Packed lunches with Mrs M!

It's the start of a new school year today and to make this change, my darling children have decided that it's time for them to go back on to packed lunches. We've had nearly a year of school dinners, which they've enjoyed, especially as they can opt to have a school sandwich or baguette, so it doesn't really bother me to start making them again. In fact, secretly I quite enjoy making them and at least I know if I do run out of time one day, as long as their dinner money account has some credit, they can just opt for a school lunch that day - I LOVE the school dinner system!

The biggest challenge I found when making packed lunches was making sure there was enough variety. It's too easy just to shove the same thing in day after day, so now I keep a list of packed lunch foods, just ready for inspiration and I thought that I'd share it with my dear readers just in case you needed a few ideas from time to time!  Not that there's anything outstandingly different here of course, I have a fussy son, so the plainer the better!  I'm not too much of a food snob and will happily use tinned fruit in place of fresh as it's easy to keep a stock in the cupboard for days when the fruit bowl is either looking a bit bare, or well, manky. 

The essence of a good packed lunch, in the eyes of my children is variety (so I opt for lots of little bits rather than a big mound of sandwiches) and speed - they don't want to miss more of their playtime outside than they have to. Anything that takes too long to eat is a big no-no.

• Sandwiches - I use a variety of different breads for sandwiches and I only tend to put in the equivalent of two quarters, as it just doesn't get eaten. I use sliced bread, tortilla wraps, mini pitta breads, bread rolls, croissants, cream crackers, bagels and stick to basic fillings such as ham, cheese, jam, grated carrot & cream cheese etc.  Never egg & cress as it's too smelly. Or so says Mr M.  Pinwheel sandwiches also make an appearance as a special treat. 

• Sandwich Alternatives - Only occasionally as neither of mine are very keen but pasta salad, rice salad, cous cous or for the little lady something like a small prawn cocktail salad, 

• Vegetables - There is always some type of vegetable portion in the lunchbox, in addition to any salad that may be lurking in a sandwich. This is normally carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, red pepper sticks or a pot of tinned sweetcorn (which is probably their favourite).

• Fruit - Easy-to-eat fruit is the key here or it just doesn't get eaten. We stick to berries and chunks of fruit like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, watermelon chunks, kiwi slices, grapes, pineapple chunks and then tinned fruit like mandarin segments or tinned peaches. I also pop in dried fruit like raisins and apricots and the only "whole" fruit I put in is a satsuma or a banana. Never an apple or pear - I get big complaints about this!

• Other Snacks - I often turn to other snacks to liven it up a bit. Generally there's always some kind of cheese in there, normally cubes or Red Leicester or Cheddar (a handy hint is to cut this into shapes with small cookie cutters - lots of fun!) and then there might be something like a sausage roll, slices of quiche or frittata, mini pizzas, cold cooked chicken nuggets, cocktail sausages, breadsticks, pretzels, scotch eggs, hard-boiled eggs, coleslaw and whatever else might be nesting in the fridge.

• Dips - Depending on what snacks are in the lunch box, my children might find a dip. This could be ketchup to go with cocktail sausages or chicken nuggets, sour cream, mayonnaise, hummus or cream cheese to go with veggies.

• Yoghurt/Jelly - I generally always put in a yoghurt, only a small one like a Petit Filous or similar but the preference is for Frubes (or any other cheaper equivalent). If they're lucky they might find a jelly in the lunchbox and Sainsburys also do jelly tubes which went down well.

• Cake - I'm not opposed to a small cake or biscuit in a lunch box. Normally I'll go for something like a muffin, flapjack, gingerbread biscuit or maybe just a cereal bar.

• Drinks - The children have water bottles at school so a drink isn't strictly necessary but I always put in a carton of pure juice - either apple, orange and pineapple - as it's another portion of fruit.  

I find that food on a stick goes down well - things like fruit kebabs, little cheese and ham or cheese and tomato kebabs too. 

I generally stick to school advice about putting crisps and chocolate biscuits in lunch boxes. We're not told not to but the advice is it's preferred not to. However, I am in the camp of everything in moderation (not true at all, I am generally a gluttonous pig) so on Friday's my children will find a little tub of Hula Hoops, Quavers or Cheesy Wotsits in their lunch box. I share a bag of crisps between two as they'd never eat a whole one! They'll also get a more of special cake, like lemon drizzle, chocolate sponge or some Jaffa cakes. 

Finally, my top tip is to always pop in a small sandwich bag for rubbish and a napkin for them to mop up any inevitable spillages. This tends to keep the lunch box a bit cleaner, those insulated bags get a bit whiffy after a while if they're subjected to yoghurt explosions too often!

Hope you find that helpful. You may not, but that's how we do it here. Do share any of your hints, tips and ideas below in the comments, I'm always looking for new ideas! 

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/buzzymelibee/