Packed Lunch for work

Skint_Catt

You will get more answers on the Moneysaving Old Style board.

Mandles

dipsy wrote: »

Yikes I pack my kids with a little plastic tub of nuts each day....... will then "nut" police be after me?

Dunno but i dont know how youve got away with it so far. In the 3 schools my kids have been at it's huge that you don't take anything with nuts in which is a shame as its a nice little healthy option and nuts are in most things. I did used to get quite irritated until i helped on a school trip in which i had to carry around that injection thing around with me for a really cute girl in my group that had a severe nut allergy so made me realise it was a serious thing i should take notice of. By the way, she also has eczema , it seems a lot of the kids with these severe nut allergys have eczema (wonder if its something in the creams they use?)

tiff

Poppycat wrote: »

Yes I wonder that too about nuts never heard of this allergy until a few years ago, seems like we are a nation of suffers from one thing or another these days

I read that breastfeeding can prevent severe allergies, so maybe its because less children are breastfed now?

dora37

dipsy wrote: »

Yikes I pack my kids with a little plastic tub of nuts each day....... will then "nut" police be after me?

At DD's school we are asked not to send in nuts - not from the 'nut police' but out of courtesy to the children that have serious nut allergies.

thriftlady_2

tiff wrote: »

I read that breastfeeding can prevent severe allergies, so maybe its because less children are breastfed now?

I read that too so breastfed all my 3 for a year each. I also read that being too clean and hygienic is responsible for the increase in allergies -I am hardly Anthea Turner when it comes to hygiene :rotfl: Yet my youngest child has a nut allergy and has to carry those injection things around (she's also allergic to eggs) I don't understand it either.

As regards schools and nuts, my dd's school doesn't allow nuts because of her allergy and there is now another child in the school with a nut allergy.

If your child's school doesn't have any allergy sufferers then you'll probably be OK to take nuts in -they will let you know if you can't.

My big fear when she started school at 4 yrs was that another child would eat a peanut butter sandwich and transfer it from their hands to my dd's skin. This would have caused her to have a potentially fatal reaction. I was relieved when the staff offered to ban nuts from the outset. I've been called selfish for this on another board on this site -frankly I don't care whether it's selfish or not, I'd rather my dd returned home from school alive.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on

Nuts aren't especially cheap anyway. I pack my kids a cheap, homemade lunch everyday. This is my basic formula.

Sandwich or roll made with hm bread or a bought pitta and filled with ham/egg(for my boys)/cheese and sliced tomato or cucumber.

A piece of fruit -whatever is cheap and seasonal -apples from the farmshop at the moment. Dried fruit sometimes instead of fresh or a tub of tinned peaches/pineapple (bit messy though)

Something baked like a fruit muffin or flapjack -it's gingerbread this week.

An extra -this week it's hm munchy seeds made out of sunflower seeds which are cheap from a health food shop. Recipe here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=4926265&postcount=5 also a great alternative to the dreaded nuts
other extras include home popped popcorn (popping corn from a health food shop again) you can flavour it with spices or a little sugar; hm breadsticks, tubs of hummus and carrot sticks, cheese cubes.

I don't include a drink other than water.

miss_phish

I often take cold cooked noodles with a splash of soy sauce or balsamic vinegar or olive oil or lemon juice, olives, tomatoes, frozen peas, sweetcorn, whatever is in the house really.

I sometimes do a similar dish with rice (just be careful if it wont be refridgerated) to make it 'egg fried' style, whip an egg up and cook it in a non stick fry pan then slice it into strips and mix into the rice ......yummmmmmmmmmmmm

thriftlady_2

dora37 wrote: »

I have 3 children and fortunately none of them have an allergies - however I completely agree with you regarding the nut ban and would expect that most other parents would too.

I've always found the parents at my dd's school to be nothing but supportive and understanding. I got the impression that the person who thought I was selfish was not a parent

meester

PHickman wrote: »

(£5) Bernard Matthews Princess Ham / Dinosaur turkey roll packs are 2 for £1 at most supermarkets at the moment. You get 8 slices per pack... so six packs will last >20 days. You would use a full loaf of bread (£1 for premuim) over the course of a 1 month... and a bit of butter of course (£1?)

Wouldn't feed my kids that muck though... Since when does ham come in dinosaurs :eek: Canned tuna is quite cheap. Or just buy some decent ham.
And a loaf of bread doesn't last a month!

(£4) Ritz crackers (2-for-£2) with soft-squirty cheese (£1 per squeeze). Squirty cheese will only last 2 weeks max. once opened so buy two. Could try replacing quirty cheese with peanut butter for a change a few days!

Ditto on the squirty cheese, just muck, see above, a nice piece of cheddar seems more than adequate.

(£5) ASDA have the Robinsons fruit-shoot drinks on 3-for-£5 --- there are 8 plastic bottles per pack, so enough for >20 days (three flavours to choose from).

Again, muck, full of chemicals. Small cartons of apple juice are much better.

Knelley

My 2 are bad for eating fruit so I buy the small cartons of pure orange/pure apple juice from Lidl - 5 packs for £1.09. At least then I know that they are getting at least 1 portion during the day!

I make sandwiches with any of the kids style meat that is usually on buy one get one free - I just buy loads extra and freeze it

I give them a packet of dry raisins or Baby Bel and a yogurt. Or sometimes the individual chocolate roll things as a treat.

Knelley

I like the idea of tuna Think I need to start making the kids sandwiches the night before.