Packed lunches and the "food police"

FZwanab

My son goes to a healthy eating school ( in Ireland), no crisps, chocolate, cakes, sweets or biscuits are allowed, also lunchables are banned as they are over processed, notes are sent home if there is anything illegal in the lunchbox!!. We don't have school dinners here so everyone must bring a packed lunch. The school also has a green policy, so all food waste is sent back home in lunch boxes, you can then see what your child did or didn't eat that day. The school also has some children from different cultures and they bring in all sorts of interesting food, so pastas or pittas aren't that strange, its quite a good system. Milk is offered daily to every pupil, but my son doesn't take it ( unfortunately). He is actually a very fussy eater and will only eat ham sandwiches (every day!!), I gave him pasta one day in tomato sauce with a little cheese, he came back with his lunchbox full saying he doesn't like cheese, I gave him wholemeal bread, that came back too. I am fighting a losing battle!! I will try the pasta again without the cheese next time.

Spendless

Wirenth wrote:

It can depend on where you are. When I was a kid, I'd drink the tapwater from home with no problems - it was cold and it tasted lovely and sweet.

The stuff at the school was from a different supply and had been fluoridated. I found it really nasty and wouldn't drink it unless a bit of squash had been put in to disguise the taste.

.

Whilst that's a fair point wouldn't that only affect kids on dinners, children on packed lunches could take water in with them from home.

HOLsale

chardonnay wrote:

holsale - what kind of foods are the above? - i love trying new stuff.

tapenade is made with olives and is a tasty spread tabboulah or tabbouleh is a meditereanean (turkish i think) salad made with bulghar wheat though you could use cous cous

do a google search for both and you'll find loads of recipes

we buy the enormous tins of stoned black olives from the halal butcher/grocer for £5.99 (you get 3kgs drained weight i believe)

so i often make tapenade

loopylass

hi


i make a pack up for all my children because although they are trying to do more healthier school dinners you still get burgers,chips etc and i like to know what my children are eating
i do sandwiches and wraps with salad in them and chicken bits
if i put pasta in their lunch boxes there friends would take the mickey but i do it for their tea so i know they eat it
the youngest have a piece of fruit provided by the school and i give him a piece although the teacher said to me you dont have to as were giving him a piece and i said well he will have two pieces then and i thought the whole idea of this free fruit to encourage children to eat healthy so its better for him to have as many pieces as he likes lolas you can imagine that shut her up lol
we are not allowed to give them biscuits or cakes so i give mine yogurt
the children do get crisps or a kitkat but im trying to find ways around that i have given them raisins and grapes in a small pot but its hit or miss if they eat it
if i put carrot sticks etc in there the other children take the mickey so its trying to find a balance healthy eating but something the other children dont take the mickey out of im lucky than a lot though because mine love fruit so they do take 2 pieces each my youngest 1 as he gets another at schoolbut what annoys me they are trying to do more healthy meals for school dinners which i think they should but today my son bought home from school an americian day pizzas burgers chips hotdogs he said can i have it because all my friends are i said well its not very healthy is it so i havnt decided on that one yet no i dont want to but is it fair as all his friends are and he will be the odd one out
who said being a parent is easy lol

rainbowkanga

Try getting the school to do more tastings and promotions. I'm a teacher and had a year 5 class tasting all kinds of fruit on Monday - looking at seeds and seed dispersal. They were really good natured about it and I was so impressed as most kids tried something they'd never eated before - although no one liked the taste of avocado which is one of my favourites!! But it was very positive, so perhaps the school just need to make more effort.

moggins

Spendless wrote:

Whilst that's a fair point wouldn't that only affect kids on dinners, children on packed lunches could take water in with them from home.

We're not allowed to send drinks of any kind in with our kids, not even water in a sports bottle

thriftmonster

moggins wrote:

We're not allowed to send drinks of any kind in with our kids, not even water in a sports bottle

Our children are encouraged to have a sports bottle of water (and only water) on their desk at all times to drink during the day to combat dehydration and improve performance.

On the subject of schools that ban biscuits and cakes, do they also ban yoghurts because a lot of processed yoghurt will probably have more sugar in than a HM cake or biscuit.......

By the way, when I was talking to ds1 last night about being different and ignoring everyone else, I read him some of all your posts and he was so encouraged to know that there are other children out there :T

ladygrey_2

these other children are probably just jealous of the different treats your son gets, and acting in a 'I don't care though' way

Spendless

thriftmonster wrote:

Our children are encouraged to have a sports bottle of water (and only water) on their desk at all times to drink during the day to combat dehydration and improve performance.

That was my original point. In sons school the only time children get to drink juice is if they are on packed lunch and I don't really understand why this is, when the others and all the rest of the time they are only allowed water.I'm interested in peoples views even if they don't share mine But this is getting away from the OP so I'm going to PM squeaky to see if he can seperate the juice posts and put in DT.

chardonnay_2

had a think about this and school can be a horrible place if you are being picked on or ridiculed. at the end of the day, i'm sure everyone wants their kids to enjoy school. i'd suggest talking to your kids and ask them what they would like for their lunch. if they say the stuff they are already taking then no probs - or if the say sandwiches then perhaps you could do as others suggest and give them hm rolls, fruit, yogs etc.