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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not want to ban pack lunches?

40 replies

BegoniaBampot · 12/02/2013 10:51

just watching th wright stuff and they are talking about banning pack lunches as school dinners are healthier while people put nothing but crisps, fizzy drinks and crap in pack lunches.

i have two children, one loves school dinners but other is fussy. tried making him go to school dinners as thought it would make him less fussy. school called to say that some days he was eating nothng but pudding. his pack lunch is a wholemeal butter sandwich, pot of cucumber and peppers, fruit and a biscuit.

one woman phoned in to say she worked in a school supervising lunches and had never seen carrots or such, really? i wish fussy eater would eat school dinners but not convinced his pack lunch isn't better for him.

OP posts:
SkinnybitchWannabe · 12/02/2013 10:58

I couldn't afford to pay for school dinners for my 3ds.
It would cost £80 per month for my 7 and 10 year old (same school £2 each per day)
10 year old has never had school dinners, he's not fussy just loves his pack up.
Eldest ds is 13 and eats like a horse so I dread to think how much it would cost!

I really can't see schools ever banning packed lunches to be honest.

frasersmummy · 12/02/2013 10:59

lol at school dinners are healthier

right so on the school menu this week we have had
sausage rolls with potato bites
pizza
chicken nuggets and wedges

Personally I try to balance ds's lunches out .. some days he can have pizza and chips .. some days a healthy sandwich yogurt and fruit

its all about balance and in our area there is no balance in the school dinner menu

yellowsheep · 12/02/2013 11:00

I have a dd in school and ds's in nursery DD was on school dinners for 2 years but has just changed over to packed lunch - she is much happier. she often takes veg sticks as she isnt fond of bread so we have to find other things to put in her lunch.

ds's school lunch one eats everyting one dosn't like pasta or sauce so often he only has potato and then pudding, if he had a pack up which he will at school he will happily eat tuna/samon/meat sanwich fruit yoghat etc which will be much better for him than a roast potato and cake and custard ;)

DD school dosnt allow fizy drinks, choclate / sweets ets and is completley nut free, they even have a section on their website to give idea's for packlunch other than sandwich crisp choclate bar, apple, drink

AlienReflux · 12/02/2013 11:02

I totally agree, and would be mightily pissed off if my DS school did this. My DS LOVES his very healthy ( wholemeal sarnie, cucumber, banana, yoghurt and biscuit) packed lunch,. I can see how some parents would fill the packed lunch with crap, but they should come down on them.

I tried my DS on school dinners when they had a trial week, he hardly ate anything.

yellowsheep · 12/02/2013 11:02

i fogot to add school meals are £2 a day at the moment i pay £20 a week for food my sons dont really like/eat/enjoy, my daughters lunch box cost much less and when the boys go to school i am already planning on the thinmgs we can do when i dont have to pay out £80 a month for 'lunch'

scrablet · 12/02/2013 11:03

Oh, I totally agree, it seemed there was no happy medium between 'fizzy juice and crisps,etc' and 'hummus and cucumber sticks' etc.
We can all put what we choose in lunches, sometimes healthier than other.
Dinners are just NOT always the healthiest option, we don't all stuff our kids with crap unless we are told not to.
Really, we do not all need the nanny state ...it makes me all so tired.

HumphreyCobbler · 12/02/2013 11:03

no one is actually planning to ban them - it is something the two advisors suggested rather than policy.

BelindaCarlisle · 12/02/2013 11:03

"packed" personal bugbear

sorry

quoteunquote · 12/02/2013 11:07

it would work if they were organised like this totally

brilliant,

but it can't happen as they can't afford to pay for everyone,

and I would rather supply food for my children as the school lunches at our school, are unhealthy, cold, over cooked, tiny portions, greasy, and tasteless, I don't want my children who eat a healthy diet, put off eating certain foods, mine hate the school food, the woman who cooks them, has very different ideas about food to us, I would rather my children didn't come into contact with her food.

so how are they going to force people to fund it?

redandwhitesprinkles · 12/02/2013 11:09

The 'advisors' also have not said they should be banned. They said if more people had school dinners the quality would improve and cost could come down.

Sugarice · 12/02/2013 11:10

Henry Dimbleby is all over the media pushing this idea and about getting more cookery lessons in schools for children 7-14 to improve childrens' understanding about nutrition and food.

Very commendable and all that but will it actually happen?

Where in the curriculum will this take place and in primary schools who will do the teaching and what about facilities for the class?

BelindaCarlisle · 12/02/2013 11:10

" into contact with her food"'
LISTEN TO youself!

spongebobsquareeyes · 12/02/2013 11:11

Pffft at school dinners being healthier! Pizza and chips, sausage roll and chips, hot dog and chips? Carbolicious! I really hope this is pie in the sky because DD1 has type 1 diabetes so gets a carb counted packed lunch, and getting the school dinner carb counts is like pulling teeth!

OTTMummA · 12/02/2013 11:12

I find it hilarious that DS school has just had a healthy start week teaching chip en and parents what type of things to put in a lunch box etc, then the next week DS brings home a biscuit (packet biscuit! ) decorated with icing and sprinkles, DS refused to eat it because 'sugar isn't good for me mummy is it?' couldn't make it up.

HumphreyCobbler · 12/02/2013 11:12

the school dinners look vile at our school

ScramblyEgg · 12/02/2013 11:15

Redandwhite - the advisors have said that school dinners should be made compulsory. That sounds pretty much the same as banning packed lunches to me.

givemeaclue · 12/02/2013 11:17

Packed lunches are not being banned. It was one idea noted but not going ahead.

You can breathe now.

Startail · 12/02/2013 11:20

Also I may put crap in packed lunch

That's because DD2 wastes fruit and veg sticks when in a hurry to go and play, but will munch them happily sitting in front of the TV when she gets home.

DCs diets are balanced over a day, not what schools see at lunch.

Wishiwasanheiress · 12/02/2013 11:20

I think if rather packed meals banned than some "lunch monitor" snooping through which judging by some threads I've seen happens an awful lot. That really is just nanny/police state.

The point on expense is if all kids ate the school meals at a school the buying power is better equalling less actual cost to parent. Probs tho wouldn't drop by much? 50p? Dunno...

pumpkinsweetie · 12/02/2013 11:21

School Dinners are far from healthy and cost a bomb if you are in work.
Atleast you know what goes into a packed lunch!!!
Very often my dc tell me of bacon rolls, chocolate sponge, pizza and chips in their school meals, so why shouldn't a packed lunch child be allowed a treat when school dinners allow for shit like the aboveConfused

It feels as if we are a nanny state and are being told what we can do with our own dc, i don't like it at all!

Before my dh was made redundant school dinners for 3 of our dc were costing us £33 a week, thats more than £133 a monthShock
Now he is out of work 2 of my dc recieve a free school dinner as they like them and my 4yo has a packed lunch as she no longer likes the school dins as they changed catering supplier.

If my i or dh was to get another job, it would undoubtely be mininum wage.
We won't be able to afford school dinners for all of them if it's made compulsory, especially when dd4 starts school next year as it would total up at £44 a week Shock

If they want this rule, all dinners, for all children should be FREE

alemci · 12/02/2013 11:32

TBH after the debacle with the horse meat, I don't think this would happen. Packed lunches are better as you can monitor it.

slinky71 · 14/02/2013 14:13

I also watched the wright stuff debate on packed lunches caught my interest as doing a dissertation on encouraging healthy eating with young children, and i also have a 7yr old who tried school dinners but went back to packed lunches, some packed lunches are unhealthy and the odd treat is OK if you ask me , my daughter enjoys eating carrot stick, cucumber, peppers with hummus to dip into along with fresh orange in a carton and fruit so I feel the lunch I provide is very healthy, maybe parents just need some fresh ideas on what to pack in a child's lunch box and try to make them fun, also I work in a school and some days the school dinner is pretty poor, eg, sausage roll and chips and from my research the majority of the parents responded positively to receiving information on healthy eating particularly lunch box suggestions.

TheMightyLois · 14/02/2013 14:26

bollocks to red pepper and carrot sticks. No way would DS eat that at school, I wouldn't eat it in my own lunch.

He has a healthy, balanced diet over the course of the day. Luckily our school is one that doesn't interfere with lunchboxes and telling parents how to parent their children Hmm

likesnowflakesinanocean · 14/02/2013 14:32

That would be stupid,and i would try my best to bring ds home for dinner. he is fussy to and id worry he would go hungry but never have i put in fizzy drinks in packed lunches. its v annoying that they are now trying to say parents cant make packed lunches so we shall provide dinners. SOME parents probably do send in awful packed lunches for either one reason or another but penalising everyone is silly.

thegreylady · 14/02/2013 14:34

My dgs has tuna sandwich on wholemeal bread and a little pot of cucumber and tomato as well as a homemade flapjack and an apple.I dont think he'd eat a cooked meal at 12.