Lunches at secondary school, seriously?

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Yesterday, I wrote a little ditty (see below) lamenting the disappearance of the packed lunch, since the boy started secondary school. No longer does he take a ham wrap, crisps, chocolate bar, cheese string and a portion of fruit, all carefully placed in a lunch box. No, firstly there's the issue of the lunch box. I saw this appear in my school in Year 6 and with the boy too - lunch tastes better out of a plastic bag. Now this used to be free, but now at 5p a pop, I'd have to pay one pound a month on a lunch holder! During transition week, we allowed him to eat at the canteen during one (or both) of the two 25 minute breaks. He loved the pizza, sausage baps ("Three sausages, Mum!" - actually three halves!) and iced buns. The school recommended £3.50 a day but that's nearly £700 a school year! 

 A quick search showed Mumsnet conversations even three years ago about "social suicide" of taking in packed lunches, especially in boxes! One boy had taken a packed lunch in a box for two or three days, then stopped, but at the end of the year, he was still teased about it. A swift vox pop showed that this wasn't actually the case at my son's school; his friends do take packed lunches in a box. They aren't teased. 

 Secondly, there's the issue of what he's actually eating. I'm no longer in control of what he eats. I can't ensure he has a portion of fruit a day. This past week, these are the sorts of lunches he's had:

  • two iced buns at 75p each ("A bargain, Mum.")
  • pizza slice ("Nothing else, because I didn't know how much I had left on my thumbprint.")
  • pasta and tomato sauce ("Mum, the cheese is 30p to go on top. Can you put some in a box for me?")
  • his packed lunch from me (wrap etc) AND iced buns! ("I didn't realise it was either/or.")
We've decided, due to cost and control from me, to do half/half. He's allowed to buy something and then I provide the "picky" bits to go with it. He's agreed to a little box of cucumber, grapes and cheese. He said he wants to try the toast and crumpets one day too.

There are lots of changes we've come across on the journey to secondary school; this wasn't one I was expecting. I just hadn't given it a thought. 

Ode to the packed lunch


There once was a perfect packed lunch
Full of lovely things to munch
Bags of crisps, pots of grapes
Snacks of all sizes and shapes
But now you've gone, thanks a bunch
For years I haven't actually made you
He did it all himself, on cue
Tightly packed wraps of ham
As much as he could cram
And the healthy stuff he could eschew
As for bringing the rubbish home
Opening your lunch box, I'd always moan
It was seen as a sin
To put wrappers in the bin
So we knew what you'd eaten, grrr, groan
Now you've moved schools in year seven
You think you're in lunchtime heaven
Pizza slices, bacon baps
No more healthy brown wraps
How many iced buns now? Eleven?
So I'm no longer in control
Perhaps I need a little mole
To see what you've eaten
For now I feel beaten
Oh go on, have that sausage roll.

Edit - He has not avoided healthy food and hasn't eaten that many iced buns! It's all poetic licence.