[Lyra]

Miss Seven came home today and announced that she now hates what we give her for lunch. Sigh

She usually gets

* vegemite sandwich with a cheese stick
* piece of fruit or a jelly cup or a fruit snack pack
* cut up vegetables eg beans, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber

she refuses to eat a lunch order. More sighing

Any ideas? I need things that I can make that are quick and easy or I can make ahead of time. I am terrible with cooking and baking and my other child is very sick so I don't have a lot of time to fiddle around with lunches

She has suggested pop corn as she has seen that in other people's lunches. Does anyone else do this? Do you make up a whole heap or ahead of time? If you make it ahead of time how long can you store it before it goes stale?

[niggles]

I don't do fiddly lunches either. Usually sandwiches and a piece of fruit.

Occasionally I put in a mini quiche. I make extra when we are having it for dinner and pour it into muffin trays. Once cooked and cooled I store them in the freezer and they go frozen into the lunch box.

I've given DD popcorn once. I had some leftover from the weekend when we watched a rainy afternoon DVD. I don't know how long it keeps for but I'd guess ages.

Sometimes I put aside some leftover pasta and then whack some in the lunchbox (she has a lid sealing sectioned kind) with cherry tomatoes, cubes of ham and cheese and a few olives. That's even easier than a sandwich.

I also do the occasional wrap as a variation on the sandwich theme or toast her ham and cheese sandwich before it goes in the lunchbox for something different. Or a baked bean and cheese toastie (with a plastic spoon).

[shanta]

I am just making the Swedish meatballs and some of these will be for lunch rissole sandwiches. Another easy thing I do is pizza on small pita breads. Buy grated cheese, jar pasta sauce and whatever other topping you want. I cook it the night before and refrigerate over night. My son eats it cold. So do I.

This post has been edited by shanta: 21/08/2012, 04:41 PM

[emlis22]

You can get popcorn already made in portions. It's really cheap too. I think the brand is named 'cool' or something and you can buy it in the chip aisle.

baked bean dip (put the beans in a food processor and then fold through some yoghurt). She can have it with her beans, carrots etc.

Does she like anything else on her sandwich? Maybe its just a matter of mixing that up?

[Tyrantasaurus]

Pretzels are a great snack for lunch boxes, as is jatz and cheese..

What about a wrap instead of a sandwich ?

My dd loves the Laughing Cow cheese, so I often throw one of those in.

[Molondy]

chicken wings or drummettes?

Leftover noodles or pasta?

Usually I do a sandwich (vegemite or ham or avocado); two - three pieces of fruit, cut up carrot, cheese, crackers, dried fruit and maybe some yoghurt. For a treaty type snack they get muesli bars, a packet of japanese rice snacks or pikelets.

[Lyra]

Thanks for all these ideas, I will run a few by little Miss and see if some of them are hits

[ChunkyChook]

Sunday arvo I pop a heap of popcorn and store it in a big ziplock bag and then put it into smaller ziplocks during the week for lunches.

DD also has cruskits, saladas, ritz, rice crackers, savoys, clix, rice cakes etc
A yoghurt muesli bar
Yoghurt
Kabana and cheese
Pizza scrolls
Shapes
Fruit poles (they are in the health food section)
Saltanas
Rice snacks

For lunch she usually gets a multigrain roll, sandwich, cheese and bacon roll or flat bread.

Hope you can find something, it can be so frustrating.

[sophiasmum]

They get:

1 sandwich - Mondays it's vegemite, Tuesdays it's jam, Wednesdays it's lunchmeat & lettuce, Thursdays it's cream cheese, Fridays it's lunchmeat & cheese or vegemite & cheese
1 piece of fruit - apple, pear, mandarin, carrot, cucumber or strawberries
1 gogurt (yoghurt)
1 cheese & bikky packet
1 treat - homemade cookie, biscuits, savoury biscuit/chip type thing, muesli bar, bubble bar, tiny teddy packet, whatever else is in pantry