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

It’s lazy, neglectful parenting from people who should not have children. This sort of food should be banned for children and quite frankly adults too. It can simultaneously cause obesity and malnutrition. It has no nutritional value. I would argue that this is not even food- just edible crap.

I'm not a food snob, I like and eat McD's/Burger King from time to time (fresh), happily eat reheated Chinese, cold pizza, etc. But stale cold McD's is a no from me.

On the other hand, I don't see the need for outrage. It's not going to kill the kid as a one-off. Often/all the time, sure, that's abysmal. But a one-off? Whatever. Shit happens to all of us sometimes.

When people say “90s kids had a sandwich and crisps and biscuits for school lunch and we’re fine’. Well, obesity rates have also been soaring in the last decades. Metabolic health very much depends on what you eat as a child, which is why recommendations for kids are very different now.

I’m from one of the least obese countries in Europe and we had healthy school lunches in the 90s, not fast food.

This is generalising of course but using the poor 90s lunch habits as a good benchmark is weird.

I am fairly sure cold french fries upset my stomach once, I googled the science behind it at the time and it can happen, specifically because they go from hot to cold and something happens but I can't remember the details. I don't eat meat so it wasn't that.
So i'm not even sure it is safe as people who are claiming 'it will do no harm', maybe it could and the child could get an upset stomach.

My child typically has:
Either a chicken or cheese sandwich, with chopped cucumber or tomatoes on the side.
Apple or banana (*for break time, the school asks parents to provide a healthy snack for mid--morning break.)
Something else which I try to vary, like crisps or a soreen loaf
Bottle of water

So i'm not convinced by these comments saying average lunchboxes aren't healthy either. It might not be perfect, the chicken might be processed food but the fruit and cucumber at least make it a million times better than mcdonalds.

"Presuming" is doing quite a lot of heavy lifting here!

That sounds absolutely rank tbh but as a one off I don't really see a problem. Reheated takeaways are part of life.

A cold McDonald’s festering in a lunch box all day? Would be lucky if the kid didn’t get food poisoning.

I suppose it isn't the worst and its something in their bellies. But a HM cost nearly £4 and my main feeling is that it would be a poor cost option. You could provide something far more nutritious for the same amount.

The question is, was the child happy with the lunch? If so, I genuinely think it's up to the parents what they give to their child. Some of the guidelines of what kids are allowed to have for lunch is ridiculous now. When I was at school I had a sandwich, packet of crisps, and a biscuit, sometimes a Frube too. And that was exactly what everyone else had, too. We all grew up fine, and they were quick, easy lunches for parents to make. Schools have them jumping through hoops to have "healthy" lunches now, they're just making things difficult. There's nothing wrong with having whatever for lunch - they could have 10 portions of veg with their tea for all the school know!

In all honesty, I think the advice needs to be scaled right back to the essentials. There is no way on earth a parent providing an energy drink and a packet of biscuits is going to be swapping to home made popcorn and a 'nutritious wrap'. Some parents are obviously starting from a very low level here and going all in with the optimum healthy lunch is never going to happen.
They'd do better to have a hard ban on energy drinks and packets of biscuits and encourage some sort of sandwich, a piece of fruit and a snack item of choice.
My DC took cheese sandwiches an apple, crisps from a multi pack and a mini roll throughout the 90s, and are now perfectly healthy adults.
The happy meal isn't the worst no. If its bought for the child to eat I don't see the difference between dinner and lunch and at least it isn't food waste.

I can't imagine eating a left over McDonalds from the previous day. Its meant to be eaten as a quick, body temperature takeaway and not thought about ever again after its been eaten!

Agreed.

11, 8 and 8.

Cold nuggets? Why? They serve hot ones at school.

And if it' so snobby, and rage headlines, as you say, why are you further baiting rage?

Super odd thread.

Is this a philosophical question to you? Something judge what you see as precious parenting? Of did you send your dc in with that? Or your Sil?

I happily take my kid to MacD but a left over? That sounds utterly disgusting. A weird thing that people who don't cook or enjoy food might do. Dysfunctional imo

My 7 year old had packed lunch in reception. I put one of those Mr Kipling cake slices In that's in a pair. One got confiscated!
On a serious note I'd never send leftovers. My son is skinny and eats half of everything so his packed has to have loads of stuff in, normally
Salad
Fruit
Sandwich
Babybel
Mini cheddars
Cereal bar
Cake
Fruit shoot

Have you tried a day old hamburger or cheeseburger? The fries are inedible if they've gone even slightly lukewarm. Properly cold they are tasteless greasy tough, chewy, like cardboard.

I quite like a McDonalds on occasion but it really is only edible if properly hot and thats hard to manage in store, its lukewarm by the time it gets to our house and we're 3 minutes away from our nearest McDonalds, even the airfryer, normally a reheating genius, struggles to return it to edible.

I will be in the minority here but I always order an extra double cheeseburger if im having a drink to eat cold the next day 😋 😆.

I definitely wouldn't send my child with a half eaten happy meal though.

The child didn’t want to eat it fresh, it’s not going to be anymore appetising 18 hours later. Sometimes it’s better to waste food.

As I’ve said, it may not be an indication of an issue, but things like this can indicator of a bigger problem.

I love a MacDonald's but eating yesterdays leftover maccies would make me feel like I'm eating out of the bin 😬

To eat at home: at least you are not wasting food (if you think a Happy Meal is food), but never to be sent in to school as a packed lunch.

Schools have packed lunch guidelines, and how are school staff expected to get children to eat a healthy well-balaced school lunch when there is a child on the next table with a McDonalds? I have seen this happen and apparantly the parents are spoken to regularly and still kept sending McD's in as a packed lunch. Just appalling.

As I one-off, assuming the child was happy enough to eat it, I couldn’t get wound up about it. I’d assume it was leftovers from a birthday party or something and the parent was just at the end of their tether after organising the party. It does sound gross, though.

I’m always shocked at the lengths people will go to in order to justify or minimise bad parenting.

It’s the height of shit parenting. The bar is so low these days though I’m not surprised people are defending this. What a depressing time to be a child.