"Only 1% of kids packed lunches healthy" says BBC breakfast news - surely this can't be true?

[Littleknight]

Just saw an article on BBC breakfast news that only 1% of children have healthy packed lunches. I can't believe this - surely it's more.
Come MN's lets set the record straight!

[gorionine]

Are you after lunch box content, OP?

[Katz]

well today lunch boxes contained:

DD1 - Tomato Soup, Bread Roll, 2 plums and a frube yogurt, carton of apple juice.

DD2 - tub of humus, pitta pocket, cucumber and pepper pieces, olives, frube yougurt and a carton of pineapple juice.

[ImSoNotTelling]

I just saw this on BBC website and was going to start a thread! I clicked through to the suggested lunchbox ideas and was a little [shocl] to say the least.

BBC item

suggested lunchbox menus

[thisisyesterday]

well i feel it's unlikely that anyone has managed to check the lunch box of every single child in the country, so i'd hazard a guess at untrue!

i am sure plenty are lacking, however I think it's up to parents what they feed their kids. a lunch box makes up one meal, so who cares? they could be eatingfabulously at breakfast and dinner time so it doesn't really matter.

fwiw however, ds1's lunch box today contains
cheese sandwich
mini cheddars
tomatoes
olives
an orange

[BooHooMonkey]

I saw this article too and thought it seemed a bit off.DS went to school today with -
Sandwich (Tuna salad on granary)
Red Pepper sticks
Banana
Yoghurt
Apple juice

[ImSoNotTelling]

WTF is wrong with a sandwich?

In our house we have lots of veg with big homecooked supper - I'm sure it's the same in a lot of houses.

[NorbertDentressangle]

It depends what they define as a healthy lunchbox though.

I'm starting to feel that "they" are not going to be happy until every lunch box is 100% sugar-free, salt-free, completely additive and preservative-free, fat-free, 100% organic.....

Raw organic carrot sticks then

[thedollshouse]

In the nursery where I work I would say that around 80% of the packed lunches are healthy. Even the unhealthy ones aren't that bad.

[SofaQueen]

I was shocked by this result.

DSs:
Grilled chicken bites with barbeque sauce
red pepper strips
apple slices
yoghurt
water

Would never dream of putting crisps, biscuits, or chocolate in his lunchbox.

[bibbitybobbitysantahat]

Mine had pitta with pesto-topped hummus, carrot sticks (organic, natch ), mini babybel cheese, satsuma, carton of pineapple juice, frube.

[SofaQueen]

Nothing is wrong with a sandwich, except that DS got bored of them after eating them every day for 6 months.

[morningpaper]

Those suggested lunchboxes are MAD

what child would eat "sliced roast beef with an onion and avocado salad" ?

It would also surely leave you STARVING HUNGRY?

Whoever wrote that does NOT have children

[bibbitybobbitysantahat]

Didn't you give your ds any carbs Sofa?

[ImSoNotTelling]

See attached menu ideas.

Includes things like

Homemade brown rice salad with mango, peppers & mixed salad beans
Homemade sausage & broccoli
pasta salad
Falafela & hummous pitta bread with tomato, onion & avocado salad.

So hop to it ladies. We need homecooked lunches all round.

A cheese sandwich with a handful of cherry tomatoes and a banana is simply not good enough. It's got to be hand crafted 3 bean salads all round. Irrespective of whether your child will eat 3 bean salads or not

Plus better all jack in the jobs in order to have the time to make all teh 3 bean salads and falafels in addition to the other meals and running the home.

(The menus don't show mention seasonality or food miles? An oversight I'm sure)

[NoBiggy]

DD has crisps or biscuit once a week, on a Friday. It was the school's suggestion to save it for one day. If she fancies a school lunch she has one. And even if they call it "chipped potatoes" it's still chips. Followed by a cake, quite often.

[morningpaper]

sofa that is a small plate of salad - does he not get hungry?

[HuwEdwards]

My 2 have packed lunches twice a week - they'd love more but I hate doing them.

They usually have

a brown roll (ham, turkey, cheese or tuna)
cucumber/grapes
fruit juice
crips
frube
chocolate bar.

They always eat the lot

I love cooking and they eat wonderfully at home. I will not be bullied into someone else's version of a healthy lunch box.

[Francagoestohollywood]

I was going to say that the suggested lunch boxes were actually rather reasonable !

[morningpaper]

Hmmm perhaps that ad should say

CAREER WOMEN MAKE BAD LUNCHBOXES?

[AvengingGerbil]

I get so cross about this. Prue Leith was on the Today programme telling us that parents welcome schools dictating what can be put in lunchboxes.

But my child developed quite serious food phobias after being constantly told at school about 'healthy eating' - ie anything with calories bad, fruit always good.

IF schools actually understood that healthy eating for six year olds is not the same as the dietary fads of the twenty-something young women who made up most of the teachers my child had, then there might be some point in it. But when said 6 yr old is told that a piece of cheddar cheese and a cream cracker is 'not a healthy snack' (because it was not a sugar-laden piece of fruit) and consequently refused to take one at all, I lose patience.

[havoc]

We have the lunch box police at DD school, so thanks to them I am confident that I (finally) give her a healthy lunch!

[thedollshouse]

Yeah I can just picture myself chopping up an onion and avocado salad first thing in the morning.

Those menus are all very well but unless you have 6 children or loads of money to waste they are still going to be having Monday's suggested choice on Thursday. Nobody has enough money to provide such variety on a daily basis.

I have just switched ds back to school meals as providing packed lunches is a pain in the backside and you have to send them in with the same thing if you don't want to waste food. The downside to school dinners is the cost I am just about to write a cheque out for £60 for this half terms meals, would be affordable if they would accept the money on a weekly basis but they won't and it is really hard to find that amount of money every 6 weeks.

[TigerFeet]

dd1 turns her nose up in disgust at anything that isn't a sandwich

she'd have a ham and cheese butty for every meal if i'd let her

as it is, she has a sandwich, a yogurt, some cheese, raisins, a piece of fruit

very occasionally, less than once a week, she might get a packet of crisps if the contents of the fruit bowl are looking a bit brown sparse

she does eat some sweets, chocolate and so forth but not for lunch, at school or otherwise

brown rice salad with mango? hahahahahaha

[l39]

My children would not eat their suggested menus - even though they love vegetables and eat pretty well - and I'm shocked they seem to think 16 to 30 minutes is a reasonable time to spend making a packed lunch! Has the person who made up these menus ever tried to get 2 or 3 children ready for school while breastfeeding a baby? Half an hour a lunch is ludicrous.

[NoahAndTheWhale]

I am sure DS's is unhealthy.

Ham sandwich
Carton of orange juice
Mini cheddars
Satsuma (which I know he won't eat but at least I try )
Thing like cheese string but different make
Chocolate biscuit

Sometimes they are better, sometimes they are worse.

Sometimes he has school dinners, which often have some sort of chocolate based pudding, so I don't feel bad about the chocolate. Might put in some red pepper tomorrow though.