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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

in thinking this is a totally suitable lunchbox contents for a 2.5yr old?

182 replies

LifeIsButtercream · 12/10/2011 21:41

I send DD to preschool with a packed lunch - several people have commented that I don't put enough in there (a friend was round once while I was packing it, and I discussed it with someone else - don't ask me how we ended up talking about it!)

Her lunchbox today contained:

  • sandwich made with one slice of brown bread and cream cheese
  • 3 cherry tomatoes
  • matchbox-sized piece of cheese cut into cubes
  • carton of watered-down apple juice
  • 4 mini Organix gingerbread men (ones from the little bags) - ok one didn't have a head lol!
  • packet of raisins
  • Innocent smoothie tube
  • yogurt

Just to explain - DD is a fruit-fiend, if I had put 4 bananas in there she would have been just as happy - it's hard work to get any carbs or protein into her sometimes! I do vary her lunchbox, and serve her something similar at home (and she rarely eats all of it) - someone commented that I should "chuck a pack of crisps in there to make it into a proper lunch" - in my experience DD would eat a whole pack of crisps, the fruit, and leave the rest........

She is a healthy weight and height.

OP posts:
flipandfill · 13/10/2011 09:47

I think is sounds ok- sometimes sugar won't hurt a child- we are so entrenched in this idea of the perfect diet- but if your child is active and not overweight,
I am sure all is fine, maybe vary it at times- eg pasta salad instead of a salad, fruit salad pot instead of the smoothie, crackers instead of bread, home made pizza- freeze bits of your meals so you have spares... but your child will grow up fine on that diet.

You know what, working- preparing three meals a day is blooming hard work and some people hate cooking- so a thrown together packed lunch is fine. It isn't the yogurts making our children fat, it is all the extra snacks...

Sometimes my daughter has an unhealthy lunch, but a healthy breakfast and dinner- it is hard to judge when taking meals in isolation.

A child does need fats in their diet - they probably need a higher proportion of fats than adults/

SardineQueen · 13/10/2011 09:49

DD2 is 2.5 and gets the same as DD1 had

Sandwich or roll - vary between white/brown and small roll / sandwich with one slice bread - with butter and ham
4 cherry tomatoes (why do I always give them 4???!)
Mini babybel
Yoghurt

Nursery give them water or milk to drink, and fruit and veg at snacktime am and pm.

I think your lunchbox sounds quite a lot but she is a healthy weight etc so not to worry I say! Also she is leaving what she can't eat rather than stuffing it down, which is good, and nursery give the savoury then the sweet. Relax and ignore the crisp-pushers, I think!

squeakytoy · 13/10/2011 09:50

It isn't the yogurts making our children fat, it is all the extra snacks...

And a lack of fresh air and exercise for many too...

As kids we had plenty of sugar in our diet, yes, it gave us energy.. but nowadays a child with lots of energy seems to be classed as "hyperactive" because of the sugar.... that, for most kids is normal!!!!

JeremyVile · 13/10/2011 09:51

Too much food anxiety on this thread!

Op, the lunch is fine, I'm sure you know its fine.

IT'S FINE!

actiongirl1978 · 13/10/2011 09:54

Yesterday my daughter had:

Tuna and low fat mayo sandwich, on two standard slices of bread
Some chopped red pepper
A clementine
A real biscuit
A carton of fruit juice (they also have water bottles which she drinks from during the day but apparently they don't have them for lunch)

She also has two snacks during the day, yesterday:
Tub of grapes
Organix oat bar

She is 3.5. She eats everything and then comes home saying she is really hungry and munches carrots and breadsticks until teatime.

By standards on here I am feeding her loads but she is still starving! I think that the OP packs a great lunch!!

havinhoops1974 · 13/10/2011 09:55

What happened to the days of a cheese slice sammich' crisps and a drink lol

belgo · 13/10/2011 09:59

what do you mean by 'A real biscuit'?

as opposed to fake plastic ones?

Rikalaily · 13/10/2011 09:59

Thats a good amount for a 2.5 yr old and a child that age will burn off the sugar, it's about the same as mine would eat at that age (some kids eat more than others, mine eat more than average). I don't worry too much about the contents of the lunchboxes as the kids have a healthy breakfast and evening meal so the usual lunch here is

Ham or tuna on wholemeal (full sandwich for 9 & 6yr olds and half for 4yr old) Or pasta salads with cheese/chicken/ham, pittas/wraps etc. Sometimes I give them a medium sized sausage roll if we are in a hurry (I make the lunches in the morning)

Full sugar Caprisun drink (we don't give sweetners as ds reacts to it so all juice in the house are either fresh juice or full sugar)

Yogurt/fromage frais (full fat)

Crisps/mini cheddars/dairylea dunker/some other savory snack

Cereal bar/flapjack type thing (a proper one with oats and fruit, not the kind thats ricekrispies and choc which arn't filling)

2 pieces of fruit

They use something from thier lunch for thier afternoon break snack, the school provides a piece of fruit/veg and milk for morning break and they have water bottles during lessons. The nursery and reception classes have a help yourself milk/fruit/veg table so the little ones can graze through the day on whatever they want. The most common item to be left in thier lunch bag is crisps which I'll let them eat on the way home as we don't eat dinner until about 6-6.30pm.

I don't limit the fat/sugar or anything at all with the kids meals, active kids will burn everything off, as long as over the whole week thier diet is balanced most of the time they'll be fine. Mine usually have a wholegrain cereal breakfast (porridge with golden syrup/raisins in the colder months) and a piece of fruit and most of our evening meals have some kind of meat in it with loads of veg and some rice/pasta/potatoes so they get everything they need. 1 packet of crisps a day and a treat now and then is good to teach them about balanced eating, I don't add salt to anything I cook so the salt in the crisps is probably the only salt they get most days.

Drives me nuts when the school go on about good food/bad food, I always tell the kids there is no such thing as bad foods, as long as everything is in moderation then it's fine and mine are healthy, happy, slim, active kids.

Rikalaily · 13/10/2011 10:03

Oh forgot, sometimes I send them in with a large slice of cold pizza as a treat!

TootAndCommon · 13/10/2011 10:07

It all sounds very fiddly and a lot of differnt pots and spoons and tubes for a 2 year old to manage. I would give fewer items but more substantial.

Sandwich
Cheese
Banana
Oat bar. For example.

lemmein · 13/10/2011 10:12

So glad my 2 stay for school dinners - I'm blissfully unaware of what they eat at lunch time. I couldn't be doing with messing about with lunch boxes on a morning - they sound like a lot of work!

marge2 · 13/10/2011 10:17

That sounds like tons to me. How does 'crisps' make it a proper lunch??

GHAHSTLYGHOULYpants · 13/10/2011 10:25

op sounds fine to me.

I send my 2.5 DS in with a hot meal each day that the CM heats up-
Chilli and Rice
Chicken Curry and Rice
Spag Bol
occasionally it is a sandwich.

then he always has--
Cashew nuts
Apple
half an avocado/cut up carrot/cucumber/peppers
Innocent smoothie
yogurt
small treat- yoghurt covered raisins, animal crackers, or the like.

He usually comes home with one thing uneaten, which is fine. He also has lots of water through the day. They have 2 snack times and one lunch at my CM.

NightLark · 13/10/2011 10:28

Packed lunches are reasonable straightforward - carbs plus fruit plus dairy plus sweet treat is the formula I follow.

Now packed teas (must be something that can be reheated in a microwave), that I struggle with. Because DD doesn't like 'wet' foods, so rejects pasta with sauce, fish pie, chicken casserole and all my other standbys. She has a LOT of beans on toast for nursery teas.

prisonerofazkaban · 13/10/2011 10:32

DS1 (8) eats school lunch but DS2 (5) has a packed lunch but i'm finding it harder to think of what to put in it. He is extremely fussy with food and his portion sizes are tiny. I can count on one hand the foods he will actually eat. At the moment his lunch box consists of:

1 small buttered bread bun (no filling - he doesn't like anything)
2 yoghurt tubes or 1 small youghurt
grapes or an apple
cereal bar or occasionally a homemade cake
bottle of water

He usually will eat everything but sometimes leaves half the cereal bar. He used to take some sliced chicken but he says he doesn't like this anymore (strange how he will eat it with mash and gravy) and I find it's a little bit pricey if he is only going to leave it.

OP I think what you are giving for lunch is fine for a 2yo. As for the gingerbread and smoothie, it's not going to do her much harm. This is only one of her three meals a day so I wouldn't worry too much.

SardineQueen · 13/10/2011 10:38

Also intrigued as to what a "real biscuit" is Grin

actiongirl1978 · 13/10/2011 10:41

Belgo - Sorry, I mean one with sugar in as opposed to an Organix/baby biscuit. She needs some sugar at lunch IMO she doesn't stop all day!

SardineQueen · 13/10/2011 10:50

Yuk to sugar-free biscuits!

mamasmissionimpossible · 13/10/2011 10:52

DS (6) takes:
half wrap with hummous
a babybel
a raspberry jelly and a few raspberries thrown in
2 garibaldi biscuits
a carton of apple juice

dd (3.8) has:
a half wrap of hummous
a babybel
a raspberry jelly with raspberries that I made last night!
1 garibaldi biscuit
a flask of water

It all gets eaten, although dd does come home after lunch and have a cracker and grapes. I also give them fruit as an after school snack. My ds is skinny and is active. My dd is more well covered, but seems to be more in proportion in height and weight as she get taller. I encourage them to keep active. So far they seem healthy and happy.

OP, sorry for the ramble I am sure your dd's packed lunch is fine, sounds delicious!

aldiwhore · 13/10/2011 10:54

Many of these lunchboxes sound really interesting and lovely, but very complex... my kids have a wholemeal sandwich, yoghurt, piece of fruit and a museli bar.

They have some fruit when they get home and then dinner.

They're 4 and 8. (They do eat everything though so I don't have to think interesting lunch thoughts luckily).

TiarasTimeOutsAndTantrums · 13/10/2011 10:55

My DS has carton of juice, babybel, crisps, jam sandwich, banana and a go ahead bar. Lunch is the only meal he eats fully, he is happy, healthy and I don't read the nutrition info on anything I just go with everything in moderation.

FreakoidOrganisoid · 13/10/2011 11:00

Sounds quite a lot to me. Ds is, erm, nearly four Blush and preschool tell me he has a huge lunch compared to the others.

He has
A sandwich, usually ham, cheese or philly and marmite (two slices of bread)
A pot of carrot/cucumber/tomato
A small yoghurt
Some kind of fresh fruit or raisins
Water

It doesn't seem overly huge to me but I think it's the full sized sandwich maybe? DD used to only have a half sandwich and not the fruit part because she had a much smaller appetite.

He has milk and snack morning and afternoon as well.

actiongirl1978 · 13/10/2011 11:04

Sardine queen - EXACTLY!!!

Moominsarescary · 13/10/2011 11:24

Ds2 is 8 and has
Sandwich usually chicken at the mo
Yogurt
Raisins
Crisps
Drink ( sometimes fruit)
Or
Pasta
Yogurt
Drink

myncichips · 13/10/2011 11:24

LifeisButtercream you can make my lunch that sounds lovely and perfectly suitable! This is so interesting, i'm about to have my first baby and hearing about what and how much young children eat is facinating.

Crisps aren't mandatory for adults so i have no idea why they'd make it a "proper lunch" for a child.

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