School demanding packed meals for 18 hr bus trip

[Snoopmummy]

DC is off on a school trip involving an 18 hour coach journey. School is demanding we drop children off in the evening having fed them (fine), equipped with nut free snacks (makes sense). We have also been asked to provide TWO meals: a packed breakfast and a packed lunch.

That means breakfast will be consumed 13 hours after they set off and lunch will be something like 17 hours later. Is there any food that can safely last for that length of time in an insulated bag or flask? DC does not like dried fruit or cereal bars.

AIBU to consider asking for the risk assessment over this and suggesting we equip them with money to get food on the way as they will need to stop anyway?!

That bit at the top that says it's OK is within the EU. From outside the EU into the EU if you scroll down is an absolute no no, though in practice the chances of them checking a coachful of kids' lunchboxes are negligible to nil.

Just to add - as others have pointed out and now I’ve thought about it - a whole bus load of kids are unlikely to have their sarnies confiscated 😂😂😂😂. It happened to a van driver in front of us at the ferry …. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

or a ring pull tin of baked beans - or rice pudding and a spoon !

I've heard it all. Don't worry about the risk assessment of eating out of a sharp edged CAN on a moving vehicle .

Nothing a " sandwich " doesn't fix though.

People going on holiday with a caravan / camper van sometimes get a full check, but that's because they're checking for commercial smuggling. If they find something illegal while they're looking then they'll confiscate it, however trivial.

Exactly. It's highly unlikely that they will check but they might. When I ran a trip last year, I told the kids and the parents about this. If they wanted to bring cheese sarnies, they had to eat them before Dover. And no, I didn't do a check before we got to Dover, I was too busy sorting out passports!

I'm amused that the OP got herself tied up in knots about the health and safety implications of a sweaty cheese sandwich but seemed okay (by her own definition) with a single driver completing an 18hr trip as long as he had 60mins off a service station...

After they open your lunch box and confiscate the sandwich, do they shoot you or just take you for questioning?

No wonder there's queues.

Scroll down on the link already posted.

Scroll down on the link already posted.

water boarding?

Rack.

I am taking 40 kids skiing to Europe at half term. I will be taking myself many things that the OP would be horrified by. We will also be stopping at service stations and they can buy their own. We are not telling the kids anything other than to eat before they get on bus as it is an early morning departure.
We chose the bus option as it was cheaper but we have had a mare organising it and it would have been easier to pay more and gone to USA. Thankfully our parents seem well balanced and haven't questioned any of our rules etc...

Hikers take their own risk, but if a child had food poisoning from the instructions of the school who are supposed to abide by strict health and safety rules to protect children, I'm sure there could be a lawsuit.

What kind of a school trip would involve an 18 hour coach trip anyway?

The school has simply asked for packed lunches/meals. The parents are the ones who take responsibility for what they feed their children.

There is no health and safety issue on the school's side. As many many posts on this thread have demonstrated, there are any number of combinations of foods that will present no risk at all.

France, Germany, ski trips, music trips, battlefields, I’ve done 30 hours to Poland in the past
I presume you have zero experience of these trips ?

Anyway, think I might apply to border force, baby bel confiscation sub division, there’s clearly lots of work 👍🏻

Oh FFS!

The instructions of the school? You give your child what YOU want to give them, give them stuff that won't cause an issue? Stop being so litigious and keep your child home.

😂

And they wonder why teachers are refusing to do trips ???? Jesus fucking Christ

😅

‘bartered for goods/services one they arrive at the destination.’

Are they travelling to a bunker for the end of the world?

As if the poor mum hasn’t got enough to worry about what with the cheese police and impending malnutrition.

Seriously, I somehow survived many school trips with two pieces of hovis and marg - a hard boiled egg, wrapped in the hovis wrapper, plus a banana.

Many coach trips to Europe that don't start in the south east of England!

My worst one was 28h one way, as we hit problem traffic en route from Scotland to south coast of France. I really can't remember what we did about food, but I am fairly sure it was kids bringing stuff as we stopped at aires rather than anywhere with much in the way of services.

Glad to see the OP already realised complaining or hassling teachers for their packed lunch risk assessment was one of the most glaringly unreasonable suggestions I've seen on here.

Babybel inspectors 😂

What kind of a school trip would involve an 18 hour coach trip anyway?

Dear me.

I’ve worked in a school. If you had any idea of the pages and pages of risk assessments they have to go through, let alone the time involved in creating them, you would understand that there is no need to do one for parents who don’t have the imagination to think up a suitable packed meal for their child. Be grateful that your school are
providing school trips because believe me, they are unbelievably stressful for the staff.

Hikers take their own risk, but if a child had food poisoning from the instructions of the school who are supposed to abide by strict health and safety rules to protect children, I'm sure there could be a lawsuit.

You're taking the piss now. We're talking tubes of Pringles not seafood on ice.