Just been on a school trip and boy,you should have seen the crap that emerged form the lunch boxes....

[moondog]

Fruit Shoots,cheese strings,those cartons of 'meat'(sorry,industrial slurry) and cheese,weird yoghurts that don't need to be refrigerated and have a 'best before' date of 2018.
The healthiest thing was probably a plastic bread sandwich with some sort of processed chicken slice in it.

When I see their little shining faces and strong bodies,exuding energy ,and then see what they are fuelling themselves with,I want to take said cheese strings and garotte their parents.

Fair enough girls,if you think it is an obsession.
We are all catered for on MN.

[pleasant neutral grin]

Thing is though, food is something that you do three times a day plus any snacks so it takes up more room than dental check-ups.

Sleep and exercise both important too, obviously, but I see them as corners of a triangle (you know, like the fire one, with oxygen fuel and the other thing...errrr...should've paid attention in school.....errr...heat, that's the blighter). So if you feed them well, they'll have the right sort of energy for exercise and if they've worn themselves out, they'll sleep.

That's put too simply, I guess. And now I do sound smug as all hell. Sorry.

Oh, I'm way more interested in talking about food than about exercise

lol Hunker

Apparently we consume fewer calories than say 50 years ago so exercise is an issue.

It wasn't processed crap circa 1955 though.
It's the processed bit that worries me most,not the sugar,fat or calories.

actually, I agree with hmc on this one, but it's not just on mumsnet. it's in RL. obsession with what our children are eating, what we are eating.
imo there isn't a simple correlation between the state of our diet and the state of our health. nutrition is one asset of parenting and of life. But of course we aren't talking about nutrition - w are taling about food with all the cultural, family, religious and class implications, shared history, links with love and pleasure and self-loathing and body image and control and.... the rest.

Yes Harpsi.
Which is why it is so irritating when people say
'Calm down,it's just food.'

Really i am not being funny but what do you all sugget that would go in a healthy lunchbox? give me some idea because I do get stuck

Have not read past the first few posts, but going to the supermarket the afternoon before a school trip and choosing their favourite items of crappery snackery was always a huge treat for my 3 older kids - they had uber-sensible packed lunches the rest of the time. DS2 was the exception to this because he turned into a super-faddy eater at 2 and because I am old and worn out I let him get on with it but OTOH he is scarily healthy

Some ideas for you:

Alternatives to Sandwiches

On cold days a home made soup is a welcome addition to the lunch box. Chicken and sweet-corn soup and minestrone are popular with kids and the addition of pasta and beans turn a soup into a meal in a flask.

Salads in the summer are refreshing and full of essential vitamins and minerals. Try making your own Asian coleslaw with red cabbage, grated carrots, bean-sprouts and chopped peanuts.

Make a wholemeal pasta salad with avocado and tuna or chicken and cherry tomatoes. Use low-fat mayonnaise and mix some finely chopped baby spinach leaves in for colour and iron.

When making home-made pizza, why not make extra and use the left over in the next day’s lunch box.

Similarly, a slice of Spanish omelette made with potatoes and onions left over from the previous nights dinner makes a tasty lunch.

If you like baking, a quiche with lots of healthy vegetables and even some cheese makes excellent lunch box material.

Cold chicken drumsticks or cold cocktail sausages are tasty little treats to add variety to your child’s lunch box. Cold vegetarian sausages are a good alternative for the vegetarian child.

I am interested in food, the way it impacts on society, the customs, the feast days, the rituals, the passed down through the generations recipes and traditions.

Therefore, I am concerned that large multinational companies are taking over all this with their processed hygienic stayfresh packets of chemicals and I mind even more that they are advertising this muck at children and parents who don't know any better fall for it hook, line and sinker and then say "oh, it's only food, why are you getting your knickers in a twist about it?"

well I'm not saying that.
but I am saying that the other emotional/cultural aspects can sometimes lead us into making simple correlations between "good" nutrition = "good" parent = "healthy" child.
"bad" nutrition (or, in mumsnet parlance "feeding your child "crap" or "rubbish") = "bad" parent.
or even: child drinking fruit shoot therefore bad diet.
it is just part of the (complicated) equation.

Hunker, have you read The Rituals of Dinner? You'd love it.

No, haven't read it, but just looked for it on amazon and it looks fascinating, so will give it a go - thanks for the recommendation.

Look, I'm not saying that good nutrition equals good parenting and bad nutrition equals bad parenting - it's far more complex than that.

Hunker you are absolutely right, I find this really scary.
HC you are right too, no point giving a child an exlempary diet and emotionally neglecting them.

thanks Carmenere I do tend to give sandwiches and don't have any other ideas really.They get those and an apple or raisins then some plain biscuits or a kit kat and a yogurt.Sometimes carrot sticks or cucumber so i needed some more healthy ideas

Have been trying to stay off this thread, but I can't resist. I have two children who have never eaten luncheon meat, drunk coke, eaten anything but natural yoghurt, or even eaten anything out of a tin. This isn't because I am a domestic goddess and smug mum, simply because I am Indian and none of these things are a part of our natural diet, and I thought I would keep them in the dark as long as poss. They have slowly discovered junk since we moved here ( some white bread, crisps once in a while, chocolate ditto) but mostly eat wholemeal chapatis, lentils, lots of veggies and fruit, no meat in any form.

I would like to say they exude energy, have strong bodies and sleep well at night. :)
Nope. They are "weedy".
They did not sleep through the night until they were two.
They are always sick.
They are as dull-eyed and lethargic as the next kid, and not any smarter as far as I can tell.

They are probably called "ponces" by their friends. Am really thinking of defecting to cheese strings. They don't sound so bad.

I have said it before but for me the single most important thing I would want to pass onto dds is a healthy attitude to food.
to understand its cultural and emotional aspects - to appreciate it, to know when they are hungry and enjoy food but not to obsess about it. not to be overly concerned and overly focussed on what food they are eating. To keep food in perspective and not to fret too much over lists of ingredients but to appreciate good food. To understand that when they are offered food it brings with it many layers of meaning for the giver and the receiver.
that, to me, is so very much more important than individual food choices.
because, I ask you honestly, how many women do you know with a really healthy attitude to food? not many, ime. few and far between.
Or maybe that is just my justification for yet another example of slack parenting.

Yes but Puppodom all the nutrients are being directed into their brains and they are going to be super smart adults

Yep, agree harpsi.

But I'd like to think that a very healthy attitude to food is one that includes the phrase "Dairylea Lunchable? That's just bollocks in a box!"

could not agree more hc. really really heartfeltly.

food as fuel. to be enjoyed but not used as the focus for pleasure and guilt that it can be.

Yes, another sentence that pisses me off royally wrt food is "Oh, I really shouldn't" said with silly half-grin and ridiculous middle-aged giggle when offered a small piece of flapjack or somesuch.

I always want to say "fucking don't then, you twat"

Here here hc, please God our kids don't get the same food hang ups that this generation have.

They will though - advertising will see to that.

It's all low fat, low sugar no added nutrition, just chemicals stuff now.

It's not about food, it's about marketing and spin and gloss.

Celebrity chefs have a lot to answer for too.

It's like porn for respectable people. They get all titillated watching AWT using cream and butter while eating a low-fat ready meal off their laps.

Something's gone very fucking skewy with food in this country.

Couldn't agree with you more hunker and that is why it is so important for us (our childrens main teachers) to make sure that they enjoy eating healthy, nutritious food. Until they get their own disposable income we are responsible for what goes in their mouths.