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Original poster

School demands hot food for lunchboxes, please help!!

39 replies

aiti72 · 29/09/2009 11:06

I'm really new at this lunchbox thing, DD1 just started school and for two weeks has happily had her sandwich, yogurt and fruit in her lunchbox. Now the school send a letter to us parents saying as weather gets cold the lunchboxes should have a hot meal. I'm desperately trying to look for a container that can keep a pasta dish hot (no way I can get DD1 to eat soup at school), do you put that in a flask or? Surely it doesn't come out once it's in... really bad at this I know!! What kind of box/thermos would you recommed for a hot dish that's not liquid?

Any advice would be great!!!

OP posts:

fruitshootsandleaves · 29/09/2009 11:09

What? How dangerous and ridiculous.

SoupDragon · 29/09/2009 11:10

Food flasks are readily available.

It's a ridiculous rule though (but I can't see that it's dangerous in any way)

EccentricaGallumbits · 29/09/2009 11:11

what a load of shite. surely the point of a lunchbox is so you can have a non-hot meal. and lunch boxes can be equally as filling and nutritious as something hot.

slap them with food H&S. keeping food warm, salmonella, burns bollocks.

SoupDragon · 29/09/2009 11:12

here's one

Merrylegs · 29/09/2009 11:14

I would say a hot meal in a thermos flask (because it would have to be) is too tricky for a 5 year old to negotiate. Also it would really only be lukewarm. What are the health implications of that?

The school are being loons.

A packed lunch is a packed lunch.

(Failing that, you could send her with a pot noodle and ask the school to boil the kettle. Nice warming healthy lunch there).

VerityBrulee · 29/09/2009 11:15

You can get special flasks for food, they are shorter and fatter than a regular flask. The one we have has 2 sections, the main part of the flask for your pasta, for instance, then a container than fits in, for the sauce. Than there is the lid, then a bowl fits on top.

It's rather fiddly for a young child to use though. I can imagine the chaos of a class of 4 year olds all trying to organise their hot lunches from flasks!

overmydeadbody · 29/09/2009 11:17

You can get thermos flasks for hot food with wide necks. The food won't be boiling hot by the time it is lunchtime, just nicely hot.

The school are being ridiculous to insist on this, are you sure it wasn't just a suggrestion?

Lots of kids at my school bring in hot food in flasks are eat it no problem, so I don;t think from that point of view it is a problem.

littleducks · 29/09/2009 11:21

We have this but am also at school insisting

stealthsquiggle · 29/09/2009 11:22

We used to have wide-necked food flasks for packed lunches 30 years ago and we loved them.

More hassle than sandwiches to pack in the mornings, though, and slightly nonsensical to insist on it. Are the school trying to push more people to have school meals or something?

overmydeadbody · 29/09/2009 11:22

lots to choose from here

blowninonabreeze · 29/09/2009 11:23

ignoring for a moment the oddness of the school's request, I use the stanly food flask regularly for my girls when out and about.

In our house its usually pasta and pesto and its at a perfect eating temperature when used several hours later, I've also used it for beans with cold toast - could that be an option for you as a meal?

overmydeadbody · 29/09/2009 11:24

my DS would refuse, outright.

#Even at home lunch has to be a sandwitch with cream cheese and apple or grape. He would not cope with a change.

stealthsquiggle · 29/09/2009 11:24

here you go

Mamazon · 29/09/2009 11:27

they have sent this home because they are trying to encourage you to opt for the school meals.

just conitnue sending her with the food she likes and is happy to eat

seeker · 29/09/2009 11:27

Are you sure that'w what they said? Don't meant to doubt you but it does sound a bit odd - I can't see them wanting a dining hall full of 5 year olds with thermos flasks of soup. I'd check with the school - sounds like a mistake to me!

mazzystartled · 29/09/2009 11:28

they are taking the p
if i were a cynic i would suggest that it is a not so cunning ploy to try to get more people on school dinners
so long as it is healthy, send your child in with what you are both happy with them eating.
its not like the school doesn't have central heating ffs

bigTillyMint · 29/09/2009 11:34

Have just been perusing the flasks - has anyone got this? It looks like it would fit into a lunchbag...

I am amazed that the school is insisting on hot food - is this a form of enforcing school dinners by stealth?

fruitshootsandleaves · 29/09/2009 11:47

Dangerous due to food stuffs being luke warm and therefore easy to carry germs and if too hot, well that's obvious.

Golda · 29/09/2009 12:08

We have funtainer food jars. Ds has hot food 4 days out of 5. He prefers them and I find it easier. I don't put moulten food in so there is no risk of burns. They are designed to keep food hot so 4 hours after they start school the food is not lukewarm and swimming in bacteria anymore than a ham sandwich that has been out of the fridge for 4 hours.

That said, send what you want. Unless this is the school hall your dd shouldn't need hot food.

SoupDragon · 29/09/2009 12:14

Germ & bacteria paranoia.

ScummyMummy · 29/09/2009 12:27

How controlling of the school. I'd ignore them, personally, unless you have the time and energy and your daughter would like it. Those FUN jar things do look great though.

Agree with soupdragon that the bacteria and germ panic on this thread is a bit ott!

myermay · 29/09/2009 12:32

personally i'd ignore this, if you wanted your child to have a hot meal for lunch then you'd pay for them to have school dinners. How many adults have 2 hot meals a day? tell them she'll be having her hot meal in the evening

gorionine · 29/09/2009 12:38

Well, I give DD1 and DS2 soups quite often for lunch but I still do not do it for DS3 who is five and who WILL get burnt if he attempts to open his flask.

I would ignore the school completely! They really need to realise that parents in general try to give the best to their children and stop interferring with something that has got very little, if anything to do with the children's education!

@ Golda's link, I felt cold just looking at it!

Blu · 29/09/2009 12:43

Just take no notice.

They are children indoors for lunch in a temperate climate, not Scott of the Bleedin' Antarctic.

gorionine · 29/09/2009 12:46

I forgot, I totally agree with Stealthsquiggle and Mamazon about the school insisting on it because they want more people to have school lunches. I have exactly the same feeling with regards to new food policies that forbid any sweet snack in lunch boxes while school lunchers do have a pudding everyday (in our school anyway).

I wonder if the school gets more money the more children they can get to eat school lunches, does anyone know?

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