Keep packed lunch food chilled easily

Keeping packed lunch food at the right temperature when it's going to be kept all day in a hot school is not always easy. The last thing you want is your child to get ill because they've eaten something that's become too warm. You can put an ice pack in their packed lunch box but I find the easiest thing to do is freeze the food you want to be chilled or place it next to something frozen to keep it cool until it's time to eat. I do this for sandwiches and fromage frais. Check on the packaging if things are suitable for freezing before trying this. I freeze the fromage frais that come in tubes and place them in the lunch box on the morning of the day they will be eaten. I also freeze bread and rolls. If I'm making a sandwich which needs to be kept cool, I take the roll or bread out of the freezer the night before to butter it, then place it back in the freezer overnight. In the morning I simply add the cheese or other filling, then place the sandwich in the lunch box ready for school. It stays suitably cold until it's time to be eaten but also has enough time to thaw properly.

Liven up lunch! Inventive packed lunches for fussy eaters

My 2 sons are both extremely fussy eaters and because of their fussiness, have always taken a packed lunch to school as they generally don't like cooked food. I found very early on that just making sandwiches every day would soon become very boring for them and tried to come up with some other ideas to make their lunches more interesting while remaining fairly healthy (I state 'fairly healthy' as I do include chocolate spread, but it is occassional and the school don't mind). Here are some alternatives I've found to work, I hope they help you too:


Cheese scone with butter
Plain scone with butter and jam
Brioche with jam or butter or chocolate spread
Scotch pancakes with butter
Bread rolls with filling
Pitta bread with filling
Bagel with filling