Back to school lunchbox ideas

[Halex]

So far I think ds has had sandwiches twice, we have only been back 2 1/2 weeks.

I love to give him different things, sandwiches get boring.

His fav so far
Zuchini muffins by astarra
Nigella ritzy nuggets
Fried rice
Sticky chicken
Mini quiches, bacon & egg
Pizza

This week I am going to try JD's mini chicken & veg loaf.


H

[cookie1]

Hally how do you keep his food nice and chilled for school? Even with those chiller bricks it often looks yuk for the children.

[Halex]

Ok his food is put in Tupperware straight from the freezer. So its frozen when we leave the house, i also then put it in a tuperware bag with a place for an ice pack or straight into a plastic bag with large ice packs either side. if its sandwiches they are frozen too. His lunch is always fresh, recess  sometimes still a little cold/frozen.

It works well, just plan ahead & freeze.

You know me & my freezer

H

[astarra]

Yay - just what I was looking for!!!!!!!
This is DD's 4th day back at school, and she is another 'not very fond of sandwiches' child ( ) so I'm always looking for new ideas too.
Today she has gone with: A pizza bread roll (cheese and bacon buns on this site with pizza sauce instead of egg wash and pizza topper (herbs) on top), a shaped hard boiled egg, milo yoghurt (made in TM), grapes and a mini (yoghurt and raspberry) muffin.

other things I have in the freezer for her (and DH's) lunchboxes are: choc custard, scrolls (sweet and savoury), pizza, muffins of many shapes, sizes and flavours(!!), mini bacon and egg quiches, cookies, zucchini slice, bread rolls, and a muesli slice (that she doesn't like ...  !!

Tuesday is my 'cooking for lunchboxes' day, will be going thru later to decide what to do tomorrow!! [I love my TM!!]

Agree with Hally about the freezer... and packing the lunchbox with frozen goods! All seems to stay nice and is still accepted at lunch time (by 1 small girl who would rather starve than eat something she thought looked 'gross' !!)

[mcmich]

Made D.G. baked bean bread cases today. No wonder you won a prize.
I don't have school aged children although they make great morning tea treats
and I am taking a batch into work tomorrow.
Next time I will try a flavoured baked bean such as ham.

[judydawn]

We loved these too DG, not just for the kidlets - I'd serve these at any party with fingerfood.

[obbie]

DG what a great idea, I'll make some tonight for lunches tomorrow.

Robyn

[snappy]

I just made DGs baked bean cases and it has been a complete disaster.  The egg mixture overflowed the cases and I couldn't get the pies out of the tin without ripping the bottoms and then having baked beans leak everywhere!

Devastated as it was the last of my bread and these were going to be for school lunches tomorrow - now I have nothing so will have to do a late night dash to the supermarket for some bread.

So here's a tip to anyone else making them - I used less than 3/4 of the tin of baked beans and similar with the eggs - and it was still way too much filling.

[astarra]

I made these for a quick tea last night and they were perfect. 
Not sure why yours went wrong snappy 

Anyone got any more back to school lunchbox ideas this year?
Miss6 has so far had the usual scrolls, bread rolls, sandwiches, zucchini slice/mini quiches, bacon and egg mini pies, muffins, cheesecakes, etc
Am going to do an apple and raspberry slice today, have alot of recipes I want to try to convert, also want to try Unis filled buns... I love lunchbox ideas...!! 

[mcmich]

Have you tried the popcorn bars astarra? They seem very popular. I found when I made them they went soft quite quickly though.

[classmyth]

Hi everyone,
I'm in need of a bit of inspiration. I need to pack lunchboxes for my 13month old and nearly-4 year old for childcare.
The centre has a no-nut policy, but also will not reheat any chicken, rice or egg-based foods, and also has a healthy eating policy to discourage any unhealthy foods, so cake etc is not permitted. I've sent muffins before without being reprimanded (lol!).

My eldest is very fussy and will not eat fruit, or really anything that isn't a sandwich or packaged processed foods. I'm battling to come up with enough foods to send that are healthy, fit within the centre's rules, and that he will actually EAT lol!!!!!

Our 13 month old is a very flexible eater, and eats most things, but we can't send choking hazard type foods for him like carrots etc or things that require teeth!

We are both working long hours, and can't set aside a whole day to cook many different or complex items, so I'm after some quick and simple ideas!
This is a tall order I know, but any suggestions would be most appreciated!

[Bootobethin]

Classmyth your Pumpkin Muffins would be really good and you can freeze them.
Bacon and egg pie is also good as it can be eaten cold.
I make it by using the short pastry in EDC and filling it with gently browned bacon and spinach cut small after cooking and then gently beating 8 eggs and pouring over the bacon and spinach and baking for about 30 minutes until cooked.
Home made sushi is also good.
Small containers of homemade fried rice is nice especially if they are reheated.
cold home made small pastys are also good.
Good luck it's not easy.

[Thermesa]

Ooh I don't like the reheating restrictions. My 21 month old has a chicken curry mixed with rice most days. I would struggle of they rejected it.

My 5 year old takes morning tea to school (fruit, cheese and savory biscuit, yogurt). They have basic sandwiches provided for lunch and fruit at after school care.

The 21 month old takes fruit to share for morning tea. They provide afternoon tea. Sometimes garlic bread yogurt rice crackers. Cheese etc

Lunch I now send bolognese with spaghetti, risotto, corn and bacon muffins, cheese sandwich, yogurt, jelly, meatballs, sausage and mash, soup. I find he eats foods for school that he won't eat for mum. If the other kids are eating it, he wants it too.

Not many specific ideas but hope that is helpful. Sometimes I think I'm the one who wants variety but are kids are happy with boring.

[snappy]

Classmyth our centre doesn't heat any food sent from home either and also has a "nut free".

If Mr 4 is happy with sandwhiches just send those and vary the fillings - you could also try wraps for a bit of variety but if he is happy eating sandwiches, just go with the flow.  My eldest is the same, he has a sandwich EVERYday 😏.  Will your DS eat some of the scroll recipes - cheesymite or cheese and bacon scrolls from this forum?

My youngest loves hot lunches so I bought him a big thermos bowl and it keeps the food hot until lunch (11am).  His favorites are baked beans, spaghetti with ham, cherry tomatoes and broccoli, banana porridge, fried rice (QFITT) and Amy's quiches from this forum.  He has wraps as well.

DS 6 doesn't eat much fruit so he has a banana most days or a small serve of two fruits.  DS3 will have 2 pieces of fruit.  They both have a yoghurt (frozen so it keeps cold), sometimes they will have a cheese stick, other times crackers with dip.

I try and work on the following basis:
Morning tea - fruit (whatever they eat) and yoghurt /cheese stick
Lunch - sandwich or thermos lunch
Afternoon tea - rice crackers / home made muffin / muesli slice  / plus some dried fruit (sultanas, apricots, banana chips etc)

Muffins, cookies, muesli slice etc all freeze fine - I make something on the weekend and freeze them in individual portions, then in the morning it is just grab something from the freezer.  I buy the squeeze yogurts and cheese sticks so in the morning all I really have to worry about is making the sandwich or reheating something for DS3.  If you are really keen, make all your elder DS's sandwiches with beautiful fresh bread on Sunday and then put them in the freezer as well. 

Most of all, I've found out that kids are not after as much variety as adults - if he is happy eating a sandwich each day, don't stress about trying to come up with something different, just give him the sandwich.  If you have a thermos, you could also just make extra dinner and send that in for the younger DS.

Good luck, it's quite a roller coaster!

[astarra]

My DDs'  school is also nut-free and doesn't heat food, but I invested in good quality thermos brand food flasks and heat the flask before putting their hot food into it - still nice and hot (sometimes too hot I get informed) at lunch time.
Doing this has made the variety of food I can send a whole lot broader!!
- Leftover dinner
- Spaghetti and meatballs
- cocktail franks
- soups
- casseroles/stews
- mornays
- pasta bakes
etc etc etc 

Also can you vary the filling in his sandwiches? 
Good luck.....I'm sure your children won't starve!!