Packed lunches - am I the boring mean mum?

[rumpleteaserspaws]

I hate doing packed lunches with a passion and am dreading doing them daily when the DCs return to school!
My DC's have had a few days at holiday club over the past three weeks, and I've had to do their lunches for that. They have been complaining (albeit nicely ) about them having a "healthy" lunch, because their HC friends have nicer (so read more sugary) stuff in theirs.

So, I'll tell you the contents and you can tell me if I'm boring;

Sandwich of choice, usually tuna or egg mayo, or cheese w/ tomato or cucumber.

Veg pot - carrot, cucumber, tomatoes.

Piece of fruit, sometimes two.

Squeezy yoghurt of some kind.

A treat type item, either crisps, a club-type of biscuit, mini Soreen loaf.

To me that seems like a perfectly normal packed lunch, mainly healthy but with a bit of fun stuff. We are not a mega healthy household in that they get sweet stuff more often than I'd really like. They certainly aren't deprived of anything. This type of packed lunch is what they'll be getting daily when they return to school, but I can already envisage the complaints I'm going to get, argh!

No way a penguin biscuit or crisps would be allowed in our school. Soreen would be okay.

So you expect children to be active and learning all day on about 300 calories? I'm amazed they weren't hungry!

Never hungry, and they managed to learn very well. Again, I would have happily given them 10x as much if they were hungry, asked for it or would eat it but nope.

2 of mine still take that to work or uni each day (a piece of fruit and a vegemite sandwich). One has a takeout once a week, the other only when there is an organised lunch outing. Nothing stopping them from getting takeout every day for lunch or taking something different so that also baffles me and when I ask they just shrug. Another makes themselves a fancy salad each day to take and another still in high school takes the piece of fruit and vegemite sandwich.

@MyPersona I would eat just a sandwich/salad for lunch but a growing child who is running around all day needs more calories.

That sounds very normal, I used to nag my mother for a healthy salad when I was younger. We would end up with a poorly constructed sandwich, one chocolate bar, crisps and an apple.

My pre school children have been having a lunchbox like this....

Sandwich usually ham
5 or 6 cocktail sausages
Cucumber slices
Satsuma/slices of watermelon or grapes
Pack of Maryland mini cookies or mini chocolate fingers
Pack of wotsits or quavers

They eat well at home so my conscience is clear if I add a “treat” in their lunchbox.

Recent additions to our lunchbox repertoire have been:
Mini pots of Philadelphia with breadsticks
Smoked salmon and Philadelphia wrap
Pasta salad with sweet corn/ bits of roast chicken / peppers / etc
More exciting veg pots - Along with the carrot an cucumber, they now do peppers, baby corn, edamame beans (you get them frozen in the pod), radishes. Obviously never a tomato of any kind.
Nairn’s do oatmeal biscuits with red fruit which are less sugary / more fibrous than eg custard creams
Apple and a stick of cheddar

Obviously for next term when it’s not stinking hot, a wide flask with pasta / chilli / soups.

@Icantrememebrtheartist

My pre school children have been having a lunchbox like this....

Sandwich usually ham
5 or 6 cocktail sausages
Cucumber slices
Satsuma/slices of watermelon or grapes
Pack of Maryland mini cookies or mini chocolate fingers
Pack of wotsits or quavers

They eat well at home so my conscience is clear if I add a “treat” in their lunchbox.

I am not overly keen on food policing or restrictions to young children’s food without clinical input, but you do realise that lunch is about 680 calories and a pre school child has a daily requirement of between 1,000 and 1,400?

Love a packed lunch thread!

Cheese and houmous sandwich/ pasta, pesto and cheese
Fruit
Yoghurt/veg/ boiled egg
Flapjack/ muffin/ dried fruit

I never put chocolate or crisps in, but the dc insist on a 'treat' which is the last item

Cherry I dont understand your point. Are you saying they have too many calories for lunch?

@HoppingPavlova

So you expect children to be active and learning all day on about 300 calories? I'm amazed they weren't hungry!

Never hungry, and they managed to learn very well. Again, I would have happily given them 10x as much if they were hungry, asked for it or would eat it but nope.

2 of mine still take that to work or uni each day (a piece of fruit and a vegemite sandwich). One has a takeout once a week, the other only when there is an organised lunch outing. Nothing stopping them from getting takeout every day for lunch or taking something different so that also baffles me and when I ask they just shrug. Another makes themselves a fancy salad each day to take and another still in high school takes the piece of fruit and vegemite sandwich.

Then they must have had comparably large breakfasts and/or dinners to meet their daily calorie requirements. Or been chronically undernourished, which I assume is not the case.

So really you're just astonished that other people consume their daily calorie intake in different proportions to your children throughout the day?

It's really not that remarkable - newsflash: different people do different things!

I've just done sandwich, two pieces of fruit, veg sticks, and a home made pinwheel. My DC have allergies though so are restricted on treats anyway, plus I think eating crisps in this heat is horrible, will just dehydrate them further with the salt content as they never drink enough!

One of mine really hates a sandwich type packed lunch so I send him with something like cottage pie and peas in a food flask. He says he has more energy in the afternoons if he has a hot lunch. School dinners weren't cutting it because he was ending up with a baked spud or pizza and it wasn't floating his boat.

The packed lunch in the op sounds exactly like I would give to my children, except if it's a school outing they are not allowed crisps, cake, chocolate, biscuits etc so I would add crackers or breadsticks and cheese as an alternative. They usually eat most of it at lunch and anything left is finished on the journey home.

This thread has been very reassuring - I'm new to the packed lunch game and been worrying I'm sending the wrong thing! DS (2 and a half) went off to nursery today with:
Cheese and marmite sandwich
Carrot and cucumber sticks
Tangerine
Blueberries
Frube

It all gets eaten every day, except sometimes a few veg sticks. He's on 95th centile though and eats like a horse.

When my kids call me boring for things like tidying up after themselves, doing their homework, brushing their teeth, eating pepper meals etc. I see it as a sign that I am doing my job well. There are so many worse things than being a boring parent!!

OP’s lunch offering is similar to mine.

I have just bought a 400ml thermal food pot to trial hot food for DD. Thinking pasta, thick soup or a rice dish at least x2 a week for variety.

Agreed boring is fine. Mine have a hearty sandwich, veg pot and apple everyday. Very occasionally it is livened up by a slice of Banana bread or a little muffin. Actually mine don’t moan but then if they did would be entirely unsympathetic.

I think your lunch sounds fine, I make healthy lunches, why don’t you mix it up a bit with pasta salads and wraps? I usually pack my 6year old half a large chicken wrap and a yoghurt or a pasta/couscous salad and a piece of fruit, because it’s not sandwiches he doesn’t complain.

Sound just like packs ups I do. I also tell D's if he eats all up he can have lolly or scoop of ice cream from freezer when he gets home. Sometimes he comes home sits at table to finish off carrot sticks then asks for lolly.

That's pretty standard in my house for 13 years lunches.

Sometimes I'd give a wrap or tortilla or cold pizza or sausage rolls and when they got into latter High school it was generally thicker bread and try to include an extra bit of protein like some cheese or left over chicken or just some cold meat if they were having a cheese or tuna sandwich. Sometimes they;d get popcorn or some tuna pasta or a carton of flavoured UHT milk. Latterly they weren't bothered if there was a biscuit or crisps as they;d rather save up any treats for later in the day.

But, for the vast majority of the days, it was as you've described.

That's a normal lunch.

I do
A wholemeal sandwich or roll,
Small pot of mixed fruit,
Either crisps or a frube,
If not a frube small cheese,
Cooked chicken.

So you expect children to be active and learning all day on about 300 calories?

All day? How long are they at school for? A banana mid-morning and a sandwich and an apple at lunch time is plenty for a child who is finished a couple of hours later. It's different of they are staying for afterschool or going straight to a sports class. But a child who is at home for 3pm doesn't need more than a sandwich and a couple of pieces of fruit.

I don't put yogurt as child gets on mess I include a baby Bel cheese, no crisps but mini cheddars in a bag and a pereroni stick.

That's good. They don't need any unhealthy crop, there's already a treat in there!

It is a pretty standard packed lunch, what are they asking for which is so unhealthy? Assuming it is not a Mars bar and a can of Red Bull.

ds just had a sandwich, apple or banana and yoghurt each day.