To think that packed lunch containing a cold happy meal could be due to poverty?

[blubberball]

I saw on the news the other day, a story about school packed lunches. At one school, they looked in a child's lunchbox, and found a cold happy meal. People have obviously been angered by that, and are accusing the parents of being lazy. The first thought that came to my mind was that they couldn't afford to waste the food from the day before. I know that the particular primary school they looked at is in a very poor area. I just felt sorry for them.

WELL SAID ' BELIEVEITORNOT
Too many judgemental people looking down their ivory towers at others.
You should all be thankful it's not you!!!!

I never grew up with this - an English thing? (I'm foreign). Do most people have a sweet pudding with their lunch daily?

Yes. I'd say it's culturally standard to have savoury then sweet at every meal in Britain - even at breakfast, which in a hotel would be eg bacon and eggs then yogurt/fruit/pastry.

If you look at meal deals in supermarkets etc they are expecting people to have either crisps (which in British flavours include sugar anyway) or cake/yogurt/chocolate bar even for those on calorie-restricted diets.

MrsHathaway I'm British and it certainly isn't culturally standard to have a sweet course at any meal, let alone all 3 meals. Never heard of that one before.

If you look at meal deals in supermarkets etc they are expecting people to have either crisps (which in British flavours include sugar anyway) or cake/yogurt/chocolate bar even for those on calorie-restricted diets.

My sainsburys doesn't I've just bought a sandwich,, crisps and a bottle of orange juice.

So when I said crisps and you bought crisps ...?

I honestly think culturally the British expect something sweet or treaty at the end of a meal or else they don't feel it's finished. Might be a sweet tea/coffee or an apple, might be a Mars bar.

When I was weaning DC1 eight years ago the recommended weaning timetable started on sweet food eg pears, sweet potato, and every recipe contained something sweet and every meal suggestion ended with something sweet.

Maybe the cold happy meal has nothing to do with poverty or nutritional ignorance. Maybe the parents were from the 'if you've asked for it and don't eat it you'll get it again tomorrow' school of thought? Not that I advocate this, but it was a fairly commonplace approach when I was a child.

MrsHathaway just because you seem to think crisps are a sweet doesn't make them so.
Most of the things you mentioned contain natural sugars, as in fact most foods do. Are you suggesting only British people eat fruit or something?
I think you'll find people around the world eat fruit, eg. It's also recommended to eat fruit as part of a meal, at least by dentists rather than a snack.

I don't think crisps are sweet - though British flavours are sweeter than in most countries where they're only salted. I think crisps are a "treat" and that most people think a meal is only complete once there's been a treat.

There's also a very strong association of sweet with treat.

I think it's extremely common, to the point of being a cultural norm, for British people to expect a "meal" to contain something sweet. It's considered sophisticated/continental/adventurous to finish with eg cheese instead, and somewhat abstemious to go without.

British diet programmes assume this too: they concentrate their efforts on producing low-fat, low-calorie imitation desserts and chocolate bars rather than building plans which concentrate on savoury courses.

Doubtless there's some historical basis, to do with staple diet and availability, but nonetheless I maintain that it's a very British thing which was the question asked upthread.

My packet of crisps had no added sugar. They were ready salted and have less than 1% of (naturally occurring) sugar.

Have you ever eaten sliced bread in Europe or India? Full of sugar.

And I lived in France for years and you get crisps with everything, sweet bread and don't get me started on the breakfast cereal!

Haha the hot dog story could be my SS ! Ridiculous and revolting !
So thankful that I was taught to cook so even when my parents divorced and Mum had no money she made pasta with chopped tomatoes, veg and cheese , NOT hot dog or Mac d's etc . I am very angered with people who deny their children the right to eat nourishing foods as I think there is too much education everywhere you look about this .... it is a choice to feed your child poorly or to allow them to dictate what they eat . IMO

muttrat you can't (meaningfully) generalise about "bread in Europe" even if you ignore the fact that the UK is part of Europe German bread is certainly not sweet, and nobody would buy sliced bread unless it is specifically for toast - it's actually called "Toastbrot" (or "American Sandwich Brot" in Lidl).

MrsHathaway another one saying it's certainly not standard to have pudding after every meal.

Nobody I know does except now and then or at Christmas or Easter!

We rarely have dessert after meals ...special occasions like birthdays or Xmas maybe but otherwise no. If we want anything then it's yoghurt or fruit but even that's not usual.

My son's school offer fruit as a dessert but they don't serve a formal one except at Xmas.

If it's a one off does it really matter? Cold chips are rank but cold chicken nuggets are ok. What would people think to people having leftover pizza for lunch?

Coop have boiled eggs as a meal deal snack.