To be really, really irritated by this leaflet from the School Food Trust...

[SuseB]

DD came home on Friday with a 'Little Book of Goodness' from the School Food Trust. Is basically an advert for school dinners (DD has packed lunches). Wouldn't have minded but there was actually a page that said Packed Lunches - big red cross, School Dinners - big green tick. Cites a load of research about the fat, salt and sugar packed lunches contain, waxes lyrical about how packed lunches don't contain vegetables.

AIBU to be irritated? Seems unhelpful to make all packed lunches seem undesirable - kids have them for all sorts of reasons (in our house - cost, control of contents and child's preference). I am of course aware that the producers of the leaflet have not had the benefit of seeing my DDs carefully chosen, lovingly prepared and nutritionally balanced lunches :)

I have to admit most packed lunches I've seen over the years do contain crap!!

Cheese strings
Fruit winders
Chewee bars
Frubes

Always on offer in the supermarket

But so do school dinners - a typical primary school week here is fishfingers and chips, followed by muffin. Pizza. Ham roll and tomato soup. Sausages and chips. Whereas wholemeal sandwich with fruit and yoghurt - far healthier imv.

I'd be pissed off by it too.
On the whole, the packed lunches of my DS1 and his friends are good.

He gets a sandwich on wholemeal bread/pasta/wrap, a carton of orange juice, a portion of veg (little pot of peppers, cherry toms, cukes, carrots), a piece of fruit, a portion of dairy and a little treat (packet of pom bears/penguin/small cak)

Three of his 5 a day, a portion of dairy, a portion of lean protein (in sandwich/wrap etc).

It is not hard and it is not expensive and it beats the school dinners hands down which always always always have pudding with custard and some crappy refined carb option.

They do it at his school too although they don't put an x by the packed lunches. I just don't understand why they try to sell them. Surely a healthy lunch, packed or otherwise is what they should be after.

small cake not small cak

Anyway, cheese strings aren't that bad.
They contain a lot of salt, but so does all hard cheese.
A chunk of cheddar would be no different.
Fruit winders and chewee bars; well maybe as a small treat if the rest of the lunch is healthy.

Frubes? Nothing wrong with one of them for pudding with a bit of fruit versus chocolate cake and custard, or jam tart and OJ which is what the schools often serve.

That's really leading them in one direction isn't it? I wouldn't be too pleased either. And bollocks to packed lunch containing no veg - my DD takes cous cous salad, carrot sticks, all sorts.

She has school dinners at the moment because she wanted to try them and will regularly get dry white pasta, bread, peas and another pasta as the vegetarian option. A couple of the set veggie meals contain next to no protein - the vegetable stir fry is pasta twirls with ribbons of courgette and carrot, I counted five tiny strips in a portion . Then she'd be given the option of two extra starches - the bread and more dry pasta - to go with it.

Clearly much better than a packed lunch

What is wrong with Frubes - isn't it yogurt in a tube??

I would be livid if DD 5 brought that home. She loves her packed lunch, today she had veg cous cous with some lean sausage followed by strawberries and a small wafer biscuit. Her choice!! She is a very good eater and likes salad, pasta etc Tomorrow it will be prawns and pasta salad.

Agree that school dinners can be shit, not to mention overpriced for what they are. I would object to the school effectively advertising to the children - they shouldn't be trying to 'sell' them anything. Whether you buy school dinners or send in a packed lunch is a parental choice. They shouldn't be trying to get to the parent via the child imo. It's underhand

While on the subject, I also think they should mind their own business regarding the contents of packed lunches. It's up to the parents what they feed their DC.

Frubes are banned in our school!

Must admit, your packed lunches sound lovely!

I suppose the problem is the generalisation that the leaflet makes, that all packed lunches are crap.

Many will be (I've stores about a child being sent in with a large packet of kettle chips and a can of coke) but likewise, many will be just fine.

My daughters lunchbox today - a ham salad wrap, carrot sticks and a box of raisins. OJ to drink.

The school dinner - burger, chips, OPTIONAL vegetables and chocolate sponge with custard.

Boooo to your 'Little Book Of Bullplop' :)

I've heard stories

Duh!

Although, just remembered - one of my students had this 'wholesome' packed lunch at sports day last year - a family pack of bourbons and a Dr Pepper. :(

Wjilst I can understand schools banning frubes (they are hell to open and splat everywhere) they are just yoghurt or fromage frais, no less healthy than cake and custard.

I am an ingredient readerf and cheese strings if you buy the original ones without colour are no different than normal cheese.

Frubes are no worse than most other yoghurts (Petit Filous etc) in that they're all packed with sugar. I only let the kids have natural yoghurt with mashed fruit for this reason - not so easy in a packed lunch though. DD doesn't have packed lunches yet but when she does I'll prob just stick some cheese in and no yoghurt.

I find it hugely hypocritical when schools 'ban' things from packed lunches when the school dinners are so utterly crap and usually quite unhealthy too.

My son's packed lunch usually consists of a sandwich with wholemeal bread, piece of fruit, carton of pure fruit juice, veg sticks (sometimes with humous) or cherry tomatoes and either a piece of cheese, a Frube or some home made cake/flapjack. In winter he sometimes takes home made soup with bread instead of a sandwich.

I really don't see the harm in a Frube or piece of home made cake etc as part of a lunch like that and I certainly believe it's healthier than any school dinner he has had.

One frube (the tube, not the pouches, has 6 g of carbs). That's 24 kcal worth of carbs.

Some of that will be lactose from the dairy too!

Theres an MNer with a good packed lunch website she's made. Some really good pots etc are on it for transporting fruit/yogurt etc

Can you provide a link Tiffany

I find it hugely hypocritical when schools 'ban' things from packed lunches when the school dinners are so utterly crap and usually quite unhealthy too.

Me too.

That seems really off. Better to suggest healthy alternatives to crisps etc

Problem with our school dinners is that my son chooses. Not me.
If the veg looks manky he won't eat it.

I think that's terrible op. Food doesn't have to be hot to be healthy.

I also have never completely understood why they need hot school dinners. I know originally it was because families in the 1950s/60/70s had a hot lunch and a cold tea but today, most families cook at night and I think that once the kids get to teen years, it means that they're probably eating too many calories by having two cooked meals a day.

For me, without the packed lunch option, DS would starve! He has 'Selective Eating Disorder' so would just look at the plate and refuse it point blank! How can that be healthier than me giving him sandwiches, apple juice, cheese, fruit and a granola bar?

I think that's a lot though chicletteeth since they contain about 2 spoons of yoghurt!
That's just my view though and my kiddies are both at the top of the centiles so I have to be quite careful with diet and exercise (for the older one). I agree that the packed lunches on here (Frubes an all!) sound a lot healthier than most schools offer and I would have been p'eed off with the leaflet too. They should have had examples of healthy/unhealthy packed lunches and school dinners.