Does your child’s packed lunch contain a treat everyday?

[Mrssheepskin]

Currently DS4 takes a packed lunch 3 days a a week to preschool.
He has a sandwich/wrap (always cheese although hoping to broaden the range soon!), salad bits, fruit and a piece of homemade cake or biscuit (shortbread, cookie, lemon drizzle, cupcake etc.) If he continues packed lunches when he starts school, would it be bad to have a sweet treat like this everyday still? Not sure what to swap it with if not.

DD does. She's in reception and has largely rejected school food so takes pack ups most days. Nursery conditioned her to expect pudding after most meals and the rest of her class on school dinners get one too so I'm happy for her to. I get the point about school/nursery desserts being lower sugar but 2/3/4/5 yr olds don't care. Besides, if she's going to have sugar then a small amount after a meal is far better for her than a chunk mid-afternoon with nothing else to balance it out!

She tends to get a small cookie, custard cream, homemade oaty biscuit or homemade banana and apple mini bun cake type thing each day.

Otherwise she either takes either a sandwich (on a wholemeal roll), cheese cubes or chopped up sausage, fruit/veg pot and yogurt or pasta with homemade veggie sauce, chopped up sausage/grated cheese with a fruit/veg pot on the side. I would like to be able to do chicken or tuna or something instead of the sausage but she doesn't like much meat so it's cheese, sausages or beans for protein at lunchtime as I can't put nuts in so it will have to do.

She also takes a pot of fruit/veg for break time snack, and another one for after school club - mix of carrots, pepper, cucumber, peas, sweetcorn, grapes, apple, pineapple, strawberries etc. depending what's in season etc. She'll also have a rice cake, oat cake, cracker or something for after school too to go with the fruit/veg.

Overall her meals are balanced so a small piece of something sweet is hardly going to hurt.

We're lucky her school have a very pragmatic approach to lunches and don't have an official policy other than to promote healthy eating. They periodically remind people what a health lunch box might look like. The only rules are no nuts as the school is nut free and no fizzy drinks. Apart from that they say recommend no chocolate or sweets, not chocolate spread or jam on sandwiches, ideally no crisps and only include sausage rolls etc occasionally at most.

For the poster who said about apple going brown - we just toss it in a splash of fruit juice, then dry it off before it goes in the pots and it's still good til break or lunch. We learnt that trick when a wobbly tooth made whole apples tricky!

I’ve got some of those reusable yoghurt pouches I’ve never used and was actually thinking of making my own with yoghurt and some blended strawberries/fruit. May give it a go. He doesn’t have ‘kids’ yoghurts as I know they usually do contain quite a bit of sugar. Could do those some days and homemade cake/biscuit the others.

If you make the strawberries or other soft fruit into a puree to add to yoghurt it works really well in those pouches. I use frozen soft fruit which is cheaper and less waste.

Do you mix it with Greek or natural yoghurt?

According to DS some of his classmates have a Freddo Frog in their lunch box everyday!

No I don't give treats because DS school have lunch in sittings due to lack of space. Each sitting only gets 15 minutes to eat and DS is a slow eater. If I gave him a treat he'd eat that first and leave the sandwich and fruit!

Food shouldn't be seen as a treat, it should just be seen as food.

A bit of chocolate or a cake bar everyday isn't going to hurt anyone.

According to DS some of his classmates have a Freddo Frog in their lunch box everyday!

That would be my child, I’m not sure why that would be particularly shocking.

@Mrssheepskin I use Greek yoghurt, which is slightly less sour than natural yoghurt.

Saying “treat” when I mean something sweet places a value on particular foods that I don’t think is beneficial.

Agreed. DS gets things like daal, soup, pasta and sauce or chilli with rice in a flask. That's filling and a proper balanced lunch with vegetables and protein. Treats would be things he particularly likes but are a hassle to make. Snacks I put in would be yoghurt, mini cheese, fruit, veg sticks. He's more interested in playing than eating so I want the main component of his lunch to be enough.

I don't mind him having cakes or the like and if I have baked he'll have some each day until it's done. That said, I don't eat sweets or biscuits every day and have no desire to. I don't like the pudding options at school dinners - nobody needs sticky toffee pudding or ice cream every day. DS weight is healthy and I don't care about calories beyond making sure he has enough but I want his calories to come from food that nourishes him. It's a shame so many children have nut allergies because I'd love to put nuts in as a snack.

There is something sweet every day and you might call it a "treat" but I call it food. My goal for my child is self regulation, and having things available means she doesn't crave or eat too many when they are available.

Just to add, as I can't see that anyone's mentioned this yet, but portion size is everything here! Chocolate cake in a lunch box could be an adult sized wedge or a 2 inch x 2 inch piece. An appropriately child sized portion for my 4 year old isn't going to be an issue in the same way that an entire mars bar or something might be.

After much back and forth. I can confirm the catering for our primary school does NOT hide veg in their cakes etc.

Their chocolate muffins are made with just what you'd expect from a homemade/shop muffin. Ie flour, eggs, oil, sugar etc.

So people who are saying "ohhhh but the school muffins will have beetroot/courgette in them" might wanna check their facts for their school.

I don’t doubt it. I did try a while ago to ask for the ingredients list of our school meal provider but so far have had no response…

I did have to send about 6 emails asking them, they were very keen to avoid answering the question!

I had to be specific about what items, as they didn't want to provide ingredients for every item.

99% of people will have crisps and or cake and or chocolate in every packed lunch!

I alternate something savoury and something sweet, so it's not every day. I also try to offer four better options and one pre-packaged thing that they love.

Standard lunchbox is:

Sandwich or wrap with ham, cheese, tuna, hummus or pate

One piece of fruit

One veg/salad thing. Sliced peppers or a tomato or cucumber etc

A carby thing. Breadsticks, rice cakes, popcorn, crackers etc.

A "treat" sometimes a biscuit, muffin or cake but could also be a sausage roll, scotch egg or a cheese string.

Yes always send a 'treat' but have never called it a treat, it's just one element of his overall balanced lunch. My son is very active and needs energy. He also doesn't need to have a complex about food.