Is this a healthy packed lunch for DS9?

[mincepietwentytwo]

DS9 just switched from school dinners to packed lunch but I get stuck for ideas.

Won't eat:
Cucumber
Peppers
Tomatoes
Fruit (apart from raisins)
Tuna
Chicken (won't eat sliced chicken in the sandwich)
Marmite
Hummus
Nothing with a skin/pips

Will eat:
Ham sandwiches (50/50 bread or a bagel)
Crackers/rice cakes
Frube
Smoothie
Fridge Raiders
Crisps (only give every now and then)
Cheese cubes (won't eat the cheese in the sandwich)

He eats cooked vegetables at dinner and has a smoothie after school so not doing too bad?

the lunch looks ok and you have to do what you can with kids silly dietary limitations! For example my son who is 10 won’t eat ham or chicken or tuna in a sandwich. I don’t buy frubes/fridge raiders.

He has 5 things - either cheese and crackers or a cheese roll/sandwich. Chopped carrot and cucumber. A fruit, usual an apple or satsuma. Something like mini cheddars or a small bag of popcorn. And a sweeter treat, sometimes homemade muffins or a chocolate brioche or biscuit.

Swop put the processed stuff for home cooked chicken, natural yogurt with jam, other ok though ham isn't great all the time, how about pork (from a roast) sliced

I have a child with ARFID. He will literally not eat unless he is fed a handful of very specific foods. Fuck me I would LOVE it if he would eat a sodding frube. As it stands he will eat ONE flavour of Petit Filous, which I’m sure are also the devil’s yoghurt. I will continue to feed him rubbish because at least he isn’t horrifically underweight any more. I used to cry when he had a bath.

Steamed apples in my kids lunchbox? that's genuinely hilarious. I could piss around on a busy morning steaming apples while I'm trying to log in for work, get the kids breakfast and get them ready for school, while writing in their reading record or putting a wash on .. or i could put a frube in their lunchbox.

Many parents could also do with paying more attention to what their kids eat and taking some responsibility for health and nutrition. No need to insult someone just because you feel threatened by their choices.

Oh, you can get local honey in Sainsbury's. My DC don't mind cold apples (aren't apples meant to be cold?!).

You should bore off.

All about priorities. My kids diet is mine. I'd rather piss about than shove a load of crap in them. Each to their own though.

You could just make the lunch ahead. Or just keep feeding your kids frubes (although feeding your kid anything with a name like that is questionable).

Is it healthy, no I don’t think it is particularly especially now the WHO has classified processed meats such as ham and salami as Group 1 carcinogens . Should you care what anyone else thinks, of course not.

@PettyJelly but that’s completely different and I’m really sorry you are having to manage that. There is as you will definitely know a massive difference between a child with ARFID and a fussy child and the OP doesn’t even really suggest her child is fussy just that she wants ideas and there are things he does and doesn’t like, in no way comparable to your situation where obviously all normal rules go out the window!

My kids love steamed apples.

There are benefits to eating local honey, you can look them up.

But away, its just a suggestion. Throw some berries in the yogurt instead of apples, it isn't that hard to pivot to something else.

Nobody called you an idiot, stop being so dramatic. I said you were pontificating, which you were. Also, you didn't merely suggest she might want to drop the frube - you said they contain half a child's recommended sugar intake which is a lie.

Mine has a bagel with pastrami, a mini soreen and a piece of fruit. Leaves the fruit.
Every day.
He eats amazingly well at every other meal and for snacks so I don’t sweat it. It’s pure fuel so he can get outside as quick as possible to play.
So I wouldn’t bother with the all the fridge raiders/frubes/etc as it’s just filling up with UPF and calories he likely doesn’t need. Just give him fuel he will get down so he can have a nice day. Give the healthy snacks and meals at home.

So relatable. The memory makes me smile.

@Laalaalaand wow it wasn’t a lie I’ve already said I apologised for the error that was the content for two but I stand by them being awful and you being rude and unnecessarily aggressive in your response ☺️

If you are looking for ideas my kids love leftovers from dinners hot in a flask. If he is eating healthy dinners would that be an option? This also gives options for pesto pasta which is so quick to make in the morning. Also soups which are a good way to up veg intake as well.

We do avoid upfs as a family so other ideas for snacks are salted popcorn, certain brands of breadsticks and cheese twists.

I am also not sure why stewed apple is being so ridiculed. I batch make this when apples are in season and freeze so it isn't labour intensive when I want a portion and my kids are way more likely to eat this than if I put a whole apple in their lunchbox.

This!!
My packed lunches at school were always actual food, never sandwiches.
Usually left overs from dinner the night before.

A sandwich and crisps is never going to be a "healthy packed lunch". Its an easy and convenient one, its not necessarily bad for you, but it does not fall under healthy food.

Would he eat a pasta salad with chopped ham and cheese cubes? Mine used to like pasta salad or couscous. Does he eat rice? You could do a rice salad or sushi (you can get non-fish ones) I also used to make what my kids called bugs bunny salad - grated carrot, chopped apple, raisins and pumpkin seeds.

If all he really wants is ham sandwich every day, I wouldn't worry. As long as he's not going hungry it's not the end of the world. If he's eating some vegetables with dinner and having fruit in a smoothie you're doing pretty well I think!

My DD won't eat anything that's a mixed up food, has to be a single thing by itself. Deconstructed food works for her so - lunch would consist of a carb (flexible on this, could be bread, pitta, bagels, french bread, crackers, corn cakes) no butter no fillings. Then a protein of some kind - usually cheese, peanut butter when allowed (also allowed as a sandwich) Quorn sausages were good until recipe changed, chicken (but not ham, beef, pork, corned beef or any kind of fish or egg) then a token veg. Usually carrot. Tried cucumber and celery but no. Tomato is beyond contemplation..
Plus carton of juice, dried fruit (strawberry or cranberries maybe apricots) and a small sweet thing, plus a frozen frube in the summer to keep lunch cool.
Bit dull and repetitive but she was happy enough. Her food choices have improved as she's got older (also ASD)

What is a carrot pencil?? Either way I’ve nabbed it for a username.

It’s the sugar content

This is brilliant 🤣

Try sending one item of something new each week to see if he’ll try it? Start small - box of raisins, couple of rice cakes, satsuma etc. Expect that he probably won’t and most importantly do’t even mention it. If he leaves it, no worries. If he eats it, it’s a winner. Small steps. One little bit at a time. You never know what he might try!

Fucking hell. This thread 🤣

The lunch sounds fine OP. Mine ate whatever he wanted for lunch during secondary school, pizza more often than not! I could not be arsed to faff around making lunches as a lone parent working full time. He got a healthy dinner at home every evening and ate fruit and veg daily.

If UPFs shave a couple of years off our lives then so be it! I'd rather die happy.