packed lunches. How times have changed!

My GD swaps what she doesn't want with her friends ao rarely anything comes home

DD and I prepared lunch for the DGC and other children and I cut up peppers, cucumber, carrots into sticks and put them in the middle on a large platter. The other mum said 'children eating vegetables?! Never!' but ours dived in and the plate was cleared.

Sandwiches used to come home regularly here too, with a bite only taken out of an apple and probably a yoghurt eaten.

Packed lunches for my children were the usual sliced hard boiled eggs, meat, or cheese sandwiches, crisps, a biscuit of some sort or a cake. An apple was always included but always came home uneaten. My grandson has a wrap or sandwich with chicken or ham in it, cucumber and carrot sticks, grapes or raspberries, a packet of crisps, sometimes a home made muffin, and a smoothie. They are not allowed to take anything that involves chocolate, either in or on.

I don’t think any of my DGS have had a packed lunch yet, but judging by the length of time they dawdle over veg sticks and dips, I hope the school’s built in plenty of time for lunch. ?

My DS was the only one of mine who wanted a packed lunch for school, just because he wanted to get straight out to play football. I’d send a sandwich, crisps, fruit and a biscuit, and every day the box would come back out with a sandwich, crisps, fruit and a biscuit... I’d just change the sandwich, in case he ever bit into it.

My 3 yr old GD's typical packed lunch for nursery is some breadsticks, a couple of slices of cucumber, a slice of ham, a baby bel cheese, a pot of fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, satsuma segments), and a mini packet of yoghurt raisins or fruit flakes.

Oh and yes, a hard boiled egg is a firm favourite too!

Yes, the hard boiled egg with a tiny bit of shell left on that you didn’t notice until crunched in your teeth. Yuk ?

Don’t forget the hard boiled egg! We always had one wrapped in tinfoil for some reason if we had a picnic. Never had a packed lunch. Like others, all my dgc have a much different diet with dgs 3 even turning down a piece of Easter egg in favour of a snack plate of veg/dip. (Nanna didn’t eat the chocolate-I managed to restrain myself!)

My daughter's children drink only water at mealtimes, but in their lunchboxes they may have olives, hummus, guacamole, breadsticks and other items that would have been considered exotic in my day.

Yes, a change for the better.

no juices or smoothies allowed in packed school lunches here ,only water,nothing sweet either .Its a sandwich some carrot sticks ,a couple of clementines ,crisps and water .Somedays she'll have a chicken salad or a pasta salad .

Many primary schools these days "police" packed lunches. No crisps, chocolate, sugary drinks etc allowed. Ours were certainly very different, but I suppose there was a lot less of the "bad stuff" around - if we had a packet of crisps for packed lunch that was the only treat of the day.

My DGS (8) loves those little Santini tomatoes, carrot sticks, cucumber batons and humous. He will sit happily dipping away. His best packed lunch consists of the above plus a wheatgerm wrap (filled with tuna and sweet corn) and a carton of apple juice.

and a fancy juice smoothie drink. We only ever got water

All my DGC would prefer carrot sticks and humous to any chocolate bar mrsp (regular state schools too) . They have very varied tastes and try almost anything. They like variety in their packed lunches too.