Mum faces backlash after admitting she prepares five weeks of school lunches at a time

Some people have been questioning a mum's method for sorting out the school lunches, after she posted to Facebook about preparing sandwiches up to five weeks in advance.

Taking to social media to explain her routine, mum Elsie said she made a big batch of sandwiches and pops them into the freezer for weeks at a time, before taking each one out to be defrosted ahead of her daughter's school day.

Facebook

She posted an image of stacks upon stacks of sandwiches all ready to be frozen to a Facebook group, though not everyone thought she had the right idea - worried about what spending so long in a freezer would do to the ingredients.

Elsie wrote: "Just to be clear; I don't expect my child to eat soggy sandwiches. They defrost well overnight.

"I also don't expect my child to eat frozen sandwiches. They are defrosted the night before."

The mum went on to explain that the trick to making it work was to use 'foods with a low water content', while watery ingredients like lettuce and cucumber would have to be added once the sandwich had defrosted.

While this approach would save plenty of time and probably helps cut a few costs to boot, there were plenty of parents who weren't convinced.

One asked whether sandwiches with a meat filling were really 'safe to freeze and eat defrosted', while another complained that freezing the sandwich could result in 'soggy bread', and they just didn't think it'd taste the same after five weeks in a freezer.

While some ingredients just really aren't suitable for freezing, there are plenty of things you'll find in sandwiches that can do a fine job of surviving in a freezer for weeks, and lots of people keep their bread in the freezer, and simply take it out to thaw for a few minutes so it defrosts.

Angela Hampton Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo

There were other parents who were more supportive, saying making all the school lunches at a time 'works well'.

Packed lunches for school seems to be something of a controversial topic among parents, especially as some schools seem to take a very active interest in what children are bringing in with them.

One school rang up a pupil's mum to complain about the 'disgusting and inappropriate' contents of his lunchbox.

Meanwhile, a dad started leaving notes in his daughter's lunchbox for her teachers to see after they started getting picky over the contents of packed lunches, even if the school itself didn't always serve the healthiest options.

Topics: Parenting, Life, Food and Drink

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker