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

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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

Just think balanced - what would you feed him at home If having a sandwich tea?

Sandwich/wrap with some protein in (cheese, ham, chicken etc)
Item of veg (carrot sticks, cucumber, tomatoes etc)
Item of fruit

Dairy (yogurt)
Drink

If I’m feeling nice I’ll throw in a treat but certainly not every day and it would be child sized.

No nuts due to anaphylactic allergies.

I’m always amazed at the holy levels of crap put into children's bodies by their haplesS parents. So much competitive parenting and so many desires and wants for their kids and their futures and yet they are fed utter shit. Not a veg or fruit in sight, or it comes home untouched. Grow some balls folks! Surely it isn’t rocket science that a healthy balanced diet is going to benefit your kids across the board?

@AltheaVestr1t

Yes, it’s the UK. No fruit and veg. Totally true unfortunately. My DC love fruit and veg. So no issues there. I have seen a photo of this meal I mentioned so I know it’s factual.

I can't remember which MNer came up with the idea of 'alibi fruit', but I have passed it on to so many other parents over the years. I had a drawer of very convincing plastic fruit that went in each lunch box on rotation every day

And I bet the teachers are having a well healthy lunch! Judging by the size of some in my sons school, they haven't seen a healthy one for years!

You do realise that the teachers don’t make the rules, don’t you? Well done on the body shaming though! 👍🏻

Sad eye - that is so sad. That teaches your child nothing about nutrition and everything about lying to get around a system designed to protect their best interests. Awful parenting.

That’s so cruel Greeni. I hope that nonsense has stopped now and your poor son gets to eat his lunch in peace.

My DS has pretty much the same every day:
Hummus or egg on sandwich, wrap, or roll
Veg 2 or 3 of cucumbers/peppers/ carrots/ tomatoes/olives depending what I've got in the fridge
Cereal bar/Soreen/ rice pud/yoghurt
A couple of mini sausages or a cube of cheese or a piece of chicken
Milk

Sometimes I chuck in a few hula hoops, sometimes some grapes

Banning home baking seems Stalinist.

@Wheredidigowrongggggg Yep, I'm a terrible parent who refused to waste money on taking fruit out of the fruit bowl, knowing I'd have to throw it away uneaten later that day because it'd been bashed and bruised in their lunch boxes.

How are those judgeypants feeling? You might want to hoik them some more.

@Wheredidigowrongggggg as opposed to having a 20p squished banana come home every day, glued to the lunchbag? If they won't eat it, it is a waste to send everyday and adds £1 a week to the shopping bill. I think a plastic fruit is a great idea for kids who hate fruits but eat veg.

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily

was waiting for the body shaming comment.

Put in fruit they like? Or instil some rules - ie don’t eat your cake/treat/whatever until the fruiT is eaten. Kids are not naturally healthy eaters. If they know they can get away with it, they won’t eat it, especially if there’s another less healthy option And/or there are no obvious consequences to their unhealthy choices. It’s our job to be parents and work on this, not just accept it and create a web of deceit in which a small child is implicit. That’s bloody awful.

@DobbyTheHouseElk that’s terrible - that school is in breach of the legislation! I hope you complained!

As others have said - depends on the school. Ours are allowed crisps, chocolate covered items and cake. The only no is to fizzy drinks, nuts (or anything with nuts in eg nutella) and sweets.
All they ask for is a balanced meal.
I don't see how schools can ban cake when they serve it themselves as pudding on school meals? Seems ludicrous to me.

Kids are not naturally healthy eaters

What? That's nonsense. Sure, they mostly all like sweet stuff but if given a choice mine have always picked up a selection of veg and fruit as well. I've never had any hard and fast rules about food, other than " a few more forkfuls" to give something new a good try when they were little.

My kids are actually pretty naturally healthy eaters, always have been. They prefer fruit & veg to chocolate & sweets generally. But it was a waste to send fruit in their packed lunch because they didn't eat it and I wasn't there to supervise them.

When they are in my house, there are rules as to what they can and can't eat, and in what order. But please do continue tell me I'm a bloody awful parent based on me choosing not to waste money on food they weren't eating, when I couldn't be there to make sure they did.

PhilCornwall1So you actually knew you were being offensive but decided to Maje that comment anyway. Creepy.

Well tbf i also said that a lot of my dds primary teachers were overweight, so the obsession with no chocolate while they are munching tins of roses in the staff room makes very little sense.

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily
It stopped because they excluded him not long after despite all the funding and help he was supposed to get.

I'm glad, after nearly ten years (two DDs) going through the school, DD2 finally has decent school dinners. No more packed lunches!

Sandwich, crisps, fruit, drink is still the standard packed lunch, OP.

Variations on sandwiches - soup in a thermos for older children, cheese and crackers, quiche, Spanish omelette.

Alternatives to crisps: popcorn, veg sticks with houmous or soft cheese, Mini cheddars, bread sticks

Sometimes DDs would have a small cake or sweet biscuits instead of or as well as the savoury side.

But generally 3 items plus a drink was enough as they don't want to spend a long time eating then they can go out and play.

Well tbf i also said that a lot of my dds primary teachers were overweight, so the obsession with no chocolate while they are munching tins of roses in the staff room makes very little sense.

Of course it makes sense. Firstly the teachers don't make the rules and secondly you have a duty of care towards kids to set them up for life with a healthy diet especially while they're growing. Once they're adults they can munch on all the chocolate at lunchtime they want.

The issue is probably not that a perfectly healthy child has a penguin bar occasionally in their lunch as a treat. It's that it's not really necessary to have it every day and some kids come in with king sized mars bars and monster munch and don't eat much else. The school can't possibly enforce a complicated rule system of how often you can have chocolate or how many grams it can be so they make a blanket rule. The kids who were only eating chocolate occasionally as part of a balanced diet don't really miss out too much -they can have a treat another time and the other kids might hopefully get something more balanced into their system.

In the early 90s i used to have a marmite sandwich, skip crisps and a wagon wheel bar. With a panda pop to drink!
To be fair, although I loved it, and have always been a healthy weight, I wouldn't eat that myself or give to a child today.

I used to know someone who at secondary (i had hot school lunch by then), would just use the money her parents gave her to buy 3 bars for chocolate and some energy drink in local store. And you do hear of people sending small children with something similar. So I can see why schools have become more involved over the years.

Easiest now is probably:

1. sandwich or similar
2. pot of something savory - ie: cheese, raw veg, popcorn, bread sticks 3)pot of something sweet- ie: yogurt, chopped fruit, raisins

From the above im sure you know what you usually have at home and what they like. Save anything particularly messy, sugary, salty or nuts for at home and im sure you won't have anything returned.

It stopped because they excluded him not long after despite all the funding and help he was supposed to get

I’m so sorry.

My DD is nursery age but I send in

Satsuma and pack mini bread sticks for her snack

Lunch box

Sandwich or roll with either cheese or ham
Babybel or small yoghurt
Banana
Pot of cucumber

@AltheaVestr1t

Yes I did. They said it was a balanced meal!! So I now do a packed lunch. I’m not paying for that crap.