lunch boxes- what they will eat vrs what is accepted!

[abouttobeevicted]

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bullocks it posted

anyway I'm sick of making lunches to the accepted standard and then throwing away.
my dds get tuna/egg/jam sandwich no meat school which does get eaten then baby tomato and cucumberrarely eaten-- cheese and orange then either homemade cake or cookies.
I don't want to put tomatoes or cucumber or fruit in their lunch as it never gets eaten except for me on the way home. but it's a " healthy lunch" but they don't like school lunch even though for one its free. grr
anyone else sick of throwing food away?

If you are entitled to free hot meals, insist that lunch is the free hot meal.
Eventually, the kid will eat.

no they won't ! my dd is under 2 stone and is 136 cm.

What do they like? What do you give them at home?
I never liked sandwiches, so my mum used to send cold pasta and cheese for me.

I have a child with multiple food allergies and food issues.

She will not eat the free school meal and tbh it would be a headache for all involved to make her a safe lunch which she would then refuse to eat.

Agree that they won't necessarily.
My DD is one of those rare children that WILL starve ( to a degree that's unacceptable to me anyway) rather than eat something she doesn't like.
She's in year 5 now but doesn't eat much of her packed lunch and wouldn't be on school lunches even if they were free. I let her choose what goes in her packed lunch, even then not much gets eaten - largely due to the noise and mess in the canteen.
Her diet is generally good though so I try not to stress about it

You say the sandwich gets eaten, so just pack one of those and a piece of fruit.

Well neither cucumber or tomato will promote weight gain so why not leave them out and substitute something they will eat? Carrot sticks? Pepper strips? Nuts (if school allows them). Cheese scone? One of mine prefers dried fruit to fresh - would that work?

Mine have been warned that if they don't eat their vegthen lunch box won't contain cake from now on - but it depends how hard core you want to get about it.

I don't think it matters that the fruit doesn't get eaten til after school - it's still healthy then - and the school will be happy so long as its present.

Well neither cucumber or tomato will promote weight gain so why not leave them out and substitute something they will eat?

^^ this

We do compromise with dried fruit. But she will not touch anything else. She nibbled a bit of mango tonight which she gagged on, and the same for the strawberries she tried last week. She eats cooked veg at home. Won't touch carrot sticks or peppers

Just do a sandwich and whichever fruit they might eat. They don't need 10 things surely. Carton of milk instead of water if that's allowed?

I think as parents we can stress far too much about a bit of midday lunch

As long as they eat breakfast and then dinner when they get home, even just a sandwich and a drink is enough at school if that's all they want.

DS takes sandwhich or wrap, one piece of fruit and a block of cheese.

Or something along those lines. No need for lots of food at dinner especially with little ones who get free fruit in school during the day anyway

My dd's are quite fussy due to ASD and sensory issues. I put in things I know they will eat, it might not be that healthy but tough , they both have:
wrap (with cheese or cheese and ham )
Frube
Baby bel
A couple mini sausages or a mini sausage roll
A cake bar or biscuit
Fruit ( Apple, banana or berries )

They don't always eat it all and they often eat the fruit for mid morning snack.
Our schools not too fussy with packed lunches as long as no one brings in a full size Mars bar and a big bag of crisps.

What do you mean by 'no meat school' crossed out?

Put two sandwiches in and a piece of fruit. She needs to gain weight so put more of what will be eaten and less of what won't. If school say anything tell them that your dd is underweight and needs to eat whether it goes against their lunchbox policy or not.

Our school says no nuts, chocolate or cake yet a flapjack with chocolate and caramel is allowed and school dinners have either cake, cookie or fairy cake with them.

My ds used to have ham or chocolate spread sandwich, a yogurt, small tub of fruit or carrots, an apple, penguin type biscuit and small packet of crisps. Sounds a lot but he eats like a soldier but is built like a whippet, he gets it from dh and has a high metabolism and is very skinny.

Do what's right for your child and give them what they'll eat. I'm not saying fill their box with chocolate but if they won't eat fruit or veg then it's pointless putting it in.

Because I'm an old fart I was at Primary school during the 70s and the standard lunchbox contained a sandwich and a piece of fruit.

At what point did we start sending kids to school with so much food?

It's weird but when I see some of the packed out lunch boxes at my kid's school, I know I genuinely couldn't eat the amount they're given even now as an adult.

School is only 6hrs long. Kids don't need a banquet to keep them going until 3pm.

Is your child's height and weight a typo?

My 140cm child is four stone nine and worryingly underweight. I am having trouble believing yours is UNDER two stone.

Just go with what you know works.

It's all very well schools preaching about healthy eating, but many kids just don't like it.

I used to try hard to put variety in lunchboxes, like different fruits and sticks of raw vegetables. My kids asked me not to.

Mine aren't fussy eaters normally, but the problem seemed to be that their primary school gave no priority to those on packed lunches (a fair number of them), and tried to squeeze them all into the last ten minutes of the lunch hour.

I never could work that one out. People would complain, then it would improve briefly but never permanently.

Glad they are at secondary school now. All much less "in your face", thankfully.

fairenuff- its a kosher school
but they eat sandwiches cheese scones banana bread cheese yogurt fruit but its all so beige hense the cucumber and tomato.
dd1 hates the food as its all quorn stuff and she hates the salad bar!
but dd2 is too young for salad bar and wants to be veggie! bit tuna is OK!!!

2 stone is 28lbs. Your 136cm child (tall enough to come out of carseats) weighs the same as the average 18m-24m old?

I was one of those children who wouldn't 'just eat' eventually. My packed lunch every single day was a cheese sandwich (I ate half) a yoghurt and a satsuma as that was all I would eat. My mum didn't bother packing anything else as it would get wasted. I wouldn't even eat crisps and chocolate. I was quite underweight (not anymore!)
Agree you should maybe try and worry less about lunch and make sure they have a good breakfast and evening meal if possible.

Just pack sandwich and fruit then. It's madness sticking cake in and expecting a child not to fill up on that and eat the veg instead.

Was the two stone a typo? I'm not sure I'd believe it was true tbh.

These days I just go with a cheese or ham sarnie, a few grapes if I have any, a club biscuit or some such and a packet of crisps.

Maybe not the healthiest, but it gets eaten. They have a reasonable breakfast in the morning and I cook a decent meal in the evening, so they do OK.