Your child’s lunchbox may be square but its contents needn’t be. It’s easy to add enough taste, variety, excitement and nutrition to tempt even the fussiest eater. Diane Cross explains how

Although children appreciate familiarity, a continuing round of cheese sandwiches for lunch can get really boring. However, there are many simple ways to make a packed lunch exciting.

Bread may be a staple of the school diet, but it needn’t be boring. From fruit or malt loaf to organic raisin-and-sunflower bread, a change of loaf could do the trick. But if white is right and wholemeal is not to be endured (remember that Hovis now bake a white wholemeal loaf), add interest with a pack of mini or finger rolls.

Someone who sees countless numbers of lunchboxes returning home untouched is primary school headteacher Mrs Carol Kite. ‘Change the shape of what you are offering by using pastry or play-dough cutters to make fun-shaped sandwiches,’ advises Mrs Kite. ‘Don’t give them doorstops, and if they don’t like crusts then cut them off.’ Impress your kids with a ‘sandwich winder’. Using bread from a thin-sliced loaf, remove the crusts, lightly spread with butter then add a colourful filling such as chocolate spread, fish paste, jam or lemon curd – anything colourful you know your kids will eat. Then roll up the bread with the filling on the inside and cut into slices. The Catherine-wheel-shaped sandwiches look great and should go down a treat.

And there’s no need to get stuck in that four-filling cycle of cheese, ham, Marmite and jam. Experiment with interesting ingredients such as:

• cream cheese with chopped grapes, banana slices or sultanas
• canned tuna and sweetcorn mixed with a little ketchup or low-fat mayo
• scrambled egg and crispy bacon
• smoked salmon with cress

There are countless options once you get thinking.

It’s possible to omit bread altogether and still ensure that your child’s packed lunch contains sufficient carbohydrate.

Pasta is the perfect alternative, and it is easy to make great salads. For maximum impact, use tricolour or animal-shaped pasta. Cook it with a few drops of olive oil to prevent it sticking, then cool in the fridge. Mix this in a small pot with such favourites as cubes of cheese and cucumber, olives, grapes, dried fruit and nuts, chopped red pepper, grated carrot, cherry tomatoes, tuna fish or canned salmon.

Fruit can be fun, too, as there’s a wealth of different fruit available if the young luncher can be persuaded to experiment. Kiwi or fun-looking star fruit make an exciting change, or use a scoop to cut small melon balls, which can be stabbed with a cocktail stick.

‘It’s best to prepare fruit at home and place it in small pots, or used dried fruit,’ advises Mrs Kite. ‘It is not hygienic for one school knife to be used to cut up apples for all the children.’

Leftovers for lunch
It’s incredibly time-consuming preparing a proper cold meal for lunch, unless the previous evening’s leftovers can be adapted easily. Do avoid rice, however, which does not keep safely out of a fridge.

Yesterday’s dinner may impress other parents, but your child may not appreciate your efforts. ‘Children are under great pressure to go out and play during their lunch,’ complained a mother whose homemade chicken salad lunch had been returned untouched by her critical daughter.

The numerous pre-made snacks – Frubes, Dippers, Winders and so on – can be expensive but they are an easy way of introducing colour and variety. Mrs Kite, however, sounds a note of caution. ‘If children are having a lot of these pre-packed items they can become fussier eaters who won’t touch ‘real’ food. It is important that they continue to have fresh food and fruit.’

But children hate to feel left out, and peer pressure can be considerable. The best of these treats work well in tandem with the traditional offerings to ensure that your child has enough energy to bounce through both halves of the school day.