To send my nearly four year old to school with a flask of soup.

[Byallmeans]

Yes it’s a packed lunch fred!

Dd3 Is a fussy eater and I’m struggling to think what she will have for packed lunches. She won’t eat a sandwich or wrap with any filling but would eat it dry. No dips or cucumbers.

I’m thinking of sending her in with a soup I know she loves with cocktail sausages, pineapple and yogurt. The soup is cauliflower and cheddar. She’s asked for BBQ spare ribs but I’ve said no

Does the school offer meals? May be worth trying that for the first half term. They usually have the menu up online and jacket potatoes as an alternative. And it's free for her age.

Cauliflower soup.
She will open that and the other kids will recoil in horror at the smell. Poor little thing will be called stinky Sarah for the rest of her school career.
I used to work as a TA and some if the stuff that came out of food flasks was so vile, after festering in a tepid state for hours, that I genuinely wouldnt give it to my dog.
As if that wasnt bad enough I once got asked to sprinkle nutritional yeast on top of a childs lunch when he wasnt looking (as he doesn't like it)
Give her the soup for breakfast, whatever cold food she will eat as a pack up (even lunchables and some crudite if necessary) and make sure she has a decent evening meal.

Why don't you trial her with school
Meals? My dd is a fussy eater at home. At school it's a different story. I was utterly astounded to see her tucking into a snack of hummus and soreen one day when I arrived early to pick her up from preschool.
Are you in the UK? School Meals are free begore y3 and they love choosing with the other kids. There is usually very few packed lunch kids low down school so she might be a bit on her own.

My dd has a thermos 'funtainer'. She often takes pasta and sauce with meatballs or curry with a naan bread on the side. Maybe if you could make it very chunky and less 'runny' then it would be ok? She's not keen on sandwiches either. Other things she's taken are tuna and pasta (cold with some mayo and cucumber) sushi, pasta salad with grated cheese, beans and salad and all sorts of variations on the theme.

Don't all under 7s get free school meals? Or do they only give sandwiches?

I probably wouldn't at that age tbh. I'd worry about it leaking or them not being able to open it etc.

How about skewers or tortilla? Cheese and crackers?

School isn't like preschool. There won't be anyone to help her manage spills, opening, closing the flask.

Leaks in the bag, books destroyed.

I wouldn't.

@zerocraic At 3 its nursery in or next to a school building. not school at all, provision is nursery provision.

There's no such thing as school dinners here so I send mine in with soup or pasta on cold days. They have never had a spill, if you teach her how to open and close it properly and practice doing it then she should be fine!

Sorry this isn't the point of your thread but are children really allowed start school at 3 in the UK?

They can start from age 2 and a half.

Age 2.5 to 4 - they would generally go to a pre-school or a nursery school attached to a school. Nursery school generally has the same uniform as the school it is attached to and follows the same routine as the main school for assemblies and things. It's all play based learning and its not compulsory

Age 4 to 5 - that's when they start their first year of formal school/education which becomes compulsory the term after their fifth birthday.

OP, I would check school policy as ours does not allow hot food brought from home.

If you know she'll eat dry wrap then could you do her a bento box style lunch of dry wrap, little tray of cheese cubes, some chopped cucumber and tomatoes, sliced chicken, etc - basically sandwich/wrap but deconstructed.

I totally get the thought but there is no way my son would have eaten it

I love that she asked for bbq spare ribs! That’s brilliant

I’m assuming this is a nursery / preschool rather than school as she’s only 3 (unless she is turning 4 in the next 3 days) - is that’s the case it probably won’t be a huge hall with a few lunch staff trying to help everyone - preschool lunches are normally much less children and it may be doable, as preschool staff have a higher ratio and will be on hand. It’s not unseen, I had this at the nursery. Even had parents not use a thermos but hand me food that needed heating. We did but that’s our policy and the preschool had a microwave and we were trained in food hygiene.

If it’s school I would heed caution. Practice at home. Cook it in the morning, put in the Thermos. Have lunch at school time and see how she handles it. If she can do it no problem, it’s not too hot and the school are happy with it, go for it. The school can only say no after the event in which case you’ll need an alternative.

Would she eat something like pizza? Seen that quite a lot in packed lunches, generally home made and served cold. Also simple store bought cheese and tomato ones but with the right container could be warm (I’m not talking leftover dominoes before I get pounced on).
Does she like the sandwich components separately? That’s another route to go if soup doesn’t work. Or pasta or cous cous.

Funniest things I’ve seen - one child always had a prawn cocktail in his lunch on a Friday - that always made me chuckle, he loved it, would shout out “ yay it’s prawn day!”. Another child quite frequently had sushi (like the ready made stuff from the lunch section of supermarkets). I remember one child opening up their box and being so delighted that his mum had thrown in some smoked salmon. One lovely Indian mum used to pack her son some delicious looking lunches - meat that had been spiced, little homemade naans.....I used to be quite jealous of it myself! Goodness knows how long that would take her. Anyway....

Would she eat a precooked chicken leg? Keep in mind they won’t refrigerate her lunch but the right container could be fine. The meat route may be an option with some dry carbs. Does she like things like triangle cheese? Homemade potato salad? Little potatoes plain? Hmmmmm, here’s me hoping any future child of mine is fine with school dinners I would run out of ideas in a week

It isn't safe from a hygiene point of view.

If you put soup into a thermos at a temperature safe for a 4 year old to eat- that is also the temperature that microbes will thrive in.
You will have a little germ factory in a flask.
Hot food should be put into a thermos either chilled or piping hot to avoid bugs multiplying.

If it's preschool, they might let you send it in cold and they will heat it up. Dc1's nursery let us do that, as long as there was no meat in it.

@AfterSchoolWorry

School isn't like preschool. There won't be anyone to help her manage spills, opening, closing the flask.

Leaks in the bag, books destroyed.

I wouldn't.

School nursery there will be staff available to help kids with lunches, toileting etc.

Where I am children go to school nursery the September after their third birthday. School uniform, school hours, class taught by a teacher with TAs. It's play based and not compulary. And then the class progresses to reception class together having been used to a school environment and expectations.

I would just send sausages, pineapple, yogurt and a dry bread roll or wrap. Perfectly balanced if samey to have everyday. But if it gets eaten that’s all that matters.

When I did this school took it from dd and sent a letter home saying no hot food allowed.

I wouldn't send a 3yo in with a thermos of soup personally. Because unless she is capable of opening, eating and closing it alone, then she won't get help with it.

Just send her with the plain bread/roll/wrap, sausages, pineapple and yoghurt. What's wrong with that?

My niece used to take a flask fo soup and one of her friends did too. Love that she wanted ribs for lunch at school bless her!

Our primary doesn't allow it so I would check before buying a fancy flask! I don't even think it's allowed in our new secondary, they also don't allow crisps or chocolate

Can only imagine the smell when that flask is opened.

Honestly, I wouldn't do it. Too much potential for spills, and I presume that with schools trying to implement COVID guidelines, everyone is under a bit more pressure, and there will be less time and patience for wiping up spills.

I did this with school packed lunches from Y3 or Y4. Basically when I thought DDs could manage warm soup without spilling it on themselves or others. Nursery age is too young, IMO.

Soup in a thermos for kids packed lunch is such a MNetty concept that I have never actually seen in real life! It always used to come up on 'packed lunch ideas' threads.

Check the policy, the three different schools my dcs attend don't allow flasks.

Little sausages, sausage rolls, cold pizza, think buffet food and what she would eat.

My youngest wouldn't eat a sandwich at home but would at school 🙄 so she might surprise you

I think it's too messy for a 3 year old

Definitely check with the school first.
Some schools might not be allowing staff to touch children's packed lunches.

Tepid soup is a potential germ factory.