To think a leftover happy meal isn’t the worst packed lunch you could have?

I understand what you are saying but in this case it was neglect. I live in a very deprived area and its not uncommon unfortunately.

Do you eat maccies? I mean the fries and burgers are nasty when they get delivered late/cold (yes I love me some gherkined burgers) and they’ve not been cooked that long prior but who fridges those meals? It’s absolutely eat or bin stuff and like others said if they can afford a happy meal they can afford a loaf and packet of cold meat. Smacks of lack of care more than anything.

Hard agree

Haha. That’s probably my mother… she reheats chips from takeaways too

My teen sometimes eats leftover cold McDonald’s chicken selects for breakfast straight out of the fridge
You see similar breaded chicken in a lot of supermarket sandwiches ( but it’s usually called katsu!)
Concept is the same though.

As long as it’s occasionally, I can’t see the problem.

You've missed a word. I wrote 'never even met most children'.

@Everybodys

But it's not like you've ever even met most children, much less quizzed them about their tastes, so your willingness to make such a massive punt is neither here nor there really. I mean, there's kids in primary school with ARFID. At the more typical end of the scale, children as a cohort seem pretty fond of ham, a foodstuff for which there aren't enough criticisms in the world. There's no accounting for taste.

It seems a bit of a stretch, on a parenting board, to assume that a poster will "never have met children"!

My child is home educated and occasionally he has a happy meal. If he doesn’t finish it I will offer it the next day and he usually eats it. Personally ant stand that food but once in a while it’s not unhealthy. Shame schools can’t tell between an occasional treat/waste saving and actually repertory unhealthy lunches

'Half eaten hamburger' is a new addition. The article doesn't specify that it was half eaten.

But it's not like you've ever even met most children, much less quizzed them about their tastes, so your willingness to make such a massive punt is neither here nor there really. I mean, there's kids in primary school with ARFID. At the more typical end of the scale, children as a cohort seem pretty fond of ham, a foodstuff for which there aren't enough criticisms in the world. There's no accounting for taste.

There's multiple adults on this thread who've talked about liking cold takeaways, and none of them mentioned this preference only arriving in adulthood. You can't possibly think you're the arbiter of children's food tastes.

I'm just remembering a conversation I had with a lovely elderly lady of about 80yo. She told me that she'd always heard about McDonalds and finally had got round the week before to trying it.
She said the burger was good enough, but the fries were "fine, but she hadn't enough appetite to eat many when hot", she'd put them in the fridge and eaten them cold for lunch with salad.
She thought that way they were so delicious that she'd gone back to buy more fries to eat with salad the next day. She was even wondering if she could freeze some...

Now my brain was saying firmly "yuck" but she was the sort of lady who shopped at M&S and cooked from scratch, so I presume she did really like them that way. I did decline some when she offered me though.

So you can't necessarily tell what someone else thinks is great.

You do also need to factor in, if you're putting yourself in the child's place and deciding how you'd feel, that the child may very well prefer this to something prepared by the parent instead.

I seriously doubt any child wants a cold, plasticky half eaten hamburger for lunch the day after they've eaten it. Or some cold nuggets or chips. It's one step up from eating out of the bin.

I'm 18 weeks pregnant now but Def went through a stage a few months back of driving to maccies, ordering a cheeseburger, then deciding I felt too sick to eat it. Would quite happily eat it cold a few hours later. Some people might find it disgusting, I thought it tasted quite nice.

No it’s because cold congealing fat is disgusting to eat! It’s not about the nutrition - yes as a one off it won’t hurt, but it’s sending the child in with something grim to eat for lunch. Would YOU eat a cold happy meal!?

I can well believe it!

It was telling, I thought, that you talked specifically about protein and then the chips were brought up. Because there's actually no getting round the protein argument.

My original message said I wouldn't include the chips. Don't forget there is an option of carrot sticks or fruit bags instead of the fries. The op didn't divulge what the actual happy meal consisted of. As a teacher trust me, I've seen much worse lunches than a leftover burger or nuggets.

It's not a nutritional tit for tat between a Happy Meal and a ham sandwich.

It may very well be, which I think is the point.

And if you don't want to make nutritional comparisons, leftovers from a Happy Meal is unlikely to be the parent's sloppy seconds. Much more likely to be leftovers from a meal the child chose themselves. You do also need to factor in, if you're putting yourself in the child's place and deciding how you'd feel, that the child may very well prefer this to something prepared by the parent instead.

we occasionally used to send the kids in with Japanese packet noodles in a thermos... that was pretty unhealthy! but fruit and water to go with it.

but no. I would not feed my kids a happy meal and certainly wouldn't save any for their packed lunch.... grim..

I think it’s really not great, not because it’s maccies/a takeaway/unhealthy, but because a cold burger and chips is just awful and can’t be nice at all for the kid. Not like cold pizza can be nice. I can’t put my finger on why exactly, but imagining a kid struggling through cold maccies that’s all claggy and tasteless and sticks in your throat makes me feel sad.

However if the child asked for it specifically for whatever reason I wouldn’t be bothered. It just feels like a lack of thinking about what would be at least a decent experience for them

Home cooked left over,s are very different to.a bit of last night's kebab or a half eaten cheese burger.

Hmm my DGS likes to take leftover pesto pasta.

I can't see the problem with many leftovers. Think pakoras, sausages, meatballs, pasta cold chicken left from a roast etc

And how about cold chips? Are they good for athletic performance as well??
You are making excuses - it’s an abject lunch, there is no way round it.

It doesn’t make you a snob but interesting you have articulated the underlying class stereotype on this thread and I think it’s the main motivator for posters to distance themselves from McDonald’s gate.

and yes, routinely is the key word here isn’t it? Which means a McDonald’s once or twice in 6 years of schooling is ok, but not everyday?

@Itsmetheflamingo

It’s also incredibly outdated. McDonald’s was nearly finished off in the noughties for the quality of their food. They successfully turned it around decades ago by openly demonstrating the quality and consistency of their ingredients.
Many people don’t like McDonald’s as many don’t like pizza express or Nando’s. But the criticism of quality of ingredients is misguided

This is all probably true but its not the point.

It's not a nutritional tit for tat between a Happy Meal and a ham sandwich.

It's the fact that a parent has considered a half-eaten, cold takeaway to be a decent lunch for their child. It's a shit lunch and if I were that child and my parent were routinely giving me their sloppy seconds because they couldn't bring themself to take another five minutes to buy and prepare a sandwich I would feel that I was at the bottom of their list of priorities. For the record I don't think its particularly about McDonalds (although there is a snob thing about it) it would be an equally shit lunch if it were a leftover Leon rice box.

It that makes me a snob, so be it.

I love a McDonald's that is not the issue its the fact its a left over McDonald's ftim yesterday
Like the parents just cant be arsed
The amount of people tying themselves in knots trying to say its a healthy nourishing lunch ,its not.

It’s also incredibly outdated. McDonald’s was nearly finished off in the noughties for the quality of their food. They successfully turned it around decades ago by openly demonstrating the quality and consistency of their ingredients.

Many people don’t like McDonald’s as many don’t like pizza express or Nando’s. But the criticism of quality of ingredients is misguided