I don't know what is acceptable in a lunch box today

[Bluepeg]

Due to my disabilities my children get free school meals and I, gratefully, haven't had to make a packed lunch for 8 years!
We have had multiple letters about what is not allowed in packed lunches over the years. Having never thought it would be applicable, I didn't pay attention.
The school can't provide a meal next week for my daughter, so I need ideas and tips please! I don't want him to have his lunch confiscated, so I am asking for help.

I know it is unreasonable for me not to know, I've just not had to know and I have heard horror stories of Miss Trunchbull -esque dinner ladies taking food from children - is that true?

KS2 btw

DS :

Ham and cream chesse sandwich on brown
A yogurt
An apple sauce pot
An apple
Four fig rolls
Dried cranberries

Good question, Kristina

Both choc bars and cereal bars are banned at DSs school

@RaaRaaeee Oh I’ve also been told off for sending grapes that are not cut in half!
Why would you not cut grapes in half!

@trewser and yet you'd spy them in the staff room hoovering up Roses

what rules do your work place have for what you eat at work?

Mine is a lot older, but due to SN I make her a lunch. She’s away this morning with a chicken sandwich, a little tub of grapes, Alpen bar, yogurt and a snack a jack.

Why do you send your son with Nutella then?

@spacepyramid because he has food aversions and it's one of only two sandwich fillings he will eat, the other is peanut butter, so school allow it as he has a letter from his dietician

@Venger fair enough. I thought there must be a reason since you clearly know the guidelines.

I agree with your comment about the bars, KristinaM. Some of them are ridiculously high in fat and sugar. I’m very picky about the ones that I buy now, because some of them are so bad.

@LifeSpectator school did provide a list of brands that had say coconut in them
Coconut’s are not nuts, people with nut allergies don’t need to avoid them (unless they have coconut allergy as an additional allergy.)

How is one healthy and the other isn't?

It’s all bullshit.

See also kids yoghurts which are fine apparently, but chock full of sugar.

Sandwich Wrap or Pasta Salad.
Snacks (crackers, cheese, fruit, Veg sticks, banana muffin).
I wouldn't give crisps and Sandwiches every day but since DC rarely need a packed lunch I do give a bag of crisps and small chocolate bar. (When they get given lunch by school it's sandwich, crisps, kit kat, piece of fruit and raisins).

Pretty shit that the school can dictate what children eat. Obviously we don't want them going in with a box full of chocolate or a cold happy meal but it seems a bit much to ban chocolate altogether.

My ds usually has a wrap or sandwich, piece of fruit, cheese string, yoghurt, crisps or breadsticks and a cakey/biscuit product.

Why are biscuits like mini cheddars ok but crisps are banned ?

Mini cheddars have 12g carb and 7 g fat.
Walkers crisps have 13g carb and 8g fat.

Re home baking - yes sorry, I was thinking of cake sales etc (in terms of hygiene). For school lunchboxes I imagine it's the sugar content, same as any other cakes.

I send a wrap/sandwich, yoghurt, crisps, fruit and a drink. Send a chocolate treat with no nuts in on a Friday.

Depends on the school - we have packed lunch monitors who go round each table looking in the children's lunch boxes, if they have items of food that they deem unsuitable, the children are asked not to eat it, their names go in the book they carry around with them and letters go home to parents. My daughter now worries every lunch time, we've never had a letter home but frankly I'd ignore it if I did.

Cakes = bad for sugar?
Yoghurt = healthy ?

Tesco’s choc chip muffin 24g sugar
Muller fruit corner red fruits yoghurt 22g sugar

Ham wrap or Bagel

Fruit

Water or apple juice.

Malt loaf or flapjack

Pombears

Not all in on one day.

I remember the days of the MN 'alibi fruit'...

OP, you really have to check with the school. No nuts is pretty much standard these days, but for the last two years of junior school, kiwi fruit was banned because one child had a severe allergy to it.

My general go to packed lunch was a boring sandwich, crackers, a chocolate covered biscuit, a pot of pumpkin seeds, a carton of juice, and a yoghurt that wouldn't be eaten, but would be guaranteed to explode inside the lunch box at some point. Plus a piece of alibi fruit.

Kristina I know what you mean, but maybe it's to do with how they are differently marketed.

I used to think school lunch box police were OTT and killjoy but TBH now I realise that if schools didn't draw a line, some kids might come with nothing but choc bars, crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks for lunch. As well as the health issue, some would be a nightmare during the afternoon on a sugar high. Some parents literally have no clue as to what constitutes a healthy lunch and the obesity crisis is worsening in this country, so I actually think it's great that schools have made a stand over lunches. It's not a punishment, it's ultimately for the benefit of the kid even if some parents don't like it.

Yes, Jessy, there is a kid with allergies at the school. I know him, and sympathise.

The issue I had was that the school office went overboard and banned anything that didn't have a wrapper explicitly stating 'made in a nut-free environment'. The mother of the kid with allergies herself said this was nonsense. It was pretty much an impossible demand, anyway.

alibi fruit

These threads make me smile.

When I was in primary school (in the mid-90s) my mum was sent a letter by the school advising that my lunches were inappropriate and suggesting a sandwich with a simple filling such as cheese or ham, crisps and an individually wrapped chocolate bar or biscuit would be more suitable.

I'd been given a couple of small tubs (contained in a small lunch cool bag) containing grapes, cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks, plus a chicken salad wrap, and small piece of (homemade) cake.

Today DS (KS2) has a pate sandwich, few cherry toms, mini cheddars, and a bear yo yo. Drinks water from his water bottle

Loving the concept of alibi fruit