Packed lunch ideas

[Lynden]

Logan is going to be having dinners at school. Today he ate nothing - so they suggested I do him a packed lunch, and then they'll offer him what the others are having to encourage him to eat more, and try different things, and then if he doesn't eat they'll give him a packed lunch.

 

His fail safe foods (pasta with no sauce, pizza etc) dont really work that I can see, and the only other stuff he'll eat is cereal (which he gets at snack time), crisps, crackers etc, and I will put an apple or grapes in because for the moment he's decided he likes those.. It just seems like I'm feeding him ###### though when you see it in a packed lunch box. He wont eat yoghurts etc either.

 

Lynne x

[krystaltps]

Ahh, the joys of lunch at school. We have been through the packed lunch phase (fortunately since the healthy eating initiative in our LA, school meals now offer so much more choice, and C has been fine to stay for dinners for a while now).

C won't eat sandwiches - so his packed lunches were always unusual. We tried cold pasta (no sauce) in a tupperware tub - but it was the wrong temperature (it should either be hot or chilled), and had gone "mushy" apparently. We also tried pizza, but it tastes "off" when cold. So we went for the "nibbles" lunch: little cubes of cheese, peanuts, cashew nuts, rice cakes, crackers, and two slices of cold meat - all neatly packaged in individual packets ready to be assembled (or not) as desired. I also froze his apple juice the night before - it kept the lunch cool, and was still nice and chilled by lunchtime. Another useful thing was the mini packets of cereal, C doesn't have milk so he's quite happy to eat these straight out of the packet.

Hope there are some ideas you could use or adapt here.

[Lynden]

Ahh thanks. I think I was just in a panic about them thinking I was a crpa parent for sending in lots of snacky type things but then I guess thats what he eats - and packed lunch is supposed to be a back up. I was thinking things like crackers and cheese (he will at least eat the crackers!) I never thought about nuts - I might try those.

 

Lynne x

[krystaltps]

I wouldn't worry about what people think about the contents of his packed lunch - he eats what he eats. One of the ASD children at my school has for the past 6 years eaten a packed lunch that consists of 12 Bourbon biscuits! <'> Bless. But at least he has eaten something.

[Bard]

It all sounds very sensible to me, I always have odd vegetarian packed lunches, with lots of nibbly bits and no sandwiches.

I'd avoid peanuts though, one of the children in my class is allergic, and we have around 10 children for whom peanuts are life-threatening.

Even the peanut oil on your child's hand then playing a game holding hands, or sharing equipment, could put them in hospital, or worse.

All of our local primaries are peanut-free zones, and we have epipen training yearly.

[Cariad]

I can totally sympathise with you, the DS is awful when it comes to food, his lunchbox would come back untouched everyday. He would nibble at a sausage roll and that was that, he hates bread but will eat toast and eat weetabix and skinny chips and Pizza. Could you take the DS shopping with you and get him to pick out some food he'd like in his lunchbox?

 

(Crackers went down well once I remember with marmite on, it's all very hit and miss, the new school he's going to only does Dinners, he won't know what hit him )

[paulathomson]

there are quite a few healthy snacks that you can try.. my kids are fussy too.

 

cheesy oatcakes, plain oatcakes, bread sticks- mini size- cold cocktail sausages, dried fruit, there are those fruit flakes.. which i think is bits of fruit with sweet coating..school bars..these i have found brilliant..they look like a sweetie bar but it is made from pureed fruit.

 

pitta breads cut in half are a fave especially when they can fill it with whatever they want. also put cucumber sticks in box..ds never used to eat them but over time hes just accepted they were in the box and decided to try and liked them.

[jo4themo]

Niamh is OK with cold foods but it's cooked meals I struggle with as she only really eats chicken dippers, chips, sausages, fish, egg pasta and pasta in sauce (no meat in it though). Mealtimes are fun here - especaill as DD HATES pasta!

Niamh has sandwiches with either Polony or jam in (nothing else), an apple (she is addicted to them!), cheese and onion crisps (doesn't like any other flavour), a youghurt, some more fruit (normally grapes, strawberries or a fruit pot) and some cherry tomatoes. Apparently she guards her crisps with her life at school and won't share them.

When she was younger (up to about 3) she would eat whatever you gave her, but has become more fussy as she has got older

[LizC]

Hi matthew isn't too bad with lunch time stuff but here and some of the things he will eat.... sausage rolls, cheese sandwich, dairylea strip cheese, mini peperamis , squeezy yoghurts, banana/clementines/grapes, crisps, and sometimes a cake or choc biscuit.

[venus]

My son Owen has a carton of juice ,a packet of crisps and a chocolate biscuit in his lunch box, yes I feel like they think I am a bad parent but most of them know he is autistic.My other son starts lunch club at the school next wednesday and I am getting excited as I can put a jam sandwich,fruit and other healthier things in his lunch box- perhaps then they will not think it is totally my fault.

[Lynden]

Thanks all. School have been fab and told me not to worry so thats good. It just seems to be fruit and carbs - but I guess at least there's fruit there which has to be something!! LOL

 

Lynne

[BuntyB]

Have you tried dunkers? My son always ate them.

[dooday24]

reece takes a choc spread sarnie and a pk of crisps evry day did feel bad but at least he eats something

love donnaxxxx

[KarenT]

Packed lunches are so hard, but then so are school meals, which I know J would never touch with a cattle prod.

 

J has the same lunch every day - a wholemeal pitta bread with a scraping of butter, a cut up apple (doesn't do skins), a home-made chocolate muffin, two Ryvitas which must be buttered and stuck together, and two sausages cut into four halves. These invariably come home at the end of the day and he eats them in the car on the way home, with the threat of no chocolate muffin tomorrow unless they're gone by the time I wash out his bag. He used to also have a handful of chocolate peanuts but he'd eat those and nothing else. No juice, just a bottle of water.

 

He doesn't do any form of combination foods so won't even attempt a sandwich.

 

I've given up trying with lunches. I make up for it by giving him a good nutritious breakfast and tea and snacks in between. Those I can control but I can't be there at lunch times to make him eat.

 

Karen

x

[sandyn]

Hi, you didn't mention his age so he may be a bit young for my suggestion. Does he like soup? Perhaps you could put it in a flask and he could have that with some crackers. My hubby makes a wicked vegetable soup which my kids love. Its got so may veggies in that they would never eat if put on their plates.

[Valiant_Skylark]

This post took me back (mine now 10 and 13). Since going GF/CF a huge amount of faddiness has gone for us. Lunchboxes are now something like rice crackers/ gf crackers or gf bread toasted, small pot GF/DF "butter" (+ plastic knife) plus a dollop of "topping" such as salmon and mayo, tuna, sweetcorn and mayo, ham, egg mayo, marmite, roast chicken and mayo or roast chicken chopped. It could be left over roast pork or beef sliced thinly. To this I add either 2 GF/CF sausages or roast chicken portions or boiled eggs or whatever. I cook in batches and freeze in portions ready to take out and defrost in the fridge the night before (or on the morning if the weather is v hot). They then have a piece of fresh fruit (apple, pear, banana in a "bananaguard" to stop it getting squashed, grapes in a tub). Then for break time they have a small pot of say sultanas or raisins and cashew nuts, dates with stones removed or figs with top bit cut off, dried apricots. I might put in just one or 2 (if they are small) GF/CF biscuits as this stops them from feeling they are missing out on "tuck". It may be one of Sainsbury's GF/CF "Free From" bars. I did put in muffins for a while, but the boys have outgrown these and say they are not really hungry after eating their main lunchbox. Finally they have a small carton of pure juice (apple, orange, pineapple, cranberry...) and a bottle of water, which they refill from school during the day.

 

I don't think my boys would have given up their awful diets unless they had gone GF/CF as they were too addicted and it was just too hard to give up the foods they relied on for their fixes. Now they eat far more widely and are never hungry at or on return from school.

 

We freeze the juice cartons to keep the lunchbox cool and you can do the same with water bottles so that the food says fresh.

 

Putting all the food in separately does mean a lot of wrapping portions but it means the boys can enjoy putting their own lunch together and be as faddy as they like with that bit! ASDA sell little tiny tubs which helps. I do have a lot of washing up!

 

VS