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.

The idea of someone "supervising" my child's packed lunch or pack up would fill me with rage.
It all sounds perfectly fine to me though my child would not have eaten it.
There is absolutely no point in any parent sending food that will not be eaten.

Normal here. I’d be judgemental if a 5yr old rocked up with a £1 bag of Tesco doughnuts for their school lunch (true story)

And it’s a ‘packed’ lunch, not ‘pack’ lunch 🥪

As opposed to what? The processed, reconstituted Billy Bear ham we grew up with?

I think its absurd for you to bash parents feeding a healthy diet because you think the parents have ideas above their station.

I would quite frankly love it if my children ate those in their lunch box.

You clearly haven’t seen some of the bonkers bento boxes on tik tok or instagram.

Sounds delicious Judgy McJudgerson

Parents can't win, can they? Put the tiniest biscuit known to man in a child's packed lunch and receive a note home yet salmon in a bagel is too 'extravagant'.

I think it's no-one else's business except the child and their family.

Also it isn't 'absurd'; it's commendable.

What is exactly is the issue if the parent has the resources (time, money) to make a decent packed lunch, and the child is happy to eat it.

Mine will only eat the cheapest packet ham on the cheapest white bread with a side order of wotsits. I'd cry with joy if they'd eat a steak and onion focaccia and guacamole.

YABU for calling a packed lunch "a pack lunch".

I saw something a while ago about how somewhere in South East Asia there was a joke trend to make a "Western lunch" because they think it's tragic how awful our packed lunches are.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a child having a decent meal for lunch instead of a sad ham sandwich.

Unfortunately, my child will only eat sad ham sandwiches so I am stuck giving her those.

Sorry OP I think YABVU and you’re going to get your arse handed to you on here. Sounds like you’re being an inverse snob, are you maybe jealous that these kids eat things that yours never would have? Or at the money these lunches must cost?

They sound like perfectly reasonable lunches. What on earth do you put in your dc’s lunchboxes if you think these lunches are absurd?

whats wrong with it? If the child eats it and is happy with their lunch thats a good thing. Mine aren’t quite that “extreme” but they take dips and yoghurt and they’ll take soups and pastas as well as pittas and wraps and they’ve even had foccaccia on occasion. They also like salmon and would eat it wirh cream cheese on a bagel in the house but i wouldn’t give for lunch due to potential smell. They’ll take quiche and savoury muffins or little pasty type things as well. They also like salad. I much prefer how they eat to how some kids they know eat e.g jam sandwich, a biscuit and a can of juice every day. Is that better in your opinion?

my kids arr good eaters thankfully and have good appetites and so we change the lunch up daily. If the child you mention eats like that normally why would their packed lunch be different?

It sounds lovely. If the child eats that at home, why would they want tuna mayo or cheese and pickle in their school lunch bag.

Those sound like very normal, nice meals. Good for them.

It's far bigger and more imaginative than I would have produced, but it does sound nice and it's pretty healthy too I guess.

If the child likes it and will eat it then no problem.

Perhaps it's just like that because it's the beginning of term and a new school year. It might settle down to a cheese sarnie and a packet of crisps soon, with juice or squash and an apple/grapes if lucky. That's when the parents have done a few dozen packed lunches and are becoming fed up with the job.

Sounds delicious 😋. Perfectly fine. Obviously child is used to food like that. I'm jealous

I send my child in with smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels. It never occurred to be that someone would be judging me negatively for this. How very odd you are OP.

It was a preschool lunch club so they were too young for FSM.

They sound normal packed lunches to me. My DD had a friend at school and was always in awe of the bento boxes her little friend came in with, I could never understand what she was talking about until I went on a school trip. Her friends lunches were a work of art with little animals made out of rice and things, they were a thing of beauty. They put DD’s sandwiches to shame 🤣

I buy the Sainsbury's basics smoked salmon...it's about £2.50 a packet...no more expensive than a pack of ham

What an odd thing to worry about. Am guessing there are children on the exact opposite end of the spectrum who might need more of your worry.

Those lunches sound fab and I wish someone would pack them for me.

I've seen a lot of threads recently where an OP throws in an outrageous post and never comes back.

I don’t see why this matters to you?

YABU for calling it a pack lunch. Its a PACKED lunch because it is packed! It has not arrived on a pack horse 😆

If my child ate all that I would definitely pack it! And I wouldn’t ever change it so my child is used to eating a varied and healthy lunch. Kids lose interest and turn to bland foods so quickly, I’d encourage them as long as I possibly could. There’s nothing more depressing than a child who wants to subsist on brown foods and chips.