Am I kidding myself thinking DD can go to school with minimal pre packed foods?

[BekZ]

Hi All,

DD is starting school next year and up until now I've avoided where possible the over use of pre packed foods. I've always bought yoghurt in big tubs and filled up containers, made my biscuits, never used that string cheese etc. I wanted to continue this with my DD's school lunches but my SIL thinks I am dreaming and that I'll end up giving into the world of heavily packaged foods due to peer pressure and convenience.

So I need some ideas for lunch menus please!!!

[nellnell]

NOOOOOO, dont give up. It can totally be done.

I'm a teacher and see the crazy and amazing things which people pack into their kids lunchboxes.

I'll be back with some ideas later.

[trishalishous]

NOOOOOO, dont give up. It can totally be done.

I'm a teacher and see the crazy and amazing things which people pack into their kids lunchboxes.

I'll be back with some ideas later.

I agree! I think you can do it, b ut it just takes a bit more work! My mum used to send us with homemade fruit salad, carrot sticks, ziplock bag with crisps as a treat, juice in a Tupperware drink container, a garden salad, and a whole tomato (otherwise it got soggy, so Id cut it up when I ate it - I WAS late primary but then though)
If she was desperately busy it was vegemite sandwichs and a muesli bar, with a piece of fruit, but usually she found time the night before, or we did it with her before bed.

[Traveller]

I rarely use pre packaged foods for DS1 at school, with the exception of yogurts (when we get the big tubs everyone tends to eat bigger portions, so the small individual tubs suit me better). Usually DS1 will have a sandwich, yogurt, sultanas or watermelon and an apple. He sometimes has pasta salad with tuna instead of the sandwich, and a cookie or cake instead of the sultanas if I have been baking. DS1 occasionally asks for the muesli bars and cheese strings he sees his friends having, but he is quite fussy and happy with the diet he is used to. I'm sure your DD will be the same, kids like what they are used to.

[Doodlebug]

We do the things you've mentioned above, yoghurt into a re-usable container, sandwich in lunch wraps, museli slice cut up as museli bars etc... it can be done and your best friend is going to be organisation. Get lunches ready the night before as much as you can and you won't be grabbing the pre-packaged stuff for convenience.

We use a thermos container for lunch most days, summer it has fresh fruit (watermelon, rockmelon) in it, winter ds quite often takes leftovers for lunch, fried rice, meatballs, pasta etc...

[Liz]

Ooh I'll subscribe to this thread for ideas too. So far for DS's 2 days of preschool, we get by with things like bags of grapes, a carrot, a little box of salad, a sandwich and maybe a couple of corn/rice thins. But we're going to need some variety once it's 5 days a week LOL.

I do get him the string cheese cos I was well impressed with the minimal ingredients in them! I was expecting the highly processed 20-ingredient rubbish, but it's got the same ingredients as a block of normal cheese. So I do get those

I'm thinking of making mini quiches and things to pack for lunch. We've only ever had them hot tho, so I'll have to trial him with some cold ones heh. Maybe some healthy mini-muffins or something?

ETA: Doodlebug! *mwah* I was about to post a thread about lunch packs and if there's something that can keep food hot/cold. I am about to go nuts looking at all the thermos stuff LOL. Do you know of any other brands? hmm... maybe I should still start a thread. haha.

[misty]

Of course you can send her to school without pre-packaged foods. Pre-packaged isn't even easier nowdays.

Angelica gets sandwich, cheese sticks (the only prepackaged food) or slices, yogurt, airpopped popcorn, fresh fruit, dried fruit and a bottle of water. More then enough food for an adult let alone a little child.

When I was a kid, we never had prepackaged things either. We got a sandwich, a peice of fruit and 2 bikkies (usually homemade) wrapped in glad wrap. That was it, everyday. People don't NEED anything fancy or processed. Kids might pester you for it, but the beauty about being a parent is that you can reserve the right to say 'no'.

[AnyDream]

The trickiest part to all of this is the containers, esp if you're trying to steer away from plastic bags, etc for the sake of the environment.

I learnt fairly early on that DD was a bit prone to leaving my tupperware items around, so get used to rummaging through the lost property box regularly (in the classroom and in the office) or stocking up on new ones every so often.

You can freeze your own muffins/slices/ready made sandwiches, and they come out fresh & lovely.
You can also freeze yoghurt in summer, keeps the lunchbox cold or they can eat it still frozen for a change
DD1 quite likes to take cold left over pasta from the night before.
A mixture of a few different things (ie crackers in together with dried fruit) provides variety
We send hot milo or soup when it's really cold in winter.

[Trillian]

I do it, but admit that I have gotten a bit slack lately because I've had a lot on and not a lot of time to do a full weeks worth of baking. But they will always have at least half a lunch box of things that aren't in a packet. Only one tip though - unless you are prepared to either lose a lot of containers, or have a lunchbox come home full of spilt yoghurt from a lid not being put on properly (either when it's full or after they are finished and they don't put the lid back on properly), then it might be best to only use small tubs of yoghurt. I learnt the hard way that it makes their lunch box smell like you wouldn't believe. Sandwiches are what they have for lunch most days because that is what they prefer, but sometimes during summer they have cold meat and salads.

[helle]

For DH (who needs to take a packed lunch everyday because he isn't near any shops etc) I make muffins, sausagerolls (load 'em up with all sorts of vegies! and you can have them cold or hot and they're still yummo), little mini pizza's and of course left over dinner.
There is also the obvious ones... fruit... grapes are a good one! The list is endless really... the only issue i have is containing it all!

I try to keep the amount of $ i'm saving in the back of my mind as motivation!

[~clover~]

You can buy lunch boxes now that have all the seperate compartments.
Mine usually take a sandwich, capsicum, carrots, grapes, jatz & cheese, sao's, bikkies, cupcakes (I make), apple, banana, watermelon (on occasion).
DD2 loves the home brand le snacks, so will take one of them a day. Other than that its a heck of a lot cheaper to not buy the packaged stuff. We'll occasionally get chips or pop corn, but not often. I use resealable bags that I can wash & re use if I have the energy, or I'll put all their fruit in one & bikkies/cakes in the other. I try to use as little as possible. Next year I'm thinking about getting the lunch boxes that have the seperate parts.

ETA - I think DD1 looses more stuff than DD2! DD2 even brings her rubbish home. It all goes straight back in the bag.

[Liviam]

Subscribing because I need desperate ideas for my kiddies lunches. I am so desperate for better ideas. I'm so bland with lunches.

[peanutter]

No! It can be done

Some of the other ladies have already given you super ideas ... I'd also add salads (just normal salad with some meat/egg/cheese for protein - with some potato/rice/pasta/bean salad as well, if they're needing the extra stodginess to fill their little tummies).

I second the yoghurt - it's great for keeping them full!

Fruit is so handy - and bananas and mandarins are extra great, because they don't need washing!

I agree with doodle's comment that organisation is key - I used to make up two big batches of things on the weekend, and then tubbed them up for the week for DH and my lunches. Things that I found keep really well and are good for lunches are lasagne, pastabake, quiche, chilli, curry and stirfry. I find pasta and rice is a better base than noodles and potato, but I guess it depends on whether you freeze or not ...

I also have found that lots of salads can be chopped up and tubbed in an air tight crisper and will last all week (carrot, celery, cucumber, capsicum). Tomatoes and lettuce I find don't last that long once chopped up - but you can always just throw in a few lettuce leaves and use cherry tomatoes in with the salad in the crisper And you can boil eggs, cube cheese, and cook and chop up meat in advance too, so all you have to do the night before is tear up some lettuce, and chuck in a cup full of the salad and some of the protein, and there's a great healthy lunch, which can just go with a pot of yoghurt and a piece of fruit.

I guess it depends on what your DD likes though

[Babyluv]

Hi Bek,
Not sure if anyone has suggested these yet or not because I haven't read all the posts but you can get these fantastic little tubs with screw on lids and 3 or 4 little tubs can be joined together as well. They are called Nudie and you get them at Coles, I put dips, yoghurt, carrots, celery, cheeses, sultanas and anything else we get in bulk in them for DH lunches. They fit easily into a lunch box and don't leak because they are screw on lids, I love them!

[BekZ]

Thanks for all the awesome ideas. I will read through the thread again and take notes.