About the bloody packed lunches?

[Illbefinejustbloodyfine]

I have 2 DC at primary school. One has packed lunch every day, the other 3 times a week. Every day, they eat about 3 bits of sandwich and leave the rest. Or dc2 will leave the crackers

Today he asked for chicken pieces and bread and butter. He also had some cucumber, some Greek yogurt, and a slice of Swiss roll. He left most of the bread. Yesterday left most of the sandwich. Weds left the crackers.

They go straight for a snack when they get home and it drives me nuts to find uneaten sandwickes/crackers/whatever in the lunchbox.

Several times I've said to eat the sandwich first. Yesterday I made a big point of it . Today, dc2 has snuck the uneaten bread into the bin.

Aibu to just give a sandwich and piece of fruit next week? Funnily enough it's never the "treat" that's uneaten.

For context, it's a 1 slice folded in half sandwich. They sometimes have wraps or bagels but do the same with those too.

I'm so fed up of throwing food away.

The rule in my house is if you're hungry when you get back from school then you eat whatever you didn't from your packed lunch (because there is ALWAYS something). They get a variety of things in there to cover all bases. If they genuinely are hungry then that will suffice. And if they're not then that's when you get to teach them about food waste, the joys 😂

It’s the middle of a busy school day. They need something filling and substantial.

Can you imagine if school dinners was a salad and a yoghurt?! There is a reason it’s pasta, jacket potato, curry and rice etc. with a biscuit or cake after!

How are you going to make these kids eat their sandwiches?

😂 the reason it's cheap carbs....is because it's cheap.

Nothing wrong with just putting in a sandwich and piece of fruit, it's plenty as they'll be having their dinner at home soon after anyway.

On a side note I only put a minimal amount in my DC's lunchboxes when they'd come home with foods still in them. They said they didn’t eat it all because they'd rather be out playing than sitting in the dinning hall, so I'd put in things that were protein packed and quick to eat...Chicken chunks, chopped ham, squares of cheese and fruit/yogurt, much preferred and none left over.

Have you seen how little amounts of food children actually eat at school and how much ends up in the bin?
Packed lunch or hot dinner - HUGE amounts are simply not eaten.

I didn’t say they should eat the sandwiches.
Plenty of sensible alternatives available.

If they are having a decent breakfast and a snack after school it may well be they aren’t particularly hungry at lunch especially if it’s really early time and prefer to play.
Just send sandwich and see how goes.

I totally understand but for a little kid in a noisy dinner hall there's so many distractions. It's very easy to accidentally not eat.

We had a rule that was the treat only goes in the lunch box if yesterday's sandwich all got eaten before we got home from school. It was the food waste I hated so I didn't mind if it got finished on the way home.

It got to the point that DC got the impression that eating all the lunch was a key achievement within a school day!

Snacks? Treats? Stop spoiling them! That is occasional food, like once a week.

I make packed lunches daily, meat/cheese salad sandwiches or cold leftovers like lasagna, one or two pieces of fruit and portable vegetables like cherry tomatoes or cucumbers.

Ok.. it’s not because they’re all on their mum’s “salad and a yogurt” diet though is it? It’s because they shove a few forkfuls of pasta in then want to go out to play. Which is much better for them than eating a few slices of cucumber and then running off to play.
Time is likely the OP’s problem too when it comes to food waste.

I’m the same. I really wouldn’t eat a sandwich in a packed lunch myself. My kids like things like pasta pesto instead, and I tend to take leftovers from the night before. We all have little metal pots to keep it hot/ fresh.

Lots of people don’t like a sandwich either at all or after it’s sat for hours.

I would personally leave out the sandwich if they never eat it!

My daughter has been homeschooled this year and it is eye opening how much she has grown just because she has time to eat properly. She has almost doubled in size, and she’s in a good BMI now, she was underweight previously.

I would cook chicken drumsticks fro my dc and then added in melon sliced and a rice cracker - one from a large packet, as they didn't do the packets back then.

That was what she liked and didn't want bread or wraps as part of her pack lunch.

can you work with the 7/8 year old to get their input and together come up with a plan

tbh cooking off 20 chicken drumsticks on a Sunday night and cutting 2 melons into 10 pieces and then bagging, same with rice cracker was really easy and every day they just pulled the bags out of the fridge and placed in their lunch bag.

They both eat a decent breakfast with out quibble and a good evening meal - so I felt fruit, protein and a rice cracker was ok compromise for school.

I think sometimes a yoghurt was also added

thats really interesting - how old is your dc?

We've just had a chat about food. Dc2 wants a dairylea dunker every day. He will DEFINITELY eat that, he said 🙄

I don't understand your point.
My point was whether it's the school provided hot lunch, a home provided massive sandwich, a home provided tub of pasta or just some "cucumber and yoghurt" - so much of it is simply not eaten.

OP if you give them the stuff you want them to eat and tell them you'll leave the treat out but take it to school for them at 3pm

90% of the time my DC eat all of their packed lunch. I'm surprised to hear so many don't!

(They get a wrap with protein, Greek yog with fruit in, usually homemade sweet treat, some veg and a piece of fruit)

Yeah but what I’m saying is that what is eaten from school dinners is more substantial than what other posters are recommending to replace the sandwich with.

Really there’s not much we can do about waste other than give them more time to eat, so at best we can ensure that the food provided is filling.

I think a sandwich and a piece of fruit is completely fine. Mine used to get that and a very small yoghurt (Petit Filou or those small squashy ones). That was enough for her and she was able to eat it reasonably fast. I think it's also fine to tell them that they need to eat whatever they've left before they get any other snack. I always did that too.

They can have the treat at home/in the park once they have finished their lunch.

Ugh it's pretty obvious...don't give them treats if they don't eat the main lunch. The snack after school is whatever lunch they haven't eaten.

My 3.5 yr olds only have their left over lunch as snacks until I put tea on the table. Means the food isn't wasted and I don't have to put any effort into sorting snacks.

Dc2 is now adamant that he "doesn't like" sandwiches. He does, he'd just prefer Swiss roll. I can't decide whether he just needs to suck it up and eat the bloody sandwich/wrap/bagel. Or whether i need to get more creative. He's not having a sodding dairylea dunker 5 days a week!

Haha yeah you'd think so. I thought I might be being harsh.