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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DS made fun of at school for having Aldi packed lunch!

161 replies

bimbabirba · 17/09/2013 22:17

More of a WYBU.
DS started at a private school last week. He's in YR 6. Everything was going well until we decided to switch to packed lunches because he hated the hot lunches the school provides for £3.50 a meal. Some kids have been noticing that the drinks and snacks in his lunch box are Aldi's and have been saying things like "Ewww... Aldi, that place is horrid! How gross!".
DS is so embarrassed that every morning he tippexes the Aldi brand or he goes over it with a marker pen but they recognise the packaging and still make fun of him!
I can't believe I have to deal with this! WYBU to mention it to his teacher? He's new and I don't want to make it worse by making him unpopular.

OP posts:
ageofgrandillusion · 17/09/2013 22:20

If you can afford private school, maybe you have to send waitrose food? Poor kid.

TerrorMeSue · 17/09/2013 22:20

What are these items? We shop at aldi, but in packed lunches the sandwich is bread and ham in a box. There's aldi fruit, decanted yogurt in a small plastic pot from a big tub, sometimes pasta salad in a plastic tub. No-one would be any the wiser where any of it was bought.

Is decanting an option?

Justforlaughs · 17/09/2013 22:21

2 options, buy one packed lunch from Waitrose and reuse the packaging or tech him to stand up for himself, by saying that he will get more spent on him at Christmas (or similar) if he doesn't waste money on branded items

AmberLeaf · 17/09/2013 22:21

Aldi food doesn't say Aldi on the packaging, so unless those kids also get food from Aldi how on earth would they know?

Original poster
bimbabirba · 17/09/2013 22:22

The drinks have the Aldi logo at the back and so do the cereal bars and crisps!

OP posts:
AmberLeaf · 17/09/2013 22:23

For example

None of that says the words Aldi.

BehindLockNumberNine · 17/09/2013 22:24

I am confused too. We shop at Aldi and Lidl but the brand name is NOT blazened across the packaging?
In fact, you would be hard pressed to recognize any of it as Aldi or Lidl unless you know the names they give to their cartons of juice, chocolate bars etc....

It will state, in very small writing "produced for Aldi stores" on the packet, but you would be hard pressed to find it...

Hmm
AmberLeaf · 17/09/2013 22:24

I thought posh folk loved Aldi and Lidl anyway?

LittleRobots · 17/09/2013 22:24

Don't give cereal bars, put crisps in a tub if you have to give them and drink in a water bottle.

TigOldBitties · 17/09/2013 22:24

You could mention it to the teacher I guess, but kids tease and that sort of thing sticks. As he's only just started, I'd just change it, use tubs or bottles etc before he gets known as the Aldi kid/poor kid/something equally charming.

If you're going to use this type of school where money is prevalent I don't know what else you would expect.

BehindLockNumberNine · 17/09/2013 22:25

The cereal bars come in a six pack. The six pack has the name Aldi on the back in small letters. However, the individual cereal bars are in unbranded / unlabelled wrappers?

Wuldric · 17/09/2013 22:25

I suffered from something very similar in that I sent DD in for a school trip with a back pack from Next. The sneers were visible from space.

I really do despise all this label snobbery but it is part of the deal with fee-paying schools. I refused to buy DD a posher backpack.

greenbananas · 17/09/2013 22:26

If they recognise the Aldi brand, that means that they too have Aldi brand stuff at home Grin

Time to talk to your son about the pointlessness and generally shaky basis of snobbery in all its forms.

My mum used to say, "even if I could afford to buy you that brand with the label on it, I wouldn't because paying for a name is just silly". That made sense to me.

FannyBazaar · 17/09/2013 22:27

Yeah I'm with the scrapping of the cereal bars and crisps and drinking water instead idea. Give him unpackaged homemade stuff and tell him it's for the good of the environment.

Jinsei · 17/09/2013 22:28

What revolting children!

LazyMonkeyButler · 17/09/2013 22:28

I know what the OP means about things having a small Aldi logo on the back.

If I were in your position, I would buy his school lunchbox fillers from an "acceptable" supermarket. You can still do your main shop at Aldi & no-one will know where the bread came from (I would hope).

I know that sounds like giving in to the bullies but I would do it as it seems an easy way to save the teasing. Especially as your DS is new to the school.

Elsiequadrille · 17/09/2013 22:29

You could decant all of that. And buy a Sigg bottle (or similar) for the drink.

Pity you have to consider doing this, however.

Backtobedlam · 17/09/2013 22:29

I'm really surprised by this. I've found most of the kids at our private school seem less concerned with money/brands/material goods than counterparts at the state school. It's precisely because some of the parents are so frugal and have their heads screwed on financially that they can afford the fees. Shopping at Aldi/Lidl is nothing to be ashamed of, some things it's worth spending extra money on some things it's not. Are you in London by any chance?

PorkPieandPickle · 17/09/2013 22:30

In year 6 do kids really have an opinion on supermarkets?!

Elsiequadrille · 17/09/2013 22:30

I don't think you should change supermarket.

SavoyCabbage · 17/09/2013 22:31

I would do the same as Lazy. Get his stuff elsewhere. He needs to be given the opportunity to settle in.

OhDearNigel · 17/09/2013 22:31

Do some private schools allow packed lunches now then ?? I went to a private girls followed by public and a packed lunch would not have been permitted except if you were halal or kosher.

Don't know what to suggest OP. maybe stuff like pasta salads that go in a pot ? Mums may shop at aldi but their kids are just looking for someone to single out as being different. In my experience the way to get through independent education is to be as much part of the herd as possible.

LeonardWentToTheOffice · 17/09/2013 22:31

A Next backpack Wuldric - that's posh Shock My DS loves the backpack I got him from Aldi!

FreudiansSlipper · 17/09/2013 22:32

I think they would have teased him about anything

It's like a test, totally wrong but I am sure soon he will make friends and yes do speak to the teacher if it happens again

Aldi and Liddle are very popular around here. Labels are not the thing thankfully at ds school but of course boden/joules clothes are the more washed out they are the better

BlackeyedSusan · 17/09/2013 22:33

he should tell them that they only recognise it because they have it at home.