There shouldn't be any bans IMO but parents should be encouraged to provide healthy options. Perhaps a list of healthy options could be issued? Some parents are clueless but others don't have enough money for fruit and veg (which can be expensive compared to equivalent confectionery).

You only have to see the numbers going to food banks to know how true that is.

They do. We got the forms through for next terms school dinners at the little one's school.
They clearly state that they get funding from the "free school meals for people on benefits" and encourage people to take it.

If they are that poor then they are probably getting free school meals. Fruit and veg are not more expensive than pre-packs food - its just that the parents that only fill their "little darlings" lunch boxes with crisps and chocolate probably don't know how to cook

That is certainly the case here. A kilo of carrots costs less than a family sized pack of crisps. In season, a cucumber costs around 20 - 30 cents.

My boy has schools diners every day, but that doesn't mean to say I think packed lunches are unhealthy. Far from it in fact.

Unhealthy packed lunches are unhealthy. Healthy packed lunches are healthy.

However the main meals of the day should be breakfast and lunch to ensure a good night sleep. That's difficult to achieve eating only cold food.

Source?

Most people I've known throughout my life have had a sandwich or cold snack like a salad for lunch, and have a hot meal when they get home from work.

Why? It's very easy to eat more protein and calories in a sandwich or other cold foods at lunch than in a hot meal for tea if you're so inclined. Just compare the nutritional information on pre-packaged foods.

Personally, if I'm going to eat a hearty meal it needs to be in the evening. I want to sleep for two hours afterwards, which is generally frowned upon at school or in the office. It's widely suggested that protein and slow release carbohydrates in the evening can aid a peaceful sleep, which is probably why it's normal to do it that way.

It doesn't seem to make sense to load yourself of energy if it's to go sleep afterwards. That'll just all be stored as fat surely?
I've always been told that a light meal with little fat helps sleep because you're not working as hard to digest it.

There was a long tradition in t'industrial north of a larger cooked meal at midday and a smaller meal in the evenings. This was because the meal in the day was provided by the factories most people worked in (or the school for children) and most people were relatively poor, so buying and storing food at home was difficult. So you had a large meal at midday in the factory canteen and then had tea and sandwich or similar when you got home.

It's the opposite in agricultural work as you're a long way from a kitchen during the day, so you take a packed lunch with you and then have a large cooked meal in the evening when you get home starving hungry from a day's toil in the fields.

I've always thought this was the reason we ended up with the whole lunch/dinner/tea divide - northern industrial workers had dinner (big cooked meal, midday) and tea (small meal, evening), whereas agricultural workers in the south east & south west had lunch (cold food, midday) and dinner (big cooked meal, evening)

Yep - it was known as dinner time, not lunchtime, but that was a carry over from a time gone by. Our meal after school/work was always called "Tea".

Down here it's lunchtime and then dinner in the evening. Some of the oldtimers on the island call it "Nammet", which was originally called Noon meat - a cold midday meal consisting of bread cheese and meat.

AKA Ploughman's Lunch?

I thought Ploughman's didn't have meat in it? Or at least all the "ploughman's" sandwiches I've ever seen have cheese, pickle and salad.

Didn't know about the reasons behind lunch/dinner/tea. I was aware of meal sizes and which was called what, but not the history behind it all. Thank you.