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

[stickyLFDTfingers]

bread sticks and carrot sticks with a little dip in a pot seems to go down well. Though if I made ham sandwiches every day I don't think I'd get any complaints - my girls know what they like - so much for being inventive!

[SkinnyVanillaLatte]

Mine have a piece of cheese in a little pot to eat at the end of their meal.

Apparently it helps neutralize the acids in their mouth that attack tooth enamel.

[lagoonhaze]

My only tip is dont make it a battle ground if they dont eat they wont starve. (remind me of that in sept)

[CoffeeGoneColdAgain]

thisisyesterday Yes at the beginning of term I spoke to teacher and one of the supervisors in the hall, and one day sat in at lunchtime. It did make a difference that day, but down hill since. Most days she will eat her frube and jaffa cakes, and perhaps her pear. I have tried so many different food types but she just isn't interested, just wants to go outside :(

The norm is (for reception) they go in first, eat and then line up at the side of the hall and once there are 20 children the first MdS takes them out. Now she is going in to year 1 they wont be the first in so that might make a difference though i suspect it wont.

Dd will come out of school and almost dive head first in to her lunch box to eat whatever she didn't at lunch time. Its really quite hard to know what to do as I don't want someone standing over her forcing her to eat but at the same time can't have her going until the afternoon with very little in her tummy, she is a very very active girl, who runs everywhere (doesn't understand WALK) :o

I will keep at the sandwich thing, she literally puts the bread to the front of her mouth and goes bleurghhh and spits it out. Yet she will eat toast.. go figure.

[CoffeeGoneColdAgain]

Merry so sorry I didn't see your post. Thank you, I will have a quiet word with staff and try to monitor it again, she got so very upset last time it was monitored she made herself sick :(

[FishfingersAreOK]

I use the tommee tippee formula powder dispenser things for DCs lunchboxes - the ones with the 3 compartments. They have a sandwich, a homemade yoghurt jelly (does not splurge on jumpers if they spill it - it just rolls off) and then "snacks" in the blue 3 way pots. I vary what goes in - sometimes a packet of mini-cheddars split between the 2 of them, dried fruit, cheese, grapes, cucumber etc etc. I do not give mine a packet of crisps each as they can be slow and it would risk them eating just those!

[rathlin]

Mini breadsticks with dips, variety of breads with wraps being a particular favourite, home made pancakes with some secret chocolate chips hidden in middle. Variety is the key with a little treat always included.

[boomdecker]

dd likes wraps with fillings, though they can fall to bits if not constructed carefully.

a good recipe is to layer a sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry with cheese/ham/marmite/whatever, roll it up, slice it into rounds and bake in the oven. very tasty and just a bit special.

putting chopped up fruit and veg togther in a sweet little pot makes it a bit more appetising and palatable than tackling a bigger lump of fruit and veg.

[stephgr]

my children love anything which doesn't have to be cut up so I always include small items like cubes of cheese, berries, grapes, cherry tomatoes, satsuma segments. I try to include some protein and carbohydrates - tuna and cucumber on granary bread is a favourite. Occasionally I'll include a sweet treat like chocolate or a savoury one like crisps. They also love dips so I'll try to include a dip like humous with chopped veg. Drinks are usually fruit squash, never colas!

[CheeryCherry]

I try to vary the type of sandwich ie; use wraps, pitta, small rolls, triangle cut sliced bread etc. Bake sausage rolls the night before, or pots of pasta salad. Small pots of chopped fruit, or make up a jelly with fruit in small pots. If its warm I freeze capri suns/frubes, they defrost slowly until lunchtime and keep the food cool. Otherwise don't tend to pack yogurt as its too messy. But still write notes on bananas ..just to make them smile!

[CrackedNipplesSuchFun]

My DS is only 14 months so I do his lunches. If we are to go out and about or have a picnic he tends to have what I like to call a cold platter. S this normally consits of a few Wholemeal sardines e.g tuna, chicken and sweet corn, then a bit of chopped up cheese, currants, breadsticks and hummus (peanut butter hummus - yum!) and then chopped up fruit.

[TheTempest]

My 3 SDC's have school dinners but my Dd (2) takes a packed lunch to nursery every day. I try and make it as good for her as possible (as she has a massive crisps addiction).

She normally has a sandwich/ wrap with ham, cheese, soft cheese, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes and a yoghurt. She's not allowed crisps at nursery although they give her all manner of crap at snack but she has them at home. She really likes the cheese and onion stars, my SDC's seem to inhale them so not sure if they even taste them!

[toobreathless]

DD is only 16 months so doesn't take a packed lunch to school but does on days out, to grandmas etc. She also has CMP allergy.

She usually has a combination of:
Sandwiches: tuna mayonnaise, egg mayonnaise, peanut butter.
Pasta: tomato, roasted veg.
Veg: carrot, cucumber sticks. She is not overly keen tbh.
Fruit: berries, satsuma, half a banana, kiwi, melon, grapes.
'treats': small box of raisins, Organix oaty bar, Ella's fruit pouch, low sugar homemade dairy free biscuit or small cake.

Always with water to drink.

[LissiesAWenlockLass]

I make tremendous chewy cereal bars with whole nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter and honey in. it releases energy slowly. and they are bloody delicious!

[swallowedAfly]

boring traditionalist here: sandwiches, piece of fruit, babybel cheese, small bag of crisps or a few cheesey crackers and something like a penguin.

ds has had at least two portions of fruit and veg by the time he leaves the house in the morning and easily gets in 4 or 5 more when he's home from school so there is no stress really in the lunchbox having to be super healthy he just needs filling food he will actually eat.

he usually has school dinners but the hall roof leaked and they were off for a while and he LOVED having packed lunches albeit mine are your boring nothing special variety. i prefer him to have school dinners so that he's exposed to eating different foods in an environment where others are all eating them around him and he can't moan and whine for something else and do my head in

[MerryCosIWonaGold]

Lissies. Recipe please.

[hOLYMolyPICSofteamGBwinning]

Hummus, hummus and more hummus! At least one pot of it in their lunch bag with whatever veg we have around for them to dip in.... Beans, pea pods, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, baby sweet corn etc etc. as long as it has hummus on they will eat them. If I'm feeling lazy or have run out of ver a bag of walkers stars are always good to dip!!!

[SizzleSazz]

DDs usually have sandwiches (ham, cheese, tuna, egg), chopped veg, yoghurt and fruit.

Always happy to eat it.

They will have crisps for summer picnics.

[Punkatheart]

I used cutters to make shaped sandwiches - like flowers...then cut half a cherry tomato in the middle. At one point - with a fussy eater - I put the food inside in smaller containers and then labelled them: alien eyeballs and so forth. Kids love that!

[MrsPnut]

I make shaped sandwiches too, dinosaurs and stars are great favourites.
We also make wraps and pittas too for a change.

Usually dd2 has a choice of some kind of sandwich or cheese and crackers. She can also have some pretzels, crisps, small chocolate biscuits, raisins, tube yoghurt, salami, carrot sticks or apple slices.
I offer a selection of the above but all of it is easy to eat and nothing needs to be opened. She has a lunchbox with lots of compartments so things can be separated.
I usually offer juice for a packed lunch but only a small bottle.

[gazzalw]

Doing surprise lunch boxes by different countries' foodstuffs on a rolling weekly basis

So for instance, although the combinations of foodstuffs and countries of origin are of course massively wide-ranging:

(English): sandwiches, apple juice, home-cooked scone, cubes of cheese, summer fruits, peas or carrots

(French): croissant, baguette or pain au chocolat, brie or camembert, grape juice, French style yoghurt, salad in French salad dressing

(Greek): feta or halloumi cheese salad with tomatoes and cucumber, olives, Greek yoghurt, pitta bread, water and peaches/apricots

(Indian): a fruit lassi, melon or , rice and chicken tikka, slice of naan, chopped cucumber in natural yoghurt, exotic fruit

(American): hot dog sausages chopped up, sesame bun or a home-made muffin, tropical juice, breadsticks, fruit salad with philidelphia dip.

[kittycat68]

now mine are teenagers its makes things harder as they want to be cool so mostly make a salad with meat or prawns but also make them a pannini, barbaque chicken seems to go down well with thier friends too even got requests from their friends offering for me to do their lunch if they paid!

Although i will say often a home they still love a ham and crisp sandwich!! ( shame on me telling them i used to have these when i was younger!!)

[Cambam2010]

My son has had multiple food allergies that he is just starting to grow out of (hopefully) and unfortunately he has picked up on my obsession with him not eating something that could have a negative effect and is quite reluctant to try things.

New things are introduced slowly and over a number of occassions.

Houmous is a firm favourite, usually with bread sticks or pitta bread. I can guarantee that he will eat something if I put Marmite on it!

I find that he eats what I have so just make up one lunch for when we go out. He thinks he is eating my dinner which he delights in, I'm happy knowing that he's just eating something!

[newlark]

We have lots of small plastic boxes with lids so there will usually be one with salady bits (carrot/cucumber/tomatoes/olives etc) and one with dried/fresh fruit. We alternate wraps, mini rolls, sandwiches. Dd loves cold pizza or sometimes sushi as a treat (we occasionally make this at a weekend or buy a snack pack from M&S for £1). I don't usually give ds (nearly 4) crisps but dd(5.5) will usually have some sort of baked snack bag. Some sort of dairy (e.g. babybel cheese, yoghurt) will go in too. I try to vary it and they do like to have a choice for each component.