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

I think the parents who "don't know what a healthy lunch looks like" are in the minority. All the strict schools are teaching is that X food is good and Y food is bad. I'm bringing my children up to eat a balanced diet, a bit of everything in moderation is fine. However my 4yo came home from his first week at school saying he just wanted an apple for tea because it's healthy and everyone has to be healthy. I'd made a usual tea, balanced perfectly well and he was worrying about eating it.

I can confirm it all goes tits up anyway once they get to middle school and beyond.

Checked 10yo DS' school account to see if it needs topping up and for lunch yesterday he had a slice of chocolate cake and a pot of grapes. That was it, no actual food.

DD's school is no fizzy drinks, no nuts, no hard sweets or hard lollies otherwise whatever you want to put in.

It totally depends on the school. Ours is relaxed. Here is our typical kind of stuff:

Sandwich. Generally cheese.
Biscuit bar like a caramel wafer or breakaway, or mini pack of something like mini cheddars
Fruit that will fit in our box - a plum, a satsuma, handful of blueberries
Peeled carrot (healthy and cheap!)
cherry tomatoes

A good mix. We've never been told off for snack foods and I would go ballistic if they did - moderation is key - plus they have puddings in school lunches, so end of conversation!

What our school do is make them eat the biscuit/crisp elements last - which is good - they have to start with their sandwiches and move on to the sweet stuff.

That’s a great way of doing it, FizzyGreenWater. A much more realistic approach.

God reading this i am so glad i don't have to think about packed lunches! I live in france so packed lunch not an option here.

My kids' school has this weird policy of a healthy snack which is strongly policed. Sounds ok. However, this does not extend to lunch and in theory I could send them in with KFC, a whole chocolate cake and a family sized bag of Haribo. As long as their little hands don't touch any of this at snack time, it's all good.

Like I said ... weird. And probably irrelevant

I send mine with either a sandwich or crackers with cheese & ham, cucumber sticks, fruit and a frube or a malt loaf bar. Pasta salad goes down well too.

DS2 has ..

chicken/Turkey wrap with lettuce, a little mayo and sweet chilli sauce.

Crisps or popcorn

Fruit - strawberries / satsuma / blueberries

Small biscuit or a couple of Jaffa cakes

If I'm organised he'll sometimes have half a wrap and carrot/cucumber sticks with houmous

Can I say that as an Aussie the whole concept of school dinners (lunches) is quite a foreign concept to me. We do have school canteens (tuck shops) here but unlike what are portrayed in American movies they are not like a self serve buffet. Either place an order in the morning or join the queue at lunch.

How do you cope on all day excursions?

Lots of great suggestions for lunches previously suggested, I’m going to give a few more (non sandwich types) these may not be necessarily appropriate for very young children but can be portion sized controlled.
Can be frozen:
Zucchini Slice
Tuna and Rice Slice
Mini Quiches
Macaroni cheese muffins (I add spinach and diced bacon)

Not suitable to freeze:
Rice paper rolls (select your filling)
Baked beans nachos/tacos.

Yes, over the years I’ve had the “pleasure” of dealing with lunch box police. DS1 (now 19) whilst in kindergarten had a supervising teacher (not his) be critical of his lunch (ordered from the canteen as a treat). Apparently this teacher would inspect the lunchboxes of her class and reward stickers to the children whose lunches met her approval. Bearing in mind at that age (1st year of school) the children are not packing their own lunches. The playground joke amongst the mothers was that when she had children (she was straight out of college) the only “veggies” her kids will eat would be chips and tomato sauce.

Sorry for long rambling post. Obviously the lack of school dinner’s here become yet another reason for criticism of parents.

Dana I'm a Brit in Australia and I found the whole "no canteen" thing weird.

Why not? I notice a lot of primary schools have tuck shops with terrible processed pies on sale and awful brightly coloured ice lollies. It's shit on the whole.

DC's current school don't luckily...there's no canteen though. Someone comes in and cooks two days per week which is lovely. Otherwise it's packed lunches.

I do think that schools benefit from a good canteen.

I refused to sign the stupid lunchbox policy thing school sent home. I wrote a letter stating as a parent providing food for my child I would decide what is ok in the perimeter of a healthy lunch. I also stated I would stop sending sweet treats when school dinners stopped serving custard cakes and chocolate !
Today ds has a ham roll, mini cucumbers, chicken breast slices, satsuma, grapes and 4 squares of dairy free chocolate.

BillHadersNewWife Oh I agree the canteen food here is abysmal. Yes I’m probably being a bit judgmental but it really is only good for an occasional treat.

True (but funny) story, all through primary and early years of high school both boys would usually have a packed lunch, with occasional canteen lunch as a treat. Then decided they would just get canteen lunches. Then after living in the same house for 15 years we decided to move. Obviously a lot of culling of things occurred. I specifically asked the boys are they still happy with their canteen lunches? Yep. So I get rid of an entire drawer full of packs, snack boxes of various sizes, chiller packs, you name it. Within 6 months, Mum we’re sick of canteen food we wanna bring our own lunches again. FFS. LOL.

Just to add my boys have said that I’d run a cracking canteen.

The fruit often enjoys a nice outing to school and then comes
home again.
DD15 was out late the other night at a school event so I made her lunch - she usually makes her own - needless to say the cherry tomatoes, grapes and satsuma all came home uneaten......

I don't follow the rules, apart from nuts. My dd also has permission to have squash in her bottle. School dinners are pizza, fish and chips, hot dog etc with pud like chocolate muffin. If they confiscate my kids crisps, is be going back with a complaint.

I don't think there are any rules at DDs school, other than (understandably) no nuts.

DD4 has a ham/cheese/beef sandwich, crisps, a yoghurt and a fourth item comprising of whatever I can find in the house - sometimes a Babybel, sometimes a couple of Oreos, sometimes a Pepperami. I used to do fruit but then found out that she was given fruit twice a day by the school at break time (as well as at breakfast) and I didn't want her shitting about eight times a day.