Is this packed lunch reasonable?

[DarkBlueEyes]

DD1 went on a school trip last week. She's in Yr 7 of a private school and I selected the packed lunch provided option as she has school lunches and they seem very good.

They were out for the whole day. What she received was...

A sausage roll, a packet of crisps and an apple.

Is this acceptable do you think? I have to admit I was a bit surprised as although personally I love a sausage roll, I wouldn't eat a cold one and had expected them to provide a sandwich, piece of fruit and a biscuit/muffin or something like that (this is what I would have packed and will pack in the future).

I now gather this is totally par for the course from other mums with older DDs at the school, so clearly I won't be selecting that option again. Besides that, the poor girl was ravenous.

What would you think? Would you bother giving them feedback and risking being labelled as "that mother" or just muse at how totally crap that lunch was and leave it? I'm inclined to the second option but then part of me thinks how will things ever change if they don't know how parents feel about it, and, I'm paying for that bloody lunch so why should I have to pack one?

So I will let the collective wisdom of mumsnet decide and prepare to be flamed

Surely decent ham on seedy bread is slightly better than whatever meat goes into a sausage roll on flaky pastry?

Oh and is starving at 5pm.

But I did miss the apple from the op - fair enough.

if a yogurt and juice was included it would be ok but just those three seems small

Surely decent ham on seedy bread is slightly better than whatever meat goes into a sausage roll on flaky pastry?

This is very true, I've not eaten meat in 20 years so in my mind it all falls in the category of 'meat'.

Although a yogurt would be better really than a cake or flapjack it leads to the requirement of a spoon which you don't with a cake. Then all the wrappings can be binned at the site rather than having to take them back to school.

Yes I think that's it, it needs something like a yoghurt or something. Also missing from mine I know but that's because when I pack fro my dc they are coming home straight afterwards and usually have something then

Mw too pip, I've been a veg for 30 years but that actually makes me more fussy I think about what I feed the dc (who are obviously not vegi). I try to get butchers meat or organic. I'm not very clued up on this stuff so they could be shoving any old shite in and putting an organic label on. But I do try eg if never buy formed ham if I could help it.

Typ8ical and not great but mine can intermittently fast so it's not an issue. Mine don't eat crisps for example or cheese and so very often that is all a school will offer - crisps and then cheese sandwiches.

Sausage rolls tend to be junk left over awful bits of meat and the carbs you don't need in the roll bit. Apple - okay but crisps - not okay. I think they just have to tolerate it at school and eat well at home half the time.

That reminds me Stealth, father was staying over and I knew that he would require a ham sandwich (don't ask) so I went to the deli counter at Waitrose and ask the chap what he would recommend as I have no idea being a vegi. He said that he had no idea as he was a vegi too!
I just asked for some of what sold the best!

I wonder if there were other things that perhaps she didn't like. When you asked her what she'd had for lunch she told you- I wonder if its the same as what was offered for lunch.
A sandwich that he didn't like? A slice of fruit cake that she doesn't like?
There must have been a drink of some sort included surely?

very meagre if that was truly all provided.

It was crap.
Unhealthy to start with and not enough food for a teenager.

It's not the shitness that would bother me, but the amount.
I would do
Sandwich/wrap/sausage roll/quiche
Crackers/cheese/dip
Yoghurt/smoothie tube/fromage frais
Fruit
Cake/biscuit/flapjack
Drink

My 5 year old gets a sandwich, yoghurt, 2 types of fruit and a couple of rice cakes/cake/flapjack/biscuit and he eats the lot every day so I wouldn't think it enough for a 10 year old.

That was a rubbish lunch - I'd say it needs a sandwich adding to it at the least, and maybe a banana or something. Year 7 kids are growing fast and do need as much as an adult IMO...

DD takes 2 fairly large cheese sandwiches on some kind of proper substantial bread (not toast bread as that doesn't fill you up), fruit, babybells or mini sausages (several) or a pack of dried fruit and nuts and something sweet like a (bought, wrapped) pan au chocolate (however you spell that) or waffle, and 2 half litre bottles of water, on the days she doesn't get home til 4pm.

Poor! Complain. Not enough and not healthy! Complain. Give them some examples of acceptable packed lunches. I'd suggest:
Rough bread (seeds, firm crust etc)
Small piece of cheese
Apple
celery and carrot sticks
Tomato

Water to drink

Treats to brighten the day:
Small amount of dried fruit
Possibly fun-size chocolate bar

Year7s are 11-12 and growing. They need decent meals.

You may now all laugh at me - I read this thread, and all I can think is "I would really like a sausage roll".

For my DCs, that would have been sufficient, but they take a packed lunch every day that consists of a sandwich, fruit and a drink (and occasionally a biscuit or piece of cheese).

If it is far less that your DD is accustomed to, or she came home ravenous, then clearly it wasn't sufficient.

Another one here who agrees that isn't enough to keep a 10-year-old going all day. I wouldn't object to the contents as such, as a one-off, but it doesn't seem very much at all. By comparison, my (skinny but active) 9-year-old had an all-day activity today and had the following in his lunchbox:
a ham & cheese sandwich (2 slices of 50/50 bread with crusts), with spinach leaves
a banana
a pear
a yoghurt
a pack of hula hoops
an angel cake
a 500 ml bottle of water

He came home hungry but not ravenous.

For those who suggest giving a list of "acceptable", healthy food - get real! School is dealing with children with a lot of different backgrounds / food issues / SNs and it seems a bit precious to expect "rough bread (seeds, firm crust etc)", "celery and carrot sticks", "tomato" etc. A lot of children (including mine) won't eat bread with any kind of seeds. One of mine loves carrot sticks but won't touch cucumber, the other is the other way around; neither would touch celery or tomatoes with a bargepole (Dad actually has an intolerance to tomatoes so we don't eat them much as a family). Both will eat almost any fruit offered. Other children may eat tomatoes and celery but absolutely no grapes or bananas and so on.

A packed lunch provided by school has to be generic enough that most children will get enough nutrition from it, so what's wrong with a basic sandwich on white bread (which most children will eat if they have to, even if it wouldn't be their first choice and even if most of us wouldn't ever buy that ourselves), some crisps, a couple of pieces of fruit/raw veg and a treat or two?

Since it's a fee-paying school I think I'd say something, OP. They need to know parents aren't happy. If everyone just opts for their own packed lunch instead school is let off too easily, IMO.

Sounds similar to what we have st scout camps. The sausage rolls and pasties are bought in bulk and can somehow last at ambient temperature, and obviously faaaar less labour intensive than making sandwiches. The sausage roll is actually the best choice, the pasty and pie options are horrible cold imo

We get more than your DD tho (leaders and kids get the same, kids are 10-14). Generally sausage roll, crisps, piece of fruit, biscuits, chocolate, water, and I feel sure there's something else I'm forgetting. I expect a fruit loving child could get their friends fruit if they were still hungry.

It's not great but for a day out with no way to keep food cold, it's fine. It's hard to find healthy foods that keep well without cooling or heating, that kids will eat, that come wrapped up (for hygiene and in case of spillages etc) and that won't go too horrible if sat on or dropped

At camp it's generally only for an all day activity off site, and we have hot and cold breakfast in the morning and come back to a hot meal in the evening.

The problem with most options people are suggesting is they have to be kept cold.

While you may balance the risks for yourself and your family and decide that it's fine, especially in February in the uk, the school just can't. And it's just not practical for them to supply individual ice packs and suitable containers

Technically a sausage roll should be kept cold too though, so that makes no sense.

DS is also year 7. School dinners are compulsory at his state school, so packed lunches are provided for trios. They have been provided with a sandwich (ham/cheese/egg) muffin/cake, Apple and bottle of water

Notme do sandwiches have to be kept cold/ any colder than sausage rolls?

Yogurts would be out on a lunch to be taken on a trip (as much because of getting squashed/ dropped and ruining the whole package) but I don't see why a sandwich would be out? Obviously it might be labour intensive, but if its made in school and those kids normally get a cooked lunch, they have that covered (unlike the volunteers on a scout camp).

As I said in my previous post, the sausage rolls we have at camp (I don't know if the schools are the same obviously) are fine at ambient temperatures. I was unconvinced til I saw it on the box.

The extremely posh school I used to work at would give the following packed lunch for an outing for a similar age:

Filled roll (cheese or ham) - kept cool
Crisps
Chocolate bar
Drink

I think sausage rolls are an odd choice because they aren't as universally popular as a sandwich. I also think it's missing at least one item to be substantial enough for many children (though I've cared for only very active boys).

I don't think the fact that it's packaged crap is a reason to complain. The practicalities of preparing and transporting dozens of lunches mean prepacked items are inevitable, and healthier options which fit the logistical demands are very expensive and/or unpopular. Even taking a crate of apples is much more complicated than a box of bags of crisps.

But yeah, I do my own packed lunches for my own DC for school trips.

I wouldn't mind mine having sausage roll and crisps as a one off for a school trip, it's not exactly healthy but it's not the end of the world. I would mind that there wasn't enough food for a 10/11 year old. I'm not surprised she was hungry.

My Ds is 6. He went to school this morning after having 2 sausages, poached egg and mushrooms.
He's got a nut bar for morning tea and the school gives them milk.

In his lunchbox he has
Wrap with tuna mayo & salad
Boiled egg
Watermelon and grapes
Carrots & cucmber
Mini biscuit (size of a 10p coin)
Water

His lunchbox usually comes home empty, he doesn't have an afternoon snack unless he's done Kapa Haka and then it'll be a chunk of cheese or a small bowl of yoghurt.

He eats a good size portion of dinner.

I'd definitely be packing my own packed lunches for school trips if a sausage roll and crisps is all they could offer.