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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

466 replies

blubberball · 29/03/2017 09:55

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.

OP posts:
WhatInTheWorldIsGoingOn · 29/03/2017 10:05

I've worked in a school where this is normal. 4 packets of crisps and nothing else etc. In my experience it's the same parents who didn't collect their children after school due to being in the pub, sent them in with no breakfast, didn't read with them, didn't come to parents evening, sent them in crawling with nits, didn't bring them in because they were having a pyjama day etc. It's lack of education and being brought up the same way themselves.

It's not about healthy food being cheaper. It's about education and support for these families.

theshitcollector · 29/03/2017 10:05

I also felt that this may be due to something other than just lazy parenting. I can think of reasons why a family who may not be able to afford to buy food for lunch could possibly have a happy meal that had not been eaten (treat from granny/friend the previous day etc). Could also have been parents struggling with a child with food issues, parents who themselves have special needs and so don't understand why this might not be a good choice, family with a chaotic life for any number of reasons who happened to have this in from the night before but no sandwich ingredients in etc etc. Or maybe it was just a one off unprepared day due to a family crisis.

I feel sorry for the child involved and agree that the head should see it as a warning sign but surely a discussion with those involved would have a better chance of changing things than a public shaming.

ZilphasHatpin · 29/03/2017 10:05

In our school you can ring in the morning and say your child forgot his lunch, and they will give them a school dinner. You can pay the following week (although I have forgotten once and they never chased it Blush) I would like to think all schools have the same policy.

AmysTiara · 29/03/2017 10:05

A cold hot dog? Shock

Only1scoop · 29/03/2017 10:06

Yabu
If someone is on the poverty line they wouldn't be buying Macdonalds

user1487175389 · 29/03/2017 10:06

Happy meals are expensive. Fast food restaurants don't keep food for longer than an hour due to high rates of bacteria growth. Yuck yuck yuck.

MrsBrew005 · 29/03/2017 10:06

See my first initial thought was they maybe could only literally scrape together £2.50 but as a pp said, a school dinner would cost the same or cheaper my ds school meals cost £2.20. Poor child. Not sure the head master making it public knowledge is very professional though maybe this parent needed help more than a public shaming

LineysRun · 29/03/2017 10:06

Sometimes we get vouchers for McDonald's through our door. Buy one get one free, or a happy meal for 50p, that kind of thing.

So it could be that.

halcyondays · 29/03/2017 10:06

If they wouldn't eat it when it was hot, they'd hardly eat it when it was cold, yuck.

Stormwhale · 29/03/2017 10:06

I think it is likely to be a combination of things. I think someone who is not well educated may well buy a happy meal when money is tight as they think it's good for £2.50 or whatever. They may well not know that for that they could buy healthier items that would make up more than just one meal.

I would imagine that someone who puts a cold happy meal in a childs lunchbox is struggling in some way, be that financially, or understanding healthy eating on a budget, or just generally understanding what constitutes a healthy meal for a child. They could even be struggling to cope as a parent and with the responsibility of providing a packed lunch. There is a certain amount of planning involved to make sure you have the right things in and this is not easy for someone who is struggling mentally or has a chaotic lifestyle.

Sunnysidegold · 29/03/2017 10:08

Porpoiselife

If the kid will eat it what's the problem.
My son doesn't like sandwiches so he sometimes takes a cold hot dog in a bun for his lunch.

shock seriously?

But surely this is just the same as a sausage sandwich? I don't understand the shock.

muttrat · 29/03/2017 10:09

I have just been on tesco online and costed out
pasta with tomato sauce with onion, carrot and bacon, with mozzerella
a yogurt and an apple

will feed four and costs £4.44

FirstSeemItThenBeIt · 29/03/2017 10:10

Well there are different kinds of poverty though aren't there?

It is probably related to money, but also poverty if of education, a lack of a good example from their own childhoods, limited understanding of nutritional needs.

Or of course could have been put up in a B&B by the council as emergency accommodation and have no kitchen to prepare food in.

We just don't know. And I'm loathe to come in on here complaining about lazy parents when we're probably talking about the plight of kids who are living with parents who are limited in their own ways.

maddiemookins16mum · 29/03/2017 10:11

There are more issues at play here than "just" poverty if this story is to be believed.
No matter how poor a family is, anyone who thinks sending a cold Happy Meal to school is ok has other issues happening.
You can make a wholemeal sandwich with the cheapest peanut butter or cheesespread for under 15p. A small banana or the cheapest yoghurt from a multipack is only about another 20p, if that.

muttrat · 29/03/2017 10:11

*'ve worked in a school where this is normal. 4 packets of crisps and nothing else etc. In my experience it's the same parents who didn't collect their children after school due to being in the pub, sent them in with no breakfast, didn't read with them, didn't come to parents evening, sent them in crawling with nits, didn't bring them in because they were having a pyjama day etc. It's lack of education and being brought up the same way themselves.

It's not about healthy food being cheaper. It's about education and support for these families.*

this

Jaynesworld · 29/03/2017 10:11

Just had a look at sainsburys.

Basic loaf of white bread 35p
packet of ham/chicken 50p
basic spread 80p

Then choose either:
Multipack of basic crisps 80p
multipack of yogurts 50p
5 x bananas 50p

Sainsburys isnt the cheapest and that would do a few days lunches.

Gileswithachainsaw · 29/03/2017 10:11

Well there needs to be more info really.

I mean it could be a regular occurrence by known lazy neglectful parebts.

Or they spent the night at the hospital so the mum could be with their sick nan and they grabbed it from the drive thru at 2 between hospital and having to go to work

Who knows

Original poster
blubberball · 29/03/2017 10:12

I make packed lunch for my dc, I always make sure that they have a carbohydrate, a protein, a fruit and a vegetable, and a treat. I'm extremely lucky in that I have the funds and the education to do that. I'm also extremely lucky that my dc do not have any food issues, and they are not picky eaters. I don't think that I'm a good person, and happy meal lunch person is bad. I'm just extremely lucky that all these factors came together.

OP posts:
Only1scoop · 29/03/2017 10:12

'If the kid will eat it what's the problem'

Apart from the fact that it's crap....
After it's festered away all night to be produced in a lunch box for next day it will probably be a good source of food poisoning?

muttrat · 29/03/2017 10:12

I think its imperative that we don't sweep this issue under the carpet

it needs addressing not excuses made

Porpoiselife · 29/03/2017 10:12

sunnysidegold

You think a hotdog is the same as a sausage? Therein lies the issue I think

muttrat · 29/03/2017 10:14

it is not LUCK

I promise you most people who feed their kids shite KNOW that it is shite

but they are lazy and would rather spend their money on other stuff

Obviously this isn't 100% always the case but in 90% of cases it is.

stoopido · 29/03/2017 10:14

I remember my son coming home from school one day looking troubled. He asked me whether he was allowed to give his best friend some of his packed lunch because he only ever came to school with an orange in his packed lunch box! I did mention this to his teacher and finally the boy came into school with a sandwich. It is just so sad.

halcyondays · 29/03/2017 10:15

I can understand people who haven't learnt to cook, but how much education does it take to make a sandwich?

Gowgirl · 29/03/2017 10:15

Wow, I've been on the poverty line where a happy meal is a treat while I had a coffee, and yes i would have popped left over nuggets/ drink in my handbag. I also wasn't alone in refusing to claim free meals and milk due to shame.

Untill you have sat there weighing up putting 6 quid on the electric for the week and working out which washing is most desperate as you only have 2 scoops of cheap powder till the following week don't fucking judge!