Afterschool Meals Ideas

Lemonposset

My son is starting back to school next week & he'll be going to afterschool at a facility run beside the school. They have had to reorganise the space to allow for extra spacing and the previously used lunch room is no longer available. This means there are no longer microwaves available to reheat food and anything I give him will have to be eaten cold in the afternoon. It's less than ideal but we're sure they're doing their best within the limits.

Does anyone have any suggestions for things I could give him that would still be appetising at 3pm after being packed that morning?! I'm stumped!

nikpmup

Lemonposset wrote: »

My son is starting back to school next week & he'll be going to afterschool at a facility run beside the school. They have had to reorganise the space to allow for extra spacing and the previously used lunch room is no longer available. This means there are no longer microwaves available to reheat food and anything I give him will have to be eaten cold in the afternoon. It's less than ideal but we're sure they're doing their best within the limits.

Does anyone have any suggestions for things I could give him that would still be appetising at 3pm after being packed that morning?! I'm stumped!

Is it just a substantial snack or a full meal? For a snack, you could pack stuff like, cheese cubes, fruit, a pot of hummus and veg sticks/crackers/breadsticks, a banana, wholemeal bread roll. A pot of yogurt taken out of the freezer will defrost during the day and would still be cool at 3pm if its in an insulated pack, or a frozen juice/smoothie - it'll keep the food cold too. For a bigger meal, it's hard to know - pasta salad with pesto/cheese/veggies, maybe some chicken or ham? Invest in a freezer block to put in the lunch pack to keep everything cold.

tickingclock

You can buy kids thermal containers like flasks for food as well as liquid. Soup would be an idea for the liquid ones. Any dinner left overs like casserole would work well in the food ones. Coloured pasta works a treat in this house with cousins as well as my kids with pesto added to it.

Dravokivich

Why were they only reheating food?

I would suggest getting a thermos food flask (or a couple), and put in things like stews, soups, etc. You could make the soups and stews in a slow cooker the night before, in the morning, put the hot soup/stew in the flask in the morning.

I went to boarding school but there was also an after school arrangement, what we called day boarders which was similar. We had supper at about 9pm, and in winter, hot soup or stew would have been a dream come true.

Here is one such flask: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermos-Stainless-King-Food-Flask/dp/B00DGPPY20/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=thermos+food+flask&qid=1598266533&sr=8-5

jlm29

https://www.evergreen.ie/cheeki-insulated-food-jar

Something like this might work for you

Lemonposset

Love the flask idea, thank you!

Like you Denartha I think having something warm to eat in the afternoon would be lovely. I think warm meals were provided before but aren't this year. It's our 1st year at this school so can't speak from experience.

I also love the snack ideas Nikpmup, will definitely use some of those anyway!

Lemonposset

Lemonposset wrote: »

Love the flask idea, thank you!

Like you Denartha I think having something warm to eat in the afternoon would be lovely. I think warm meals were provided before but aren't this year. It's our 1st year at this school so can't speak from experience.

I also love the snack ideas Nikpmup, will definitely use some of those anyway!

At 1.50 per bag, it might be an expensive way of doing it, but for winter months, how about a Flameless ration heater. I've used them in the military and when camping. You put your cold food into the bag, open another flap and pour in cold water, it heats the food. Might be a nice treat for him when things get cold.

TM2015

You could always get a thermos and give your child a hot meal for lunch and then some snacks/cold meal for the afterschool?

Various pasta dishes, curry, stews, even nice, homemade chicken nuggets and mash, veggie fried rice etc would keep hot until they have their school lunch at around 12.

jlm29

OP if you didn’t get sorted, I just spotted someone on Instagram saying they had gotten insulated food flasks in lidl

Kintarō Hattori

Quiche! Always a winner and can be eaten hot or cold. I make it for my 3 year old with onion, pancetta, finely chopped mushrooms. Let me know if you want a recipe.