Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be cross with my husband over this

106 replies

Inmy40 · 06/03/2023 20:42

Youngest dc has a club on a Monday night so goes off to school with a packed lunch to eat after school before club. Ham sandwich, carrot sticks, juice etc and 2 ice packs. DH just collected dc at 8 pm and they hadn’t eaten packed lunch after school so he insisted they eat it in the car at 8 pm. Admittedly dc was hungry. That ham sandwich has been in the sandwich bag for 12 hours. Ice packs no longer cold. Aibu to be cross that he made dc eat it or should he have waited until he got home and I would have made something fresh? Please tell me food poisoning is not on the cards for tonight as I have such a busy day in work tomorrow which would cause chaos if I have to miss .

OP posts:
ItsNotReallyChaos · 06/03/2023 22:23

There's so much salt plus stabilisers in ham that this just won't be an issue.

And I wouldn't want my DC to be under the impression that if they ignored their packed tea that I would just make a fresh meal when they got home.

Food waste absolutely should be a consideration. The British are generally woefully blasé about chucking food out. People can eye roll at this all they want but our attitude to just chucking food out is disgusting.

AppleKatie · 06/03/2023 22:24

The food was fine. probably still be fine at midnight/9am

I’m more interested in what you mean by ‘made him eat it’.

There’s a world of difference between encouraging a hungry child to eat the packed tea (which I would have done) and parking up and saying ‘I don’t care what it looks/smells/tastes like, you’ve wasted food so now you’re going to eat it or we’re not going home’….

Moveoverdarlin · 06/03/2023 22:26

It wasn’t in the sun! LOL Chance would be a fine thing. It’ll be fine, food poisoning wouldn’t cross my mind. And I wouldn’t have used ice packs.

JudgeJ · 06/03/2023 22:27

I sent my grandaughter home on the train, a 4 hour journey, with a lunch bag, she ate all the snacks and fruit but not the sandwiches so she took them to school the next day. She's still walking around!

Abouttimemum · 06/03/2023 22:30

I wouldn’t have ‘made him eat it’ but if he was hungry after club and wanted to eat his packed lunch it’s not going to do him any harm. It’s mean to make him eat it if he didn’t want it though.

Abouttimemum · 06/03/2023 22:31

Also the chances of getting food poisoning from pre packed ham is slim to zero.

RogueV · 06/03/2023 22:34

Mountain

Twattergy · 06/03/2023 22:36

Jeez no wonder there is so much food wasted in this country if people think a sandwich made on that day is hazardous!

Mischance · 06/03/2023 22:37

The phrase "he made him eat it" is a bit strange; but the safety of the food is a non-issue.

LookingOldTheseDays · 06/03/2023 22:42

This will shock you OP: ham existed long before fridges and ice packs did. In fact, turning meat into ham was used as a way of preserving it! Shocking, I know.

arethereanyleftatall · 06/03/2023 22:42

I couldn't be arsed to live like this. Yabu. Unclench.

SadOrWickedFairy · 06/03/2023 22:51

ItsNotReallyChaos · 06/03/2023 22:23

There's so much salt plus stabilisers in ham that this just won't be an issue.

And I wouldn't want my DC to be under the impression that if they ignored their packed tea that I would just make a fresh meal when they got home.

Food waste absolutely should be a consideration. The British are generally woefully blasé about chucking food out. People can eye roll at this all they want but our attitude to just chucking food out is disgusting.

This a million times over.

We've got people on MN moaning about lack of food in shops, people struggling to buy food as the cost of food increases and then people chucking out food that goes one hour past the BBE date or whittling on about a ham sandwich and food poisoning - totally barmy.

The amount of food waste in the UK is criminal, people need to wise up and use some bloody common sense. Highly processed food filled with preservatives is not going to go off and cause food poisoning four hours after it was supposed to be eaten.

DahliaMacNamara · 06/03/2023 22:55

Packed lunches in my house are made the night before. DH hates the thought of a cold sandwich, the delicate flower, so it goes straight into the bag, minus ice blocks of course, and stays in the kitchen overnight. Not the car, in March, because it's chilly out there. Tomorrow's ham will have been out of the fridge a good 16 hours before consumption, without anything to prevent it reaching room temperature.
It's fine.

Mentallydrainedmum · 06/03/2023 23:03

OP are you taking the piss? Food poisoning from a ham sandwich?

MarcusLove · 06/03/2023 23:07

I'm so paranoid about food poisoning and often waste food as a result. But even I wouldn't bat an eyelid at that really. Don't worry he will be fine!

pog100 · 06/03/2023 23:11

mynameiscalypso · 06/03/2023 21:13

But he's only eaten it 3 or so hours after you were expecting him to eat it hasn't he? It doesn't seem like a big deal.

Seems very relevant to me

OldFan · 06/03/2023 23:12

I'm sure it'll be ok OP.

celerysticks · 06/03/2023 23:13

Inmy40 · 06/03/2023 20:58

Thank you. Some different views. Dc didn’t eat it as wasn’t hungry before club. Dc friends mum take them both after school then we take home due to work commitments. It’s a 20 minute journey home. I think making him eat it was to do with food waste but 12 hours, I don’t think it entered his mind about food poisoning. I’m hopeful some of you think it will be ok and would have done the same. Bag wasn’t in the sun or direct heat and was an insulated bag with 2 ice packs originally.

It was a ham sandwich not a raw chicken breast!
Ham is a cured meat, it'll be absolutely fine.
I'd happily eat it without a 2nd thought.

As long as your DC was happy to eat and wasn't forced, I think you're making a fuss over nothing.

IneedanewTV · 06/03/2023 23:19

You make a sandwich for your child to eat at say 3:30 but he isn’t hungry so eats it at 5:30 - 2 hrs later than originally planned. I really can’t see the problem. I don’t have ice packs on my sandwiches and I often eat them 10 hrs later and never Ill .

ohnoh · 06/03/2023 23:23

My DS has done this of his own accord and never had food poisoning

Btjdkfnn · 06/03/2023 23:24

I think it will be fine OP

Thatsnotmyname2047 · 06/03/2023 23:26

I think divorce is the only option here

TinySaltLick · 06/03/2023 23:30

In the space of 120 minutes it went from edible to a fetid food poisoner?

I'm struggling to believe this is a real post

fluffi · 06/03/2023 23:32

Sandwiches like this are fine after 12 hours, ice packs and cool bags are not necessary either unless the classroom is heated to 40C!

I had room temp packed lunches and teas for years and never had any problems.

WinterMusings · 06/03/2023 23:39

i really think he'll be fine! Ham is so processed & salted, it'll probably be fine until Boxing day! I'm vegetarian, but if I wasn't I'd eat that.

but like many others, I'd like some clarification of 'made him eat it' & him going off about food waste.

It matters not a bit whether DS ate it or it went in the bin, it no more/kess waste either way. In fact if DH was hungry he should have ate it, that would have reduced the waste!