to think this isn't good enough for DS packed lunch

[getyourfingeroutyournose]

This is half AIBU and half 'I have no idea what I'm doing please help'.

So today we went to a kids group thing for DS (4) and the flier said "Bring a packed lunch for a picnic after" - YAY
The picnic side didn't actually happen for some reason but last night OH and I had a discussion regarding what the kid should have in his lunchbox (for the picnic and for lunch).
OH thinks a small peanut butter sandwich, value range small yogurt (fromage frais? like PF size pot) and a value range small cereal bar with chocolate in it will do.

I don't mind if the odd thing in his lunchbox is value or basics etc. I like the idea of saving money. I can't get on board with only having that in DS lunchbox in front of other people. We moved to a "better" area recently and everyone seems to live on Nakd bars, gluten and dairy free foods and quinoa... said KEENWAAAH dontcha know.

I'm out of my depth here. I'm of the belief that there should be some fruit, maybe carrot sticks and hummus and then a carby thing and a drink. I'm lost beyond that. I have no more ideas and I'm very aware that I'm lagging behind in this department. I've gone online and looked for recipes and ideas but the kid can be very specific about his food. He eats sushi but wouldn't dare touch pasta.

I'm very funny about food myself. I grew up with an eating disorder and I really don't want my son to have one. But how do I give him things I know he'll eat whilst keeping it balanced and healthy whilst not singling him out at lunchtime by giving him a lot of cheap food whilst the other kids have more e? Or am I trying to do too much

I use a sectioned sandwich box for my toddler and put in cut up fruit or salad items, small fingers of sandwiches or crackers, cheese cubes/cooked chicken or slices of boiled egg and decant a few crisps or the small fish shaped crackers from the poundshop in. Yoghurt gets decanted into a clip lock small tub so no packets or bags in sight! It also looks way more attractive to a small child than a big sandwich and packets of things fruit or salad items are a must for balance op but it sounds ok otherwise! I don't buy cereal bars though I must admit, most have lots of hidden sugars

armful

anaphalaxis is anaphalaxis whatever it is caused by and isn't less serious when caused by eggs or tomatoes rather than nuts.

anyway it's besides the point really.

they always say of foods are banned so worth making any suggestion and people can use what's allowed and leave out what isn't.

Dd's preschool has a ban on peanut butter. I think it's a common policy

we had chocolate banned in nursery

at school chocolate and sweets are also banned. and a list of high sugar nutritionally worthless items are suggested in their place

Also just to help I'm adding a list of things I put in (obviously not all at once)

Cut up cherry tomatoes
Cucumber slices
Slightly soft boiled carrot sticks
Sugar snap peas
Cut up fruit or blueberries
Tinned fruit pieces
Mini rice cakes
Little fish crackers (poundshop)
Ella's kitchen puffs
Small finger sandwiches (soft cheese/peanut butter/jam)
Raisins
Mini breadsticks
Boiled egg slices
Cheese cubes
Pieces of cooked chicken or ham
Yoghurt in separate clip lock tub
Ritz crackers
Pieces of cut up tea cake
Cut up fig roll biscuits

The woman who asked your son if his mum needed help with money is either a complete bitch or a fruitcake or both.

If it was true, why point it out to a four year old? Stupid cow.

TinklyLittleLaugh - Everything, right down to the local COOP rings true for my area too... do I know you? lol

The kid actually wolfs down hummus. He normally dips whatever in it and just licks the hummus off. I'm not sure if that is healthy or not considering the carrot rarely gets eaten and just used as a spoon but he does it anyway.

The child hath spoken! He has just informed me he wants Soup and Tiki Juice... This is coming from a child who refuses to eat anything blended or "touching" :/ What have I started here?

I think I'm going to just keep re-reading this post and take a few favourites that I know he will eat and vary it week to week but keep offering the same thing so he isn't too shocked to see so many new things in his lunchbox. I don't want to frighten him with too much healthy food. I'll be keeping the cheapo things in there though. I don't want DS to think any more of it like I have. He should be able to eat what he wants. I don't even think he'd eat a bento box if I gave him one anyway. I also have enough washing up to do!

I love the idea of putting the natural yogurt in a little tub with honey or sometimes just fruit to dip in and I used to do it a lot but every time it would leak over everything else :( It's a shame because he really likes the natural yogurt and it has less sugar in so we all eat it.

I buy big tubs of yoghurt here one tub lasts all week for DS's lunchboxes. I put the yoghurt in a water tight tub and add seeds to it. No one is the wiser That its value natural yoghurt!

OP, have a look at kids bento for ideas about healthy lunches www.flickr.com/search/?text=kids%20bento Pretty much a little bit of everything goes and you should be able to find something to fit. It might help with the fussiness seeing a different style of lunch. Its our go to here for packed lunches because I find sandwich and snack combo so limiting.

as for nuts. OH has a nut allergy and it is serious. Others eating nuts is not a problem. The problem with kids is they touch stuff. They share things and often don't wash their hands. it can take one kids with a bit of peanut butter on his hands touching an apple of a kid with an allergy to set it off.

Its safer to put a ban on it all in schools though my OH agrees that banning peanuts does very little to educate kids and believes the schools should help educate children when a classmate has a serious allergy. Explain why nuts are banned, what can happen, how ill it can make people and what to do if someone accidentally eats nuts.

Thanks Arkham. I think I didn't realise what a donk she was being because nobody seemed to even try to back my son up or ask her not to talk to someone else's child in that way.

Thank you Jw35. I shall definitely yoink that list and stick it up in the kitchen. If I leave enough inspiration the OH might start helping with this too lol.

Op yogurt doesn't leak in the clip lock boxes I use them all the time and they've been literally upside down in my handbag before and not leaked! You can buy them in the poundshop

bettyberry - that is a perfect explanation on the allergy front. (not that the rest of what you said isn't). They need to teach kids about how to avoid harming their friends and about finding out who has an allergy to what and when to wash their hands and most importantly not to handle other kids food unless there is a reason they really should.
The kids at my nursery all share food and I once had to ask who had an allergy so I could bring food for every one of the kids to enjoy at the party. I was met with a confused look and told that one child was allergic to x y and z and his mother would be told that she needed to bring in food that is separate for him. I felt a bit bad for the mum and the poor kid. It felt like he got singled out when his allergies weren't that hard to work around at all.

JW35, I shit thee not, there is no poundshop where I live and it kills me. I used to love going there. The local supermarkets are Coop, Waitrose and much further afield a far away Tesco. If I want to do a one off shop without the car, I have to go to waitrose and I spend a lot of time looking at the reductions and I make damn well sure I get my free coffee! Two very small bags of shopping cost me £40 the other day... cries into the pillow

Anything in individual wrapped packaging will be paying a premium for it. Your better off just buying regular stuff and cutting and putting in a box.

Ds's had a packed lunched a few days age. 5 and 6. They had the same:

• hard boiled egg
• cubes of cheese
• cold sliced chicken ( half breast each)
• some cashews
• some blueberries
• Some leftover Easter eggs in pieces

They don't really like sandwiches, and I think most pre packed 'lunch' stuff is full of unessecary crap.

Get - that depends on what you buy in Waitrose rather than the shop. I can easily buy lot for £40 in Waitrose if I'm buying seasonal stuff

Nakd bars are vile.

I hate that. It's not difficult to cater for allergies and it really isn't fair to single people out like that.

I can knock up some dairy free cakes just as quickly and cheaply as regular cakes. I sneak pumpkin and courgette into mine and the kids are none the wiser.

With OH I've had to tweak a lot of recipes. Curry being one as a few use almonds in the base and he is loving that he can eat foods that would usually be off limits.

The only hard thing about nut allergies here is trying to explain to him what 'nutty' tastes like

Art - I went and got some fish from the counter and some veg and a £4.50 bottle of wine. It was literally dinner for three of us and maybe pudding and it came to £40. I'm not an organised shopper (or anything really) though so I probably could have done it a lot cheaper. It's also a small shop so doesn't always have the cheaper ranges. If you want something it will usually be a big brand.

If it's the value label that concerns you ( for my allergy prone dd, value stuff tends to have less allergens in it than branded !) can you take the value stuff out of its packaging and put it in individual lock and lock type containers or splash out on a Bento box?

The "value" range is irrelevant - but I would give sarnie, crisps, fruit/veg, a dairy item like a cheese or yogurt and then a treat bar/cake bar.

Betty, has he never been able to eat nuts then? I actually really enjoy anything "nutty" tasting even if it doesn't have nuts in. I'd say at least your OH doesn't have to deal with the horror marzipan. That stuff is vile. I know people who buy blocks of it to eat it

Unkind woman trying to control you via your son....and it almost worked!!! Of course anyone with any sense (rich or poor) buy value items. She knows this. She was being unkind. Others probably kept their heads down to avoid her having a pop at them.

I use lunch boxes like 'Yumbox' which lots of different sections. Sometimes it will be a wrap/sarnie with carrot and cucumber sticks, some fruit and maybe a biscuit. Or smaller bits like chopped up ham, chicken etc, chunks of cheese, hummus, pitta, pasta salad, boiled egg, sausage chunks with ketchup dip etc. The lunch boxes have a leak proof lid, so I can just put yogurt in one section or whatever.

I just use natural yogurt with maybe some honey and berries on.

blankmind, I might just do that. DS has his lunchbox that he chose though and I doubt I'll get his food into anything else. I do like the idea of the locking water tight tubs and filling them up though. I imagine buying bulk and putting it all into individual containers in his lunchbox would be cheaper and maybe more exciting for him to pull out things individually.

he had them once when he was 5 but they were in something and he hasn't touched them since because its what put him in hospital for a week. So the memory of nuts is long long gone!

lunch boxes/ bento boxes we have a collection of boxes here for lunches. More than necessary but these have all proven themselves in our house

all different sizes and DS uses 2-3 at a time. smallest holds sauces and hummus without leaking www.paperchase.co.uk/outlet/under-10/retro-space-snack-boxes.html

boring but functional www.lakeland.co.uk/brands/lock-and-lock

these are defo too pricey for a kids but sharing them anyway because I have one and it is going on 5 years old now! casabento.com/shop/en/636-bento-packs