to think that if school dinner puddings are unhealthy EVERY DAY, then I can

[CocktailQueen]

give my dc a gingerbread biscuit in his packed lunch??

School is cracking down on 'treats' in packed lunches. So no crisps, sweets, biscuits etc. except for one treat on Friday. Fair enough. But they have kept 'unhealthy' school dinner puddings - chocolate crispie cake, chocolate pud with custard, etc.! How is that fair?

Now, my ds is skinny and always on the go, and he needs some fat in his diet! So I gave him the gingerbread biscuit yesterday and he said he had to hide it to eat it in case the dinner lady saw him and took it away!

Crumbs - I'd be pulling them out to sit outside with me to eat their lunch, even if I had to go there in my own lunch break from work! That menu sounds horrible.

It's noticeable on days when she's had very little/rubbish/mainly carbs, Giles, she gets stroppy and tearful easily, and her face definitely looks puffier. As I said, I try and combat it with the evening meal but it makes it hard to try and give her her entire vegetable/fruit complement between home and bed-time...

It infuriates me that I spend the holidays feeding her decent, well-balanced food and then have to send her off and PAY to have her malnourished!

lovecat

I know exactly what you mean!! That describes my dd to a T. She looked awful. Think heroin addict, white with grey bags under the eyes. Her asthma flared up as a result of picking up the bugs. Her eczema was worse too.

And there was no way I could get her to eat an evening meal on top of the lunch, even though lunch was just bread and cake and an egg. Maybe she'd pick at a bit of the spag Bol or Mac and cheese but mainly it was like your dd, the carbs and little else aside from the egg.

I'd feed her up of a half term get her looking and feeling better only to have the pale irritable child stood before me yet again within a couple of weeks.

Could you get a drs note? Would that help?

Your poor dd :(

Bloody hell, what's wrong with sweetcorn?

sweetcorn peas and baked beans really are vegetables the sauce around the beans may be sugary and salty but the beans with tomatoes are real vegetables

Sweetcorn is a grain, not a vegetable (and it's the work of Satan - vile stuff ).

Baked beans are legumes in a sugary sauce.

Vegetables to me are things like broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans, carrots, spinach, cabbage, courgettes, peppers, aubergine, swede, turnip, parsnip, etc.

None of which are available in DD's school.

According to google, fresh sweetcorn is a veg and is very nutritious and rich in fibre. It is high in antioxidants like vit c and is only classed as a grain in it's dried form. I'm classing it as veg, along with peas.

If baked beans are not a veg, does that mean you don't count broad beans as a veg either? Or peas? And technically, most veg are really fruits anyway, like courgettes, aubergine, peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, etc

DDs school serve sweetcorn a lot, think it is because it's convenient, and kids like it because it is sweet, they do serve other veg too like carrots and broccoli, cauliflour and peas though.

Tbh I think sweet corn is the least of the problems.

lovecats poor dd can't live off sweet corn alone :(

My DD isn't school-age yet, so I have all this to come - can I just ask, these home-made treats they confiscate, are they given back at the end of the day? Because otherwise that's just theft. I'd go ballistic if I'd taken the time and effort to make cake or biscuits for my kids and some jobsworth nicked them.

I rather foresee my having lots of arguments in the future if half the stuff I read about happening in primary schools these days is true!

Not all kids like sweetcorn - mine doesn't (I don't blame her, it's bloody horrible)! When it's all that's on offer it means no veg at all for DD.

I don't think legumes are particularly good for you as a veg, they're more of a protein, especially when compared with green leafy veg, which is what they ought to be eating.

And yes, as Giles said, probably the least of her worries with regard to that school...

Reading this thread makes me extra grateful for DD's very good school meals (generally), they have the odd pizza day, and the sugary desserts are on the menu (thankfully DD hates custard, and doesn't like sponge cake so most of it is a no no for her).

All their meat is organic, they have a salad bar every day where the kids can help themselves to tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, sweetcorn and peppers on top of whatever they choose for lunch. They do meat free Mondays and will have mushroom pie, veg moussaka, veggie pasta bake or similar on those days, Fridays is always fish on the menu, usually lemon sole or fish goujons.

The rest of the week options are things like chicken curry, spaghetti bolognese, cottage pie. DD raves about it all. They also have three veg options as sides every day, things like cauliflower, carrots, peas etc.

From what I have heard it was all overhauled three years ago and a new catering firm brought in, seems to ahve improved massively, I just wish they'd dump the sugary desserts.

Couthy- can your son eat avocados? Good source of fats