Packed Lunches for School

Nicnax

At my sons school they ask that you send a healthy packed lunch and once a week they hand out stickers to those with a healthy lunch, these are then collected on their school diary and every term the children with the most get their names put into a draw and the winner gets to choose from a bowl of fruit or a giant chocolate cupcake as their prize. Guess which one always gets picked?!
Now I don't see how they can ask me not to send a cake or crisps in my child's lunch box when they are rewarded with a giant cake for eating healthy!

Poppy9

Nicnax wrote: »

Now I don't see how they can ask me not to send a cake or crisps in my child's lunch box when they are rewarded with a giant cake for eating healthy!

but they would surely expect the child to share a giant cake and not scoff it all.

Also asking you to not put cake/crisps in the lunch box on a daily basis is for the benefit of your child so why would you fight this request? I really don't understand parents obsession with fighting for the right to put junk in a lunch box.

The school is clear in that it is not banning unhealthy food it's merely advocating healthy eating on a regular basis on school premises plus it has the added benefit of improving children's behaviour due to them consuming less junk during the day.

Outside of school hours children can eat as much junk as the parents allow but hopefully by the school setting a healthy eating example they will make an informed choice for a balanced diet and consume junk in moderation.

cherrypies

Tessie Bear ... pitta breads, if you toast them a little first, split and allow them to cool then line with a bit of iceberg lettuce, they don't go soggy. I also put sliced veggies that are going on sandwiches onto kitchen paper for a few minutes before I make the sandwich to draw out a bit of excess water.

As for flapjacks, I use value oats (75p for a huge bag of which I use less than half for a tray of flapjacks) 1/3 to a 1/2 a block of butter (never pay more than £1 for a 250g block, Tesco often have butter on 2 for £2 deals and a few months ago they were selling it for £2.60 a kilo so I have stacks in the freezer!) value golden syrup, value sultanas (both on 3 for 2 at the mo in Tesco) . Whatever you have in really. You can make them even cheaper if you use margarine or vegetable oil but I prefer to use real butter as we don't eat marg. I don't add sugar but I know a lot do, theres a simple recipe here that only uses 50g of butter.

flea72

Poppy9 wrote: »

Also asking you to not put cake/crisps in the lunch box on a daily basis is for the benefit of your child so why would you fight this request? I really don't understand parents obsession with fighting for the right to put junk in a lunch box.

The school is clear in that it is not banning unhealthy food it's merely advocating healthy eating on a regular basis on school premises plus it has the added benefit of improving children's behaviour due to them consuming less junk during the day.

Outside of school hours children can eat as much junk as the parents allow but hopefully by the school setting a healthy eating example they will make an informed choice for a balanced diet and consume junk in moderation.

I don't think people are objecting because they want their kids to eat junk. It's more to do with the skewed way schools dictate to parents on how to raise their kids.

At my dds school, if she brings a snack in it has to be fruit. But if she buys it off the school she can have frubes, cheese toastie or a smoothie. All billed as healthy snacks, because they are fruit/calcium rich

I think schools need to evaluate their attitude towards exercise rather than food. perhaps if they spent more than 30mins once a week getting kids to skip around a room then they wouldn't need to limit crisps to outside school hours.

Personally I like the ease of being able to put pre-packed food in their lunch box. It's less messy and cheaper. Calorie wise all the lunchbox suggestions so far are way over the standard fare of crisps, Sarnie, penguin. Flapjacks are so high in sugar i would limit these just as much as a frosting coated cupcake. Ask dentists about how many kids they see who need fillings in their milk teeth, all due to the latest trend for fruit being given unrationed and smoothies/oj being viewed as healthier than squash

If its teaching kids about moderating their intake, then it should apply to all food groups, not just those that someone has considered are healthy

415SanFran

I have to agree with the above comment.
My twins are now 19 so no problems there, I have three children, not one of them has been overweight, they all ate healthily and we did not need the guidelines of the school or any other body to tell us what to feed our child,
when the children were allowed to play outside a lot more and run around the playground with a football or skipping rope or what ever the trend was that particular week, they seemed to burn off the calories, to match what was eaten.
We didn't have the Gistapo dinner ladies watching over our kids, thankfully, I think it is more a case of we should have the "right" to feed OUR children what we feel is right, most parents will make the right decision, and as the old saying goes,,,,,,,You can't fix stupid!

poppy-glos

We had the lesson on how to fill our children's school lunchboxes heathily, with the request fo cakes/ choc only on a friday. But teachers happily send the children out with sweets as rewards or because a classmate has brought them in because of a special holiday or birthday!

I hear the contents of the lunchbox are no longer part of the school inspection scoring.... when it was i had the occasional note home from the dinner lady, on a tick box form, that dd did not eat her sandwhich as she didnt like the filling.....

school dinners have recently been introduced, with a pudding which is sugary everyday. Dd tried them ( i was concerned they were expensive but gave them a go... ) but has opted back for sandwiches as she was not given enough food. on fish finger day, she was given one and a half for her lunch.

sarah222

I bought in Wilkinsons last week a pack of 8 pack lunch jelly moulds for lunch boxes - they cost me £2 ( I think) - a cheap jelly costs as little as 10p and makes all 8 pots! My kids love them. If you dont fill right up there is room for some peach slices or mandarins lovely healthy snack or part of lunch. Plus far cheaper than those ready made jellies and reuseable. Work great for my girlies :-)

BAGGY

I dissagree with the comment that parents should know what to put intheir lunch packs. Once upon a time you had hme economics classes at schoool and were taught how to budget and how to make up a nutritious meal. Then they DID know. Nowadays cookery classes consist of putting a jar of pasta sauce together with fresh pasta and that's a meal. No thought for nutrition or economics involved there. My friend was shocked that I bought bacon joints/chicken etc to slice for sandwiches and asked why when I can get 5 slices of pink preformed carp for £1 when it's on offer. I pointed out the chemical content and she was non-plussed.
I am an older parent of young children. I was taught the value of a pound and am not sucked in by the latest 'youghurt in a tube with a character on it' adverts. My kids, never having had these unless at a party, prefer home made or value yogs with h/m fruit puree. Another alternative I sometimes do (although not for shcool as they are messy eaters) is blancmange with fruit at the bottom.
Sorry about the rant but I firmly believe we are doing our school kids an unjustice and life skills (balancing the books, proper cookery, needlcraft, basic diy) should be taught in every school.

cherrypies

Flea72 I agree that kids eat too much sugar and that rationing even homemade treats is necessary but don't agree that something like a penguin biscuit is better. Penguins are crap and full of emulsifiers and glucose fructose syrup, would much rather give the kids something I have made at home with 4 ingredients, than something shop bought with about 16! Flapjacks aren't given everyday, maybe twice a week and as my big strapping 12 year old lad plays rugby at least twice a week I don't think the calories are doing any harm!

Baggy - I hear what you're saying and agree on most points (schools should take a more practical approach) but really don't think it's the schools responsibility to teach EVERY life skill, thats what parents / grandparents are for! I understand that some children don't get that at home and practicalities of life need covering to some degree in school but would rather my son focus more on academic subjects rather than spend an hour and a half every week sewing a felt frog, which he's just finished, lol! I've taught him to sew a button on and iron a shirt, to cook basic meals etc and my husband is teaching him basic DIY and gardening etc. Hopefully it will stand him in good stead.

Boodle

chirpchirp wrote: »

I think my son's lunches are now £2.20 per day at school and they get given so little. My daughter is at secondary school so already has packed lunches but I find them expensive. Neither are great at eating fruit or veg. Daughter insists on having the following:

Sandwich normally cheese
Cake bar/biscuit bar
Packet crisps
sometimes a yoghurt
drink

I would add a flapjack or other homemade cereal bar for the cake bar/biscuit (though most recipes have as much sugar as bought ones so maybe reserach online recipes) and nuts or occasionally mini oatcakes for the crisps. Maybe graduate from those to the crunch of raw carrot sticks for the savoury element and piece of fruit for the sweet. I tend to put either a piece of fruit or a dessert pot/yoghurt in so they don't get used to lots of sweet stuff (they always have plenty veg sticks though.) The occasional actual cake/biscuit/bag of crisps means they don't become demonised though Maybe just explain it is costing too much to buy cakes/biscuits/crisps for every day, that is probably what I would do, besides the fact it isn't great for every day consumption.

I also have a school dinner menu on the wall and use it to guide what I give my eldest so she gets similar to what the other kids have had. I can put a similar casserole/mince in a flask or make my own pasty or whatever to go in.