To think a leftover happy meal isn’t the worst packed lunch you could have?

[Tulipdreams]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teachers-share-students-worst-packed-36878989.amp

Hear me out first. Of course the article is pretty terrible, children being sent into school with only packets of biscuits for lunch, stories of children having no milk for their cereal and bringing in energy drinks.

But one example was a child took a leftover happy meal to school. Aibu to think that this isn’t the worst thing you could have?

No I have never sent my child into school with a cold takeaway for their lunch, and it would be concerning if it was happening all the time. But I would eat leftover McDonald’s if I hadn’t eaten it the night before. It’s probably no worse than taking a ham sandwich and a packet of crisps (which would be deemed as acceptable).

When I was a child most kids took meat paste sandwiches and a wagon wheel and that was a completely normal lunch.

Chill out a bit - a packed lunch is only part of a child's nutrition for that day, and it perfectly possible to have packed lunch that's balanced and generally healthy without it being a salad with pulses.

Having said that, packed lunch and kids food standards in this country ARE pretty dreadful compared to others - Sweden does free nutritious food all through school for children.

My DC are constantly moaning about not having crisps or chocolate bars every day like other kids.

it probably only happened on one occasion,
a lot of hyperbole

that article makes for very sad reading

I watched Morgan Spurlock's Supersize me. So yeah, McDismals is terrible, not great for children other than a rare outing and even if I wasn't a veggie, I wouldn't eat it.

Cold McDonald's is gross in most people's view but if the kid likes it still for whatever reason then it's no worse than eating it hot as dinner. Nutritionally at least.

If the child is seemingly happy to eat their lunch then that's really the most important thing. You might see some fancy home made beetroot, edamame and quinoa salad going straight in the bin if the kid doesn't want to eat it!

That's really not much food, how old are you DC?

See this is the opposite end of the ridiculous bell curve though, imo. Of course a packed lunch can be healthy depending on the choices you make. It's just a box of food.

why werent they getting free school meals?

apparently the excuse for the mcdonalds was that It was a shame to waste it! which is a fair point.

Both! Macdonalds is crap, made with rubbish meat! If a parent can afford to buy this crap they can afford to by a loaf of bread and some ham and an apple!

My daughter has food avoidance so as a child she was a nightmare to feed. Some days I’d resort to giving her sliced Swiss roll. Not what I wanted her to have but I knew she would eat it whereas a ham or cheese sandwich and fruit wouldn’t be touched. As an adult she’s marginally better but not much

It's awful! No money presumably to make make sandwiches, but money to waste on a Happy Meal?

That doesn't answer my question.

A teacher friend of mine was asked/told that she had to teach one lesson of cookery each week when she applied for a job in a secondary school.
That was in the late 80's, so I am wondering if it is still on the curriculum?

Cold Macdonalds?! That is utterly grim and any parent doing it should be rightly judged.

No its a crap lunch. And yes id judge a parent for sending in a cold McDonald's for child's lunch.
How low does the bar have to be?

it was a shame to waste it, which i think is a valuable excuse and no doubt the child liked it

It's lazy shit awful parenting. Justifying it any other way is just terrible imo.

it is a non story

Because a child deserves a proper fully balanced meal - not some cold congealed McDonald’s meal that is fit for the bin. Absolutely disgraceful

It's really bad. Better than starving, but still bad.

My kids had to do food technology which included lessons on nutrition and cooking meals until year 9. They could choose to then carry on in year 10 and 11 or stop. Mine chose to stop as they preferred other subjects. They still continued to be taught about food and to cook at home though, because that is part of being a responsible parent. Parents who expect schools to do everything are often problem parents.

I know a lot of people are struggling now but there is no excuse for this. I had very little money when my DS was small but he always got a sandwich, crisps and fruit for lunch. It doesn't cost that much.

And free school meals still exist.

I do agree that most packed lunch items aren't healthy, though. That's because schools dont have access to fridges. The lunch boxes sit on a tray for hours with only an ice pack unside to keep anything remotely cool. I wouldn't be comfortable sending in stuff the might spoil.

I’m struggling to see how nutritionally a cold Mcd’s is worse that the shitty supermarket bread full of crap, shitty ham full of crap and shitty margarine full of crap that makes up 1000’s kids packed lunches every day. So personal opinion on whether I would eat a cold Md’s myself aside I don’t think that is any worse that what goes into most kids packed lunches.

It’s really not because it happens and is often part of a bigger problem at home.