Extravagant Pack Lunches

[Diadrie]

I am a TA in a primary school in the middle of a town, real mixed background from families who are mortgage free making well into 6 figures and families living in council homes, earning minimum wage.

As part of my job I supervise the infants half at lunchtime and I have seen the more absurd pack lunches recently from one child. It’s a bento box format, very normal fruit and veg, then greek yogurt and compote, a dip (guacamole/tzatziki/hummus). The main is really star of the show though with: salmon and cream cheese bagel, steak and onion focaccia sandwich, quiche Lorraine etc.

I’m now sat thinking what a totally over the top pack lunches recently for a 5 year old, admittedly the child does finish it, but salmon and steak in children’s pack lunches??

AIBU thinking this is totally over the top, extravagant and slightly absurd.

Maybe the family had a fancy buffet yesterday and the pack up was leftovers? Waste not…..want not!

Here’s one for you OP. Many years ago, I saw a poor soul reluctantly take out 3 fromaj frais ( all out of date by weeks) That’s all that was in the lunch box.

Sounds great! Packed lunches don’t all need to be ultra processed squished ham sandwiches (although of course if that’s what a parent can provide that’s great too). Also how do you know if someone is mortgage free? Do they tell you?

How strange you are @Diadrie

As a TA have you not seen much of the world?

Do you eat mostly processed food?

Quiche loraine perfectly normal as leftover form previous day.
Slamon bagel, so easy, with cream cheese bagel and smoked salmon or salmon from tin yum

STeak will be a left over too, is it dried onions? These are pretty ordinary foods.

What's the problem?

Your post is absurd.

@Diadrie I don’t think you meant it this way but I found your post a little judgmental. I think some parents are lucky and their kids eat anything (like my youngest) and others don’t like my eldest and middle child. So the result is that all my kids packed lunches look very very different. It’s hard to get the kids to eat anything remotely healthy in some cases so when you find something they like you just go with it. My eldest is the pickiest of kids really hard and recently (last 4 weeks) he discovered he likes steak. So he’s eating steak at the moment (not every day) even though it’s not the cheapest it’s what he eats (other than processed rubbish) so I’m making the most of it. Could be the case here.

I remember taking cold toast and paté to spread on for a while when i was about ten. It started a brief trend.

I give my son smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels and we’re not posh by any means! It’s his absolute fave and he requested it for his first day back at school. He’s 7 so I just wanted him to have something that he loves and I know he’d eat it.

Why is a bloody salmon bagel over the top? It’s hardly caviar. Sounds very normal to me…

That sounds fine to me. My dc took smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels quite regularly.

This is mumsnet, OP! 😂 What replies were you expecting?

There’s of course nothing wrong with smoked salmon sandwiches, but FWIW I agree with you that all else being equal, it would be a pretty OTT lunch in my neck of the woods.

Nowt at all wrong with a cheese/ham/egg/tuna butty, piece of fruit, packet of crisps (or carrot if you must) and a penguin biscuit.

People have the money though, so, they will spend it how they will. No harm done.

I used to have quiche in my packed lunch 30 years ago. My son's favourite food is smoked salmon. There isn't really that much price difference between the non smart price ham and smoked salmon now.
All sounds yummy. I want to go to their house!

Well it's a sandwich. If the child likes steak and salmon and the parents can afford it why on earth not?

Should they just stick to dairy lea or processed ham in the shape of a teddy bear?

It's probably leftovers from the night before
anyway.

To me extravagant would be several different home made cakes or snacks, several fruit and veg all cut up prettily, a home made squeezed juice, with a really really overpriced ingredient like caviar or lobster. Or a load of ready made stuff from Harrods or Fortnums food hall!

Is their lunch making the other children jealous?

Where I live it's a Snap tin. The miners had metal tins with a locking device that snapped it shut to keep it safe from rats in the pit.

All food can be called Snap. There's a sandwich shop near me that has a neon sign advertising 'reyt good snap'. The mines closed in the 90s but the language lives on.

ResusciAnnie · Today 16:48
How do you know if people are mortgage free? 😵‍💫
...
I wondered that too, this TA has a lot of time on her hands nosing into the business of parents as well as noting what individual children have in their lunch boxes. If a child appeared to have next to nothing to eat, fair enough, anyone would notice that, otherwise who cares as long as they tuck in.

It's hardly a professional attitude.

This post is completely inappropriate and pretty outing. You seem to be in the wrong job

My child takes olives, breadsticks, salmon etc to school it’s all she will eat 😂

The salt! The fat! The wheat! How can you subject your children to such awfulness?

You sound quite envious @Diadrie and not very nice. Posting on the internet about a five year old's lunch! The things you list as "extravagant and slightly absurd" are just normal food: salmon & cream cheese bagel - standard Jewish food, for example; quiche also absolutely normal lunch food.

I think you’re the absurd one. Maybe send an email to the parents telling them to pack turkey twizzlers instead. Should we assume by this that your own diet is unhealthy?

So what are kids supposed to eat then?

Here’s what I usually pack in my child’s lunchbox: plain yogurt, fresh fruit, a cheese string, homemade bread with a topping (sometimes salmon and cream cheese), and some vegetable sticks. She almost never leaves anything behind.

She eats well because that’s just how our whole family eats, and she’s not really familiar with junk food. The other day she told me her classmates bring “chocolate yogurt with chocolate chips” ; but what she meant was the chocolate pudding they markendise as yogurt to make it seem healthy, when in reality it’s just processed junk.

As a TA, you should be happy that families are feeding their kids well, not being judgmental about it.

And how the heck would OP know if parents are mortgage free, especially with having such young children.

I was wondering that. Perhaps it is one of the entry criteria for the school that parents must have no mortgages. 🤣

You've just said there are many parents who are very rich... Why wouldn't they eat yummy, healthy food?!

Pot Noodle and a can of Monster...

Are the children's parent's into adopting an adult? Asking for a friend.