Let’s talk school packed lunches with Twinings Kids Cold In‘fuse

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From wacky lunchboxes to inventive snacks designed to get your kids to eat well, school packed lunches are a key part of the back to school preparation. It can take a lot of trial and error to make nutritious packed lunches that are also fun and appealing, and anything that makes life easier in this department is often welcomed.

Here’s what Twining’s have to say:
“We all know how difficult it can be to get children to eat well without compromising on fun or filling their lunch boxes with boring meals! That’s why we’ve produced our new Kids Cold In’fuse range, made by using natural ingredients only. Developed in partnership with children, the product offers a fun way to encourage kids to consume more water and is a sugar free alternative to fruit juices and cordials, which can have a high sugar content. By simply adding the infusion bags to their water bottles and giving it a quick shake, children can enhance their water with delicious flavours including; Strawberry Lemonade, Mango & Orange and Blackcurrant & Apple. Not only that, but all the products in the range have been specially developed to ensure that the acidity level is safe for children’s tooth enamel.

As part of the launch, we are supporting Public Health England’s Change4Life campaign, which encourages families to cut back on sugar by making a few simple swaps to everyday food and drink. With children heading back to school this September, we encourage everyone to make the simple swap in their packed lunches and let us know what you think!”

What is your child’s favourite part of their packed lunch? Have you created a fun twist on an otherwise boring snack? Maybe you put a fun note into their lunchbox every so often as a surprise?

Share the fun ways you make your children’s packed lunches appealing on the post below and all who do so will be entered into a prize draw where 1 MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

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I try and make varied lunches and sometimes add an unusual new piece of fruit or cereal bar just to liven it up.

Lots of small pots work well for us: a few crisps (healthier than a whole packet), a bit of hummus or cream cheese as a dip, veggie sticks or berries in another.....helps to keep things a bit fresher and less messy too 👍🏻

I am rubbish at packed lunches, so only do them when school lunches aren't an option. Because they're an occasional thing I tend to chuck a treat in (small pack of Haribo or similar) - I'm not sure I'd be so good at trying to make sure they were consistently healthy.

My dd loves the reassuring consistency of having exactly the same lunch every single day..... Every so often I try something new and interesting it is not appreciated

My son just likes his routine and his cheese sandwich, fruit, yogurt and usually a small oaty bar. He is just going into year 1 and I find he was better when it’s the same meal(he only has packed lunch once a week)

He did however have fun choose his own lunch bag, box and bottle.

My kids love Quorn mini cocktail sausage & pineapple on a cocktail stick - very 70s but they always scoff the lot.

Wraps, salads and hot food in a thermos in winter. Nuts for a protein punch, a small pot of hummus and chopped veggies/finger fruit. DD leaves the house for school at 7.15am nowadays, so gets very hungry by mid morning despite having quite a big breakfast too.

To echo PPs, my DC like the same thing every day - a ham and cucumber sandwich, crisps, yogurt and a piece of fruit. I hate doing packed lunches.

I have my Daughter 'help me' make her lunches. She seems to enjoy them more...!

I wish they would offer more appealing lunches at school, they can be very bland and my DS loves spice and variety...curries, chilli, stir fries, falafal and so on! So he usually ends up taking packed lunches even though it is a bit of a fuss around.

Chicken tikka wraps, falafal, nuts, Greek yogurt, cheese, and fruit are some things he will pack to take himself. He is at secondary now, but I have put curries, chilli, or soup in a food flask for him when he was in primary. In primary school they were meant to only have water so an influsion would have had to be brought in illicitly!

Oh, and he also likes to have a sushi meal deal from the supermarket occasionally.

Bento style worked well for my kids when they were at school (Home educated now). The little bits of lots of things was what they enjoyed.

Sandwich sushi was always popular. Take the crusts off a piece of bread and flatten with a rolling pin. Spread soft cheese all over it and add a slice of ham or chicken. Roll up like sushi and slice into bite size pieces.

Also my kids liked cold food like chicken nuggets, pizza, etc. Easy when you are making dinner to just make a little extra for the next day.

A thermos with hot food was well received as well. Mac and cheese, chili, etc.

Mine almost always choose a ham sandwich if given the choice. I try to vary it a bit with wraps or pittas but they still just want ham in them! I always pack some fruit or carrot sticks- DD usually eats it, DS brings it home. Some sort of cheese- chunks, cheese string etc or a savoury item like crackers or mini cheddars. Then a treat such as a little pack of biscuits or a mini cake bar. They always have water in their bottles. I want to invest in food flasks so they can have hot meals too. They'd like things like beans and sausages or tomato pasta.

I like to write messages on their bananas skin, I use a needle and score it in. I also try to avoid sandwiches as nobody really likes them right? Usually go for crackers/pittas/couscous or a homemade lunchable. I also try to avoid prepackaged stuff and pop it all into cute tubs.

Surprisingly my daughter only wants boring sandwiches in her packed lunches but she makes them herself and I always make sure she puts salad in them. She loves crisps but I only let her have them now and then. Luckily she also loves fruit.

DS2 is autistic and likes predictability. It's always sandwich cake and sausage roll (or pork pie!) The cake is usually home made, something like banana bread, carrot cake or blueberry muffins.

And he drinks water with it. He only ever drinks water. Just plain water.

I try and find interesting napkins to include in my dcs lunch. I also put the ingredients in to make chicken wraps as apparently its nicer that way. I do look out for interesting snacks if I travel abroad for work too.

All I would need to go is To put a ham sandwich in 🤣 but we try to limit red meat so he gets that once a week if he’s lucky.
I tend to put the same thing in and the kids seem to like it - generally a sandwich, healthyish crisps, babybel or similar, fruit and veggies, yogurt

We've gone back to school lunches this term as a preference was expressed for hot food at lunchtime. But before that getting involved in choosing items for the lunchbox seemed to be a successful strategy, with a scotch egg, of all things, being a favourite alternative to sandwiches. Fresh running water is available in the lunch room for school meal eaters and packed lunch takers so no need to think about including drinks, which cuts down on the weight as well as the cost of packed lunches - kids can end up carrying some amount of stuff around with them all day.

A variety of shapes and colours all in one box! I like to include as many bright colours as possible. That way I know it's varied and full of nutrients and it looks appealing too! Little compartments of red pepper, kiwi, orange, berries, sweet potato, sweet corn, broccoli... I use small cake cutters to make fun shapes from some of the fruit and veg. For example sweet potato stars and kiwi hearts. Simply slice the food and stamp the shape out. (I eat the spare bits for my breakfast!) When it's visible all at once in a bento box it looks bright and exciting and they can't miss any separate little boxes or packets!

My ds has his own special lunch box and helps with the food shopping / preparing food. We alternate between sandwiches or pittas and pasta. My mum used to put notes in my lunch bag which I loved (even as a teenager).

My son enjoys having wraps at lunchtime. He likes things like carrot sticks, red peppers (particularly the very long, pointy ones) and cherry tomatoes. I am concerned about choking risks so that dictates what he has to eat at school, particularly at break time when he's likely to be eating while running around. I do like his lunchbox to look appetising, and I think that having a variety of things in one of those sistema boxes with lots of compartments makes it a bit more fun.

ok forget the kids for one moment these look amazing! can adults have them too please?

What is your child’s favourite part of their packed lunch?i like to add little messages or notes.when im really trying i cut out shapes with cookie cutters for their sandwhiches.love the little pots of fruite salad which maks it more colourful and eaier to eat.and loves it when i an unknown item to the tub.like a treat sized choc.or jam tart etc that she doesnt usually have or wasnt expecting today.
Have you created a fun twist on an otherwise boring snack?sometimes just doing a toastie for her is a lift up on the old cheese sandwhicih.puff pastry pinwheels are really popular.melon cut into shapes. but to be honest they love the boring old plain sandwhiches in the lunch.jsut like we did when we were younger.

My best tip is stok themarder with things they can have - a box for each type of item. Then i let them pick and item from each and paxk their own lunchboxes.

The other thing I do is buy them a new lunch box often! We have tons! They love a new lunch box.

My son is very fussy at the moment but he likes a pixie lunch, which is small bits of everything. Pieces of chicken, cracker shapes, fruit, cheese cubes, ice gems, cucumber or carrot bits, teeny sandwiches, raisins. All in different little pots. There's a water only rule at his school so I'll have to check if the infusions are allowed as I think he'd like them.