Are the packed lunches I provide really as outlandish as ds claims?

[notagainnellie]

I send some kind of wrap/sandwich with cheese spread, ham, tuna or hummus; a salad pot; sometimes a packet of Chedds or a cheddar stick; a piece of fruit or tub of fruit in Greek/natural yoghurt and a piece of malt loaf or, rarely, homemade muffin etc.

Occasionally I put treats like mini cheddars or - shock - something with chocolate on, but this would be a monthly, rather than weekly event. According to ds, no one has anything like it and he gets comments sometimes such as malt loaf being 'poo' or 'err' at his yoghurt pot. Everyone else has crisps, juice, something like a kitkat or mini roll, yoghurts in tubes and jam sandwiches are popular. Obviously kids will say that, but there is no policy on lunches at the school so it could well be true - I don't think he is making up the comments tbf.

I have looked into some of the items he has listed and am shocked by the salt and sugar content of them. I can't find any 'fun' type yoghurt that isn't full of crap and I can't bring myself to buy them for daily use. He's not that fussed and says he likes being 'different' , but I feel like he's going to get more and more bothered - he's 9 now and mentioning it more this year than ever before.

I'm not that strict about food, but I just don't think a lot of this stuff is suitable for daily use. AIBU to keep his lunches as they are?

You are a veritable paragon of virtue op. I'd give you a biscuit, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be suitable either.

And you are a veritable paragon of 'I'm so cool and laid back, don't even know what kids have for lunch. How ridiculous that anyone ever gives these things any thought. I am way above that -ness.' Well done you. Do have a biscuit yourself.

Not sure why people are commenting on the pearl-clutching etc. There have been no nasty comments on here directed at people who put frubes etc in. I said I was 'shocked' by what's in them, and maybe it was a bit ott, but I didn't say anything about the people who buy them.

All those type of comments have come from people on 'the other side' moaning about the temerity of people who dare to care what they give their kids for lunch and saying how ridiculous it all is etc etc.

A typical lunch box for my seven year old son contains a cucumber and hummus sandwich on granary bread, a large banana, a Babybel and a homemade apple and plum oat muffin (we grow the apples and plums ourselves.) On Fridays he is also allowed a small packet of crisps as a treat.

user1476 They do. But they aren't very adventurous with the contents ;)

I used to do sandwiches every day but they ended up coming back uneaten or half eaten. I think they got bored of them. So now they have days where it's a salad/chicken/sausages/home made pizza for example.

Mine just thrived on crisp butties accompanied by a mars bar and a pot of nutella chocolate spread.

It pepped them up no end for the afternoon at school.

As for finding Frubes "depressing" and being "shocked" at the level of sugar in a yoghurt... doesn't seem worth the time or energy, frankly

Nah,...not wanting your kids to have sugar stuffed into them by food manufacturers is not worth the time or energy is it?
It is depressing and shocking they put so much sugar in foods for kids. The fact that some parents are unaware is sad.

Remembering what I used to take for my lunch at school now. It was generally 2 cheese crusty cobs, 2 small cans of pop, 2 packets of sweets and a banana. If it was a school trip and we would be out all day it would be a multipack of sweets instead of packs and a 2 ltr bottle of lemonade instead of the cans. Would probably trigger a childrens services referral these days!

My kids had a sandwich, a yoghurt, a drink and a piece of fruit. Thank god for compulsory school lunches from P2 onwards, coz it's a right faff making packed lunches.

Mine have similar lunches to yours OP. They do have "glenisk" yoghurts which are lovely and I think suitable for everyday, never chocolate, occasional popcorn or plain biscuit. They have a sandwich or wrap, 1 fruit, 1 veg and something else (yoghurt/ malt loaf/ biscuit) most days.
I think the ones having packed lunch in their school (DS8 and DD6) might be the fussy ones! Or else my DCs just tell me about the time someone had nutella sandwiches (it could be just occasionally but to them it seems like every day). Perhaps my DCs mention the sweets in lunchbox as that is what stands out??
YANBU to leave them as they are.
There is another thread about the worst things teachers found in lunchboxes which is very depressing reading.

My DD won't have hummous in her lunchbox now because some children in her class made fun of her because it smelled of garlic. They also ridiculed her because her Humzinger (one of those sticks made from fruit) looked like poo, apparently. I wish kids would mind their own business and concentrate on their own lunch instead of sticking their nose into other peoples.

It is difficult to find things that are sweet but not too junky. The Bear products are good (Bear Claws, Bear Yoyos etc - look like sweets but are made of fruit), and the banana loaves by soreen have the feel of cake but aren't and have a fraction of the sugar of cake/choc bars. Yollies are less sugary than lots of similar products also.

At least no one said it tasted like one !

My add (5 who has autism)
Has

Plain brown bread
Some kind of cold meat (ham/chicken/ mini sausages) or a mini sausage roll
Tomatoes and cucumber
Some kind of fruit
Small yoghurt

I quickly became aware of the 'everybody and nobody ' situation with my DC; nobody had to do/had to eat/ etc etc as they had to and 'everybody' had the latest whatever and 'everybody' took chocolate every day for lunch. The school lunches are also very good, with all food made from scratch and salads from the school allotment. I don't know how they do a meal like that for the money. One mum, entitled to meals but refusing on grounds of couldn't be bothered to apply, would send her poor child with a foul, cheap sausage roll every day. He would lift off the huge fatty lid of pastry, eat that, and then start on the base which was another slab of fatty pastry and a thin strip of grey god knows what - probably the dreaded mechanically recovered meat which is as close to slurry as you can get.

When I was a kid I used to get a small flask of milk, brown bread sandwich with peanut butter or marmite in it and an apple. Every day. Sometimes my mum would jazz up the marmite sandwich with cucumber and tomato...which tasted beyond disgusting! My mother was trying to be healthy and prob short of cash, but how I longed for the crisps and chocolate bars that all my friends had! I hated how boring my lunches were!

With my kids they get a box of fruit juice, soft roll with cheese or ham, a frozen Frube, small pack of crisps, apple and a small chocolate bar...just so they don't feel like they have the boring lunches I had!

My son (10) has sandwich thins - jam/ham/cheese/chilli jam combo no butter. He makes it so chooses what he's like. We're a no nut school and not suppose to have sweets etc. He normally has a piece of fruit or two, corner yogurt, cherry tomatoes and maybe a kit Kat or piece of cake. If he leaves anything it's the kit Kat. Some other kids have crisps, pizza, wraps etc. All seem to be different.

Mine has sandwich, yogurt, fruit, a couple of biscuits etc. I agree there is too much sugar in foods targeted at children but I'm not that fussed about DS eating stuff he enjoys and that his friends are eating.

I once fell foul of the food police by drizzling a spoonful of chocolate on some home made flapjack (my flapjack is probably way more sugar laden than a couple of Mars bars so a drizzle of chocolate is irrelevant). The year fives were tasked with checking lunches and making a note of unhealthy foods. DS told me his flapjack had been unwrapped by one of the year fives so they could have a look at it. I got a note from the Head telling me that chocolate is not allowed. I sent a note back asking if the year fives had got NVQs in food handling and hygiene and if not then please keep their hands off DS's lunch!

Vagina wrap! Brilliant!!

Usual lunch, sandwich or wrap or breadsticks with cheese cubes. Pot of fruit or cherry tomatoes. Small snacky thing, maybe chocolate biscuit occasionally and a fruit shoot. I hated having yoghurts at school. They'd be warm and not appetizing as well as embarrassing. My dd feels the same.

Occasionally, pizza or a piece of chicken, cucumber or carrot sticks. My dd is at a no chocolate or crisps school. Capri sun and yoghurts also leave a mess in the lunchbox. We've done jelly but it also makes a mess!

No yours are not outlandish. I send homemade spinach pie (or proper bread and cheese) olives, tomatoes and a piece of fruit. I don't think she gives a damn that the other kids are sucking on something disgusting and sugar-loaded out of a tube. Don't worry, yours will not be overweight and diabetic by the time he's 30.

Not read the full thread....

My dds lunch box is not the healthiest

Sandwich (sliced brown bread) with cheese/soft cheese/ tuna
crisps
a piece of fruit
a yogurt
a piece of cake/biscuit or similar.

I tried carrot sticks/ cucumbers portion and they just come back uneaten.

I don't think a bag of crisps a day is terrible, I have a bag of crisps most days we are both healthy weights and active.

Op your lunch sounds fine to me but I don't think your DS is lying about what others have for lunch. DD tells me some kids have cakes/ crisps/ chocolate for lunch every day. I've seen children DD's age drinking a full can of coke or Irn bru and a bar of chocolate on the way to school every day (same kids). I can only imagine what is in their lunch box but somehow I don't think it would be Greek yoghurt or hummus.

DD is in primary 3 (Y2 equivalent) so is entitled to free school lunches. She eats them but prefers a packed lunch so I let her have one a couple of times a month.

DD is small for her age and doesn't have a huge appetite so I pack small amounts but a good mix of things. If I send in too much of one thing it all gets left. I think it just looks overwhelming for her so she doesn't bother with any of it.

A typical lunch would be a sandwich (1 slice of white bread with ham) I sometimes use my cookie cutters to make shaped sandwiches (the hello kitty ones are her favourite. If not a sandwich she will have sushi - but only the small salmon and cucumber pack from Tesco as she doesn't like the ones from other supermarkets.

I give her a slice of either Gouda or Edam cheese (she dislikes chedder) I tend to roll them in slices and stick them on a cocktail stick.

She will have some cucumber slices or cherry tomatoes (small amount in a silicone muffin case or I mix the 2 and make a kebab on a wooden skewer).

For fruit she will have either a few strawberrys / small handful of rasberrys / few cherries or a satsuma.

I will sometimes put in one of those very small tubs of rice pudding or custard (the ones that come as 6 mini tubs rather than the larger 4 pack). If not sending one of these she might get 2 cookies (Maryland or equivelant) or similar.

For a drink I send in a small carton (school milk size) of banana or strawberry milk. I would send in plain milk but they don't sell them in the supermarkets and as packed lunches are so infrequent it's not worth signing up to one of those delivery services.

I really don't care what people say about what I choose to feed my daughter. I know her diet isn't perfect but I don't think it's that awful either - perhaps a little too much sugar at times. I struggle to get her to gain weight and she floats between the 5th to 10th centile so I'm not worried she's eating too many calories. She has even on occasion been classed as underweight because she's taken a growth spurt but not gained enough weight to compensate.

At risk of being tore to shreds I will also admit she has the occasional McDonald's / fruit shoot / greggs sausage roll. I don't see the problem of its part of a balanced diet and not every week/ day.

Is there a reason you can't give him school dinners? As kids get older they get more demanding about having what everyone else has in their lunch box i've refused to provide a packed lunch to avoid all this shit.

all i will say is kids just want to be normal

My DS is 4 and loves to chose his packed lunch bits each day. At the moment he is oblivious to the fact that his choices are a bit unusual. Today he had cooked green beans, mini breadsticks, nori sheets, a boiled egg and a jelly pot. Tomorrow he wants houmous, cucumber, popcorn and a pear.

One day he will reject all of these no doubt so for now I'm embracing it.

I think your lunch box sounds a lot more inventive than what I do!! I personally don't put crisps in their lunch boxes - but then we don't generally eat crisps as a rule - so full of salt for young kids! Sometimes I buy cereal bars, but its amazing how much sugar is in these. Now they are in secondary they have school dinners a couple of days to take the pressure off providing packed lunches. (My DS loves cold homemade pizza in his lunchbox!)

My daughter used to have the salt and shake Chrisps,she was about 8 when she found that we were removing the little salt sachet!