Packing a lunch...ice pack or not?

[karenbaco]

Ok.....

If you pack your kid a lunch with a meat sandwich, ie turkey, ham, etc. Do you add an ice pack to keep it cold or not? My son insists that his sandwich will be fine sitting in his locker in a papaer bag until lunch. I say it will spoil without refrigeration. He doesn't want to carry a lunch bag around with him at recess so he insists on a paper bag lunch. He cannot eat peanut butter and needs a meat sandwich of some sort.

 

[threecrazykids]

Ok.....

If you pack your kid a lunch with a meat sandwich, ie turkey, ham, etc. Do you add an ice pack to keep it cold or not? My son insists that his sandwich will be fine sitting in his locker in a papaer bag until lunch. I say it will spoil without refrigeration. He doesn't want to carry a lunch bag around with him at recess so he insists on a paper bag lunch. He cannot eat peanut butter and needs a meat sandwich of some sort.

I think it will be fine - but I live on the edge like that. Most of the meats now have enough crud in them that they don't go bad quickly. I guess I look at things like weddings, graduations, family reunions, etc. where those little slider sandwiches sit out for a few hours. No one in my family has ever gotten sick, from any sort of food, so I don't worry about it. However, if your family has sensitive stomachs I'd maybe feel different.

 

[msjprincess]

I do, but I went to school back in the 70's when we didn't have ice packs. I brought lunch every day and never got sick.

 

[ashley0139]

I brought a lunch with a sandwich with meat every day of my school career and never used an ice pack. It will be fine.

 

[barkley]

I make sandwiches the night before, ziplock bag um and toss them in the fridge. son complains they're sometimes still 'too cold' at lunch. even making them first thing in the morning they're still fine at lunch.

 

[soccerdad72]

I've never packed an ice pack in my kids' lunches (with turkey, ham, salami, etc) and they've never gotten sick.

I often make their sandwiches with frozen bread, but mostly, that's just so the bread is a little fresher when they get around to eating lunch.

 

[TAX GUY]

I pack one for son most days. He has his sandwiches DRY so it's never an issue. The meat stays fine. It there was mayo..... I'd pack it with an ice pack.

 

[minnie mum]

I'm looking at this from a Grandma's perspective. When I was in school a thousand years ago, we usually went to school with a tin lunch box containing sandwiches made with meat, poultry, or fish (that half the time had mayo in it) and wrapped with wax paper. No ice packs. No a/c keeping the school cool. And I dont recall any of my school mates succumbing to food poisoning. My kids carried lunches for 12 years without ice packs and never got sick. How many hours from the time you make that sandwich til they're eating? Maybe 4? I think he'll be fine.

 

[Jedana]

Ok.....

If you pack your kid a lunch with a meat sandwich, ie turkey, ham, etc. Do you add an ice pack to keep it cold or not? My son insists that his sandwich will be fine sitting in his locker in a papaer bag until lunch. I say it will spoil without refrigeration. He doesn't want to carry a lunch bag around with him at recess so he insists on a paper bag lunch. He cannot eat peanut butter and needs a meat sandwich of some sort.

DS uses a lunch bag that has a freezer pack inside the bag itself.

If he doesn't want a bag with ice pack in it, he needs to have something else frozen, like a juice box, that will keep the sandwich cold. The food danger zone is 40-140. Food that is in that temperature zone can grow bacteria.

http://homefoodsafety.org/food-poisoning/the-danger-zone

 

[usd2bmd]

I always do. For me it isn't an issue of whether I would get sick or not, it is just my personal preference.

 

[HM]

When I was a kid, I got a bologna/mayo sandwich for lunch in my paper sack each day. No ice. Never got sick

With my kids lunch boxes, I included a blue ice pack. They had yogurt and juice boxes I wanted to stay cold. Sometimes there was meat sandwiches or sometimes pb&j.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Well, is it against the food safety rules? Yes.

I always pack a cold pack with my kid's lunch.

That being said at work yesterday I brought a baloney sandwich and forgot to put it in the fridge. I went against the odds and ate it. I was hungry.

 

[AlohaKeke]

Could you put a cold or frozen drink in the bag so it helps to keep the sandwich cold? The drink should thaw out by lunch time. I think that is what my mom used to do for me.

 

[marmalade]

I never had an ice pack in my lunch and my kids have never had one either. Not one incident of food poisoning ever.

 

[kidshop]

Ok.....

If you pack your kid a lunch with a meat sandwich, ie turkey, ham, etc. Do you add an ice pack to keep it cold or not? My son insists that his sandwich will be fine sitting in his locker in a papaer bag until lunch. I say it will spoil without refrigeration. He doesn't want to carry a lunch bag around with him at recess so he insists on a paper bag lunch. He cannot eat peanut butter and needs a meat sandwich of some sort.

I don't use ice packs. I make the lunches at 8:30. One eats at a 11 am, and one at 1 pm. I may pop the sandwich in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before it goes in the lunchbox( it is insulated)

I think it's fine. No one has died yet.

 

[bjscheel]

I have some plastic ice packs that are real flat and about the size of a piece of bread. If my kids have a meat sandwich or yogurt, I put one of those in. We also have an ice tube that came with a drink bottle. If DD just has cheese sticks to keep cold, I lay that with the sticks.

So does he throw away the whole paper bag and all packaging and that's why he can't have an ice pack in his paper bag lunch? If so, I would do a frozen drink in a disposable container to keep it cold but not have anything to carry after.

 

[bcla]

There's the possibility of listeria or salmonella. It's definitely not pleasant. The nitrates or other assorted preservatives typical in lunch meats tend to kill off a lot of bacteria, but listeria is somewhat tough.

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/happens-eat-spoiled-lunch-meat-24550.html

A lot of food poisoning tends to be mild and the symptoms may take days to appear.

 

[bookgirl]

I do but there is often 5 hours in between when I pack and when I eat and I often have uncured meats in sandwiches or I have actual leftovers which also have very little preservatives added. I have forgotten and I don't throw away the food I go ahead and eat. Well except my soy/almond yogurt or milk. I don't like either of them warm. I'm sure they'd be safe but warm "dairy" items kind of gross me out.

My nephew took his lunch everyday last year. Paper bag in his locker no ice pack. What we did do was buy a bunch of individual packets of mayo. Sent the sandwich dry (brother just bought the OM deli meat in packages so plenty of Preservatives and curing agents to keep them safe) and he dressed it when he ate about 4 hours later.

 

[karenbaco]

Yes he wants his lunch to be completely disposable. I just dont trust it. I guess we can chance it and see what happens. I just would never give him tuna or turkey or chicken. Ham will probably be fine as would bologna.

 

[bethbuchall]

My youngest is 15, and he's had deli ham or deli turkey or tuna salad made with mayo in his lunch almost every day of his school life without an ice pack. We do live in an area that is relatively cool (or downright cold) most of the school year. The deli meat isn't the healthiest lunch, but it is what works for us. If you are more concerned than I am, you could always freeze the drink (or freeze half the drink) and let that keep the sandwich cool.