British kids and eating habits - IABU ?

[lovemycoffee2]

I have two young kids and we live in the UK but we are not originally from here.

At home we cook everyday from scratch our food and we take that food at a lunch box at our workplace. We have a light dinner again made from scratch.

The issue is our kids which are of course going to school/nursery and they love to copy their friends!

In the UK it's healthy if a kid eats sausages (god knows what the meat has inside), or for example Heinz baked beans which have 10% sugar and 20% salt (leaving 70% being actual beans) or if they eat fish fingers which are pre-fried (even if you bake them they were already fried before got frozen) or chicken nuggets (again pre-fried which god knows what was the oil quality).

It's also acceptable to drink juices which have no sugar but plenty sweeteners.

Also, it's perfectly fine to have a ham sandwich for lunch which has ready made processed bread full of emulsifiers and ham which (like sausage) god knows what ingredients has.

It's ok that primary schools offer desserts, even if they are small portions and low sugar on a daily basis - not on a weekly or as special occasion! I don't have a dessert everyday, why my kid is offered one?

Honestly, are all these things ok? Am I paranoid?

I am very worried that the kids will either end up obsessed. with diabetes or with other health issues given all the processed food and the fact that we are what we eat.

YABU - are you crazy?

YANBU - unfortunately this is a "balanced healthy diet" in the UK!

School lunches are ridiculous and sound rank like we’ve just come out of WW2, they haven’t changed in 30years (they were gross then) & are still serving hot dogs every couple of weeks round here.

We will be sending in reception age child with packed lunches 2/3 days of the week & only trying him on the healthier sounding options and I will probably let him eat chips with his friends on fishfinger day because I don’t want to be making him feel left out just to avoid one bad meal a week. However I did already complain to the school about the poor unhealthy quality food options for primary school kids before the settle sessions started. Nobody is brave enough & no government has enough money to change the status quo though.

I remember reading a story about a family visiting the UK from Slovenia. They weren't familiar with many of the food products but recognised the haricot beans on the label of a baked beans tin, so bought some. They tried them and were disgusted, spitting them out. They hadn't expected them to be sweet!

The British diet sets you up to be used to sweet, fatty and salty foods. Not good.

Last time I was in Spain, the kids all drank chocolate milk at dinner, the stuff was sold everywhere, as were chocolate patties stuffed with Nutella for breakfast. I don’t think continental diets are as pure as some people are making out. Although the classic Mediterranean diet is so good for you.

You know what, I’m into being balanced and try to be healthy and same for my children but your posts are just arrogant. Lots of people in the UK are healthy lots aren’t, same can be said about Malta.

I remember chocolate in various forms also being a substantial component of many French children's diet but maybe times have changed.

JollyPinkFox
Two slices of whole meal supermarket bread and yes supermarket ham (from the deli) is what we give one of our kids daily, along with an apple, a yoghurt, crackers, popcorn and cheddar cheese. Parents are trying their best. I don’t know what people expect you to put into a lunch box to keep kids going for 9 hours

OP - everyone's kids complain about their lunch boxes. They're all telling us how their friends have better food than they do!

This is literally parenting.

And show me a 4 year old who doesn't want to eat a pudding when they're out at a restaurant! You're allowed to say "no" to them.

Afraid you can't blame this on the entire country 😅

I have an autistic selective eater who is happy with his packed lunches. He's a bit of an outlier I'd say!

A ham sandwich isn’t particularly filling, why not some chicken or turkey, less processed and higher in protein

I never add sugar to my tomatoe sauces and they are always nice.

For everyone loaning about school lunches have you actually looked at the nutritional information of what is in them and the supply. I do think that post Jamie Oliver there is a difference in emphasis and stronger guidelines re what nutritional requirements have to be met. I’m quite happy with what we have- I remember the days of turkey twizlers and potato faces at school and that really was shite food.

From the FAQ of my school’s supplier.

“Two portions of fruit and vegetables must be served daily, alongside a dairy item, carbohydrate and protein. There is also an emphasis on wholegrains and oily fish, whilst less healthy items such as fried foods and processed products are restricted.”

80% of our ingredients are UK sourced. We are passionate about food quality and reducing air miles by buying what is in season from as close to home as possible. We use Golden Wholegrain flour, Marriages Millers have been milling since 1824 and still use Victorian stones for grinding. Our apples come from orchards in Kent. Our eggs are all free range.

I’m from overseas with the famous Greek Mediterranean diet and I find the constant bashing of the uk diet stupid, competitive and a looking down at the “poors”.
If you wanna feel superior about something do something important with your time and don’t pick on people that they can’t afford biodynamic organically grown tomatoes picked by faeries and have to open a can of tinned tomatoes or baked beans.
PS. It’s not that Malta is the epitome of good diet either. Have a seat.

When in Rome do as the Romans do. The UK diet is organised around a moderate climate with intermittent cold days. Sausages - look for the ones that tell you the % is c 80% - the rest will be bread.

Traditionally a dessert is offered after both main meals, lunch and dinner. You do not have to do that at home, but the school/nursery will offer it because it is expected.

100% 👌

All this xenophobia over beans is frankly demented

Sorry OP — that’s on you. It’s perfectly possible to teach four-year-olds manners.

Nice, but a real hassle. My DCs (long ago) said could they have packed lunches. I said yes, of course, as long as you pack them. They declined and had school lunches. I was not then and am not now into packing lunches for people when a perfectly good, English style lunch is available.

Yes. I’ve seen the ingredients list for a very well known school catering company and it is full of emulsifiers and stabilisers etc. I’ve also seen the school dinners at my school and wasn’t impressed. They look nothing like what they have as promotional material on their website. Don’t always believe the marketing!

I agree with you, OP. I was in shock when I found out what the children I looked after had for their cooked lunch at a private school. There is high level of acceptance of alcohol and junk food and bad eating habits in the UK. There is so much processed food available in the shops and people seem to be buying it loads.

@Parkermumma07

It is strange and rude to totally generalise about the country you choose to live in. Of course not ALL children in the UK eat badly.

It’s like me choosing to live in Malta & then coming onto a local forum and saying I’m disgusted at the driving because all Maltese people are terrible drivers. Just weird. And inaccurate. And, of course, rude

Not any British diet I have come across. But baked beans, sweetened, is not really a British thing, it's from the US. I get fed up with people complaining British food is rubbish when it is most certainly not, but varied, both in ingredients and also culturally. I have been to e.g. Poland and thought the food was awful. The only place I liked the food was in north India.

Our kids are young adults now but we never gave them processed foods, even around 20 years ago. It’s not a given.

We don’t eat crap and our children ate what we did. This is true of most people we know.

JollyPinkFox

Because Turkey and chicken are more expensive and they might have chicken for dinner. Sometimes they do have chicken but it’s too expensive to buy regularly unless it’s absolute crap!!

I remember a Polish woman on here sneering as you are about British children, how British parents are basically shit and how great parents are in Poland. It was quite sad how snobby she was.