When my eldest started school I decided she would take a packed lunch. I made this decision as I thought it would be cheaper and I would know what she was eating. I have carried on doing this and she is now at high school. My youngest started taking a packed lunch to nursery and still does now she is in reception.
They do have a school dinner sometimes, when it is a special one like Christmas dinner or a teddy bears picnic.

I want my children to have a healthy diet and this includes at dinner time, this isn't to say they don't eat chocolate and crisp - they do a lot, but it's all in moderation.

I know I would get bored if I ate sandwiches every day and my girls are no different, in fact my youngest isn't keen on sandwiches. This means I have to have lots of idea.

For a healthy dinner that will keep you going all day (or until you get home from school/work) try to include protein, carbohydrate and some fruit.

I tend to put a main and one or two snacks in my girls lunch boxes my eldest has an extra snack for break which tends to be one of the following quorn fillets, quorn bites, a piece of fruit, a carrot, a cereal bar or sometimes a bag of crisps or something similar.

The mains tend to be one of the following a sandwich, wrap or pitta with lettuce, quorn meat or cheese, somtimes cucumber and mayo might go on it (more likely when husband makes it). Sometimes I make a broccoli quiche, other things are cheese/sausage rolls, sausage wraps (we don't eat meat so quorn/soya), pasta salad, cous cous with broccoli escalope or a pasty. If I am desparate for my youngest it might be pasta sausage and cucumber.

Fruit can include one or two mainly of grapes, strawberries, kiwi, melon or tinned fruit such as pears, pinapples or peaches.
Sometimes they don't have anything else depending what the main was other times they might have cheese, a biscuit or small chocolate bar. A yoghurt goes down well with my youngest and she really likes the corner ones with either cereal or chocolate in. My eldest might have a bag of crisp. I tend to keep the chocolate crisps etc to once or twice a week. Another treat that sometimes goes in is cheese dipper of some kind. But sometimes I buy the small packs of philidelphia cheese so I will put one of those in and either bread sticks or cucumber and pepper sticks to eat with it.
Raisons or dried fruit or fruit flakes coated in yoghurt go down well with my youngest.

Oh and they always have a drink.

I know it can be difficult to think of different things to put in your childs lunch box especially if they are fussy and sometimes time plays a part in just doing the same thing. I always do the dinners the night before never in the morning as I simply wouldn't have time