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.

11, 8 and 8.

Nasty reply, no need to be like that.

Agreed.

I can't imagine eating a left over McDonalds from the previous day. Its meant to be eaten as a quick, body temperature takeaway and not thought about ever again after its been eaten!

In all honesty, I think the advice needs to be scaled right back to the essentials. There is no way on earth a parent providing an energy drink and a packet of biscuits is going to be swapping to home made popcorn and a 'nutritious wrap'. Some parents are obviously starting from a very low level here and going all in with the optimum healthy lunch is never going to happen.
They'd do better to have a hard ban on energy drinks and packets of biscuits and encourage some sort of sandwich, a piece of fruit and a snack item of choice.
My DC took cheese sandwiches an apple, crisps from a multi pack and a mini roll throughout the 90s, and are now perfectly healthy adults.
The happy meal isn't the worst no. If its bought for the child to eat I don't see the difference between dinner and lunch and at least it isn't food waste.

The question is, was the child happy with the lunch? If so, I genuinely think it's up to the parents what they give to their child. Some of the guidelines of what kids are allowed to have for lunch is ridiculous now. When I was at school I had a sandwich, packet of crisps, and a biscuit, sometimes a Frube too. And that was exactly what everyone else had, too. We all grew up fine, and they were quick, easy lunches for parents to make. Schools have them jumping through hoops to have "healthy" lunches now, they're just making things difficult. There's nothing wrong with having whatever for lunch - they could have 10 portions of veg with their tea for all the school know!

I suppose it isn't the worst and its something in their bellies. But a HM cost nearly £4 and my main feeling is that it would be a poor cost option. You could provide something far more nutritious for the same amount.

A cold McDonald’s festering in a lunch box all day? Would be lucky if the kid didn’t get food poisoning.

That sounds absolutely rank tbh but as a one off I don't really see a problem. Reheated takeaways are part of life.

"Presuming" is doing quite a lot of heavy lifting here!

I am fairly sure cold french fries upset my stomach once, I googled the science behind it at the time and it can happen, specifically because they go from hot to cold and something happens but I can't remember the details. I don't eat meat so it wasn't that.
So i'm not even sure it is safe as people who are claiming 'it will do no harm', maybe it could and the child could get an upset stomach.

My child typically has:
Either a chicken or cheese sandwich, with chopped cucumber or tomatoes on the side.
Apple or banana (*for break time, the school asks parents to provide a healthy snack for mid--morning break.)
Something else which I try to vary, like crisps or a soreen loaf
Bottle of water

So i'm not convinced by these comments saying average lunchboxes aren't healthy either. It might not be perfect, the chicken might be processed food but the fruit and cucumber at least make it a million times better than mcdonalds.

When people say “90s kids had a sandwich and crisps and biscuits for school lunch and we’re fine’. Well, obesity rates have also been soaring in the last decades. Metabolic health very much depends on what you eat as a child, which is why recommendations for kids are very different now.

I’m from one of the least obese countries in Europe and we had healthy school lunches in the 90s, not fast food.

This is generalising of course but using the poor 90s lunch habits as a good benchmark is weird.

I'm not a food snob, I like and eat McD's/Burger King from time to time (fresh), happily eat reheated Chinese, cold pizza, etc. But stale cold McD's is a no from me.

On the other hand, I don't see the need for outrage. It's not going to kill the kid as a one-off. Often/all the time, sure, that's abysmal. But a one-off? Whatever. Shit happens to all of us sometimes.

It’s lazy, neglectful parenting from people who should not have children. This sort of food should be banned for children and quite frankly adults too. It can simultaneously cause obesity and malnutrition. It has no nutritional value. I would argue that this is not even food- just edible crap.

Im trying to think how there can be any leftovers in a happy meal. But cold fries and burger or nuggets are pretty grim. @InOverMyHead84if they can afford McDonalds they can probably afford a freshly made sandwich.

Nothing but I wouldn't send my child to school with a left over McDonald's happy meal it looks terrible and people will judge and I can well imagine getting some " concerned " phone calls from school

My daughter usually has some kind of bar like a go-ahead something or other, and a piece of fruit for morning snack. At lunchtime I normally give her a sandwich, fruit, yogurt and something else, could be some crackers, rice crackers, mini cheddars, jelly. I often also give her pasta in a food flask made with a stir-in sauce, or noodles, or home made soup. Basically, I give her what she will eat minus sweets or chocolate, and if I give her the healthiest option (the soup, my preference because it has actual vegetables in it) too often she starts coming home with most of it uneaten. So not the absolute healthiest lunches, being quite limited by something that needs to keep in a lunchbox for a few hours and the fact that flasks regularly go missing and I can't afford to replace them immediately every time, but also not the worst by a long shot. And frankly, often better than the school lunch options. I don't really pay attention to what anyone else has except to say it was difficult for a long time because she didn't understand why other kids had chocolate and pringles and she didn't. There are children eating worse rubbish at school whose parents are doing the same as me, giving their children what they know they will eat, but there is also a massive culture problem around what we feed our kids. I'm still learning, as someone brought up on fish fingers and supernoodles and who was actually teased for many years because I liked vegetables. Massive cultural problem.

In my experience your example isn’t the average lunch though.

The school will judge ....

I’m all for leftovers in packed lunches, but I think a cold MacDonald’s sounds pretty grim.

It’s very sad the number of children who have absolutely shocking nutrition, for many reasons. Universal free school meals wouldn’t prevent this, but maybe it would help slightly.

I wouldn’t send a Happy Meal into school, no, but saying things like “no nutritional content” is just silly. The meal contains carbs and protein, which are the primary nutritional needs of a child, and McDonald’s uses 100% beef in its burgers. Yes, the meals have too much salt and fat, and too little veg, but claiming there’s nothing of nutritional value in them is just incorrect.

What IS the average packed lunch?

It sounds really awful, though. Cold burger and chips? 🤮

But why should schools fund children's food? If they can afford a happy meal, they can afford a loaf of bread and some ham!

Yeah any parent who hasn’t been living under a rock would have the social radar to figure out that sending a kid into school with a half eaten Maccy Ds isn’t going to make them look like Parent of the Year.

Regardless of the nutritional benefits of a hamburger versus a ham sandwich (and both have their shortcomings), you know its going to make you look a shit parent and have potential ramifications for your kid.

Why would a caring parent not just spend five minutes making sandwiches to avoid stigmatising their child? Its lame. I just don’t buy that anyone needs to do it.