Lunchbox rant

[Basketofchocolate]

Just looking forward to next week being able to stop making school lunches every day. I have been disorganised this week and I get cross sometimes that I can't just bung some peanut butter or cheese in DS's sandwiches like my Mum used to do!

That then makes me cross that only options are usually meat and I hate that I am rarely organised enough to give him anything other than packet ham.

That then leads me to get cross about how much stuff like that I buy each week as the 'universal benefit' of free school meals is not universal and not free when I have to provide him with school lunch.

Any other grumpy allergy parents out there wanting to vent?

WTF - you can't use cheese? PB & cheese (not together!) are the only sandwiches my veggie DS will eat. What else could you possibly use?!

Presumably she can't use peanut butter and cheese because of allergies.

I feel your pain. Packed lunch making is hard enough without the extra worry and work of avoiding allergens.

My dd has pasta in a thermos quite often. Much easier than sandwich making.

Yep, I feel your pain.

Dd1 is gluten and dairy free. And her school is nut free.

Which leaves, erm, hummus for sandwiches (she doesn't like ham, and has other food issues - she has ASD).

She takes a flask most days, with pasta and sauce, or curry in. I have even been known to do her sausages, potatoes and broccoli, or salmon/potatoes/broccoli!

I am so looking forward to break up next week - 6 weeks off making packed lunches.

It's the snacks that stump me. Dd1 takes fresh fruit and, um, that's it. Her schools nut policy is really strict - nothing that even mentions 'traces of', which rules out just about anything commercial. So fruit it is then. I do feel for her sometimes - her lunches are so same-y, no chance of anything different.

I get you. I'm glad ds2 is allowed houmous and the school lunch box police are quite moderate where he is because between his sensory aversions and dietary intolerances, he'd end up with ham sandwiches and nothing else every single day, otherwise.

I've never tried broaching DS with anything other than some form of sandwich (wrap, roll, etc) and I think I know what the answer would be! Might have a go in Sept tho, just to see. I think there is an element of wanting to conform though as much as needing to eat quickly to get out to play.

Cheese is a no-no as dairy free. Although we did try violife, but he's not keen on it on its own.

Pandas - recently I've taken to chucking some vegetable crisps in, esp when it was hot the other week. THought some salty snacks would go down well and not as unhealthy as crisps. He loves them!

I always felt guilty about DS pretty much having ham sandwiches every day for lunch. Humous not an option for us.

Why can't your DC have school lunches though? My DS is dairy/egg/sesame/nut allergic and has free school meals.

I hate making packed lunched DS insists on the exact same lunch every day so it's really boring to make as well!!

It's awful isn't it. DD has been on very restricted diet recently due to tummy problems. Gets very bored with foods. Peanut allergy here as well as some less serious multiple food allergies to other fruits and veggies. Bloody nightmare, with the recent addition of trying to go dairy free . The discovery of plamil dairy free alternative to milk choc spread from boots has been a god send but makes her lunch look rather unheathy Also clearspring organic fruit spread. other than that its chicken or bacon as she turns her nose up at ham. oh she likes tuna but not allowed corn or any tomato at the moment = still testing those. I feel your pain ...

have you tried vegan pate as sandwich spread?

or egg?

Would he eat avocado?

Perhaps make a little guacamole with chopped tomatoes, coriander and lime.
My little gIrl quite likes cucumber sandwiches bizarrely.

Can't have egg or avocado.....

I sat down with the school meals provider person and was told 'yes he can have them. they would provide him with a jacket potato and baked beans every day no problem'. Great. He hates baked beans. So, left with us providing food or trusting them to make him sandwiches that are different to others. This in the school where there was another parent came to the meeting as their vegetarian child was given chicken on a number of occasions.

Chloes - that's a point, dietician told me can give him fruit spread but I had forgotten that. You're right though, doesn't always look the healthiest! :)

DD alternates between ham and marmite. Occasionally leftover roast chicken/lamb. She likes a mini peparami for a snack.

They should do better than offer a jacket potato and beans 5 x a week! Dd's school adapt the menu (she's gluten free) so if it's lasagne they give her GF pasta and the bolognaise bit, they changed the gravy to GF on the roast dinner day, bought in gf fish fingers... They've been fantastic, and she doesn't like jacket potato so that's the only day I sometimes send in packed lunch

I always think dairy free is harder and less alternative i.e. can swap pasta for GF pasta but harder to swap a sauce it seems.

DS is ok with gluten but the dairy and soya free were too much for them to cope with apparently.

(Sorry, just realised when I posted I hadn't noticed the topic this was in- I thought it was the lunchbox police saying you couldn't use PB or cheese! I'll go now...)

I too am sick of making packed lunches. DS is older so wouldn't get free meals so that isn't an issue. We asked if the school caterers could provide him with school lunches but because DS carries an epipen and is allergic to nuts, dairy and wheat they did not want to take the risk and whatever they could provide would have been very limited and boring.

DS does eat a lot of sandwiches, either ham, salami or roast chicken. He also sometimes has chicken and gf pasta with salad. In the winter he takes casseroles or stews in a wide neck thermos flask just to mix it up a bit.

I'm feeling less alone in my pain, which is nice

I will make concerted efforts come September to be more inventive