DS wasted packed lunch fruit and veg

[hufffflufff]

Hi all

I'm in a quanduary about whether or not I should include fruit and veg in my son's (8) lunchbox.

Every day I put in carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, fruit (banana / apple) or some other form of fruit and veg.

19 times out of 20 it will come back uneaten.

DS will eat fruit / veg at home no problem.

I just wonder should I give in and not put it in and therefore not waste it (cucumber (and most fruit /veg) for example will need to be binned as been out of fridge whole day and bashed around in lunchbox) or keep putting it in as a nudge towards healthy eating?

Does anyone else have this issue and have any suggestions?

Seems a monumental waste of food to do it every day and 99% of the time come home and go in the bin. But I also feel a moral obligation to include it.

Nah. I don't like packed lunch fruit and veg. It's either soggy (cucumber), dry (carrot), makes everything smell yucky (bananas), gets bruised (apples) and so on.

Leave it out and make sure the after-school snack is fruit and / or veg instead (crudités and humous, apple slices etc).

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

I got my first ever mention in the Mumsnet Roundup, when I suggested putting plastic fruit in my dses’ lunchboxes, because I was sick of buying fruit and sending it into school, to come back uneaten.

This is years ago - the boys are all in their 20s now, and the lunch box police weren’t as strict as they are now - crisps and chocolate biscuits were allowed - but we were expected to send them in with fruit too.

I did wipe the rejected fruit and resend it the next day - a firm apple could do three days, and a just ripe banana might do the full week - but eventually they got too battered and had to be chucked out - hence the suggestion of using plastic fruit - it would satisfy a cursory inspection, and wouldn’t get too battered.

I think we called it 'alibi fruit' back then, didn't we? I used to do it with DS after you told us about it. He's now 16, 6ft, and will still eat his own body weight in fruit at home, but never in a packed lunch. It saved me a lot of sighing & wasted fruit in the primary school years.

OP, if the school are policing the lunch boxes, then frozen grapes might be an idea? They should have thawed out enough by lunchtime, but still be chilled rather than that horrible room temperature fruit texture that loads of kids seem to hate.

@Yellowbowlbanana

Mine have a bit of salad in their sandwich and a piece of fruit ( chopped melon, grapes, an apple or satsuma). They also have a snack of some kind, either a small biscuit or crisps etc. If the fruit continually doesn't get eaten then I tell them I'll remove the snack. I have followed through so they know I mean it. Usually does the trick!

Same here

Yeah give up
I give mine fruit, veg and salad at home where I can make sure he eats it. No point adding fruit that never gets eaten to lunch box just to look like a good parent!