To send DS in wth butter (and a note) (lighthearted)

[clary]

Very much a first world problem I know...
DS2 is cooking granola bars next week at school. They are healthy apparently ( at that because the recipe includes sugar, honey and dried fruit).

Anyway he was told they must bring marg not butter as "margarine is lower in fat and healthier than butter". This is nonsense of course as marg is as high in fat as butter and includes potential nasties such as colours, flavouring and preservatives. It also tastes icky (IMO).

DS (bless him) put his hand up and said his mum would only buy butter so was that OK? Teacher said no, if you bring butter you won't be allowed to cook.

AIBU to send him with butter anyway - in a plastic box so you can't tell - and just let him get on with it? DH says I should include a note saying why in case teacher queries it (highly unlikely I would imagine) but only to be shown if that happens.

I don't want to start a fight and I am not going to pick the teacher up on his mistake (except on MN ). But equally I am not about to buy marg yuck.

Sorry this is sooo long.

[Catsmamma]

i was that mother, and my children were those children

it all started when the children were instructed to make italian risotto with basmati rice.

and it continued downhill when "Miss" lectured dd on how to break an egg, we rap the egg on a flat surface, if you have a decent grip on it it will crack in half with minimal splintering...."Miss" preferred to hack at an egg with the back of a knife or to bash it down on the edge of something.

we had similar nonsense about butter/margarine, healthy and unhealthy, honey is natural, sugar is evil.


Send in the butter and a note!! :o

[SDTGisASpookyWoooolefGenius]

Oh dear - I crack eggs on the edge of the bowl/jug/pan.

But risotto with basmati rice? What idiocy!

[AcrossthePond55]

I use butter only, it's just lovely. However, if you are going to send it in instead of margarine, I would include a note. The reason being that although unlikely, there may be a child with a dairy allergy or lactose intolerance in the class, even though that's not the teacher's averred reason for wanting marg. I have Celiac Disease and it would be miserable if someone sent in a gluten-containing item instead of a gluten free one. Someone did that to me once to 'prove a point' about 'that gluten bulls*t is nonsense'. I was deathly ill for days!

[clary]

I agree as a rule re picking battles, but as I say DS1 is in year 11 at the same school and we have had all sorts of issues over the years so I think they probably already run for cover when they see me coming up the path

I don't think this is major really but actually, I don't want to buy marg just to throw it away so why should I?

if he can control a class of kids he can handle an arsey mum Excellent

I bake with butter btw; low fat spreads (which also taste icky) are no use for baking as they are not high enough in fat; baking with stork or whatever tastes horrid and makes me feel ill. My mum uses marg or whatever it's called now and I always feel sicky after eating cake there.

[clary]

If a child in the class has a dairy allergy they just don't need to eat DS2's cooking, surely? And anyway most marg is not dairy free is it?

[WitchWay]

I often bake with spreadable butter, never marg/Stork - it gives light, tasty results.

[ScrambledSmegs]

I recently baked a cake with Stork, as I believed Mary Berry's (and countless others, to be fair) assertions that it made lighter, fluffier cakes than butter and you couldn't taste the difference.

It was indeed a beautifully light and fluffy Victoria Sandwich. It also had a really strange taste, and the aftertaste lingered. Even my kids thought it tasted funny, and they'll eat anything cake-shaped.

So YANBU. The 'you can't taste the difference' people are wrong. And the weird additives n'shit are a bit problem too.

[Fluffyears]

My brother refuses to feed his children margarine and he has a PHD in organic chemistry. I always use butter and leave it in a proper butter dish.

[teacherwith2kids]

Guess we're really lucky. DS not only gets to take in all types of substitutes for what is on the recipe sheet [mind you, his best friend is dairy and egg intolerant, and they cope brilliantly with him, so my insistence on sending in butter, full fat milk etc is very minor] but also produces really very edible, cheap, tasty dishes from scratch. It really seems to be aiming to teach him 'how to cook' - not in a fancy way, but in an 'everyday healthy, tasty food to keep alive' way. Pasta bakes, things like shepherd's pie, bolognese, lasagne, lots of different veg and meat curries, fruit salads and fruit-based puddings etc.

[normansgreasybarnet]

I find it pretty disappointing that the teacher thinks that margarine is still better than butter. FGS she should be up to date with current thinking.

A lot of schools think all fat is EVIL! It's such an outdated way of thinking.
If they had their way, all the children would be excisting on carrot sticks and low fat yoghurts and nothing else.
(The low fat yogurts are actually loaded with sugar- but that seems to be okay in their books) Lets rot their teeth instead!

Those food pyramids are SO outdated.

OP - send your child in with butter. I would.

[normansgreasybarnet]

DS2 is cooking granola bars next week at school. They are healthy apparently

And since when are granola bars healthy?

[mausmaus]

most spreads contain milk (or milk derived product) so the dairy allergy as argument is out imo.

send him with butter.

[Pico2]

Are granola bars flapjack?

[spiderlight]

Send this in....or this!

[DoJo]

CruCru

Would a school really fail to deal with a serious issue to wreak revenge on a parent for sending in butter rather than marge?

[MEgirl]

I always use butter for baking unless making something for a dairy intolerant relative. Our school buys in ingredients for which we pay a lump sum at the beginning of the year. Guess it is time to enquire what exactly they are doing in food tech.

Just as an aside, proper margarine is in fact available in the UK. There is a kosher product called Tomer which is also Vegan. It comes in a solid block or a tub which is spreadable. It makes decent enough cakes though I much prefer butter.

[OnIlkleyMoorBahTwat]

Why couldn't the teacher have specified ' butter or spread' with any further bonkers and wrong comments?

Then anyone choosing spread for cost or allergy reasons would have been catered for and anyone wanting to use butter could do so. Otherwise people might go out and buy something they wouldn't otherwise use.

YY to those saying you can taste the difference. I once bought a slice of beautifully made Victoria sponge from a cafe and it was clear that the fat used in the cake and 'buttercream' was something other than butter. It was rank.

I haven't had any respect for school 'cookery' lessons since DNiece had to make fruit salad in March one year. DSis was quite rightly complaining that she was expected to spend about a tenner on out of season fruit so the specified selection of 8 strawberries, one kiwi an orange and 20 grapes could be taken in. This was a good portion of her weekly food budget and just wrong on so many levels.

[HelloItsMeFell]

This would piss me off no end. A cookery teacher is supposed to be reasonably clued up on nutrition and she clearly hasn't got a clue. I'd be googling and printing off some cold hard truth about the differences between marg and and butter and sending it in to her, with a note saying that if your son can't use butter then he will be missing the lesson and you'll be making them at home with him instead.

What would she do if she'd stipulated something dairy and someone wanted a non dairy alternative for allergy or religious reasons? Tell them no?

My children have been given short shrift by teachers for challenging their ideas about 'healthy eating' as well. They came home with some sheet about a balanced diet which said it was not okay to freely eat butter, cheese, eggs or red meat but it was perfectly ok to eat fake foods that were 'sugar free' or 'lower fat' but they were full of aspartame, chemicals and trans fats.

Fuck that shit. It gives me the rage.

[HelloItsMeFell]

And what the hell is 'spread' anyway?!

The fact that people can't even think of a proper name for it tells you all you need to know about 'spread.'

[Tzibeleh]

This is bonkers! At our school the pupils are rewarded for well-reasoned substitutions. They are encouraged to document and explain any modifications, and the results as well.

In fact, when I had an "I'm not buying that!" moment and made up a curry paste from scratch at home with ds, he got higher marks plus a merit point!

There are no hard-and-fast rules for 'healthy' eating. Food and cooking are creative, not prescriptive.

[Debs75]

For whoever asked I have used coconut oil in flapjacks. I did it half and half with butter and it came out absolutely lovely.

Zing Fruit flies will not touch Flora lightest, they will however touch everything else in my kitchen the little bastards.

[alsmutko]

I have a vegan partner so I can sympathise - some of the things he eats (vegan 'scheese' ugh!).

Wonder why the teacher is saying if he brings in butter he's banned from cooking? Seems a bit over the top.

I was going to recommend Tomor but I see someone else has done so. It makes excellent pastry. Still marge though and I wouldn't want to spread it on my bread...

[alsmutko]

Tzibeleh - IMHO there's nothing wrong with curry pastes - I stayed with an Indian family when visiting Australia and was amazed to see the mum used Patak's. So tried them myself - the balti is particularly good.
Having said that I wouldn't use the sauces you get - you know the ones with the two little men in bowler hats, or the supermarket's 'extra-special' range. Yuk.
Also, you can't really learn to cook by taking short cuts like opening a jar. They're for when you come home after a long day's work and want something quick to knock up.