missing and half the yoghurt over the lunch box 9 times out of 10.

Give them a lunch box that the water bottle can fit in so they dont have more than necessary to carry. I found that out the heard way after watching poor DD aged 4 going into school with PE kit, book bag, lunch box and water bottle one time.

[BlastOff]

Sandwiches cut into shapes : dinosaurs, stars, rockets etc

Cucumber/ carrot sticks, plus some fruit - strawberries, satsuma, etc

Drink in a reusable bottle.

Yogurt. Box of raisins. Pom bears as a treat.

Not that exciting really.

[BigBadBear]

I think about portions size when doing lunch boxes as putting too much seems off putting to dd1 (5) and will result in her eating less. So she usually has a sandwich made with one slice of bread, or a wrap or a pitta bread with a small tub of hummus. Sandwich fillings are kept simple, like cheese or Philadelphia and marmite or ham.

She always has a little tub of salad bits (chopped up pepper, cucumber, sugar snap peas, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes), some fruit (usually berries or stone fruit chopped up, though in winter it will be a cut up apple or a banana). Cutting the fruit means it gets eaten, as I know she will eat a whole apple but leave half as the core. I use old hummus or Philadelphia boxes so they can be thrown away afterwards.

I usually put in yogurt tubes, or a couple of small yogurts and a plastic spoon so they can be thrown away afterwards, plus a smoothie tube and a carton of juice.

If she's at school, that's it. If it is for holiday club, I'll put in a couple of biscuits.

[CoffeeGoneColdAgain]

I am so at all of your dc's lunchboxes. My dd 5 wont eat bread, so sandwiches are a no go, she will eat bread sticks/crisps etc but will not entertain them in her packed lunch, She just wants to go out to play and sometimes will come out of school with just one thing eaten. She used to take ham in a pot but wont eat that at school now, but will happily eat it at home.

Wish I knew what to do, its so awful seeing her lunch box as full as it was when she left for school. She will eat like crazy when she comes home. Thought about putting her on school dinners but they are very expensive and I just know she would push the food around the plate.

My tip is erm.... can't think of one :(

[hk78]

Now they are a bit older, I find that if they have prepared it themselves, it is more likely to get eaten. Anything else is met with 'but everyone else has 39 biscuits and 6 cheesestrings' etc.

DD2 is a junk food fiend but will happily eat sliced up cucumber that she has prepped herself. DD1 it's got to be mini tomatoes.

Fruit has to be peeled or it just comes back to me again. I let them have school dinners once a week but I'm not that thrilled about it tbh.

Essential investment is those tiny clippy boxes, even poundworld have them now - although strangely they keep disappearing.

[thisisyesterday]

coffee have you spoken to school about it?

at DS1's school no-one goes out until lunchtime is over. this stops kids from not bothering to eat and just going out instead. and it means the slower eaters get to finish without feeling they're missing out.
anyone who finishes quickly sits nicely until lunchtime is over, and then they all go out.

i'd be very unhappy if my child was being allowed out to play without eating any lunch :(

[Emandlu]

My top tip is to get the kids involved with the putting together of the lunchbox.
So I used to make "carrotty bake" which is oats, carrot, cheese and egg mixed together and baked. It turns out a bit like savoury flapjack. The kids would help me mix it on an evening, I could throw it in the oven and it'd go in their boxes the next day.
My kids tended to like the same things regularly, so cherry tomatoes, ham sandwiches, cucumber chunks.
If they had yoghurt it would be the tubes of yoghurt as they generally make less mess.
I'd also put a carton of juice in that had been frozen. Generally by lunchtime it had defrosted enough to be drunk and had the added advantage of keeping their lunch cool until dinner time.

[internationalvulva]

Get a decent lunchbox with a few separate compartments so that your sandwiches don't get squished out by your veg and fruity bits. I also avoid putting cucumber or tomato in the sandwich as they make it soggy by lunchtime, stick them chopped in one of the compartments of that handy lunchbox instead.

In summer we freeze dd's lunchtime drink and put it in the cool bag with her lunchbox, so her lunch is still lovely and fresh by midday, you can do the same with tube-y yogurts to keep them cool.

[MerryCosIWonaGold]

coffee, I feel your pain. Ds1 is sometimes like this, particularly the beginning and end of term. It's so frustrating. I have to be more creative at those times, so things like flapjack are good, crackers and pretzels, ricecakes, as well as a smoothie to try and get something decent in him. I also give him a small lunch with a few 'bits' so he has some choices - like 1 rice cake, 2 crackers, 1 jam sandwich. He often eats at least half of it when I pick him up - and he really has a very tiny lunch. I can usually relax it a bit as term goes on and he gets less controlling. I would have a word with school and get them to make sure she eats some lunch at lunchtime. Ds1's packed lunches have someone monitoring them.