Prep - how much food to take?

[krysalyss]

How much food will you send your preppie with tomorrow? I am worried I won't give him enough. And how will you keep it all cool? Do you put in a frozen drink bottle?
DS goes to kindy but they make all of the food there so we have been pretty spoiled so far. So your suggestions are very welcome!

I am thinking a sandwich, some fruit, maybe some crackers or biscuits? or sultanas and vege sticks? Or maybe an extra sandwich?

[Traveller]

I usually send a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a yoghurt, plus something else (a couple of biscuits, a muesli bar, some sultanas, etc). I freeze their drink bottle and it fits in the lunchbox but a small freezer block goes in if I have forgotten to do that.

[Onelittleprincess]

I'd pack what he would normally eat. Throw in an extra sandwhich or a little extra and let him know he doesn't have to eat it all. After a few weeks you'll know what he does and doesn't eat

[~me~]

I send a sandwhich, piece of fruit or container of fruit, snack such as biscuits or cup cake and also sultana's just in case. A bottle of water as well. Don't be surprised if alot of it comes back, sometime they are too busy talking to acutally eat Our school has a nude food only outside policy, so the kids have to eat before they go out and play or if they eat outside, it has to be something that doesn't create rubbish.
I also have a little disc that goes in the freezer that fits nicely in a lunch box. I haven't really used it as their bags are inside and my kids have very basic sandwhiches like vegemite.
If you are sending something like yoghurt or salad or meat sandwhich, then you would need a frozez disc of some sort.

[Gigi]

we have to send a piece of fruit or veg, something for recess, and something for lunch. Plus i will bring an afterschool snack.
i found really thin icebricks in Coles for about $3. There are smaller, fatter ones (pack of three) that are bulkier (in supermarkets). I have never seen the disc ones some of you mention.

We can't send anything processed (like tub of yogurt, muesli bar, cracker n dip packets), no sugary treats like chips, cake.
Strong encouragement to ONLY put water in their drink bottles (which is fine with me).

I am imagining sending sandwich, skinny ice brick, whole piece of fruit that she can manage herself, like a banana, cut up fruit e.g watermelon pieces in snack container, a vegetable (like a carrot, that the SSO cuts up at F & V time in the morning), maybe some water crackers. I expect the first few weeks to be an experiment, fine tuning it as we go along.

so many "unknowns" (for me, a first time sending to school mum).

i have been having conniptions over WHICH lunch box, in WHICH insulated bag.
and making sure bilby could open and close those things all by herself.
Finally thought i had sorted that out, now the insulated bag doesn't fit in the backpack! fun n games.

[Phteven]

We have to send fruit for fruit break, lunch and a snack for recess.
In summer you can make sandwiches for the week on Sunday night and freeze them. If you put a frozen sandwich in the lunchbox in the morning it will be defrosted by lunchtime. Sushi balls can freeze too and so can yogurt.
DS2 seems to eat half his lunch after school because he's so keen to play that he only eats what his teachers make him eat which is generally a sandwich or a sushi ball.

[Astrid]

DD1's school has Brain food, snack and lunch. The encourage nude food.

Brain food (as it is eaten in the class room)- is either cut up fruit, veggie sticks or cheese (no crackers). On Fridays the fruit is provided for free and there is a share platter cut up
Snack: Sometimes muesli bar, choc banana muffin, pikelets, pretty much whatever I can find in the house (I bake batches of muffins and freeze them)
Lunch: Sandwiches and a yoghurt (same a Onyx, make a weeks worth at once and freeze, so important with lunch not being till 1pm). Occasionally will put in leftover dinner if it is suitable (eg sausage and salad)

Also use freezer blocks, even though some of the food is frozen.

[christy]

We sent a sandwich or something equivalent (wrap, sushi, etc), and 3 snacks, fruit, crackers/rice crackers, carrot sticks & hummous.... to keep it cooler I often will use a small ice block, but if there is sushi or something I run in and put it in the fridge (we have a small school with 15 students... K-6)

[Snowy Love]

I'm sending a piece of fruit for fruit break (must be raw fruit) a tuna & avo sandwich and some carrot and celery sticks and maybe some hummus. The school said be prepared for them to be ravenous when you pick them up so I'll take some fruit for when I pick him up in case he gets through all that.

[JLeigh29]

As a teacher who's done her fair share of eating duty with the preppies, my suggestion is to make their food count. As a PP suggested, they're often too busy talking to eat, so what little they do get, make it 'good'. Make it 'finger food' that's easily opened and eaten by themselves (lining up to have your muesli bar unwrapped with 15 other kids means a long wait and a frustrated teacher, lol! Or, the yoghurt packet that squirts everywhere or rips apart etc) or quickly opened by others (e.g. one container with 3 different sections as opposed to three separate containers). Pack whatever normally appeals to them at home, about the same amount plus a little extra for 'luck' (or spills or a ravenous appetite or 'shared' with their new besty etc).

And have something on hand for when you pick them up - as a pp said, they could be ravenous!

Make sure they know they don't have to eat it all, and suggest they bring home what they don't eat, at least at first, so you can see how much gets eaten and pack accordingly.

Is there a fridge to put lunch in? If not, even with an ice brick Krysalyss, stuff gets hot and festy really quickly around here, so I wouldn't be packing stuff that could give food poisoning...

[krysalyss]

Thanks guys. DS can sometimes be a really big eater and sometimes a little one so I am going to play it safe and pack quite a bit. We have tested the lunch box and he can open that and it does have a water bottle I can freeze but I am pretty sure they have a fridge for the preps. I am thinking a marmite sandwich (his favourite), an avocado, tomato and cheese wrap (we tested this last week and the tomato doesn't seem to make the tortilla soggy like normal bread), two pieces of fruit and a hot cross bun. He is going to after school care so they will have afternoon tea for him. I tried to talk him into letting me pick him up but he is desperate to go on the bus, and his after school care is his current kindy so I think he wants to show everyone his uniform. How fast they grow up! Hope everyone enjoys the first day of school tomorrow!

[Gigi]

for the posters that freeze a week's worth of sandwiches, i'm assuming not all sandwich fillings freeze well, which sandwich fillings freeze ok?

all the queensland kids start tomorrow, the sa kids next monday, and the vic kids next monday fortnight. i don't know about the other states (sometimes i wish it was the same terms for the whole country).

[Catastrophic]

For DD's I pack: A sandwich (I do the whole make a bunch and freeze it); Yogurt; Peice of fruit; Pizza scroll or scone (home made); muffin or cookie (home made); tiny teddies... I don't expect everything to be eaten. I would just rather send more then less...

[Phteven]

for the posters that freeze a week's worth of sandwiches, i'm assuming not all sandwich fillings freeze well, which sandwich fillings freeze ok?

My boys only like simple fillings for school - DS1 likes butter and vegemite and DS likes hommus. The hommus can get a bit soggy so a layer of butter helps with that.
Philly cheese also freezes ok and so do jam and honey. DS1 used to like philly with jam or honey but he's gone off it now.
DS2 also likes avocado which doesn't freeze at all well so he doesn't get it often.

[Enchanted]

Great thread, have been thinking about what I will need to send DS with to kinder in a couple of weeks!

With regard to frozen sandwiches, my fave that Mum used to do was stras & sauce. Defrosted well and was always tasty! I still eat them today!!

[Feijoa Mum]

The first few weeks are going to be trial and error. As long as you have the amount they would generally eat at home for lunch and snacks then you should be good.

I thought I was packing too much at first but then they would come home and eat the horse and look for the rider. After a talk to the teacher, turns out I had too much choice as they couldnt decide and they spent ALOT of time chatting to their friends. The allocated time for eating was only 20mins so lunch was soon forgotten when it was playtime.

SO my tips would be:

Not too much choice, not too hard to eat - the more one handed the better, nothing "weird" that although they love the other kids might not think is so cool, no brown fruit, not too hard to get into.

Sandwiches I have frozen with success:

Luncheon and sauce
Egg - does go a little rubbery but not so much the kids notice
vegemite and cheese
jam
ham and cheese
mashed baked beans
cream cheese and raisins

Also freeze

Pikelets (butter side against each other and wrapped in twos)
mini muffins
mini quiches
rainbow cupcakes
some slices, but icing does go white so generally do un-iced ones

I did a huge bake up yesterday and I wrap and freeze them individually as soon as they are cooled. This helps them last and stops DH eating them cause they are there . They defrost well and it makes making lunches a breeze.

[christy]

Oh yeah! I forgot the afterschool binge.... oh my goodness. DD1 will start screaming for food before we are out of the driveway at school. I often have fruit or a biscuit or cake or something sweet for afternoon tea, she's tired and hungry and having a small snack on the way home with some sugar of any form (fruit or otherwise) helps her stabilise by the time she's home for a proper afternoon snack.

[Astrid]

DD1 is also so hungry after school, drives me batty as it is hard to be prepared coming straight from work

DD1 likes her sandwiches fairly basic, so just ham and cheese, chicken and cheese, so they freeze well. Sometimes I grate carrot with cheese and mix it together with some mayo and that freezes ok as well. I save cheese and vegemite for made on the morning, as they are my backup for not being organised.