Extravagant Pack Lunches

Give it till half term and it will be a sandwich, packet of crisps and a satsuma..its early term enthusiasm. 😁

My son used to take sushi rolls he'd made with me sometimes. He's nearly 29 now so not a new thing. Bento boxes are fab for those of us who don't like our crisps and grapes touching.

YABU - it's not exactly champaign and caviar

Not really. It sounds like possibly they're eating leftovers, which is very economical. None of those ingredients are particularly expensive, especially if you're buying ingredients to cook with. All these things are available in supermarkets.

@Cherrytree86 if they are mainly using leftovers they are not buying different foods for the packed lunch

If that's what their kids will eat and they can afford it more the power to them for doing their children such lovely lunches. My childs packed lunch will consist of Lunchers (she won't eat sandwiches or school dinners), a yoghurt, a cheese string, a mini pack of biscuits (like maryland minis), bag of crisps, raisins, yoghurt covered fruit piece things, an apple, an orange and a pear. That's what my child will eat everyday for lunch.

Why? The only expensive item on there is smoked salmon, but even that can be brought pretty cheaply on offer or reduced.

@Diadrie I was sending my DCs to school with packed lunches you describe as ‘over the top’ 20 plus years ago. It was the food we ate at home so why would I not let them have the same at school? Oh and for the record at that time I had a mortgage to pay as well.

It must cost the parents a fortune!!

It's interesting that this is the packed lunch you chose to deride rather than the sort of packed lunches I regularly see in school of:

Jam or cheap ham sandwich
Packet of crisps
Chocolate bar or biscuit
Frube
Juice carton

A lot of children in the UK eat absolutely terribly and a huge amount of ultra processed rubbish. Judging a steak sandwich or some quiche in comparison seems ludicrous.

To be fair, you can make them quite low cost, with supermarket bagels and cream cheese. You can often get packs of salmon reasonably cheaply as well. If your daughter likes them, why not!

My son took sushi to preschool at 3/4 years old as he loves it 🍣

Not sure how you know who and who hasn’t paid off their mortgages and it would be most unusual for many young families to have paid them off despite a 6 figure salary.

What is wrong with a lunchbox containing little, if any ultra processed foods? As others have pointed out, bagels and quiche are not that unusual at all. Quiche was very popular in packed lunches from the 1970s and bagels have been since 1990s. Focaccia less so, but it’s not as commonly eaten at home, certainly during the week. I had quiche in packed lunches as a child and my DC had quiche and bagels. DGC loves quiche and a bagel and will frequently have leftovers of all descriptions in their packed lunches during holiday care (still young enough to have free school meals).

Poor kid was probably eating in line with what is normal for their family.

Inverse snobbery.

Would it be ok to sneer at the parents who give their children cheap sausage rolls, crisps, chocolate and a can of fizzy pop?

Sounds like leftovers. And if the child likes it then great.
If you are having a quiche or some salmon for dinner and some is left over then chucking it cold in a lunchbox is a great idea.
The smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel is literally my favourite sandwich, if my kids ate that I would give it to them but sadly they are of the ham and cheddar style. But if they ate smoked salmon I would give it to them for sure.

I remember when I was a kid, my mum's sisters being up in arms that she let us eat smoked salmon and steak (occasionally, my mum wasn't rich!) because they said we were too young to appreciate them, but I loved them then and love them now. Why shouldn't have food they enjoy?

Now my own DD is 5, and she's a very fussy eater but she does love smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, so I don't mind giving them to her (obvs not every day, I'm not rich either!). I'm just delighted she's found a food that's healthy and that she enjoys and eats up!

Depends what they eat at home. It sounds quite normal for my household. Better than Monster Munch and fizzy drinks!

Edit to add that my 5yo loves smoked salmon and smoked trout, olives, quiche etc. I even take her to a reasonably priced tasting menu restaurant sometimes. But don’t panic, she has her share of fish fingers and chicken nuggets too.

I once went on a school trip and a student produced sushi for lunch. I thought it was brilliant, having seaweed and fish with rice! Very healthy.

Why does it need to be a class. Im not middle class and I eat all those things as do my children. How strange that you think people should eat to their class.

I don’t see anything wrong with it. Some of my grandchildren had homemade sushi in the shape of salmon and cucumber and rice balls dipped in sesame seeds in their lunch box today. Tomorrow it could be a Mexican style wrap with steak in it. Maybe even lamb curry and a chappati.

Op, I think you’d like a lunch box like the child has and that you’re peed off you don’t.

How dare they feed their child proper food. 5 year olds only deserve ultra-processed food. Dairylea Lunchables should be mandatory at that age

@Diadrie how an earth do you know which parents are mortgage free??

North east thing, bait and bait box

My five year old DD doesn’t like bagels but she loves homemade sushi as its yummy finger food.
I’m only too happy to make it for her as she doesn’t really like any other type of fish or seafood but have also had it become the topic of discussion at the school gate (?!)

I often put salmon and cream cheese bagel into my dc’s lunches (half each when young) because they actually are that and it’s not any more expensive then ham or beef, (I only buy decent ham). I also would sometimes give them quiche, potato salad and green salad, but this would be leftovers, focaccia would be leftover from the night before served with hummus.