Nursery packed lunches - allergens list feels overwhelming!

[Querious]

Hi all, NC’d for this one! Never thought I’d be this kind of person to question an allergy policy in schools as I have lots of friends and family both currently and in childhood with dietary requirements like coeliac/ severe nut allergies/ vegan etc which I’ve always tried my best to accommodate when hosting them at mine or going out places to eat. However, my DC’s nursery have created such an exhaustive list of banned food in packed lunches that I’m really struggling to put together something healthy ish that a 3 year old will eat! Not allowed:

• egg (incl mayo and as an ingredient)
• nuts (incl coconut)
• seeds
• fish
• Chocolate
• sweets

I try to cook/ bake most things we consume and keep mainly low UPF but I’m not a zealot about it. Because of this however, the teachers are routinely removing things from my child’s lunchbox for fear of causing a reaction. In the short return after Christmas this has included greek yoghurt with strawberries blended into it (questioned the seeds so replaced with a packaged yoghurt), a sandwich made with wholemeal bread (seeds), a sandwich made from white focaccia (had some black flecks in - pepper, but they couldn’t be sure), hummus (homemade with no nuts but they couldn’t be sure!!), beetroot brownies (too much chocolate), sausage rolls (queried egg glaze, it was actually milk) and a piece of cake (as cakes are made with egg).

Genuinely tearing my hair out to figure out what I can put in a lunchbox that ticks all the nursery’s boxes plus my own lower UPF plus my DC’s picky habits - plus isn’t the same thing every day! For ex DC won’t reliably eat white bread, probably because we don’t buy it, prefers the hardest crustiest uncut bread you can buy 😂 I can’t afford school lunches and the menus aren’t great from a UPF perspective. Help! AIBU to think this is really difficult?

Id making a formal complaint about them stealing my child's food.

I thought schools were dropping all this nonsense and learning that you cannot create allergen free zones, that is not the formal advice of how to manage allergies.

Or change schools.

Would you have banned milk and wheat if children were allergic to them?

• egg (incl mayo and as an ingredient)
• nuts (incl coconut)
• seeds
• fish
• Chocolate
• sweets

It's unfortunate but not really that restrictive. Still allows for any meat; dairy (except chocolate), bread (just not seeded), crisps, any fruit or veg, dips e.g, hummus; rice or other grains) When you think about it, most schools are restrictive about sweets and chocolate for health reasons anyway. Nuts is usually a no-go. Which leaves seeds, eggs and fish - ok so that's a bit but not that hard to avoid to keep a child safe.

Wraps or sandwiches with ham / chicken / beef / bacon / cheese / cucumber / sweetcorn.

Cucumber, carrot and pepper sticks (will they allow hummus to dip?).

mini chedders, ritz crackers (can sandwich cheese slices inbetween to make a stack), breadsticks, rosemary crackers etc.

warm in a mini thermos:

soups

noodles or rice with cheese, sweetcorn, peas and chicken through them

pasta with sauce, meat, cheese. Things like meatballs or creamy chicken.

sweet things:
any kind of biscuit that doesn’t have chocolate on it

chopped up fresh fruit, all different kinds

dried mango, pineapple, raisins, apricot

jam or honey sandwich

I don’t think their list is particularly unusual for a school aside from no egg, even as an ingredient, which is quite extreme!

but she didn't send in anything that was on the banned list.
She sent in strawberries and they thought they looked like seeds
She sent in nut free humus and they didn't believe it didn't contain nuts
she sent in beetroot brownie, which they thought looked like it had too much chocolate in.
She sent in bread with blakc pepper and they thought it looked like seeds

The issue here is that they have assumed that she is breaking therules when she isn't.
Communication is required.
Go and talk to them.
If they are going to objetc to everything homemade 'just in case' then they are ridiculous in the era of trying to reduce UPF.

The state of children's diets is bad enough but trying to restrict good healthy food is outrageous. They dont do this abroad, they have good healthy varieties of food in their dinners (although I think they are provided)

This is why we have a nation of people who know nothing about food and cooking.

Thanks all for your responses, particularly parents of children with allergies as it’s not an area I (through luck as could have had a child born with an allergy!) know very much about or have come across outside of my nut allergy friend! Very interesting and some good meal ideas.

In answer to the questions

• rule breaking, the “seeded” bread was actually one with an oat crust not seeded. However the nursery haven’t gone into granular detail with parents, so things like seeded bread/ mayo haven’t been explicitly banned, it’s kind of trial and error (because they weren’t explicit with stating food that contains eggs for ex) bar the listed things. Though the nursery guidance contradicts this, even listing pots of cold custard as a safe food despite being made of eggs? It seems to be applied differently by different teachers. I think they’re not used to homemade food maybe, more packaged stuff with listed ingredients
• the notes are a good shout, thank you I will try these
• Cost wise, I can make DCs lunch for pennies with leftovers or stuff I already have in, which is way more economical than spending £20 a week on lunches that I can’t guarantee they’ll eat. Not eligible for FSM, not on a high income, but also not willing to spend a quarter of my monthly food budget on school dinners.
• yes salad cream also made of eggs, therefore banned
• my usual rotation does include crackers/ breadsticks instead of bread which is a good safe one. I do pasta and sauce in a thermos though the nursery complained about accommodating this until I provided a plate and cutlery which is grim by the time it comes home so don’t do more than once a week.
• I do struggle with non UPF vegetarian protein options that kiddo will eat, cheese string is about as good as I’ve got ha! There’s been some good suggestions on here so will note, thanks
• vegan cake also a good shout, the ones I have made before are bound with flax or chia, both seeds so have purposely not put in before but may research again if they don’t fall foul of the sweets rule

Id agree with the posters re ease of avoiding the allergens if the nursery didn’t include them as banned Ingredients too - makes things very tricky!

GFucks sake.

Not all hummus has sesame .
And an occasional piece of ham or half dozen crisps isn't going to harm anyone.

And even if we remove sesame containing hummus, ham and crisos, there's still PLENTY OF CHOICE .

The child can have

A sourdough sandwich with organic chicken and lettuce, or with roast beef in it, or roast pork, or turkey,or cheese or cheese spread .... With or

Greek yogurt with chopped up blueberries or strawberries or raspberries or mango or pomegranate seeds or melon or banana or honey or cherries
Alongside mini vegetable, like mini cucumber, peppers, carrots, celery,

Pasta with tomato sauce, crudités and greek yoghurt dip, an apple and some cheese, with crackers if you want.

Chicken/beef/pork and vegetable rice. Feel free to include peas, carrots, green beans, sweet corn....

A lentil/vegetable/mixed bean/tomato/carrot/ soup and a homemade bread roll with organic butter

A lovely chilli made with mixed beans/beef mince/beef chunks, served with rice or quinoa or bulgar wheat or orzo. and some fruit for dessert

Chickpeas or beans or chicken mixed in couscous, with a pomegranate salad and fresh orange segmens

A sweet potato/chicken /butternut squash/ potato curry with a homemade naan

Pitta breads and baba ganoush to dip, celery and cream cheese, some fruit, some while wheat crackers

There's plenty of food for the child to eat..

I'd be looking for a new nursery.

But she did send in seeded wholemeal bread, chocolate in the brownies and egg in the cake. So she did break their rules at least three times, even though the other times were misunderstandings. Not hard to understand why they were suspicious of the other foods.

Also: How are "sweets" an allergen?

Greek yogurt with chopped up blueberries or strawberries or raspberries or mango or pomegranate seeds or melon or banana or honey or cherries

OP tried Greek yoghurt with strawberries but the nursery thought it contained seeds.

It sounds more of an issue with how staff members are acting than with the restrictions, I agree with those posters who say speak to the nursery - you aren’t actually breaking their rules (other than possibly with the brownie, but that’s not going to actually cause harm to another child) so they need to stop questioning / removing the food you send in.

She blended them I gathered? I'm just saying that there is so much choice even if we remove strawberries from the yoghurt.

She didnt send in seeded bread and I simply dont believe that the other kids are being sent in with UPF packaged foods that dont contain any egg or have a complete seed and nut free label

OP couldnt even send in yoghurt and strawberries for gods sake, they sound a bunch of eejits, I wouldnt want my child being cared for by them

You really haven't read the oirginal post :))

Yes, the OP made free-from humous. It was refused (by the nursery).

Greek yoghurt with chopped up strawberries was refused (by the nursery), because it looks like it contains seeds (strawbery "seeds")

Pitta bread was refused (by the nursery), because the pepper there looks like if it contains seeds.

Hot food in the flask was refused (by the nursery) because it is a faff to deal with

This nursery just is very restrictive - seems they would prefare packaged food.

Maybe you can try reading more before you start writing? Than your long lists would have a better chance to be relevant.

Most nurseries have a healthy eating policy. This isn’t an allergen thing

If you’ve got oodles of time and money.

I agree there’s a lot of choice. It’s just if the nursery is querying / removing things that actually comply with their policy it makes it even more difficult for OP.

I'm not sure whether the OP broke any rules.
We don't know whether there were chocolate in the brownies, or whether the teachers assumed that from the dark color caused by beetroot... and we don't know whether the cake actually contained egg, or whether the teachers assumed...

And the OP explained in an update that the bread wasn't covered in seeds, but in oats.

Do other children bring packed lunches?

Okay, let's play your game and remove the fruit form the yoghurt, a pitta bread and humus.. there are STIlLL LOADS OF OPTIONS!

Even if we remove hot food (which OP provided a plate for hot food and it was fine. So you have to include hot food, if you read properly...k

Child can have;
Pasta salads with all sorts of veg and proteins
chicken/pork/beef/chickpea/vegetable rice.
sandwiches and wraps with a huge variety of fillings.
fruits, vegetables, cheeses, plain yoghurt, kefir, lassi, honey, dips, salsa, crackers, bread sticks... And much more

There's really no problem here...

Sorry, hadn’t seen the update about the seeded bread being oat!

What are the huge amount of sandwich fillings for veggie children?

This is what I was going to suggest too.

Our nursery has a pretty similar list. I've just gone mega simple and do a variation on this every day:
Oat cakes with cheese/ham/poached chicken/any leftover roast breast
Tomatoes/cucumber/olives
Piece fruit or two
Yeovalley yoghurt or rice cake
If I do any (egg/nut free baking) I just put a note in.