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's an AI / bot post, not a real human (the one with all of the food safety suggestions, not the one I've quoted).

When DS went on the school ski trip, I packed him some of those small cereal boxes that are designed that you put milk in and can use the box as a bowl, a few individual bottles of chocolate milk that didn't need to be stored in a fridge and a spoon for breakfast and for lunch I packed a normal lunch for him but froze some capri suns for his drink that could be used as a ice pack as well. Not the healthiest meals but for one day it worked.

Not sure how much he ate as I intended, he probably ate the cereal dry and drank the milk separately and bought food at the stops on the way (we also gave him money to get a meal on the ferry)

My DD2 is going on the ski trip next month, I will be doing the same for her.

And will probably send her with sweets for the teachers as a thank you. My DH is a teacher and for years he led school residental trips, if he was lucky he might have had a couple of hours of free time a day, but the rest of the time he was looking after other peoples children without extra pay during his holiday and came home exhausted due back at school either the next day or the day afterwards.

Just give them anything. There have been plenty of suggestions here. D of E type food like flapjacks. You do not need to mimic the exact breakfast and lunch they would get at home. It really really doesn’t matter that much. Something vaguely nutritious is enough.

😁😁😁

Pack double. Most kids have eaten their packed lunch within the first couple of hours There’ll have to be stops for toilet breaks and changing drivers so change to spend at the services is a good idea.

Oh God OP/ Youd better hope your child doesnt progress to Gold DoE - where they had to take with them food for 4 days wild in the lake district, plus extra for travel there and back from Sussex - breakfast, lunch, dinner, (of which only dinner was those 'trek' style freeze dried meals) PLUS snacks, PLUS water bottles, and when they were wild camping they had to get water from streams and sterilise it. And they had to dig a hole to poo in.

They did get to stop at McDonalds on the way home though

Thought I'd have a quick scroll of MN after work and the first two threads I find are ridiculous parents berating schools for circumstances where teachers are giving up their own time to support pupils and families. Who the hell would want to be a teacher?

OP keep your kid at home if you can't work out what to feed them safely on the bus.

Hello to any journalists- I can imagine this thread being used by one.

Dear lord, of course YABU. There's loads of food safe to eat within 24 hours with no chilling. It doesn't need to be anything like a balanced diet for one breakfast and lunch.

How is it any different to my husband doing his sandwiches for lunchtime the next day when we're preparing our evening meal? He just puts them in an insulated lunch bag with a freezer bag.
He does this every day without any risk assessment. He's still alive.
If you bought a sandwich in Boots or M and S at a service station when do you think it will have been made and packed?

OP. Go to your local supermarket. Take a look at the aisles and aisles of shelves containing food that is not kept in chillers or freezers. Do you think that all of that goes off in less than 17 hours?

I bet you keep eggs and jam in the fridge don’t you?

Honestly, cheese , bread ,butter, fruit, crisps, croissants,none of this stuff needs to be refrigerated.

You are really making a mountain out of a molehill here 😂 There are plenty of pre packed foods that you can buy in the supermarket which will be perfectly fine after 18 hours! Brioche, croissants, fruit, John West Tuna lunches, hard boiled eggs, crackers, bread rolls, babybels, pepperami, cakes, pasta, cous cous. I’m sure your child will survive. Can’t believe you honestly want the school to do a risk assessment creating more workload for staff who are already giving up their free time to take the children away. Get a grip 😂😂😂

Fruit, crisps , Haribos...am sure most teenagers would munch on that for 24hrs !!
Please tell me this is a jokey OP !
Risk assess for what exactly?🙄

Thanks for clearing that up - I was wondering how anyone could be that precious about what a teenager eats for one day!

This is such an odd post, but just in case you genuinely can't think of any food items that are perfectly fine stored at room temperature (which is by the way, anything you buy from the shelves in a supermarket and/or store in a cupboard at home!):

• sandwiches
• crisps or popcorn
• cereal bars
• croissant/pain au chocolat/other breakfast pastry
• fruit (fresh or dried)
• typical lunch box fillers like small chocolate bar/biscuits if you want to include a treat
• olives
• pasta pots (the ones that are ready made, you just open and eat)
• juice cartons/water in a bottle

This has given me a laugh

You're being really weird about this.

This is such a non-issue. I mean, don't send your DC off with a dozen raw oysters or anything, but sandwiches, crackers, fruit, crisps, biscuits, a croissant or bread roll, cheese, muffins etc are all perfectly fine.

DC does not like dried fruit or cereal bars

Don't give them dried fruit or cereal bars, then.

If your DC like tuna - John West do an "on the Go" range which is really handy for travelling, I take them on the ferry.

"Demanding" is really odd language here. They are asking you to do this.

MN rule No 89. Nobody asks, they always demand.

Demanding?

That one word tells us all exactly how you view schools and school staff.

You should try going on a residential trip with a load of teenagers...

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all - you're being absolutely ridiculous! 😆😆😆. I won't bother to repeat all the other suggestions that others have made for food that would be fine for this length of time.

Considering many people recommend keeping cheese out of the fridge and most spreads are kept in the cupboard, you should be able to think of something. As you are providing the food, what would be the point of the school doing a risk assessment. You could type one up for yourself.

Why doesn't the OP equip her child with some money and let them choose their own breakfast and lunch food from a shop?
(Happy memories of DDs expedition provisioning!)

How did we all survive before fridges? That’s why people are jam sandwiches! But there are some lovely suggestions here.