Author Topic: Fruit in packed lunches (Read 3514 times)

creations · « **on:** July 08, 2014, 12:08:04 pm »

Not sure if this should be here or pre-schoolers...

I need to change my thinking about fruit in packed lunches and could do with some ideas or BTDT thoughts.

Up to now (since April) I've been giving DS a packed lunch 3 days per week for nursery. I purposely choose 'clean' fruits which are easy to eat and stay 'dry' in his lunch box. So blueberries, grapes, cherry toms, strawberries (hulled), all things I know will still be nice and fresh when he comes to eat them. I've avoided sliced fruit because it's 'wet' and turns sloppy and unappetizing in a box, plus I hate the mixed flavours especially when mixed sliced fruits start to go acidic in a tub (like sliced nectarine, melon, avocado etc). Yesterday was the first time any lunch food was returned home uneaten - I discovered they are slicing ALL his fruit! Not a job I was told to do but perhaps it was expected. Anyway, no one complained to me and he leaves there in 2 weeks, perhaps they don't mind doing it.

In Sept he starts a new nursery where they require all fruits such as grapes and cherry toms to be sliced in half. Obviously they consider them a choke hazard which I respect but even so I'm finding it hard to get my head around slicing loads of fruits and them being a sloppy mess by the time he comes to eat them.

I can give him a whole clementine as he can peel it himself, but what else? (I can't always get the ones with loose skin and the tight skinned ones are hard to peel). Bananas get bruised easily, apples are often too big, I doubt whole apricots or plums are going to be allowed because of the pip inside being a choke hazard...

What do you do for fruit in packed lunch?
Any clever ideas how to keep fruits nice and fresh from prep the night before all the way to lunch time?

M and N's Mom · « **Reply #1 on:** July 08, 2014, 12:25:27 pm »

We pack fruit daily. We did invest in banana-guards (http://www.fenigo.com/BananaGuard.aspx) which do work. Apples, melon (with a small fork), pineapple, grapes, apricots (cut in half and the pit taken out). Adding a small ice pack sometimes helps. I have found that my kids have a few fruits that are too mushy (pears) so they wont take them but mostly they get used to slightly brown apples (if they are cut in the morning).

Veggies are often a less mushy alternative.

Mashi · « **Reply #2 on:** July 08, 2014, 13:34:27 pm »

I also say the banana guard is a must!

I have some smaller pots with good secure lids that I use for packing things that need to be sliced. I find that with things like small tomatoes, plums, apricots and grapes if you slice them and then just stick them back together and then pack them in the pot and pack it quite full, they tend to stay together and not get messy. I slice peaches because DS does not like to eat them like you would an apple because they are messy, but I slice them and remove the stone and then assemble it back together whole and wrap it in foil. I prefer to put things in tubs rather than foil but hey

creations · « **Reply #3 on:** July 08, 2014, 18:24:20 pm »

OK I'll get a banana guard.
I see what you mean Mashi about putting the fruit back together I'll try that. Mashi do you do this on the morning of the lunch or the night before? I'm going to have far less time come September as we need to head out the door at least 45 mins earlier than we do now and I just can't see me having time to slice and pack in the morning.

He does also have lots of veggies in his lunch already, DS expects both.

Mashi · « **Reply #4 on:** July 08, 2014, 19:12:05 pm »

I do it in the morning - it is a rushed job, I put together his lunch box in about 5 minutes and tbh not a whole lot of thought goes into it because it is really just his morning snack. He has breakfast at home and what I pack for him is really his mid-morning snack, he eats it at some point between 8:30 and 10am (they just choose to eat whenever they are hungry but 10am is about the cut-off point) because they have a hot meal served at noon. Half of a sandwich, some fruit, tomatoes, yogurt, etc...just whatever I can chuck into his box and it only takes a minute. I have about 3 small tupperware pots with good lids (easy to open, close securely so if he eats half and leaves the rest it does not leak!) that fit inside his lunch box and I choose based on which fruits I am sending.

Roseii · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2014, 19:20:20 pm »

I'm a terrible mother, I slice everything the night before

Tomorrow both girls have cucumber sticks, halved cherry tomatoes (in together) then halved grapes and cubes of mango. I also use small secure pots.

creations · « **Reply #6 on:** July 08, 2014, 20:52:20 pm »

lol I'm sure you aren't a terrible mother for cutting grapes, it seems I am the terrible mother for not cutting them

I haven't sliced a grape since DS turned 1yo (and met paretns on a first aid course who cut all grapes in quarters because one of their kids had choked on a grape half!)
Maybe it's just my own dislike of mixed fruit salad and the way they go kind of mushy.
Do your kids eat the 'wet' fruits with their fingers? If I gave DS cubes of mango he would certainly want a fork, not sure if the new nursery allow them or not. I might just do that, put a fork in a wait for the complaint from nursery $:-\$

Mashi · « **Reply #7 on:** July 08, 2014, 21:34:35 pm »

I sometimes send a fork but if DS wants one and I didn't then they will give him one (or rather, he is allowed to go and get one for himself)! I cant see them not allowing a fork?

*Liz* · « **Reply #8 on:** July 08, 2014, 23:20:05 pm »

Megan's nursery expects grapes quartered

. Totally OTT, since it is only the 3+ preschoolers that stay for lunch!

Roseii · « **Reply #9 on:** July 09, 2014, 06:33:16 am »

The school have never mentioned halving fruits etc I don't think, it's my own neuroses so I now can't bring myself to not halve them kwim?! However if someone else presented my kids with whole grapes I wouldn't take them off them to halve!! And yes they just eat the fruit with their fingers. Actually I suspect they just tip the contents into their mouths directly from the pot

creations · « **Reply #10 on:** July 09, 2014, 07:13:07 am »

Quote from: *Liz* on July 08, 2014, 23:20:05 pm

Totally OTT, since it is only the 3+ preschoolers that stay for lunch!

My thoughts too. Where he is now they are all over 3yo (in his room where they have lunch) and the new nursery they are all 3+, some closer to 4yo. What age are they allowed uncut grapes??

*Liz* · « **Reply #11 on:** July 09, 2014, 08:47:51 am »

Megan won't eat them quartered - too small and too slimy - and they do confiscate if I forget

. So basically I don't bother, so when berries are out of season she has no fruit as I can't figure a presentation way either

. She likes apples peeled, and bananas only at snack time.

Thank god it's strawberry season

.

Khalam's Mama · « **Reply #12 on:** July 09, 2014, 17:32:16 pm »

I don't cut anything small and haven't for years. I do cut melon and put in a pot. Sometimes it comes home with the odd cube in and isn't mushy.

Roseii · « **Reply #13 on:** July 09, 2014, 19:35:07 pm »

Well the mango was a bust anyway

Even my non-fussy kid wouldn't eat it!

creations · « **Reply #14 on:** July 10, 2014, 07:14:10 am »

Yes I can imagine melon cubes alone in a pot. So perhaps there are a few other soft fruits I can use but not mixed, and piece them back together like mashi said. I just know I have to do this the night before though, no way will I have time to chop and fiddle in the morning.

When he brought home his left over bits (just once) from this nursery and I discovered they were slicing everything, my stomach churned when I saw his fruit box. green beans, baby corn, cherry toms and blueberries, grapes, strawberries all chopped and mushed together, wet and utterly unappetizing. There is no way I'd eat it and it had only been 1hr since lunch time.

anna* · « **Reply #15 on:** July 10, 2014, 08:26:21 am »

If you cut an apple in sections you can reassemble it, hold it together with a couple of rubber bands (CHOKE HAZARD!!) and it look slike a whole apple. OT (because of aforementioned CHOKE HAZARD) but pretty cool trick

creations · « **Reply #16 on:** July 10, 2014, 18:30:56 pm »

haha! Anna! lol

Thought I'd had an amazing idea today - cherries as I have a cherry pitter - until I realised that they are still small and round and considered a choke hazard. Think I was tired

What is it with all these choke hazards? Maybe they could spend some time in nursery learning how to eat without choking instead of cutting everything up into slithers

Khalam's Mama · « **Reply #17 on:** July 12, 2014, 22:14:21 pm »

I saw a cool trick where you put the grapes etc on a plate. Put another plate on top and then use a sharp knife to cut through between the plates. Then they are all chopped in half with one cut. Haven't tried it as I don't cut anything like that but looked easy.

nwmm · « **Reply #18 on:** July 13, 2014, 01:59:29 am »

So when you put fruit back together does it just slow down from turning brown?

I've never done it but I know you can soak apple slices in things like heathlty apple juice or lemon juice to slow down browning process.

What about watermelon? It's already wet.

When we used to cut grapes we would use a scissors.

I usually pack fruit that doesn't stain.

*Ali* · « **Reply #19 on:** July 13, 2014, 07:34:51 am »

Are you sure they are slicing his food because they view it as a choke hazard and it isn't that someone just thought they were being helpful that day by cutting it into bite-sized pieces for him? Maybe that is why he didn't eat it. I can't imagine anyone cutting green beans and baby corn because of fears he would choke,yk?

You could do that trick with the apple and just wrap it tightly in cling film rather than using a rubber band

What about a kiwi cut in half and put back together and a spoon to scoop it out with?

creations · « **Reply #20 on:** July 13, 2014, 10:38:44 am »

It could have been a one-off but I doubt it. They have the same staff all day, so the 2 key workers for the room also eat their lunch with the kids, they don't have a different supervisor for lunch time. I'd expect they'd either always do it or never, not just once.
Besides, he leaves there at the end of this week but the new nursery in September definitely have the grapes-cut-in-half rule. Although they haven't yet posted out the lunch rules to me I know parents who already have kids there who know the lunch policy and now slice grapes and cherry toms since receiving a complaint letter from the school when they didn't slice them.

I was thinking kiwi and spoon too Ali, not sure DS would have the patience to dig it out with a spoon but I'm going to try it over the summer break.

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Author Topic: Fruit in packed lunches (Read 3514 times)