School Meals v Packed Lunch

Spendless

Becles -I think you need to ask the school to clarify their points system.

Did your son eat the whole tomato? It might be points awarded for the fruit/veg eaten.

elona

Becles

As this is obviously stupid and pointless in your case - they seem to be giving points for 1 fruit or veg item - and 1 point for a salad - play them at their own game!!

Put 1 orange and 1 apple plus a few grapes in (3points)

1 tomato and 1 peeled carrot (2points)

Mixed salad 1 point

Total 6 points

The fact that there is no protein, calcium, complex carbs etc and that your son will not eat it is presumably irrelevant?

Ticklemouse

Luckily, my son's school haven't started this (yet) I'd be stumped if he got low points for his lunchbox contents, because he invariably takes the same thing in every day - his choice. He has a ham sandwich on a wholemeal roll, piece of unbuttered malt loaf, 1 humzinger of assorted variety (dried fruit stick, no added sugar ) and 1 carton of apple juice. He gets a piece of fruit at school. I offer him other fruit etc for his lunch, but I know they won't get eaten. However, he eats a healthy breakfast which often includes fruit and after school eats fruit or veg whilst I am cooking. We don't 'do' fizzy drinks or jelly/coloured sweets in this house as DS1 is affected dreadfully by them. He does get choc biscuits, homemade cakes or choccy bars so he isn't deprived.

I once had a look in another boy's lunchbox (he left it in my car and yes, I was being nosey) He obviously ate, from the debris in the lunch box, some sort of paste sandwich on white, crisps, chocolate and orange squash. From what I see, this is typical of the other kids lunchboxes. I wouldn't worry about the fat content of the chicken leg and the cheese. If your son is like mine, he'll eat for England and still look like he's not eaten for a week. They need the fat if they run around and cycle all day like mine do.

jellyhead

mmmm .... humzingers ...

sorry, not a very helpful post lol!!

Mado

BrokeBrokeBroke wrote:

Isn't that just SUGAR in a different form? (Yes, I know there are vitamins etc in fruit, but there is also a massive amount of sugar)

Will not get pedantic on that one as you are absolutely right it is sugar but I have never seen a child high on sugar after eating apples, pear, kiwi, bananas, strawberries and other items I propose to put on the kebabs...

Popcorn has different issues with our PA mostly mess and little siblings can choke on it.
Might give it a go anyway!

pavlovs_dog

just my 2 pennies worth....

if they are, as it seems, marking on the number of fruit/veggies included.......does no one else think it is ridiculously unreasonable that they are expected to eat their 5 recommended servings in one sitting, rather than spread throughout the day?!

are parents no longer capable of administering fruit and veggies to their children?

Debt_Free_Chick

MATH wrote:

I can understand where some posters are coming from suggesting skinning the chiken leg etc but remember this is a CHILD'S lunch not an adult's. Children should not be placed on low-fat diets. Skinning chicken and buying low-fat options in not necessary or advisable it your child is eating a good mix of foods and getting plenty of exercise.

There's fat IN the chicken. The skin is EXTRA fat. There was EXTRA fat in the cheese. And in the kit-kat.

I did not suggest a low-fat diet, merely one that avoided excess ANIMAL fat. Not all fat is good.

And we don't even know if that was in any way part of the issue - it was merely my speculation.

jellyhead

those fruit kebabs sound delicious, can you come to our summer fayre? lol!

while popcorn sounds yummy too, fruit might quench thirst and lead to the kids buying less coloured sugar water from the PTA tuck shop, also contains vitamins and fibre - lacking in the diets of many children. i've yet to meet a child who didn't eat enough carbs, the popcorn would just be loading more carbs into kids who already survive on breakfast cereal, chips, crisps, potato faces, pasta and processed main courses containing more rusk than meat. the fruit could be the only fruit/veg they eat that day, so i'd rather do fruit although the kids might actually prefer the popcorn :-)

i'm not sure i'll be doing this years summer fayre, might be in labour so am limiting my name being put to anything, just sticking to a table where i don't have to do anything, but for next year, and for the autumn disco i'm going to make fruit kebabs, what an excellent idea - what do you skewer them with?

elona

I would use toothpicks (new) and make mini kebabs - less expensive than proper skewers.

Mado

hadn't adressed the skewer sticky issue.
Expect some problem with the naughty ones using them as weapons...
Maybe Q-tips?
Not!!!