School Meals v Packed Lunch

filigree_2

Various tips - I used to work at my son's school supervising lunches:

Don't give them anything in little fiddly packets and tubs that have to be cut up, peeled or otherwise faffed about with. They want to cram food in and run out to play. If its hard work it goes in the bin.

Rolls stay fresher than sandwiches.

Anything eggy stinks.

Don't give them giant bottles of Sunny Delight/Panda Pops etc. If they get a whole days worth of calories from a revolting green drink, they won't want to eat proper food. All they really need is a SMALL drink of plain water, very diluted squash, or juice.

Some kids simply don't eat much. Try half a sandwich, a few grapes, and a small treat like one home made scone. Add to it if they seem hungry.

Some of those "ideal" lunch suggestions make me laugh. My 10 year old eats like a horse, but he can't eat all that in one 15 minute sitting. The Jamie Olivers of this world need to wake up to the reality that a four year old can't eat as much as a 16 year old!

Personally I avoid anything marketed at kids for packed lunches. It's invariably expensive, and crammed with chemicals, nasty fats and sugar. I don't care if it claims to have Vitamin C added - junk food with added vitamins is still junk food.

There was this one little boy who was taking Ritalin for his hyperactivity. Every day his lunch consisted entirely of pre-packaged junk food and fizzy, sugary drinks. Needless to say his behaviour plummeted after lunchtime :-/

Edinburghlass_2

Which funnily enough is exactly what Jamie Oliver was saying in the article I read. I am sorry you seemed to read into what I posted that he advocated otherwise and I think being the father of two very young children he is well aware of how much children will/can eat.

Personally, my own daughter never ate very much of her packed lunch at primary school and I was contacted by the meal supervisors because they were concerned about it when she was 5/6. The end result was I used to pack her a school lunch that looked good for those that supervised and she got adept at tipping it in the bin when no-one was looking and she ate when she came home.

System

I battle with school lunches too. If i put in too much of a variation, my son doesnt eat the sandwiches. Even a banana is enough to put him off eating anything else. My daughter watched me pack minimes lunch box and told me i was a mean mum cause i didnt put him in a bag of crisps. >:(

Spendless

I battle with school lunches too. If i put in too much of a variation, my son doesnt eat the sandwiches. Even a banana is enough to put him off eating anything else. My daughter watched me pack minimes lunch box and told me i was a mean mum cause i didnt put him in a bag of crisps. >:(

Judi- this is exactly what happened to me. It's one of the reasons why he now has a school dinner.

Sarahsaver

My daughter used to have packed lunches, but now my kids are eligible for free school meals. Kids are mean when it comes to looking at each others lunchboxes, to see if it has the 'right' stuff in it. You know, tesco value crisps - naff, doritos - cool. I think some parents collude in it, after all the kids dont do the shopping. My daughter usually had sarnies and a piece of fruit, and occasional crisps or biscuit but always the cheap stuff. We have to teach our kids to rise above consumerism, after all we want them to grow up as moneysavers too. ;D

filigree_2

Which funnily enough is exactly what Jamie Oliver was saying in the article I read.  I am sorry you seemed to read into what I posted that he advocated otherwise and I think being the father of two very young children he is well aware of how much children will/can eat.

I wasn't suggesting his packed lunch ideas are bad, cos I hadn't read them! I do read earnest articles by nutritionists and professional parents (ie Nigella) who don't seem to live in the real world. Jamie Oliver's kids are still in nappies - it'll be interesting to see how he fares in a few years time (unless the nanny does it all).

As you've seen for yourself, it doesn't matter if you pack the "correct" lunch, it goes in the bin anyway. The lunch room bin was quite an education - huge amounts of untouched fruit, lots of empty crisp and choccy wrappers

Some lunches are disgraceful - we had to find a spare school dinner for one poor mite who came in with mouldy jam sandwiches. Some parents are beyond education >:( Perhaps the school should buy a copy of Jamie Oliver's book and beat them severely about the head with it :-/

Lucie_2

Sandwiches are so boring. Make them more interesting with pitta bread, tortilla wraps etc. You have to balance this with making them TOO interesting & then the kids won't eat them!
Instead of sarnies try a sausage roll, scotch egg, cheese & onion pasty, pasta salad or a flask of soup in winter.

Save coleslaw pots etc & plastic spoons to put into lunch boxes to stop the kids throwing away your expensive tupperware!

filigree_2

I knew one girl who brought a flask of hot water and a Pot Noodle! Not very wholesome but it made a change from sandwiches

sara2323

There's some interesting ideas in the ukparents forum about packed lunches from other mum's.

I have a three year old who has just started school full time and I have opted for paying for school dinners as he's very picky with food and although I've tried making pretend "lunch boxes" at home for picnics etc he always seems to leave most of the fruit and healthy snacks and opt for the juice, crisps etc.

It's also a good idea to speak to the dinner ladies, teachers to find what the child likes, I get a lot of feedback from them about the food he consumes.
He's often forgotten what he's had when he comes home. ::)

Jay-Jay_4

My big sprog is 5 and has school dinners because she likes choosing what to have herself.

However, she takes a snack for playtime. It has to be a healthy snack apart from on Fridays when she can take chocs or crisps.

I usually send her with a few carrot sticks, cheese sticks and cherry toms in a bag. Those snack a jack things tend to go down quite well too. Asda do titchy boxes of raisins which are good and maybe a few grapes if I'm feeling generous ;D

I've got some jazzy bags to put these in, Rainbow Snack Bags (Asda & Tesco) they have funny stickers to seal them and they're opaque so SURPRISE snack ;D