The Tyranny of Packed Lunches

Are you fed up trying to figure out what the hell to put in your kid’s lunchbox? That is: trying to figure out 1) something they’ll actually eat 2) something that will keep them full 3) something vaguely nutritious and 4) that follows the school or daycare’s rules. That’s on top of the already high mental load of planning, shopping for, and preparing other meals and snacks. This is something that CIHAS readers have been discussing in the Discord lately

I’ve talked about how, in A’s school, we are not allowed packed lunches. We have universal free school meals in London (which is amazing) and on the one hand, it’s great to not have to think about packing a lunch. On the other hand, I wish we had the option to choose for days when the school menu is too tricky (which as you’ll know by now, is most days). A goes to extended-care for an hour after school finishes Monday to Thursday (he has Fridays off until he turns 5). Because he doesn’t eat much lunch, we basically send him in with the equivalent of a mini-meal for his snack. That means in practice, we do have to think about packing a lunchbox, with the added complication that it won’t be eaten until 3.30pm, so has to last at room temp until then.