is breakfast cereal an adequate school lunch?

[Oneborneverydecade]

DD is in year 3. She's a fussy eater and it seemed like a good idea. School have said it's not adequate. I appreciate breakfast cereal is often quite high in sugar but the only sandwich fillings she will eat are sweet.
There's no SEN and yes I accept full responsibility for having a fussy child. It would be great if she wasn't, and actually she's getting better but mostly at teatime, but I needed a solution for right now

I’d send your dd with a jam sandwich for now. Eventually she will hopefully eat more variety. My dd was very fussy. We started having lots of “picnics” at home to encourage variety. This sounded like fun iyswim. She’d get a few things and I could add to them. She would eat things like mini sausages, some crisps (this was her carb - no bread), a bit of cheese maybe, a yoghurt, fruit. As she got older, she’d eat crackers with cheese, veg sticks etc. If you can establish this at home then suggest sending her with a picnic to school maybe?

Have you tried fridge raiders or the crackers with ham and cheese pots or the dippy breadstick / cheese pots etc. Very expensive, I know.

I'd do her a jam or chocolate spread sandwich, an apple, and a little pot of dry cereal then try and build on that by introducing one new food at a time. Always make sure there is at least one safe/acceptable food in her packed lunch so there is never nothing that she'll eat.

We use a food flask (thermos and chilly are both good brands for us) which keep food hot through the day - today was potato skins heated this morning before we left and they said they were still hot at lunch. They quite often have beans and mash in it, pasta, rice etc.

Sorry I'm trying (and failing) to keep up. Before lockdown she had a chocolate spread wrap or roll but we were conscious everything was sweet. We switched to a buttered roll which often got left.
Lunch during lockdown was usually a quesadilla - but she won't eat it cold.
Thank you for the many helpful suggestions, I think we'll switch back to chocolate spread but try and bulk her lunchbox out with healthier options

I'll tell you what - cereal is better than the "healthy school meals" my dc get!

@ekidmxcl

I'll tell you what - cereal is better than the "healthy school meals" my dc get!

Totally agree.

she has granola with skimmed milk for breakfast, and then gets given crap with sweet puddings for her school lunch. I know which I consider to be healthier.

The fucking hypocrisy of lunch box policing in the same dining room as they are serving burger and chips with a egg cup full of bean and then sweet sponge and custard really boils my piss.

@JalapenoDave

Probably not...but I'm not a mum so never experienced a fussy child! Could you not swap it to a cereal bar and a piece of fruit instead of a bowl of cereal?

Cereal bars and fruit are fully of sugar.

OP I would make her some tiny ham sandwiches, maybe get some cute shaped cutters, some carrot batons, a tiny yoghurt, something like that. If she doesn’t eat it, that’s her choice. Sugary cereal for lunch is not adequate or healthy at all. Don’t pander to her or make a fuss. The more you do this, the longer it will carry on.

I once put a small piece of homemade banana bread in DC lunchbox, and by small I mean around the side of a matchbox. I got a snarky handwritten note sent home saying they "allowed" DC to eat it "as a one off" but cakes and biscuits are not allowed. I looked up the school lunch for that day, dessert was chocolate brownie with chocolate custard.

I agree two meals a day being cereal is not great. It only gives you one meal a day to get in her protein/vitamins etc.

Get one of the wide necked Thermos flasks. They keep food really hot, so she can take pasta/curry/whatever.

I don't see why the school can dictate what you feed your child.
What happens if you send in something they disapprove of will they make the child starve?
Jam sandwiches and an apple? My eldest took jam sandwiches for years.

I understand where the school are coming from it’s certainly not an ‘ideal’ lunch but cereal is certainly more ‘suitable’ than nothing.

I would speak to the school and explain that your DD has some food anxiety and won’t eat a more ‘suitable’ lunch should you send it.

I do empathise with the school too though as if one child has something others want it too. Exceptions being made for fussy eaters isn’t really fair to others (I was a REALLY fussy kid/teen so I’ve been in this situation) it’s obviously different if their are AN or other reasons but I’m not sure ‘she’s fussy’ will cut it with the school. It’s a bit of a catch 22 really.

Is there any other options she would eat?
Crackers
Hummus
Salad
Wraps
Chicken
Pasta with pesto or cream cheese
Cous cous
Rice
Homemade flapjacks (you can add fruit and make them bigger/cheaper than cereal bars)
Nuts (brilliant if allowed as high in fat and calories)
Bread sticks

My DC had jam sandwiches everyday for years. I stopped caring if teachers judged after a while as it wasn't worth the drama of sending in something he didn't want.

Send jam sandwiches and start getting that reduced sugar jam. Best you can do. And put an apple in too. Would she eat cheese sticks or yogurt?

When the school said it wasn’t adequate, did they elaborate it anyway on that?

I would ask what they suggest and what they are going to ensure she eats. I’d probably just keep sending her with food she eats as they won’t let her starve.

I really hate lunchbox policing!

If she eats cheese toasties then why not give them to her for breakfast? And let her have cereal for lunch. As then at least she is getting protein and calcium for breakfast. She might let you add tomatoes or ham or onion to them sometimes too.

What cold food options would she eat?

What about a chocolate spread & banana sandwich then over time you can gradually reduce the chocolate spread?
What about froobs yoghurts in a squeeze tube, my kids loved those?
Will she eat eggs? They’re a bit stinky but would add some protein to it?

It's fab that she eats apples and satsumas :D Would she eat berries and other fruit? What about a fruit salad type thing with some plain greek yogurt and some cereal to add to it? That would be a fab lunch :) OR a home made Bircher muesli (just skip the nuts).

My DD is also (bloody) fussy - she won't eat fruit (unless it's hidden in stuff). We're working on her eating more veg (and she's a lot better now than before): if I've hidden it in things, no probs.

I've bought her a really good good flask and I give her leftovers (curries, baked beans, home made soup, pasta etc) that I've heated to nuclear temperatures before we leave for school in the morning. That works well. For sandwiches, I do marmite, hard boiled egg or honey (she won't eat cheese, jam, tuna or ham).

I’d agree with you you’re better to revert to the chocolate wrap and the fruit she will eat . With my fussy eater I tend to Be grateful that he’s eaten something Rather than nothing .

You have 2 more meals each day to try and get some more good stuff into her .

What sort of sweet sandwich fillers does she like? I think I'd give her jam or marmalade sandwiches rather than cereal, the teachers surely don't look at the fillings. If she eats fruit you could add that too.

What else is in there OP? My y1 dd has Marmite sandwiches, choc chip brioche, babybel, yoghurt, pot of grapes and cucumber and 2 cornflake crispies. Sometimes cous cous or pasta salad instead of sandwiches and pot of fruit instead of yoghurt.

Agree that cereal like honey Cheerios isn’t the healthiest

Send a jam sarnie, fruit, chopped cheese ham

Or honey .

Bircher muesli with yogurt, apple and oats?

Tea is the usual; curry, cottage pie, fish pie, sausages, tacos, chilli, crispy chicken, roast chicken... She has issues with eating food cold that was hot
Send in hot food in a food flask.

Cereal for lunch is not a great habit to start a child on, I think.

LabiaMinora Maybe her favourite cereal could be the reward the following day or at the end of the week, if she eats her healthy lunch.

Food should be neither reward nor punishment...