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

It’s maybe not the worst but it’s far from ideal.
It isn’t exactly hard to make a sandwich/wrap and put it in a lunch bag with some fruit.
Cold Maccies is vile so should be binned if not finished.

You can always Google I suppose.

But it has literally nothing to do with anyone learning to cook or to do any basic household task.

The key to avoiding outrage about ‘junk’ food with MNers is to rename it, preferably in French.

So a bon repas consisting of hamburger froid et frites is all good. Plus it was all cooked from scratch, by McDonalds. 👍

I kind of love the level of give no shits. I’ve sent the apple bags from McDonald’s as lunch before but wouldn’t send any food that’s supposed to be served hot

I’m not sure, I see a LOT more overweight children, heading towards diabetes and heart disease than I do skinny undernourished children.

Obviously there are some children who have very little to eat (which is parental neglect - even if you’re on the breadline, there are food banks and social care who can help) but there are an awfully greater number of children who are being fed crap constantly. High salt, high fat, no vitamins, fibre or protein.

Im sick of “fed is best”. It isn’t. Parents need to raise the bar and feed their kids a quality diet. McDonald’s isn’t cheap. If they can afford a happy meal, they can afford cheese, bread, cucumber and tomatoes and make it spread. Let’s stop making excuses for shit parenting.

The answer is would the adults like it? Cold happy meal to take to work, no chance of heating it up anywhere. Lazy parenting. Like a pp said loaf of bread and jam would be better.

It’s not no but it’s up there and the kids I saw with it didn’t particularly seem to enjoy it.
The worst packed lunch I saw was mint sauce on mouldy bread because “Daddy didn’t have anything else”.
Lots were unhealthy. Chocolate spread on shite white bread with chocolate mousse, a couple of chocolate bars and a chocolate milkshake,
a grab bag of crisps and a yoghurt,
two cinnamon buns.
Even just the most popular lunch that crappy,
smelly, packet ham on white sliced bread with crisps, a chocolate bar sometimes a ‘kids yogurt’ and a token piece bruised apple or banana that doesn’t leave the lunch box every single day is pretty rubbish.
I’ve sent my kids in with cold pizza though which no doubt some people would disapprove of.

I have noticed this kind of food on a special 4th July type menu at my sons school. But then they were served with lettuce and tomato on the mini burger, sweetcorn on the side and apple pie dessert. It feels a lot more nutritionally rounded than this offering when its part of the school dinner.

I'm so confused by your statement that "The worst packed lunch is lunch." What do you mean? 😕

Yeah that's what I think too ''can I save my nuggets for tomorrow's err ok

not if you have read the article.
they said, It was a shame to waste it,
that is a very good attitude.
dont waste food.
i bet the child loved it and their friends laughed about it

Your bar is low

I’ll get flamed but a sandwich, cereal bar, fruit is not sufficient.
Depending on how the lunches are timed in school there's not always that much time to eat (DS1 complains about this).

We go to McDonalds fairly often (handy after football matches in random towns), but it's horrible as soon as its cold.

We are lucky at the DCs school they don't mind thermoses of warm food...mine tend to alternate between sandwiches or a thermos of leftover pasta or noodles.

I agree OP.
I wouldn't like eating cold McDonald's fries but a burger or some chicken nuggets would be OK.
And if, as you say, it got left over from the previous night (maybe there was an accidental over-order) I'm sure there are lots of kids who'd be very happy to hoover it up for lunch the next day.
Nutritional content not fantastic but on an occasional basis, not a problem.

It’s really not because it happens and is often part of a bigger problem at home.

I’m struggling to see how nutritionally a cold Mcd’s is worse that the shitty supermarket bread full of crap, shitty ham full of crap and shitty margarine full of crap that makes up 1000’s kids packed lunches every day. So personal opinion on whether I would eat a cold Md’s myself aside I don’t think that is any worse that what goes into most kids packed lunches.

I do agree that most packed lunch items aren't healthy, though. That's because schools dont have access to fridges. The lunch boxes sit on a tray for hours with only an ice pack unside to keep anything remotely cool. I wouldn't be comfortable sending in stuff the might spoil.

I know a lot of people are struggling now but there is no excuse for this. I had very little money when my DS was small but he always got a sandwich, crisps and fruit for lunch. It doesn't cost that much.

And free school meals still exist.

My kids had to do food technology which included lessons on nutrition and cooking meals until year 9. They could choose to then carry on in year 10 and 11 or stop. Mine chose to stop as they preferred other subjects. They still continued to be taught about food and to cook at home though, because that is part of being a responsible parent. Parents who expect schools to do everything are often problem parents.

It's really bad. Better than starving, but still bad.

Because a child deserves a proper fully balanced meal - not some cold congealed McDonald’s meal that is fit for the bin. Absolutely disgraceful

it is a non story

It's lazy shit awful parenting. Justifying it any other way is just terrible imo.

it was a shame to waste it, which i think is a valuable excuse and no doubt the child liked it

No its a crap lunch. And yes id judge a parent for sending in a cold McDonald's for child's lunch.
How low does the bar have to be?