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have got really stuck in a rut with what to put in the school lunchboxes!always the same cheese sarnis,hummus&bredstix,fruit&ayogurt,& on a good week when i've found time to bake an extra treat!Yes I know I could search my many cookbooks but being nosy I guess to see if anyone can give me inspiration!?

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

What about a few nuts and raisins. some chopped dried apricots, date and apple sarnies.
yes, it is very difficult to make exciting lunch boxes for children. Hope you get good suggestions.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

That sounds like a really good lunch! You could change the bread for variety: pittas/wraps/muffins/rice cakes/crackers. Change the cheese: smoked, Edam, Brie, Babybel, Stinking Bishop (!)
Put some chopped veggies in place of fruit: cuke, cherry toms, sliced carrots.
Flapjacks and oaty biscuits are quick to make in bulk, just freeze and defrost as needed. Ditto mini-pizzas (pitta bread, ketchup, cheese)
I usually have a rice salad in my lunchbox: brown basmati with mixed veg, seasoned with soy or chilli sauce, with toasted nuts and seeds on top. Yum.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I do a salad - a couple of carrots in chunks, half a pepper, few tomatoes, and a fistful of leaves of some sort. And often a small tub of fresh fruit - berries, or a couple of plums, or a pear, or a mix of stuff if I really have time.

The toddler has a yoghurt, some fresh fruit and usually cheese and crackers. But today she wanted some tomatoes, a lettuce leaf and some ham in a tub. Often, rather than a chunk of cheese, she likes a little plastic tub of grated cheese (cheddar and edam being the usual favourites).

What about a little tub of a tuna/mayo/sweetcorn/diced peppers mix and some crackers, or a salad with leftover pasta and some pesto or olive oil and tiny pieces of pepper/sweetcorn/tomato etc?

Couscous with some roasted vegetables (I often do an extra big tray of roasted veg for Sunday dinner and use the leftovers for couscous on Mon/Tues).

Pitta pockets.

Scones can freeze quite well - mini cheese scones would be a nice change.

Tomato, sliced but travelling in a seperate tub (no soggy sambo!!)

Winged One,
It sounds like your new Salad Bar is paying off Big Stylie! Really glad to hear it......X

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With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com
Hubble Bubble Toil & Trubble (updated Sun 31st Aug. 2015 hrs)

It seems to me that your problem is not inspiration but getting stuck in a rut. You get stuck in a rut because you buy the same ingredients all the time and that's all you have to fall back on when making lunch. Here's my solution. Take it or leave it. :-)

Find five different, well-balanced meals and buy all the ingredients. Then, put them all in a rotation system of five weeks. Using combinatorics there are probably 125 different permutations to which day of the week that the meal gets served. Make a chart calling eah meal 1,2,3,4,&5 respectively.
1,2,3,4,5 week 1
2,3,4,5,1 week 2
3,4,5,1,2 week 3
4,5,1,2,3 week 4
5,1,2,3,4 week 5
and now throw caution to the wind and mix the numbers up in a hat and pick them out randomly!
3,1,5,2,4
1,5,2,4,3
5,2,4,3,1
etc.
etc.
Serve shaken but not stirred! But, always, always remember to buy all the ingredients every week.

Wellie - yes and thank you so much for the inspiration!! I need to plant up another pot this weekend as the first pot is almost finished (and I am going to leave the rest so that the turnips I was eating leaves off can grow into proper turnips!!).

But it's so nice to wander around either late in the evening or a quick dash in the morning grabbing my lunch from the garden!!

cheers 4 ideas/inspiration.think my fear of being too adventurous with lunch is that if she dont like then she spends the rest of day @ school & hungry;whereas @ home if she really doesnt like something then an alternative can be provided.Time 2 be brave!!!maybe test out some pasta salads etc over w/e to see which she'd be up 4 in lunchbox.dont know if other mums are the same but i have to admit to rarely trying new stuff anymore as its far easier to give them what you know they like!used 2 be far more adventurous in the early days&they used 2 eat nearly everything,

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

pasta salads are great for kids! make sure your pasta is really cool before adding stuff otherwise it goes soggy, try tuna / cheese / bacon / mixed with salad leaves and a few veg.

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Yo an' Bob
Walk lightly on the earth
take only what you need
give all you can
and your produce will be bountifull

Being a bit older (my kids left school over a decade ago) I tend to feel that encouraging kids to be fussy is not a good foundation for life. Make sure that there is SOMETHING she likes in the box, and if she prefers to only have half a lunch instead of eating a new item, that would be her choice. If the same thing gets left repeatedly (I would say 3 tries), you know not to include it again (and NEVER put in an item she left yesterday, or something you already know for sure she dislikes, as opposed to not tried it before). She may sometimes be hungry enough to experiment with what she thinks she doesn't like, and find out she likes it after all....

i cook pasta then when cool mix in a little salad dressing, i like the following :- pesto, honey & mustard, garlic and herb. also do mayo then mix with grilled bacon and chicken. or just cheese with the pasta.
i make quick buscuits receipe 4oz sr flour, 2oz butter, 2oz caster sugar beaten egg. rub everything together until like a crumble then add enough egg to make a dough, place small thin circles 2pence size on baking tray on grease proof paper bake gas 5 20-30 mins until hard.
you can add the following to jazz up :- cocoa powder (enough to look chocolate colour), hand full of desicated coconut, raisins, currents, sultanas, cherries, mixed peel, mashed banana.
keep in an air tight container.
my little one likes make theses as well as eating them.

Chocolate and crisps mainly.lol.

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The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

sent 4 squares of choc in her lunch once & she came home & told me the dinnerladies told her she's not supposed to have "sweets" in her lunchbox!yet they seem to have no problem with crisps/sugar laden cereal bars & lots of other stuff that I limit to w/e's only!mum&dad brought us some Roses(choc)round today,i might be a real rebel & put a couple in her lunch!!!if they going to "ban"chocolate in L,box then sorry i think they should ban crisps too!far more rubbish in a pack of crisps than 4 squares of choc.

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Yeah, they should either make the rules realistic, or not bother. Crisps are as bad as sweets (depending on quantity) and more sensible would be a 'ration' of not-really-good-for-you stuff, like the "sins" one slimming club uses. Allow 1 'sin' per child per day, and that could be a few chocs, a packet of crisps, maybe 2 packets of low fat crisps<g>...
Too sensible to actually happen......

What about Gypsy tart!lol.

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The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

I make Welsh Cakes - they are full of stuff that keeps you going all day, a bit of sugar for a kick straight away, fruit for a medium-term burn of energy and some fats for the long haul. THey can be made up in advance and frozen too, but fresh is best!

Recipe (makes about 12)
Measure out 225g plain flour (actually I use a bit of self-raising mixed in usually) with 1tsp baking powder and 1/2tsp mixed spice. Rub in 50g butter/marg and 50g lard (you can do it with just butter or marg but the texture is better with half lard). Stir into this 75g caster sugar and 50g currants. Mix in a beaten egg and a splash of milk to make a sticky dough (Welsh MIL sometimes puts in a mashed banana or grated cooking apple instead of the milk, which are both lovely variations).

Turn the mixture out onto a WELL floured board, roll out to a thickness of about a centimetre (just less than 1/2 inch) - you'll need to flour the top and the rolling pin and your hands too probably - and use a cutter to cut into rounds. Heat a dry griddle pan or large frying pan to a medium heat and cook the cakes for enough time to be golden brown, flip them over and do the other side. The middle should be just about cooked. They are quite delicate when just done but firm up well on cooling.

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

cous-cous salad (if they'd eat it)

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http://www.freewebs.com/notesfromtheplot/ **updated**

Thats my Favourite W1 Cheese & Tom Sarnie made the night before and loads of fresh black pepper ( drools on keyboard)

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Wish my wife would send me of to work with a nice Tart

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/