Kids Lunch Boxes - WHat do you put in them?

[tonilee]

My kids have school dinners now, but when they did have packed lunch, I used to send them off to school with fried rice or noodles with various meat or veg depending on what I have in the fridge. I keep it all hot in a insulated food pot.

My daughter tells me that the teachers used to stand behind her everyday when she opens her pot to see what dish she have got for the day...!! Funny. :lol:

Fantastic idea!!! At the risk of sounding totally stupid can you tell me where you get the insulated pots from??!!

 

[Cathie!]

Nothing lol, they have hot dinners at school......the dinners they serve at their school are fab.

On a cost front, I would say that it did cost me more in terms of doing packed lunch (when I was mad enough to do it) than it does for the £2 per day for hot dinners......buy the stuff, they ate it before it had chance to get into the luch box for the second day.

I have been invited to the school and eaten a dinner, it was lush and I didn't have to cook it! Fair play to Jamie Oliver.

 

[Anna Lee]

Fantastic idea!!! At the risk of sounding totally stupid can you tell me where you get the insulated pots from??!!

No, not stupid cos I havent actually seen them on sale anywhere in england. The nearest thing that I have seen is a huge insulated food pot for a 'proper' meal which is far too big for the kids to be using for their lunch. Maybe you can try finding a flask or something..?

My food pot is especially designed for children to carry their lunches to school, but unfortunely, I got mine from the far east where all parents send their kids to school with similar hot lunches therefore insulated food pots/ lunch boxes are widely available over there. They even make them with tiers or compartments where you can fit rice/noodles in one and a separate 'dish' in another..!!

Sandwiches are not popular over there but I guess if you're not used to stir frying, then sanwiches are an easier thing to make than getting your wok out and stinking up the house very early every morning...!!:lol:

 

[1999judy]

My kids have always had school dinners..like it or not. The reason?? It might ACTUALLY get them to try something I don't feed them.
Oddly enough though I have had a problem this year....now Rach is in Juniors she can take a snack for break time...O M G no-one told me the rules!!!
I once sent a "health bar" and it has choc chips.....TRAUMA... she told me one of the other kids were gonna get her "done".
Soooo I buy fruit bars in yoghurt coating etc.
She likes and eats them AT SCHOOL...never at home.
I just feel sorry for her mate... who never gets a snack and you know me...sooner or later I'll put 2 in the bag.
Not everyone can cope with the stress and worry of all the little things at school can they?
So many will end up not bothering at all.

 

[kylieb]

My daughters at secondary school now so she uses the canteen, but when she was at primary school I was very particular. She got sandwiches (with healthy contents, none of that billy bear crap!), fruit, a drink and occasionally a packet of crisps or a biscuit. Young children need good nutrition to help them grow and learn and those people who cant be bothered to deal with their kids food issues and just feed them crap because its the easy option need to review their parenting skills frankly. Sorry if this offends but I feel quite strongly about this issue, it's no wonder so many of our kids are suffering with obesity and diet related health problems.

I'm actually torn over this issue of schools telling parents what they can and cannot put in a lunchbox. I believe that a balanced diet should be just that - balanced. This means that a chocolate biscuit is ok provided its every now and again. Now I can understand why schools have implemented these rules when you look at the rubbish some people send their kids with, but I remember being told I couldnt put a penguin biscuit in my daughters lunchbox, even though it was an occasional treat. My two main issues with this are that firstly, you shouldnt encourage kids to have food hang-ups, that's a sure way to breed a yo-yo dieter. If you give kids the idea that eating chocolate is a bad thing they will develop a guilt complex about it and I dont think thats a healthy thing to do. My second problem with schools is that they ought to look at their own menus before telling parents what to do! If your kiddie has a school meal, they get frozen pre formed crap thats been coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried, and for pudding they get a daily sugar fix, usually some sort of sponge and custard, that's hardly healthy!

Couldnt have put this better myself!! Totally agree with you here.
I sent my little boy in with a kitkat and he was told he wasnt allowed to eat it. I understand that kids are becoming obese but its not fair on the ones that are healthy and dont eat crap all the time.
I have been called cruel by some people as i dont let my lil one have juice or fizzy stuff. And i know it does probably sound sad but i say you are allowed it at xmas with dinner or on your birthday if he has a party. One person even told me i wasnt a good mum for not letting him drink it !!! The cheek of it.

 

[tonilee]

The little pots are a genuis idea I love it!!! Can you make my lunch everyday??!! LOL


Judy I know what you mean, at our kids school they have healthy snack time, ie fruit or vege, now reception get free fruit but not any other year....they have to bring their own but Chloe says only her and about 4 others do...Dylan....being Dylan....takes a peice of fruit incase he doesnt like the free fruit and ends up eating both :lol:

 

[SunSpray]

My kids have always had school dinners..like it or not. The reason?? It might ACTUALLY get them to try something I don't feed them.

Oh if only our borough offered school dinners, like you we wouldn't dream of doing a packed lunch. I'm always retelling stories of school dinners (including the very, very occasional treat of chocolate sponge and chocolate custard) and my children look at me like I'm mad; they just can't imagine it. Our school, for a treat, did Christmas Dinner one day in December and I was told my Annabel actually ate cooked carrots (will only eat them raw at home). School dinners only a pipe-dream around here ...

 

[xniceyloux]

Hiya chelle, I dont think your being argumenative at all and tottally get where your coming from.

I really believe everything you said is personal to you and you believe in it.

However the issue my son has with certain foods are that he just does not like the taste of them.

I have two other children that will eat anything that you give them and I mean anything.

After lots of doctors visits and going to see a private nutricionist?sp!!

I've found that my child is actually very healthy and is not suffering for not having these foods in his diet!

Sometimes as a parent there is not much more you can do. I wouldnt dream of making him eat the foods he really cannot stand as this would just create other issues!

That doesnt mean i stop getting him to try and taste diff foods.

For example as soon as my son eats meat of any type he is sick. This could be the taste the texture or both, nothing to say he will not like these foods when he is older and his taste buds develope further.

The only reason I replied to this thread is basically to say that just because the child does not have a lunch bag full of nutrician does not mean his/her parents are not responsible and careing, maybe there is other factors.

I also agree that children can be really fussy and would rather "NOT" eat the foods that are good for them, in that case its a totally different story.

But with my son this is not the case.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, I cant stress enough to chelle that I am not offended by your opinion in the slightest.:hug:

lou x

 

[bubbabinks]

The little pots are a genuis idea I love it!!! Can you make my lunch everyday??!! LOL


Judy I know what you mean, at our kids school they have healthy snack time, ie fruit or vege, now reception get free fruit but not any other year....they have to bring their own but Chloe says only her and about 4 others do...Dylan....being Dylan....takes a peice of fruit incase he doesnt like the free fruit and ends up eating both :lol:

They do the same at my daughter's school for the reception class they're also allowed to bring in a cereal bar, which is what we do because my daughter only likes bananas.

We allow her to choose what she wants to be each week either packed or school dinners, I think for her it depends on who her friends are that week:lol:
I like her to have dinners because I hope that one day seeing other children eat vegetables will hopefully encourage her to try some.

We've never been able to get her to try any veg, even as a baby she would spit the veggie ones back out but wolf the pasta ones down.
I think/hope it is something she will just grow out of, in the mean time we will keep trying.
We buy swede and carrot mash from Tescos because she will eat that, I have a cupboard full of Heinz veg beans which seem to have been discontinued and I make her fruit smoothies.

In her lunch box she has a cheese/ham sandwich, a banana/box of raisins, cereal bar/yoghurt and I don't pack a drink because they have their own water bottle at school which they can fill up any time they need to so I know she has a drink.

 

[Bev Rose]

Anna (*Flower*) - is this like the insulated food box you have?

Food Flask with three inner pots 1.8 ltr capacity (colours may vary): Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

I have liked the idea of the Japanese Bento boxes for a while, if this is a similar thing to yours, then I might get it.

My kids have -

Marmite/tuna/ham sandwich on wholemeal or Best of Both bread
Sugar free Oasis/squash
Muller/activia yoghurt
or
Chocolate mousse (my son only)
Packet of 'Baked' crisps
Apple/banana/grapes/satsuma
Penguin type bar

Once a week they have a school canteen lunch.

They are both at secondary school now, but this is what they've had throughout Primary too.
In fact, my daughter has had Marmite sandwiches every day for about 6 years! You either love it or hate it!

 

[Anna Lee]

Anna (*Flower*) - is this like the insulated food box you have?

I have liked the idea of the Japanese Bento boxes for a while, if this is a similar thing to yours, then I might get it.

Hi Bev, not quite the same as mine, but the concept is there. Mine has 2 tiers instead of the 3. At that size, anymore than two tiers will be too small to hold anything.

The Japanese 'bento boxes' are not usually insulated as the Japanese eat their food cold. i.e sushi, salad, etc..

A bento box can have one tier with many sections or a few tiers which will stack on top of each other.

The concept of the bento box is 'eats with the eye', which means that the food must first be arranged to please the eye even before you start eating it. The Japanese makes Bento boxes for their children to take to school and cuts the food in pretty shapes arranged attractively in the box.

japanese bento lunch box image - Google Image Search

If they need to prepare hot food then an insulated food pot is used - like the one you saw, but it is usually the Chinese with their rice and noodle dishes who makes more use of them.

 

[bubbabinks]

This is the companies website that is selling them on Amazon with different size flasks:
www.iosss.com/shopping/review.asp?prod=1548