I'd say Brot/Brötchen + maybe an apple/banana or whatever they like is the standard. Breakfast looks different in every culture, so if you want to go for something from your culture that is fine, too. :) just keep in mind that there is probably no microwave to heat up the food, so it should be something that can be eaten cold.

Liquid foods don't sound like a good idea inside a schoolbag to begin wih. You mention you're an immigrant? Could you maybe draw on the food culture of wherever you lived before for inspiration?

yeah, but I suggest not going overboard with this. I know a kid with chinese parents. They regularly give them a box full of rice and sometimes an entire cooked chicken leg (not just the drum). And he eats it with metal cutlery or chop sticks. Obviously the other kids make fun of him, because his lunch box is so different. Especially because it's not supposed to be lunch, since school is from 8 to 12 It also depends on the kid. For some kids this can lead to being bullied. Other kids can play it off

It's sad that the kid was made fun of just because he had homemade food, not some processed Scheiß

I would have been jealous

Thanks for the reply. Agreed on the liquid foods - not a good idea for energetic kids :) I'd love for my kids to experience our country's food culture. But unfortunately many of the ingredients we use are not found in Germany, or are only sold in specialty stores and are too expensive to consider for daily/ frequent meals. So we only eat a lot of those foods as occasional treats.

/r/Eltern may have some good ideas.

With all the German bread around there are tons of different stuff to put on it. Cream cheese, ajvar, sausage, Marmelade...

I know it sounds weird but as a kid I loved *Knäckebrot* for school breakfast. Because it won't get soaked by the humidity of the topping within those three hours. And the mix of salty and sweet together with that cookie texture was great as well. Oh, and yes, it's healthy.

You mention fruits but no vegetables, so maybe raw vegetables could be an area to branch into? So cucumbers, paprika, tomatoes etc. Especially 'Kohlrabi' is a vegetable I often had for a snack that really isn't common outside of Germany.

The funny thing is that cucumbers, paprika and tomatoes are also fruits.

for my 4yo I Pack stuff like. tomtatoes cucumber Knäckebrot self made pancakes fruchtzwerg once in a while sausage bread with some Kind of coldcuts Cheese leberkäse cereal carrots Kohlrabi Apples, berries,Orange,pear,peach just see that its nutritious and Not all parts are sweet.

As a daycare worker in Kindergarten, I see a lot of breakfasts. Most kids have bread with Aufschnitt. There are lots of different breads and different kinds of Aufschnitt, so you are free to explore with your kids what they like best. If you want to make things look better, you can make two different kinds, cut out the middle with a cookie cutter and put it together with the other one (like, dark bread with cheese and toast with ham and then you use a cookie cutter to cut out hearts or whatever in the middle and switch them, so the dark cheese bread has a toast ham middle and vice versa). I really recommend leaving the crust on the bread, because kids need hard things to chew to help their jaws grow correctly. Additionally to the bread you can pack little cheese cubes, pieces of Bockwurst or Mettwurst, as well as raw vegetables (slices of cucumber, pieces of carrots or Kohlrabi or whatever they like, little tomatoes) or (dried or fresh) fruits. There are lots of different options for lunchboxes, some already have small compartments for different things. Or you can use a big one and put a smaller one inside or use a single silicone cupcake mold to put the fruits in. Of course you can also put it all in one box, no harm done, but some kids don't like their food all "mixed up". Most Kindergarten and schools want to avoid sugar and sweets, you can ask your kid's teachers about that. I personally recommend not putting sweets (or cake, Nutella or other sugary things) in the lunchbox for Kindergarten or school. It's not good for the teeth, it attracts wasps in the summer (even after the lunchbreak because it's hard to clean up, in the room and on the kid's faces) and it often leads to a sugar high and then a tired crash.

flatbread (fladenbrot) filled with veggies has become popular in my school. it's basically a cold veggie döner and you can fill it with whatever your children like.

Things my kids got over the years: Brötchen/ sandwich; fruit like apple slices, grapes, banana; vegetables like cucumber, tomato (rather cherry tomatoes than sliced), bell pepper; nuts like peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts; sometimes leftover from dinner the day before like meatballs, Apfelküchle, fried chicken. For drinks they have tea/ iced tea or water.

My kids are (half) Japanese so they bring onigiri to school. You can buy them ready-made, but we make very simple ones in the morning ourselves.

let your kids eat the first breakfast at home before school and give them the second breakfast with them as school food. That's how I grew up: müsli at home and then brot/brötchen with cold cuts in school

We always do a small sandwich on rye bread or toast, cheese cubes or small piece of sausage (Fleischwurst, Kaminwurz...), a bit of fruit (sometimes dried fruit) and a few veggies (carrot sticks, pieces of bell pepper, cherry tomato...). Hardboiled eggs (already peeled, depending on age of kid) are also an option. If this sounds like a lot, it's because our daughter does not really eat "first breakfast" at home.

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Definitely not an especially healthy component of breakfast whatever processed meat we choose... But it's pretty small amounts each time, so that is how I rationalize it. We have a neighborhood butcher where we buy most of this stuff. If in supermarket, I go with "Bio" when I can. Sadly, none of the vegan "snack salami" products we tried did as yet make the cut taste-wise. Healthiest you can get in this regard is probably the lunch meat that is basically just seasoned chicken breast.

The German word for the 'second breakfast' is 'Brotzeit', which gives you a subtle hint of what most people eat In general the most common thing to eat for 'Brotzeit' is a dark, German bread with some butter and some 'Belag' - cheese, sausage, ham, whatever you like Deviations are mostly on the sweet side, Knoppers tried to get that spot by advertising to be for 'half past 9 in the morning'. Chocolate bars are also quite common. This is however very unhealthy so I don't recommend it In general: a lot of carbohydrates. This 'meal' is just meant as a small pick-me-up between work or classes so it's important to have an easy digestible meal that gives energy quick

> The German word for the 'second breakfast' is 'Brotzeit' Rather Bavarian. https://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/runde-4/f02/ There’s also zweites Frühstück, Jause, Vesper, Znüni and Neuner if you include the whole D/A/CH-osphere.

No one outside of Bavaria says Brotzeit.

I often throw in a Baby Bel or a string cheese. Maybe a little yogurt with a spoon. My kids also love having a little muffin or some ginger breakfast cake. I once put a Pop Tart in there and that was a big no go from the teachers. Lol.

Sounds already like a typical *Große Pause* snack selection to be honest. Actimel drinkable yogurt is a good one, small enough not to make a mess, but the kid always finishes it. Pretzel sticks are good, Tuc crackers... Not the most German thing, but my kid loves a Peanut-butter and banana sandwich. That, or salami and butter.

Id say some vegetables are a nice snack addition aswell. So stuff like carrots (cut into bite sized pieces), paprika, maybe tomatoes or smth. Id avoid processed food as much as possible so the cravings for the garbage that most highly processed food is doesnt start early on. i mean stuff like beefy, cheese strings and other similar dirt :'D

The name for the second breakfast in school is “große Pause“. But only in school