AIBU to want the goverment to introduce lunch box standards to stop the food police.

[porkchop9]

First post on mumsnet after reading posts here for a long time. I'm a mum of 3 dc, dd8 ds5 dd3 and live in the Surrey.

Dd aged 3 does 2 full days at preschool, you pay £4.50 for the lunch hour club and provide your own lunch. Monday first day back after Easter Holiday and were presented with new lunch box rules/guidelines, there are some strict rules already in place but these new rules are beyond ridiculous. My opinion in general is they're your children and you should have the right to feed them as you want.

We do not allow sweets, fruit winders/fruit school bars/dried fruit (sugar content is high), nuts, chocolate, crisps, biscuits,cakes (homemade or otherwise), no chocolate mousse/yogurts or pudding, no processed food (including such items as ham, cheese slices, cream cheese, corned beef, chicken roll, sandwich meats with added water), no fruit yogurts that have been previously frozen, NO FOOD item thats been previously frozen, no tinned or frozen fruit, no chocolate spread or peanut butter.

There are plenty more items listed infact this update takes up 4 A4 pages. One other section states Food is checked for dates, whether it is edible and follows our lunch box standards. Food that is not suitable will be returned to parent in a clear bag with an explanation of why, if repeatedly provide incorrect items they will be charged £2 per item and your child will be excluded from the setting until charges have been paid

Today there was a parents meeting with the bussiness manager who wrote this update. She was absolutley vile to one parent in particular who ended up really embarrassed and near tears and yes I and several other parents did stand up her her. The business mangers issuse was the lady shopped monthly bulk buyed and frooze items such as yogurt, cheese and ham, her dc only had fresh fruit the first week of the month then tinned/dried after that etc, she accused the mum of damaging her dc health. The lady did explain they were on a tight budget and freezing things was the only way she could feed her dc a balanced diet as weekly shopping was out of the question for her family. The last time I looked and this was some time ago tinned/frozen fruit & veg was still 1 of your 5 a day. So aibu to think that a basic set of national guidelines would stop the pack lunch police.

Today I sent dd with
Half a bagel, with cream cheese and smoked salmon ( only 1/2 as a full 1 is to much for her and yes I was a rule breaker. Will be intrested to see if I get it returned in a clear plastic bag with a £2 fine dh will have something to say if I do.)
Fresh pineapple
Fresh blueberries
1 small strawberry yogurt
granola bar
apple juice

That's ridiculous. so a healthy chicken and vegetable pasta salad would be banned cos of frozen peas and sweetcorn. really?

Wtf are those on special diets who need higher calorie or are reduced in selection due to allergies intolerance or coeliac disease supposed to do?

that's beyond ridiculous

Sorry Isabella - tuna comes from a tin so that's not allowed, as does most sweet corn. And how can they check the sell by date on the roll? It could have been frozen too. Best to take that away as well because obviously starving is better than eating (whisper) tinned food.

Vote with your feet.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one to fine this crazy, thought I might have been over reacting as not a great fan of being told what I can and can't feed my child.

That list is batshit. I see numerous items that DS1 frequently has in his (reasonably healthy, IMO) lunchbox would be banned: raisins, ham, cream cheese, dried apricots, flapjacks, the odd defrosted item.

Who the fuck bans ham sandwiches?

Wtf? That's so insane, not least because the younger the children then more flexibility needed really. Where my son is at pre-school the lunch box rules are more relaxed than the attached primary school, just because they accept that 2-4 year olds are more likely to be in a picky phase and it's better that they eat something than nothing. So the only things not allowed in pre-school are peanuts (allergy reasons), chocolate and sweets. In fact the staff are so lovely that you can send in food for them to heat up if you need them too - I often send DS in with 1/2 tin of beans, imagine what your Business Manager would make of that!!!

Have they suggested meals that are allowed? I'm not sure what I would send....

Think that granola bar is also a fine .... so if child has all fineable (word???) Items, are they given an alternative? Or go home hungry? Whos going to take her tuna sarnie away?

"Have they suggested meals that are allowed? I'm not sure what I would send...."

A thin gruel?

This is ludicrous. I would request a full explanation of the nutritional reasons behind these guidelines (and then have fun debunking them all). There's not a huge amount of food left that you can provide.

I'd be tempted to send in a carrot that looks like a knob or carve fuck off into a banana.

The woman is a "business manager" not a nutritionist or dietician.

Can you (all the parents) write a letter, signed by everyone, to the owner of the pre-school asking that their policy be reviewed by a named, qualified healthcare professional before you are prepared to accept it.

Perhaps Ofsted would be interested as I understand they look at food in settings.

That's barbaric. I would fight to the death anyone who tried to separate me from my corned beef and pickle sandwich.

I'm with your DH. And get other parents to threaten the same. Especially the woman who was forced to justify herself by discussing her family's budget constraints .

Pre school do provide at snack mid morning/afternoon I will be checking the board more carefully from now on to see if it meets these new rules.
Frozen/tinned veg wasn't mentioned on the list just fruit, but probably as she didn't think about adding it. I wonder if the no added water ham from M&S is ok, I will have to ask.

I would be tempted to ask for details of which medical professional drew up their dietary guidelines and then send in the fuck off banana

So to get rid of nannyish lunchbox police you want big nanny to come along to give guidelines? Isn't that just wanting your bully to be bullied by someone bigger?

I put a permanent note in my childs lunchbox that said to not touch anything in it, to not speak to them about their lunch, and to contact me directly if they had a problem with what I choose to feed my own child. They did. I told them where to shove it and nothing more was said.

You need to stand up to this wankery or it just keeps getting worse.

So what do the children eat if they bag up the dangerous frozen yogurts and ham? Do you have no other lunch option other than the club? That is outrageous. Time to get your campaign boots on and get that crap knocked on the head. How dare they police what your kids can have (peanut butter I understand).

madreloco you're a hero!

I sort of get the frozen thing. Yogurt containers can split, also they may not have defrosted properly.

The rest of it is stupid.

I didn't think about the granola bar being fineable. So could be looking at a £4 fine and a very hungry and upset little girl. I'm not sure if they provide something suitable as a replacement, I was so peed off at the meeting I didn't think to ask.

How would they even know if you had frozen something???

I'd demand to know what the adults are eating!

madrelco raises an important point. Who exactly is rifling through the lunch boxes. What are the hygiene risks from, e.g. opening sandwiches to check what is in them. What gives anyone the right to do this. What are their qualifications to judge.

I would be beyond furious. I can understand some basic guidelines like no fizzy drinks, perhaps no chocolate for practical (mess) reasons but beyond that surely it is the parents responsibility to decide?

Just say you had frozen a loaf of bread. Defrosted it and sent them in with a err ... organic grass-fed butter sandwich?

How would they knooooooooooooooooow???

Yogurts though would be wet on the outside. Which could make your sandwich soggy.

Ours ban yogurts in lunches and I can understand why. It goes everywhere.

Saying that, if they get to control what the children have for school meals, then they have very little business going through packed lunches.

I think in an extreme case a child may be noticeable neglected wrt food, but this isn't all that common and there would be other signs. Teachers could speak to the parents concerned instead of making stupid blanket rules.