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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
Oblomov · 13/10/2011 11:38

I too hate these threads:
"That sounds like too much"
"That sounds not enough"

My boys eat much more than any of their friends. I can barely fit all of ds's food in his lunchbox, and he scoffs the lot. I have written threads before about how skinny ds1(7) is and how he eats like an 11 year old.

But comparing my 3 yr old to your 3 yr old, or comparing someones 5 yr old with someone elses 5 yr old, is completely pointless.

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 13/10/2011 12:28

I hate these threads as they are started with the intention of getting everyone to say noooooooo, that's a brilliant lunch of course YANBU, otherwise why use AIBU, stick it somewhere else and get some useful advice if you are genuinely concerned.

It amazes me that we expect our children to function on sugar, 'it gives them energy', but hey, it makes things taste good. Of course fructose is sugar and all dc's should be encoraged to eat fruit and will recieve some that way, but sweetening with grape juice is just a really cunning way to hide sugar and the grape juice should read sugar imo, it will have just the same effect on their body.

I know I am banging on but giving up sugar was one of the best things I ever did for myself and have pretty much changed my kids diets in the same way. The effect on their sleep, behaviour, concentration and yes their energy level was astonishing.

They do still get occasional treats and they are like different children (not in a good way).

coraltoes · 13/10/2011 12:46

Sushi?! Send them sushi to nursery?! What the actual shit are you people on?!

Oh yes Allegra has last nights Zuma leftovers, Yellowtail with ponzu dipping sauce and a shot of sake in her water don't you know.

Sarnies, cheese, fruit. Really it isn't that hard.

BOOareHaunting · 13/10/2011 13:04

I also should mention DS' sandwiches are made Sunday night and frozen and put in the lunchbox every morning to defrost by lunch. Grin

If it's not been made already, or isn't a ready made item (eg fruit/ yoghurt) then in this house it doesn't make the packed lunchbox!

pranma · 13/10/2011 13:11

dgs is the same age as your dd and his lunch box contained a small tub of grapes,a cream cheese sandwich-one slice of bread folded and cut in half and another little tub with cubes of ham and cucumbber.There was also a 'sippy cup' of diluted apple juice.He rarely eats it all.His favorite 'home' lunch is scrambled egg on toast which he sprinkles with balsamic vinegar[yuk] and a yoghurt.

Baroozer · 13/10/2011 13:14

My seven year old boy has in his lunchbox two sandwiches (ham and cucumber, tuna and sweetcorn), four cherry tomatoes, little pot of olives, yoghurt, orange juice, water and a homemade mince pie.

Yesterday my 2.5 year old had one sandwich (salmon and cucumber), little pot of olives, banana, yoghurt, orange juice and water.

I wouldn't pack crisps in a child's lunchbox, but I don't see the problem with the smoothie. My kids love smoothies and we normally make them ourselves, but popping a smoothie in a lunchbox seems quite a good way to give them liquid and fruit.

Oblomov · 13/10/2011 13:31

I'm certianly not going to tell you lot what I put in my ds's lunchboxes. It would keep your lot going for a week! But mine always return back, having scoffed the lot, telling me that they are 'starving'.
When mine goes round to play at other peoples houses, he comes back at has another dinner, at ours !! Still very slim. Amazing.

jade80 · 13/10/2011 20:11

Had never thought of sending sushi- good plan! Grin

thisisyesterday · 13/10/2011 20:54

so... i shouldn't admit that ds1 sometimes has homemade sushi in his lunch?

k

what is wrong with that btw? it's quick and easy to make and is a change from sarnies...

FearfulYank · 13/10/2011 21:19

Sushi is basically just fish and rice, nothing wrong with that!

AppleAndBlackberry · 13/10/2011 21:27

My 2.2yo has a sandwich made with one slice of bread and 2 pieces of fruit and often she only eats half the sandwich.

AppleAndBlackberry · 13/10/2011 21:28

(so yes - yours sounds plenty for a small eater)

jugofwildflowers · 13/10/2011 21:53

To add to the flames.... there is some really interesting seaweed available on line which is Japanese and looks like thin paper, it's called nori. Dc don't like it much if it's soggy so they take little squares of it separate from the sushi in their lunch box. Another type looks like gloopy marmite which is delicious in a soft boiled egg, or on rice (called Gohan desu yo).

The reaction from other dc at school was interesting as after initially saying YUK some wanted to try it and after doing so, they all loved it too and so explained why dd wanted to bring it in every day for a whole term at her primary school.

We don't live in London and can't afford to eat out but I love it when dc are open to trying foods from different cultures. Saying that, my grandad thought spaghetti was foreign muck and wouldn't eat anything other than meat and 2 veg.

The dc in Japan get pickled radish etc in their obento (lunch box) can't see that working here too well somehow!

thisisyesterday · 13/10/2011 22:05

you can get nori in sainsburys too

dementedma · 13/10/2011 22:16

love this thread. Am STAGGERED at the amount of food - healthy or otherwise - going into the lunch boxes of very small children. Can't remember any of my 3 DCs ever having that much for lunch.DDs (now 21 and 18) were quite happy taking packed lunches - a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a biscuit - but DS (9) has some issues over food and refuses to eat in school. We have tried everything, every type of food - long story - but bottom line is he will not eat in front of other people in the school dinner hall, gets extremely anxious and stressed etc. After trying everything, we have accepted that is how he is and he takes an empty lunch box with him to wave at the dinner hall monitors. he then sits with his friends until they are finished and then goes out to play. while I am NOT saying this is ideal, with a decent breakfast before he goes out and then a good dinner (he's a big eater) he actually survives without sushi, olives, cubes of this and that.
My point is, a child will actually live with a small limited lunch as long as the rest of the diet is ok - some of the posters seem to be packing enough food into one lunch box to feed a bloody army!!!
DDs have managed on their limited lunches to grow to an amazing 5 11 in dd1s case and 5 9 in DD2s. both rudely health I'm glad to say.

exoticfruits · 13/10/2011 22:18

I agree dementedma-mine would have been completely overfaced!

thisisyesterday · 13/10/2011 22:21

why is it so shocking that some children eat more?

my kids eat a LOT, but are perfectly healthy. if you can accept that your son is fine going all day without eating any lunch then why can't you accept that other children have big appetites and eat a lot of lunch?

thisisyesterday · 13/10/2011 22:23

i am sure my kids would live with a tiny lunch, and without having sushi and olives etc
but the fact is that they are hungry and like to eat more and tehy LIKE sushi and olives so why on earth wouldn't I let them have them?

Proudnreallyveryscary · 13/10/2011 22:25

I hate these threads too - 'look at the fabulously healthy lunch I gave my child so you can all pat me on the back while I pretend to be upset over some completely inconsequential and probably made up criticism'

exoticfruits · 13/10/2011 22:26

It is as I said much earlier-competitive mummies!

Proudnreallyveryscary · 13/10/2011 22:32

Competitive and boring

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 13/10/2011 22:40

"BOOareHaunting Thu 13-Oct-11 13:04:33
I also should mention DS' sandwiches are made Sunday night and frozen and put in the lunchbox every morning to defrost by lunch"
Fantastic idea! What sorts of sandwiches? DD likes cheese and soemtimes ham - they'd be OK wouldn't they, if I got proper ham? And if I could get her eating chicken, even better. I could have them all quartered upa dn ready!

BOOareHaunting · 13/10/2011 22:48

well put it this way SHRIIEEEK if you found my shopping list in a trolley it wouldn't say nice ham. Wink

I just use supermarket own bread and ham. Make them, quarter them, freeze them and put in the required amount daily. Cheese is fine too.

Defrosted bread is often fresher than 3 day old bread and as many have said - to DS it's just fuel to get him through the afternoon.

Great thing is I don't get the midweek panic of running out of bread/ham etc.

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 13/10/2011 22:49

But the prepacked ham (which I usually buy) isn't suitable for freezing, is it? Fairly sure it says not

ragged · 14/10/2011 01:42

My kids never eat half as much as other people's. DS (11) probably eats 1/3 less lunch calories than OP listed.

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