Spill the beans... on cheap, nutritious back to school lunchboxes

jellyhead

As it came up in conversation in the playground today ...

Sainsburys sell basics blueberries for £1.20- ish. Tesco have a 125g punnet (smaller than their usual) for £1. Places like Tesco only get cheap packs for promotions etc. but Sainsburys blueberries are always cheap. Growing your own is cheaper still

samtwins

Fire_Fox wrote: »

A child with peanut allergy can avoid the tree nuts to be on the safe side, but it's overkill for all schoolchildren to avoid such a healthy food group just in case one child has a previously undiagnosed rare anaphylactic reaction. If you were to do that you'd also ban the other 'common' food triggers for severe allergic reactions: milk, eggs, soy, wheat, fish and shellfish which doesn't actually leave you with much of a packed lunch.

It can never be 'overkill' when a childs life is at stake. My godson has been recently diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy. He has been given an epi-pen to carry with him & every family member has made their home a nut free zone. None of us want to feel responsible for his death should he come into contact with nuts. I feel it's a small price to pay to ensure his safety. He suffers from other allergies, milk, eggs, tomatoes, wheat etc but these will give him rashes or an upset tummy at worst, they are not life threatening.

Fire_Fox

samtwins wrote: »

It can never be 'overkill' when a childs life is at stake. My godson has been recently diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy. He has been given an epi-pen to carry with him & every family member has made their home a nut free zone. None of us want to feel responsible for his death should he come into contact with nuts. I feel it's a small price to pay to ensure his safety. He suffers from other allergies, milk, eggs, tomatoes, wheat etc but these will give him rashes or an upset tummy at worst, they are not life threatening.

You didn't read my post properly. I said ALL children, not all children within a school where there is someone with anaphylaxis from a food allergy. Any of those other foods can cause anaphylaxis in rare cases so you would have to ban them all to protect all children.

sassyblue

Without turning the thread into another b*tch fest, l also use metal drinking bottles instead of plastic.

IMO there's a worry with plastic bottles, sure only a tiny worry BUT if your child is going to drink from one 5 days a week during school times it's a bigger risk. Plus the metal ones last longer.

Our DS is at a school where they're only allowed to drink water during lessons.

lily76

I make up DH's lunch box everyday though he is not a kid. They have microwave oven in the company so a lot of things could be done. I am not sure if there are microwaves in school and if there is one in the school things are much easier. A slow cooker cooking book could help alot.

If there is no microwave at all then sandwiches will be fine but I sometimes make sushi for DH if he does not want to eat anything hot.

HappySad

sassyblue wrote: »

Without turning the thread into another b*tch fest, l also use metal drinking bottles instead of plastic.

IMO there's a worry with plastic bottles, sure only a tiny worry BUT if your child is going to drink from one 5 days a week during school times it's a bigger risk. Plus the metal ones last longer.

Our DS is at a school where they're only allowed to drink water during lessons.

Best 4 health to use stainless steel bottles. I use onegreenbottle with the flip cap for our family. Their website has info why stainkess steel is good.

My boys have SD, so just need snacks at and after school. They have cheesy oat cakes, whole wheat crackers and fruit. I bring along more fruit or chicken tikka peices , whole meal pitta with egg mayo for after school snack. Water or sparkling water is what they drink.

For days out I usually pack fruit, fromage fais pockets, smoothie, egg or tuna mayo in whole wheat pitta. Cheesy string and baby bel cheese. Fish fingers with whole meal buns. Snacks are oats cakes or whole wheat crackers.

I started my kids from birth to not have junk foods so they don't miss it. They have junk foods occasionally but not much.

The supermarkets have a great range of healthy lunch foods. Generally I find the kids foods with cartons on to be the mot unhealthiest with loads of sugar or white flour.

I went fruit & veg picking with the family recently and my boys ate beetRoot and raw tomatoes without the usual fuss!

jellyhead

freshly picked tomatoes taste different to chilled supermarket ones. We picked our first few from the garden yesterday (I know it's late, but we haven't got a greenhouse and they haven't done well) and my 7 year old said they tasted of sunshine

onlyroz

jellyhead wrote: »

freshly picked tomatoes taste different to chilled supermarket ones. We picked our first few from the garden yesterday (I know it's late, but we haven't got a greenhouse and they haven't done well) and my 7 year old said they tasted of sunshine

That's strange, because the homegrown tomatos that my parents constantly try to foist on me taste of absolutely nothing.

jellyhead

onlyroz wrote: »

That's strange, because the homegrown tomatos that my parents constantly try to foist on me taste of absolutely nothing.

Are they refrigerating them first? We ate ours straight away so they were still warm. Tomatoes are usually tasteless but I do like the little baby ones from Sainsbury's, called tomberries.

sassyblue

jellyhead wrote: »

freshly picked tomatoes taste different to chilled supermarket ones. We picked our first few from the garden yesterday (I know it's late, but we haven't got a greenhouse and they haven't done well) and my 7 year old said they tasted of sunshine

Agree. I never refrigerate tomatoes, ours are late too we've only had 2 this year!

Out of home grown season l only buy baby plum tomatoes, some tomatoes from the supermarket taste of raw meat to me. _pale_