Page 15 | To think a leftover happy meal isn’t the worst packed lunch you could have?

Tulipdreams · 2026-03-21T12:00:21+00:00

[[https://go.skimresources.com?id=470X1716091&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-news%2Fteachers-share-students-worst-packed-36878989.amp&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mumsnet.com%2Fapi%2Fv3%2Ftalk%2Fthreads%2F5506523%2Fedit https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teachers-share-students-worst-packed-36878989.amp]] Hear me out first. Of course the article is pretty terrible, children being sent into school with only packets of biscuits for lunch, stories of children having no milk for their cereal and bringing in energy drinks. But one example was a child took a leftover happy meal to school. Aibu to think that this isn’t the worst thing you could have? No I have never sent my child into school with a cold takeaway for their lunch, and it would be concerning if it was happening all the time. But I would eat leftover McDonald’s if I hadn’t eaten it the night before. It’s probably no worse than taking a ham sandwich and a packet of crisps (which would be deemed as acceptable). When I was a child most kids took meat paste sandwiches and a wagon wheel and that was a completely normal lunch.

LizzieSiddal · 21/03/2026 13:01

Cold Macdonalds?! That is utterly grim and any parent doing it should be rightly judged.

myotherscarsaskoda · 21/03/2026 13:01

QPZM · 21/03/2026 12:55

What does this have to do with anything?

I mean considering there are literally millions of online step-by-step cooking tutorials.

But yeah, let's blame the schools 🙄

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That doesn't answer my question.

A teacher friend of mine was asked/told that she had to teach one lesson of cookery each week when she applied for a job in a secondary school.
That was in the late 80's, so I am wondering if it is still on the curriculum?

PersephonePomegranate · 21/03/2026 13:00

It's awful! No money presumably to make make sandwiches, but money to waste on a Happy Meal?

mumofsevenfluffs · 21/03/2026 13:00

My daughter has food avoidance so as a child she was a nightmare to feed. Some days I’d resort to giving her sliced Swiss roll. Not what I wanted her to have but I knew she would eat it whereas a ham or cheese sandwich and fruit wouldn’t be touched. As an adult she’s marginally better but not much

LoudTealHare · 21/03/2026 13:00

Tulipdreams · 21/03/2026 12:03

If you are voting yabu what exactly is it about the McDonald’s that is so terrible?

Is it that you wouldn’t eat McDonald’s at all or is it because it’s cold?

Both! Macdonalds is crap, made with rubbish meat! If a parent can afford to buy this crap they can afford to by a loaf of bread and some ham and an apple!

Hotcrossed · 21/03/2026 12:59

apparently the excuse for the mcdonalds was that It was a shame to waste it! which is a fair point.

Hotcrossed · 21/03/2026 12:59

why werent they getting free school meals?

takealettermsjones · 21/03/2026 12:59

babyproblems · 21/03/2026 12:45

Pack lunches are pretty awful
health wise whatever you have - unless it’s a salad / poke bowl sort of thing with many different items pulses / veg / protein. Most children’s ’pack lunch’ options are not healthy. I’ll get flamed but a sandwich, cereal bar, fruit is not sufficient.
Agree there’s worse you could eat than a mc Donald’s. I think another issue of packed lunch is that it instills the idea of ‘convience’ food with long shelf life. Of course once or twice doesn’t matter. But decades of it ingrained in our school system and here we are with obese children and poor diet as a nation..

See this is the opposite end of the ridiculous bell curve though, imo. Of course a packed lunch can be healthy depending on the choices you make. It's just a box of food.

Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself · 21/03/2026 12:58

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 21/03/2026 12:50

My kids take a packed lunch around once a week. They usually have a little pot of some kind of protein such as tuna, or cheese cubes, then a tub of cut-up veggies, some plain crackers and a piece of fruit. DH often lets them take some dried fruit too.

In the 80s, we had sandwiches made with homemade brown bread and fruit.

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That's really not much food, how old are you DC?

BillieWiper · 21/03/2026 12:57

Cold McDonald's is gross in most people's view but if the kid likes it still for whatever reason then it's no worse than eating it hot as dinner. Nutritionally at least.

If the child is seemingly happy to eat their lunch then that's really the most important thing. You might see some fancy home made beetroot, edamame and quinoa salad going straight in the bin if the kid doesn't want to eat it!

Happyjoe · 21/03/2026 12:57

Tulipdreams · 21/03/2026 12:03

If you are voting yabu what exactly is it about the McDonald’s that is so terrible?

Is it that you wouldn’t eat McDonald’s at all or is it because it’s cold?

I watched Morgan Spurlock's Supersize me. So yeah, McDismals is terrible, not great for children other than a rare outing and even if I wasn't a veggie, I wouldn't eat it.

Hotcrossed · 21/03/2026 12:57

that article makes for very sad reading

Hotcrossed · 21/03/2026 12:56

it probably only happened on one occasion,
a lot of hyperbole

Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself · 21/03/2026 12:56

babyproblems · 21/03/2026 12:45

Pack lunches are pretty awful
health wise whatever you have - unless it’s a salad / poke bowl sort of thing with many different items pulses / veg / protein. Most children’s ’pack lunch’ options are not healthy. I’ll get flamed but a sandwich, cereal bar, fruit is not sufficient.
Agree there’s worse you could eat than a mc Donald’s. I think another issue of packed lunch is that it instills the idea of ‘convience’ food with long shelf life. Of course once or twice doesn’t matter. But decades of it ingrained in our school system and here we are with obese children and poor diet as a nation..

Chill out a bit - a packed lunch is only part of a child's nutrition for that day, and it perfectly possible to have packed lunch that's balanced and generally healthy without it being a salad with pulses.

Having said that, packed lunch and kids food standards in this country ARE pretty dreadful compared to others - Sweden does free nutritious food all through school for children.

My DC are constantly moaning about not having crisps or chocolate bars every day like other kids.

QPZM · 21/03/2026 12:55

myotherscarsaskoda · 21/03/2026 12:54

When did they stop teaching cookery/housecraft/domestioc science in schools I wonder ? !

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What does this have to do with anything?

I mean considering there are literally millions of online step-by-step cooking tutorials.

But yeah, let's blame the schools 🙄

StillAGoth · 21/03/2026 12:54

CharlotteSometimeslikesanafternoonnap · 21/03/2026 12:49

The children who bring left over chips to school are not the ones who had quinoa for lunch the day before. At my school it's very common that children do not eat any home cooked food at all, they have fast food takeaway every single night. Families go to the 'chicken shop' on the way home from school. You can be disingenuous around "as a one off" but many, many kids are fed shit on a daily basis.

Exactly this.

ForeverAPuppy · 21/03/2026 12:54

Another point is, most of us as good parents wouldn’t send a happy meal in as we are aware how it would look. When parents send a happy meal in, oblivious that it may be questioned, thinking there is no issue at all with doing that, it can show a lack of judgement and therefore a lack of good parenting. They aren’t even aware that it wouldn’t look great because they don’t have the skills to see that, and again, it can be an indicator of a child having a problematic home life.

myotherscarsaskoda · 21/03/2026 12:54

Overthebow · 21/03/2026 12:18

There’s something seriously wrong if a parent can’t or isn’t bothered to cobble together something for their kids lunch that isn’t a cold leftover McDonald’s.

When did they stop teaching cookery/housecraft/domestioc science in schools I wonder ? !

Dollymylove · 21/03/2026 12:53

Well now the 2 child benefit cap has been lifted theres no excuse......is there?

StillAGoth · 21/03/2026 12:53

Tulipdreams · 21/03/2026 12:10

Ok but presuming that the child usually has a nice balanced lunch, but on this occasion they had a McDonald’s that they didn’t eat the night before.

Presuming it’s been refrigerated it’s not going to do any harm.

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Someone who usually gives their child a 'nice balanced lunch' isn't ever going to give their child cold McDonalds the following day and certainly wouldn't send it into school.

QPZM · 21/03/2026 12:52

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 21/03/2026 12:43

Also, you know, I understand that people are going to get all snarky about this, but...

Kids don't need fast food. They just don't. There is this weird idea on MN that if you don't periodically feed your kids shite, they are somehow deprived / will develop an eating disorder. It just isn't true. The vast majority of people throughout history have not eaten Western fast food and have survived.

My 11yo has never eaten in McDonald's or any other crappy fast food joint. I'm happy with that and intend to keep it that way as long as possible.

Kids don't need fast food. They just don't.

That's a miserably low bar to live by if we only ever give our kids what they actually need.

Unless you're Amish of course.

Hotcrossed · 21/03/2026 12:51

a ham sandwich is cheaper than a mcdonalds.

Quokka99 · 21/03/2026 12:51

It's not great, but it's one day- who knows what was going on. All families can experience crisis; maybe mum had been rushed into hospital overnight, or a relative had died, and that's why the kids were left with nan who clearly didn't know what to do. If it happens on a regular basis then of course it's an issue.

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 21/03/2026 12:50

babyproblems · 21/03/2026 12:45

Pack lunches are pretty awful
health wise whatever you have - unless it’s a salad / poke bowl sort of thing with many different items pulses / veg / protein. Most children’s ’pack lunch’ options are not healthy. I’ll get flamed but a sandwich, cereal bar, fruit is not sufficient.
Agree there’s worse you could eat than a mc Donald’s. I think another issue of packed lunch is that it instills the idea of ‘convience’ food with long shelf life. Of course once or twice doesn’t matter. But decades of it ingrained in our school system and here we are with obese children and poor diet as a nation..

My kids take a packed lunch around once a week. They usually have a little pot of some kind of protein such as tuna, or cheese cubes, then a tub of cut-up veggies, some plain crackers and a piece of fruit. DH often lets them take some dried fruit too.

In the 80s, we had sandwiches made with homemade brown bread and fruit.

ForeverAPuppy · 21/03/2026 12:50

Tulipdreams · 21/03/2026 12:42

I think perhaps I’m coming from a place of naivety because I’m envisaging the child, for whatever reason didn’t eat it the night before and asked to have it for lunch.

Yes of course I can see that a burger might taste horrid cold and of course I can see that there’s no nutrition. But there was no nutrition in the meat paste sandwiches and wagon wheels that all the 80s kids ate.

My child has also take weird stuff to school, cold pizza, cold chicken, because he was fed if of wraps and sandwiches. I put an ice pack in his lunchbox.

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I was at primary school in the 80s. The standard lunch at my very average school was

Cheese sandwich
Club biscuit
Apple
Squash in a beaker

Many kids had salad on their sandwiches, chicken, beef. Some kids had crisps instead of chocolate biscuit. The vast majority had an apple or another piece of fruit. NO ONE had McDonald’s ever, or just biscuits and fizzy drinks etc. If they would have, it would have been flagged.