Lunch box police

[custardbear]

We had a note in the newsletter this week aski parents to refrain from putting chocolate biscuits into lunch boxes and listing a pile of healthy snacks to chose instead.

I just checked the school menu and their pudding choices include
Marble cake
Brownie
Honey cake
Scone with jam and cream
Cornflake tart
Caramel tart

WTF?! why can't my child have a healthy lunch plus a chocolate treat like a penguin etc?!

Husband is a chef and used to (recently) work for one of the main school catering companies.
I've just asked him about these 'low sugar' puddings and he says nope.

Nope they’re not low sugar or nope they’re horrible

My kids school is like this, not allowed anything with chocolate in their lunch box but school menu has... chocolate cake

@Tlollj not usually low in sugar and also horrible We send packed lunch.

The entire thing , including the bread for the sandwiches needs to be home made , they did relent on that one but the rest must be healthy and home made. They had to buy special lunch boxes from a certain supplier, one for fruit , one for veg and one for sandwiches or cold rice /pasta and they were not allowed sandwiches for every lunch. I'm unsure If theyve relaxed any bit now but there was uproar at the start in the town over it.

I’m sure when I was at school many moons ago all the cooking was done on site. Would this make a difference to the quality of lunches? Stops the need for a pack up then.
Sounds like the primary school above were knowingly being awkward so that people would have school dinner.

@romdowa

Your school tells you to make your own bread for lunch boxes?

I think the difference is the school know that with their hot lunch, a nutritious meal has been served before the pudding treat whereas packed lunches if they don’t stipulate rules they do get children who have extremely unhealthy lunches, for you its one penguin with a healthy lunch but for another child it might be one penguin plus a load of crap. They have to draw a harsh line to try to avoid the latter.

Schools are trying their very best...budget cuts, food standards for sugars in puddings, children with very poor diets which they want to help, a new focus in the curriculum on health...which will be inspected by OFSTED....It is impossible to please everyone all of the time...they try their best.

@custardbear

All of those school "puddings" are available at Aldi, I would deliberately put in whatever was on the menu that day to spite them

DD (4) was given a large serving of spaghetti bolognese (beef with tomatoes- no other veggies), garlic bread and then cake and custard at school. She was sick because they aren't allowed to leave anything behind. The next time I sent her in with packed lunch- a cucumber sandwich, grapes and flapjack, her teacher told me off for sending her in with too much unhealthy food... the rules are ridiculous. Coupled with staff taking no notice of how much food the kids are being served means kids are either being sick or going hungry.

I fought my kids school over this, both were slim (actually one seriously underweight) so needed the calories, particularly because my dd with asd wouldn't eat so many things, she's still a size 6 as an adult. I won thanks to my lovely gp fighting my corner (they had actually banned full fat yogurt at their school)

@romdowa - cold rice is a potential hazard if not prepared correctly!
God knows why and how they can be so prescriptive about children's lunch boxes - was this a school in Scientology or somethjng?

@minniemomo - well done! Fat is ok in moderation, the problem is they replace fat with sugar or sweetness and other chemical alternatives

I do think these notes are aimed at the parents who pack their kids lunch with nothing but shit.

A lot of the kids in my DDs year will have pringles, doritos, sausage rolls, pork pies and scotch eggs for their snacks at playtime! Now once in a while is okay but they have them every day! Absolutely full of saturated fat.

Oops, I thought this was going to be about some new minimum or maximum limit at the swimming pool...

My DD, 9, was told off by her teacher for bringing cheese and crackers for lunch - apparently she should have had a sandwich because cheese and crackers aren’t healthy. She also had a piece of fruit, cucumber and pepper strips, a yoghurt and a small bag of mini cookies. Her lunch was fine and what she would actually eat. When I asked her teacher if there was a problem with her lunch I was told it didn’t seem substantial enough, it was considerably more substantial than a lunch including a sandwich that would come back home uneaten.

I’m all for schools supporting healthy eating but there’s a fine line between offering support and overstepping your authority.

@Jellycatspyjamas - hilarious our school said cheese and crackers are a healthy snack - ffs 🤦🏼‍♀️

Have you ever eaten a school dinner brownie? Because I don't know what they put in them but it's sure as fuck not chocolate.

They're all low/zero sugar recipes and they taste disgusting. I think its part of a greater plot increase healthy eating by making children think they don't like cakes or desserts.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing

You can question it, sure. Be prepared for them to explain it though and to follow their policy. 🤷‍♀️

I do find if you can get half a dozen people to write to the governors, policies get rethought.

Always worth challenging.

@nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut - someone mentioned earlier their husband is a chef and used to be involved with cooking school dinners - they're apparently not low sugar

I spent years of throwing sandwiches and orange/ apples/ grapes away.
I am now sending DC with a mix of crips and biscuits to school. Sometimes a boild egg with bread & butter - not allowed due to allergies.
The point is, they can't take away any of the food or need to give DC something else. They can tell me but not force me what to put in DC lunchbox... they have given up after I told them they can give DC something else at their cost.
DC usually eats all up (great no waste), I make sure DC has a healthy breakfast and dinner.

I've bought my DS some breadsticks today - only thing is he doesn't 'like' broken ones - I may need to send him in with a quiver to keep them from breaking 😆

They're not normal. If it's not the lack of sugar then I really don't want to know what is in them.

The cakes in primary school are not normal. At my school key stage 1 have to have the school lunch, no packed lunch allowed. My reception child chooses to have fruit instead of cake most days. He says they taste yucky, not like mummies cake.