Extravagant Pack Lunches

Oooh, but a fish finger sandwich is food of the gods. But it must be made with freshly baked white bread and the fish fingers must be just cooked and piping hot. It must also have a large dollop of tartar sauce inside it. Crisps are not necessary.

So not really a great packed lunch option as it would be cold, but I love it hot and freshly made. My 90 year old mother does too and sometimes gets her carers to cook one for her. 😃😎

I'm wondering whether to make myself one for tea now because DH and DD are both out, so I am on my own and can do as I like. 😃😃 I've just baked a loaf of bread too and that must be eaten while fresh (would be rude not to).

A TA used to make comments to my daughter over her “posh” lunch. It was things like you’ve described. We weren’t about to change her diet to pack things she enjoyed less, were less nutritious and which she was less likely to enjoy just to fit in with someone else’s expectations of what a child’s lunch should look like.

The children didn’t seem to care what each other ate.

A tub of own brand greek yoghurt probably works out cheaper per portion than buying "kids" yogurts.

I think a lot of the food you're describing op is not necessarily more expensive than the stereotypical kids packed lunch items

you wouldn’t bat an eyelid at a ham bagel so I can’t see why you think smoked salmon is so outlandish. quiche will be leftovers.

One of my children has a lunchbox like your example. Would much prefer some dips and crudités with some protein and new potatoes to a sandwich. My other child is firmly in the ‘only eat a ham sandwich’ or tomato pasta phase of life.

You sound kind of chippy and jealous, op.

Those lunches sound wonderful, and I wish more kids ate as well as that.

Sounds like normal food to me, not every child wants to eat ‘kids food’ for every lunch. My DDs favorite sandwiches are smoked salmon so I pack those for her sometimes and Greek yogurt and compote is very normal and much better then the kids yoghurts.

My autistic youngest had a restricted diet, but would eat salmon steaks. I probably spent less than those around me getting takeaways etc. Iceland used to do decent ones. My eldest GD loves sushi. We aren't big bread eaters, but she'll eat bagels, or croissants. We eat widely, mainly because we are first/second generation immigrants from different continents. We all had council houses at one time. It actually doesn't cost more than a typical British diet (if that even still exists). You are being ridiculous.

meh i wouldn't have eaten a normal sandwich for packed lunch either. mine would have been classed in the "extravagant" by this metric.

i just ate the food my parents ate and hated sliced bread. still do.

so homemade sun-dried tomato bread with roasted toms avocado and hummus sandwich. or Jamaican loaf with a roasted sardine spread and grilled veg
or stuffed peppers i used to love raw mushrooms and celery which is admittedly weird.

plus a mixed fruit salad and blended juice.

i just saw a 4 year old eating raw oysters and vinaigrette on the weekend.

normal is what you choose to make it for your children. you can't crave/ moan for something you've never had.

Baffled how this is "over the top" or "extravagant"... both totally normal every day sandwich fillings, should 5 year olds only be given jam or cheese sandwiches as anything else is a waste of money on an "unrefined" palate? 🙄

I don’t think this is absurd!! Much much better than a babybel, crisps and a slither of processed ham in crap bread with fake butter.

To give you another perspective from afar, when I sent my ds to nursery in France, if I sent a sandwich as his lunch, his key worker would ring me and ask if I’d like her to give him a lunch. Because shock horror a sandwich is not a real meal, really. And the ingredients used in kids food / convenience food in the UK is utter rubbish. Just because they’re 5 doesn’t mean may aswell feed them crappy stuff. And I wonder if the parents your talking of fear the cooked lunch options are equally unhealthy or overly processed..

Sounds great, DS (6) would eat all of those things although flips back and forth on avocado. If the family can afford it and the child likes and eats it, there's no problem surely?

It sounds reasonable to me
Quite a lot of food - but I guess that depends on portion sizes.
My daughter always has things like small bits of.cheese or meat, hummus and veg sticks and fruit and then a pudding because she doesn't like sandwiches.

Schools have far too much to say about what parents pack their kids for lunch these days. It's none of their business, and frankly they're in no place to issue their periodic lectures on healthy eating judging by the state of their own lunchtime provision (full of sugar and ketchup).

They complain when crisps and chocolate are packed, now they're complaining when healthy options are packed. Outlandish suggestion though it may be, how about those people concentrate on the lunchtime supervision they're paid for rather than policing what goes into kids' mouths?

Yes, OP. YABU and sneering. And I suspect you know it.

I cook a lot of rice for dinner, mainly because it's great for lunches and I'm lazy. Curry, Chinese style fried things with sweet chilli sauce, chilli con carne, paella type things. Pasta works well too.

Sounds lovely. Better than the shit I give my DC in their PLs.
You sound rather silly.

Sounds good to me. I had focaccia for lunch actually - yum!

Sounds delicious and healthy. I wish my kids would eat such a variety....

It sounds like a good packed lunch to me. If the child eats it surely that's all that matters.
I'm not sure why it bothers you though.
What do you think would be better in a packed lunch?

I wish that mum would make the same lunch for me.

Nothing wrong (and a lot right) with that packed lunch.

My kids are on school dinners as I don’t want them having so much bread everyday as their main meal but these would be a good meal for them. My son is 7 and has smoked salmon bagels a lot at the weekend or a quick tea if at hobbies (he’s not that adventurous).

Sounds delicious and I'm jealous of that child

Would indicate to me the Op has something of a grotty rather shit diet

Horrible to think you’ve been hired as a lunch time supervisor

Good grief Schools are always sending reminders to Parents about Healthy Choices and now staff are getting judgey when they deem a packed lunch too extravagant!. I'd rather that than Children having nothing, Unbelievable!

Doesn’t seem weird at all, but balanced and healthy.

Can’t see the problem!