Jamie Olivers rant about packed lunches.

[misdee]

LONDON (Reuters) - Jamie Oliver, the television chef famous for his crusade to improve school dinners, lashed out at parents on Thursday over the food they give to their children.

Speaking at the launch of his new TV programme, Oliver said 70 percent of packed lunches in were "disgraceful" and he would like to see them banned.

He said the decisions parents made regarding the diets of their children
were sometimes just plain wrong.
"I've spent two years being politically correct about parents but it's time to say, if you're giving your young kids fizzy drinks, you're an a*hole and a tosser," Oliver said.

"If you give them bags of crisps, you're an idiot. If you aren't cooking them a hot meal, sort it out."

Oliver said headteachers were too frightened of some parents to tell them what they should give their child to bring to school.

He was particularly critical of parents who give their children Red Bull an energy drink when they are tired, saying it was not much better than giving them a line of cocaine.

Oliver's new programme, "Jamie's Return to School Dinners", is a follow-up to his successful Channel 4 series on improving school meals.

Not saying anyone here does this, but bet my bottom dollar there are mums who do the jam sandwich on white bread and crisps, kitkat, fruit shoot type of packed lunch, it just has to be part laziness. They just go onto automatic pilot in the supermarket, pick the same things up, chuck in a plastic box every morning and send them on their way. Surely those people ill benefit from someone shaking them gently by the shouders and saying 'stop, snap out of it, open your eyes, and be inspired, it doesn't have to be liekt his, it's not the only way to pack a lunch box, look, here's some ideas'.
That can only be a good thing, in fact it is a good thing, a bloody good thing. If 10 mothers out of 10,000 change the way they pack a lunch that's better than nothing.

Orlando, heres the new government rules, get in touch with the school and kick off, get other parents involved too new school meal rules

I totally agree with Jamie, will read the thread now, has it kicked off?

I'm quite lazy and boring about my DS's lunchbox as well (mainly because he's fussy) but being lazy doesn't need to be unhealthy. He has ham sandwiches nearly every day (interspersed by the occasional tuna, chicken or smoked salmon, because he's Little Lord Fauntlroy), with a combination of carrot batons, olives, sweetcorn and cucumber. Plus either an apple or banana because he doesn't like anything else. Very boring and repetitive, but not unhealthy. Occasionally I slip in something I know he doesn't like hoping to catch him unawares and be able to add something else to the repertoire. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

good on you Jamie Oliver!

my school launched a new menu this term, and I will be using school dinners most of the time...but it is important that people think more carefully about packed lunches. my dd's school only allows fruit or vegetable snacks at break time and only water in a clear bottle so there is no cheating! I would welcomr a ban on crisps in packed lunches,. if it is banned there is no excuse to put them in. Although I do let my dd's have them at home, if they have eaten healthily all day. Kids need to be taught why its important from a young age imo

DS takes a cheddar cheese sandwich with wholemeal bread, a little packet of mini-cheddars, a satuma and an apple. That's it. I think he should take more, but he whinges coz it takes up too much space in his bag. He cannot take 'wet' or squashy thing, like banana or yogurts. Removing squashed banana from GCSE coursework books is a nightmare and yogurt in the bottom of a school bag... well.... you have to throw the bag away to be honest. Also, yogurts get used as the weapon of choice on the bus.

Not really sure what I think about JO and his latest comments tbh. I've always been a bit suspicious of his association with a major supermarket.

Not sure if suspicious is hte right word but hope you know what i mean!

In fact I'm off shopping there now!

TC
I gave dd a soggy white bread and jam sandwich today
We are out of homemade granary so I had to get my mums loaf out of the freezer.
It is homemade jam though
grapes, homemade gingerbread man and muesli bar and apple juice.
usually she prefers marmite and cheese or tomato and cheese. But ou cupboard is bare
Bloody morning sickness, I dare not got to the shops most days...

I've skimmed this thread and don't see why people are cross tbh. I think Jamie's brilliant and I'm GLAD he's shouting about this, it needs to be said.

For the record my ds has a packed lunch every day and today had a peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread, an apple, a banana, a homemade fairy cake and a fruit smoothie. And I made it this morning, which took me all of 3 minutes. Fruit is the ultimate fast food but luckily for processed food companies people don't seem to realise/agree/treat is as such.

I agree totally with alot that has been said by Jamie Oliver.

DD1 went to school today with:

Bagel & ham
baby bel
Rice Cake
Fresh Apple Juice
Yogurt

Which I think is quite healthy, and, I know it's alot better than what she would get if she was on school dinners.

Have just got back from supermarket, where I bought about five different types of bread products in an attempt to find one that DS will deem suitable for his packed lunch. Don't quite know what is going wrong, but we started out (18 months ago) on brown bread (which he eats at home and likes, especially if toasted) pittas, tortilla wraps etc and have now got to the point where even that white/wholemeal bread is coming home uneaten. Not sure what to do as don't want him to go hungry, but neither do I want him to eat shite. I know that pasta salads or rice salads would go down like a fart in a lift, so any suggestions on how to jazz up sarnies so he'll eat them?

Secondly, all you lot slagging off Jamie - shame on you. I've had to research this topic in a huge amount of detail this year and, undoubtedly, Jamie's involvement is what forced the Government to address the appalling state of school meals. Christ, we shouldn't be slating him, we should be knighting him.

His comments aren't aimed at those parents who, like most of us here, aim to give their kids as healthy a packed lunch as possible but don't always manage it. They are aimed at those parents who just feed their kids crap, no doubt eat crap themselves and don't think twice about it. A good example would be the obese local family I saw the other day who are constantly to be seen eating rubbish. One of the extremely overweight kids was crying to which the mum responded, "shut up or you won't get a McDonalds." Oh, and don't bother accusing me of slagging off a family that I don't really know and jumping to conclusions. Yes, it could just be their glands... but my money's on it being poor diet/lack of exercise/general gluttony... and the chip butties they're constantly to be seen shovelling down their necks.

The message has to be got through to families like this, and if that means that Jamie uses a few choice phrases, then fuck it, so what?

We are sitting on a time-bomb when it comes to this nation's state of health, so I will leave you with a few choice facts.

? The average cost of the ingredients of a primary school dinner is 38p. Government funding should see this rise to a grand total of 50p ? the cost of a tin of Caeser dog food, abd a small one at that. The increase has only come about since Jamie gave them stick.
? The incidence of childhood obesity grew from 9.6% in 1995 to 13.7% in 2003. Approximately a fifth of boys and over a quarter of girls aged 2-15 are either overweight or obese. If current trends continue, children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
? Most children don?t eat a nutritionally balanced diet. On average, children between the age of 5-15 eat just half the five portions of fruit and vegetables it?s recommended we eat daily, while approximately 7 out of 10 do not eat vegetables daily.
? Three out of ten boys and four out of ten girls are not meeting the recommended hour a day of physical activity for children. Furthermore, 2 in 10 do less than 30 minutes physical activity a day.
? The most recent Young People and Sport National survey (2002) found that only 29% of 6-8 year olds and 32% of 9-11 year olds spent 2 hours or more per week in PE.
? 28% of children and young people of all ages watch 4 or more hours? TV a day.

Worried? We should be.

Not read the whole thread as, well it's too long.

I can't see that Jamie's going to win many votes by slagging off parents. Personally I always thought he's a git and everytime he opens his mouth I think it even more.

DS is really picky, the only veg he'll eat it raw carrot - so in go carrot sticks. Bread - Jamie says don't use sliced white - DS won't touch brown, granary etc, anything with 'bits' so white it has to be, for the filling? Hmm he'll now eat thinly sliced ham so that's ok, but mostly wants jam. Other stuff? Plain crisps, juice and maybe a mini sausage roll.

TBH I'd let DS take just about anything in his packed lunch that I know he'll eat. If I packed him up pittas and fruit etc he'd bring it all back with him and be starving. I make sure he gets a good breakfast of sorts, a good tea and a bit of supper, so to me what he eats at school is not as important as the fact that he does eat! Kids need their lunch to keep going for the rest of the school day, if you send them with stuff they won't eat they'll wilt quite rapidly. Just getting DS to eat at all is my priority, so sorry Jamie, I'm an a*hole - but then.....so are you.

Sounds lovely Piffle. Homemade bread as a rule, I'm impressed.

Sitting here talking of food etc, Lottie just ate an organic unsulphered dried apricot just now and said 'ummmm chocolate'!!!!! At first she said 'no mummy' when she was offered so I said 'ok, these are all mummy's, mmmmm yummy. shall I share?' and she said 'okay' and tucked in and asked for 'just one more'.

She often asks for crisps at home, went through a real phase of wanting them after a few parties and treats where she got used to them. I keep a bowl of 'goodies' in the cupboard and they contain fruit and seeds bars and those organix carrot stick things and apricots in yoghurt. When she asks for crisps she gets offered her choice from the whole bowl and she thinks that's fab and forgets that what she wanted was a packet of hula hoops!

And talking of hula hoops, they came in very useful last week when she had her hair cut. She tried to grab the scissors of the woman so we took in hula hoops and put one on each finer. Kept her busy and quiet while she had her haor cut, safely!

Pfer, why is he an a-hole exactly?

If you're doing your best by your kid in terms of offering and trying with the right foods and making an effort then why the anger towards someone who is trying to educate the mums who aren't doing their best and don't know any different?

You sound a bit defensive to me. If you're happy with what you give your kid that's all that matters. But there are people out there that haven'y got a clue and might quite like to be shown anothre way of doing things.

Great post Willow. I totally agree, a knighthood for Jamie's in order.

As for alternatives for your ds's lunch, what about

potato wedges with some sauce to dip them in
toasted brown bread, will he eat it cold?
the insides of the sandwich without the sandwich, so send cheese/tomatoes/cucumber pieces but not the bread
mini pittas
falafel?
Smoothies, good way to get some liquid and fruit into them
will he eat hummus? veg sticks?
what about pancake type things? Like duck pancakes but with something else in them?
hard boiled eggs?
vegetable crisps
Melon

I do sympathise, my ds is a fussy boy these days but if he doesn't like something healthy there's only a healthy alternative because I don't really do crap in the house. The odd bar of chocolate, or cake but not generally stocked crap.

Willow - DS's school have just introduced hot school lunches - £1.80 per day.

Pfer, my ds might well only want jam but he doesn't get it! I don't buy it! As Christopher Green says in Toddler Taming "So, does little Johnny get the keys to the Volvo, get in the car, go to the supermarket and buy this stuff? I don't think so" - it's up to parents not to buy crap or feed it to our kids. IMO.

i think he's like marmite, you either love him or hate him.

We've just started making our own bread and invested in a good breadmaker its tranformed pack ups! ds has taken it upon himself to fill it up before bedtime so we have fresh bread waiting in the morning and he's been trying tons of recipes, the kids have surprised me by prefering the granary/brown/seeded breads to white as well.
I really think the battle with food and kids is for the parents to have a good relationship with food, to enjoy it, make it fun and part of life, not something functional.

A reasonably healthy lunchbox doesn't take long to make & its not difficult either.
Mine take either a sandwich or a pitta filled with egg mayo, tuna mayo, ham & cucumber, chicken, cheese or peanut butter.
A few pieces of raw carrot.
They get some fruit.DS is not keen on most fruits but will eat sultanas, plums & clementines. DD eats all fruit.
They also get a frube or drinking yoghurt & a small cake, like a flapjack.
The school doesn't allow them to take sweets or crisps and they are only allowed to drink water.

I can do their lunchboxes in less than 5 mins & the cost is low too.

Thomcat - don't get me wrong I agree with him that there are a lot of parents who just stuff the first thing they come across into lunch boxes and don't really care what it is. It's just that there are many, many parents out there who do what they can to get their kid to eat 'good' food and the kids just aren't interested yet every so often you get a joyous occasion when something new has been tried and liked - I'm one of them. But because we find it important just to get our kids to eat others who don't know how hard it's been will look in our kids lunch boxes and label us as the ones that don't give a damn.

As for my thinking he's an a*hole - it's not about the school dinner thing, I've always found him irritating.

It's not so much the other bits - he'll eat chunks of cheese, bits of pepper, carrots, cucumber, fruit and (dare I say it) he does get a few twigletts or healthier crips, but not a whole pack. It's just that main item. Concern is he's not getting enough carbs and will run low of energy. Maybe I just have to think up some more interesting sandwich fillings to get him to eat - but he doesn't like anything too slodgy, so egg mayo and tuna mayo out. Did try pretend duck pancakes (bit of chicken and cucumber with splodge of Hoisin!) for a while but he's gone off those too. Today I just decided to go back to how we started, so he got hummus, grated carrot on brown. Think I might just have to go down the starving him in to eating route! It is weird really, because he is really good at trying all sorts of different food - he loves Indian, Chinese, Thai - Jeeze, the boy even likes sushi. So what's the problem with sodding bread?

Bugsy2 - you are so lucky your school allows peanut butter sarnies, we have a strict no nut policy because of a couple of poor kids who have nut allergies. Would be great if he could have nut butter sarnies - I used to have them as a kid with celery, blooming lovely.

Willow 2 how about rice or pasta in a bowl with the chicken/ham added?

I think I'd keep putting it in and just see if he gets hungry enough one day to try it again them Willow. Or, since it sounds like he's eating loads of other stuff, which is great, just put more of that in.