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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to think that this is an appropriate packed lunch for an 8yo

230 replies

sashangel · 27/03/2017 10:14

My DD is is going on a school trip today so have had to put a packed lunch together. She is very tall and thin for her age. She is also very active doing lots of different sports through the week. It consisted of

A ham and coleslaw wholemeal wrap with watercress salad.
A pot of Carrot, cucumber, baby tomatoes and olives
A pot of Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and kiwi
Light Babybel
Mini Pepperami
Pot of ambrosia rice pudding
With water.

I was speaking to another mum who looked completely horrified (not joking) that she didn't have crisps and at least one chocolate bar to go with it and if she had only gave what I had to her DD she would get a telling off.

I thought what I have put together was a healthy and appropriate amount of food for an 8 year old. Is that right or have I completely fucked up and have a very hungry and grumpy DD later.

OP posts:
IDoNotHaveTheFoggiest · 27/03/2017 16:41

I think it's fine. Seems a lot but if it's all being eaten and there is no weight issue go ahead.
She clearly needs to lay some ground rules on how her kids talk to her though!

intheknickersoftime · 27/03/2017 16:41

Brilliant thread OP, I bloody love a lunchbox thread. There was one a few weeks ago about danish lunchboxes and it was the best thread ever. So much stealth boasting and discussion of babybel cheese and pots of hummus. There is something quite sweet about primary school lunchboxes with their ham sandwiches and penguins. I mean wholemeal wraps and satsumas.

DavetheCat2001 · 27/03/2017 17:02

OP....??

OP'EEEEEEEEE......???

BeyondThePage · 27/03/2017 17:40

There is something quite sweet about primary school lunchboxes with their ham sandwiches and penguins. I mean wholemeal wraps and satsumas

Grin Grin Grin

haha - though as a former mid-day supervisor DON'T SEND 3 WEEK OLD SATSUMAS WITH SKIN THAT WON'T *&$%£ PEEL - we have up to 90 kids each to watch - if everyone has one we are peeling for the whole lunch break. I'd rather have opened a penguin! (or a box of jaffa cakes Grin )

Want2bSupermum · 27/03/2017 18:10

Here is my not so stealth boast... DH peels my kids satsuma and picks off all the white stuff before he puts it in their lunchbox. Takes him half an hour while he watches TV!

When I do lunches the whole thing goes in and it is up to them to peel it. They still eat it and I don't have the heart to tell DH this for fear that he might stop doing packed lunches all together.

Best bit of training I have done is to make my kids empty their lunch box when they get home after taking their coat and shoes off.

Pinkpiglet85 · 27/03/2017 18:34

I don't see any harm in what you've packed for your child's packed lunch for her trip. If she enjoys all of this food then why not. I wish my daughter ate these foods! She'll eat fruit but not carrots or cucumber. I think that this lunch is perfectly fine!

MongerTruffle · 27/03/2017 18:51

Honestly why did you have to ask? One chocolate bar isn't going to fill them up much more than what you gave, is it?

intheknickersoftime · 27/03/2017 18:53

I too have been a lunchtime supervisor and remember trying to open those bloody frubes. They are the work of the devil!!

mamaduckbone · 27/03/2017 19:00

Mine get crisps for a school trip packed lunch as a treat because they don't have them in an ordinary packed lunch, but I'd say a mini peperami is an equivalent.
They've tried the 'EVERYONE else has crisps every day' line to which I reply 'tough - I'm looking after your health.'
What you've packed is loads.

harderandharder2breathe · 27/03/2017 19:03

From seeing what my Brownies bring as packed lunch on trips it sounds pretty standard and actually rather nice!

I'm forever amazed at their lunches! (In a good way) When I was their age it was sweaty, squashed cheese butties, crisps and a kit Kat!

Applesandpears23 · 27/03/2017 19:05

30 years ago my mother's idea of a packed lunch was a sandwich, a piece of fruit, crisps and a chocolate biscuit. How times have changed! That lunch sounds much tastier OP.

Billybonkers76 · 27/03/2017 19:11

I love this thread!
When I check their lunch boxes I like to tick things off:
Fruit..,half of a grape eaten ✅
Babybell....one bite taken ✅
Yoghurt...two spoonfuls left ✅
Crisps...half packet stuck to lunchbox with leftover yoghurt ✅
One spoon....missing ✅
Sandwiches....two crusts with half sandwich attached ✅
If I don't get 6/6 ticks then I know something's up!

BeaderBird · 27/03/2017 19:12

My favourite thing about this whole thread is the word WHOLEMEAL IN THE OP Grin

Riversleep · 27/03/2017 19:19

My DS has had cold leftover Domino's pizza in his lunchbox before now Blush

smallchanceofrain · 27/03/2017 19:30

I love a good packed lunch / stealth boast thread.

Presumably you were pushing the boat out OP because it was a school trip and your 8 year old usually has school dinners.

DS1 has packed lunch every day and there is no way I could be bothered to pack him a lunch like every day. He's lucky if he gets sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, carrot and a piece of flapjack. Sometimes we're out of flapjack and I chuck in a couple of custard creams instead. Shocking, I know.

DS's school has banned chocolate and many other foods that give children joy. I used to love sweaty cheese sandwiches, crisps and a penguin when I was a kid.

I am a little bit in awe of parents whose children eat things like olives, watercress or wholemeal anything. I have no idea how you have achieved this!

Naturebabe · 27/03/2017 19:40

Your 8 year old eats olives and salad? Boring stealth boast post.

Dearlittleflo · 27/03/2017 19:43

Sounds fine apart from the Pepperami- I'd swap that for some slices of chicken or something, or even a decent cold sausage. Pepperami is grim af, too salty, highly processed shit.

AllThePrettySeahorses · 27/03/2017 19:47

That's not a packed lunch.

A packed lunch can only ever be:
Sandwiches
Crisps
Yoghurt
Apple/orange/banana
Penguin or kit kat
Carton drink
Add mini pastry thing if big day out

Although my 4 year old absolutely loves salad so that might go down well too.

babybythesea · 27/03/2017 20:08

Loving all lunchbox threads, as I stare in a panic into the fridge every evening trying to locate a food that my 8 year old will deem fit for consumption. The list grows ever smaller.
I currently put in:
A ham wrap (but don't dare to add anything like cheese or humous, both of which she does actually like but which will not be tolerated in the wrap)
A bit of salad (cherry toms, red pepper, carrot. One piece of each. Put in two and they will be roundly rejected. Don't think, if you have no carrot, you can make up for it with two slices of red pepper. It won't and you have failed). I did add humous in a pot. It went down well for 2 days and now is being ignored).
Fruit. Grapes and blueberries only. In season, throw in a strawberry. Not a raspberry. She loves them, but they go too mushy. Don't bother with an orange or an apple. She likes them both but won't touch them out of her lunchbox, and she doesn't like bananas to begin with.
No yoghurt. We've done both Frubes and pot yoghurts. She likes them but doesn't want to eat them at school.
She used to love the yoghurt coated go ahead bars but announced the other day that she had changed her mind. So no more of these. We've tried oat bars, but no.

The main problem seems to be that she wants to go out and play, which is fair enough, but she actually has quite a big appetite, and I have been called into school in the past because she's said she felt ill, only to find she was basically hungry because she'd not eaten anything and slipped out to play instead. I find little snack type things better than things like apples where she has to spend time eating it. But as the rules about what she won't eat change regularly, it's getting harder to sort out.
I may just remove her tastebuds and solve the problem that way...

DavetheCat2001 · 27/03/2017 20:19

Here's a mighty, stealthy boast for you..my 3.5 year old has suddenly decided she likes SALAD LEAVES!!!!! She picks them off my plate constantly, however if I put them on her plate she'll just mush them up in her mouth, and then spit them out on her plate (or mine..nice).

Toadinthehole · 27/03/2017 20:24

One thing I like best about a lunch box thread is the aggressive replies they bring out.

harderandharder2breathe · 27/03/2017 20:29

I used to be forced to have wholemeal bread in the 90s. Even wholemeal toast Confused I love a nice grainy, seeded loaf, but not boring wholemeal.

Then I went to high school and bought white bread toast at morning break Grin

SolomanDaisy · 27/03/2017 22:29

When I went on school trips I got stuff like penguin and crisps, for a treat! My DS's school don't take packed lunches on trips, the school supply the food. For the last one they got a sandwich and a piece of fruit and then an ice lolly later on.

Ellisandra · 27/03/2017 22:43

babybythesea I have your daughter's long lost twin - had a proper giggle reading that!

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