To think this is a pretty shit lunch from school

[NoCapes]

DD is reception age and went on a school trip to the zoo today, they then went straight from their school trip to the disco, so she didn't get home until 6:30 - a pretty long day for a 5 year old

She's on school dinners so we were told the school would provide her packed lunch
She was given -
1/2 a tuna sandwich (2 pieces of bread to make a sandwich, cut into 4 triangles and each child given 2 triangles)
And a biscuit

So she went from 8:30 - 6pm, walking round a zoo and running round the disco, on 1/2 a sandwich and a biscuit

AIBU to think the school were taking the piss with this excuse of a lunch? The poor kid is ravenous now!

[Laiste]

On a school trip no kids this age will sit down at mid day and eat enough to keep them going till 6.30. So the planning was awful.

The free lunch (no matter how big it was) is going to be given out around 12ish, so if i knew my child was going to be at school till 6.30 i'd have taken her a snack for between the trip and the disco.

[Porcupinetree]

@happyfatty I really hope that really happened, 'twas beautiful.

[NoCapes]

They made their sandwich choices earlier in the week on the way into school, i was there, the choices were definitely tuna, cheese or egg

[Notso]

Sandwich or sausage roll, apple or a carrot and drink is what my four year old eats when he takes a packed lunch. He takes a biscuit or cracker too but prefers to save it for when I pick him up.
My five year old has the same but eats the biscuit usually.

The school packed lunch here is sandwich, cookie, fruit and a drink.

[branofthemist]

I wouldn't take her word for it. Not because I think she is lying. But because I have a reception age child and his interpretation of things can be very different.

The last two weeks has been focused in sport at school. But ds told me for three days in a row they didn't do any sport. They did. But it wasn't football or tennis or running. So he didn't class it as sports.

[BigGreenOlives]

Tuna or egg both seem odd choices for summer packed lunches.

[HighDataUsage]

My daughter's school provided 2 small triangle sandwiches, juice and an apple for a trip to the museum. I topped it up with extra snacks otherwise she would have been hungry all day.

[amy85]

I'd check with school if your worried tbh....it could be she is just telling you what she ate instead of what she was offered.

I went on a school trip with ds2 last week so I knew exactly what he ate, when we got home and his dad asked him what he had for lunch ds2 told him he had 2 items and said that was everything when asked if he ate anything else. The reality is his packed lunch consisted of 4 food items and a carton of Apple juice

[BrandNewAndImproved]

No way! Fish fingers are supposed to be 3 pp. They're trying to bring their costs down by not giving out the correct portion. Ks1 meals aren't any cheaper then ks2 and they should have the same.

[bangingmyheadoffabrickwall]

I work in a school (teacher) and a few weeks ago on a full day trip (9am to 3pm) the free packed lunches for my KS1 class consisted of:
small sandwich of cheese or ham (no choice - get what you are given)
apple
juice carton (200ml -no other drink. Children don't bring drinks to school so many wouldn't on a trip and nowhere to store them when walking about a farm)
biscuit (rich tea size)
Kids were starving and we rationed out the 2 spare packed lunches we had, made for kids whose parents asked for one but then sent them with one from home anyways! We took our free fruit which the children would normally have at break time which was a banana.

Today reception children were given this for lunch and I was standing next to them!
2 fishfingers
5 chips
tablespoon full of beans
picnic bar (one mouthful for an adult!)
My 16 month old daughter eats more than that and these weren't just 5 year olds but 7 year olds too!
I am aware of the 3-5 tablespoons per portion for 1-4 year olds but these were actually portion sizes for a toddler.

Hence why my 4 year old DS is going to be going packed lunches with a sandwich or pasta dish, fruit, yoghurt, snack bar, cheese biscuits/crisps.

[EnglishRose1320]

School I work in packed lunches are whole sandwich, biscuit, piece of fruit and box of juice, all children are asked to bring a bottle of water and we also take their free fruit for a snack in the morning, plus free milk if they are still young enough or paid for milk if they have signed up for it.
Most seemed happy but we had also decided to take some packs of biscuits in case they needed an afternoon snack, a few who dropped bits of their lunch did but everyone else seemed happy enough.
My Ds's school has the same lunches, Ds takes his own due to dietary needs but would be happy for him to have a school one if he could.

[Littlefluffyclouds81]

I was shocked the other day when I went to school for sports day, and the kids had their school dinners on the field with the parents. Dd had the tiniest piece of pizza, a few bits of salad and pudding was a piece of flapjack about an inch square. She's only 5 and that's not enough food for her, and the kids up to 11 all got the same. I was quite shocked and feel bad that on days when she's had school lunch, I haven't felt the need to go overboard cooking dinner as she's already had a hot meal that day.

[ProcrastinatorGeneral]

Sandwich, piece of fruit, a cookie or a muffin, and a bottle of water isnthebstandard FSM packed lunch here. Sandwich is usually cheese as it's the one that tends to actually get eaten by the most children.

[airforsharon]

sorry meant to say, ie half a sandwich

[airforsharon]

BrandNew I can believe it, after my DTs (then aged 6) were given 2 white bread triangle sandwiches of cheese, a satsuma and a mini box of raisins for lunch on a school trip.

[BrandNewAndImproved]

This can't be true. I'm a school cook and for fsm lunchboxes to take out on trips we do 5 items. That's the rules. There is also a letter that gets sent out stating what will be in them to discourage parents wanting the packed lunch. So sandwiches, yoghurt, fruit, cake/biscuit, crackers and a drink. We then keep our fingers crossed we won't have loads of the buggers to sort out.

[beetroot2]

I'd ask the school and not take her word for it.

[iloveredwine]

And for disco we get a packet of crisps, sweet plus a drink and as much water as needed

[iloveredwine]

Our infant school "packed" lunch when trip or sports day is a drink, ham, tuna or cheese roll, a cookie/ tray bake and a piece of fruit. We are told to take a snack and drinks bottle. I'm very surprised that's all you were offered X

[hideouspain]

our school trip lunch (all of primary): whole sandwich, fruit, cereal bar, crisps, water. Kids are still hungry.

[growcookeat]

I would raise it with school op. Our school trip lunches used to be good in KS1. Since we changed lunch providers the packed lunches are tiny as you describe. 1 small sandwich, small biscuit (shortbread or oat biscuit) and a bottle of water.

We teachers gathered as much spare fruit as we could from school to fill the bags up and shared our own lunches with the children on our last trip because the children were hungry! I'm amazed parents haven't complained about them tbh.

[airforsharon]

TheyOnce it was in lieu of the lunch she would've had if she'd been on the school premises, of course it should've been adequate.

If a KS2 child was receiving FSM would you expect them to have less on their plate than the child whose parents have paid for theirs? That's one of the reasons FSM were introduced, to ensure all children stood a chance of being fed well and equally at school regardless of their parents ability to pay. To suggest OP's DD should basically be grateful for practically bugger all because it was free is a really crap attitude to take.

[00100001]

I don;t think she is lying. But I wouldn't believe her iyswim?
Often kids will tell you what they believe to be the truth, but it isn't the whole truth. You see/hear many many stories of children saying things like "we were kept inside for lunch" when what happened was they were kept in for a few minutes

.
I'd ask the school what was provided.

[jennielou75]

Our year 2 trip to brighton the children got sandwiches from 2 slices of bread, an apple, a biscuit and some carrot and cucumber sticks plus water. I did give them plain crisps as an extra.

[DelphiniumBlue]

Our school packed lunches for trips are a (whole) sandwich, apple, and a carton of juice. Its not enough, they're always starving by the time we get to the destination, and lunch is usually straightaway ( could be as early as 11). So most parents send extra, plus 2 bottles of water. They need extra at lunchtime, plus something for trip home- cereal bar or similar.