Would you be comfortable with your kid eating food at school that the other parents have made?

I am not and I’m going to have to tell the teacher because there is a potluck on Friday.

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?

@Anne yes I have and I’ve seen gross things but they don’t have cats or dogs in restaurants

Yea I wouldn’t be comfortable either. I don’t eat at potlucks. You really can’t eat food from everybody. But also from an allergy standpoint a potluck with people cooking the food for children seems like a recipe for disaster. One poorly cooked food and everyone has food poisoning. Gluten allergies, people that need kosher or halal food. This seems like a terrible idea.

@Khyia we keep halal, only eat from 3 places that aren’t our own house and i would never eat potluck food. Like you said can’t eat from everyone.

@Anne it’s not even that some kids are deathly allergic to things and traces of gluten or peanuts could trigger a reaction. Or like I said above people with dietary restrictions but the pans and utensils they cooked with came in to contact. There are things in my cousins adult age they realized they couldn’t eat because no one realized one ingredient was a pork by product

No I wouldn’t be comfortable tbh. I just feel like I don’t know how the food was prepared. Absolutely no disrespect to whoever has prepared it but I have definitely seen some vile things from people I wouldn’t have expected so now I have trust issues

@Zainab🗝️ allergies are a totally different story. Sorry you didn’t mention that. My child doesn’t have pet allergies so that’s not even something i would have considered.

Ehh, this is hard. Ultimately if it was for a school party or something I probably would let them, but I would have no one to blame but myself if they get food poisoning or something lol.

@Zainab🗝️ yea I totally understand. My uncle and his entire family is Muslim so when they come to visit my grandma purges pork from the house so there isn’t a chance the kids eat something by mistake. I also don’t eat beef and pork for non religious reasons and people have a tendency to had pork to EVERYTHING but it’s not a huge deal for me because I just don’t like pigs and beef smell grosses me out 😂 And if I am not mistaken halal also has to do with how something is prepared and stored right? So if it’s in the same fridge as something that isn’t halal it also becomes non-halal? Right?

@Khyia huh? The same precautions for food allergies would have to be considered when eating at restaurants.

@Anne yes but we are talking about someone preparing it in their home. Where they don’t necessarily have to take precautions for allergies

@Khyia you could have it in the same fridge and stuff but yeah some people really worry about cross contamination. It’s about the slaughter of the meat more than anything and then prepared in a clean environment is important to everyone I would assume lol. Only apparently not.

Yeah totally. But I'm super used to potlucks cause of church.

@Anne oh my kids don’t have allergies but I wouldn’t want a dog or a cat licking on the utensils or dancing across the counters and for someone to serve my kids food from that scenario. No cookies from the family puke bowl for us.

@Brittany all these kids are older kids who are mostly in diapers or require bathroom help. Imagine the diarrhea nightmare that would happen? I get why they put it on a Friday 🤣

@Khyia most restaurants don’t either. Ive worked in many restaurants of varying scale across NY and LA and you’d be shocked by what goes on in kitchens lol.

@Zainab🗝️ lol yuck! I have pets and wouldn’t want this either. Cant even imagine someone doing that. We have potlucks with friends frequently. If you dont feel comfortable letting your kid share food, just let the teacher know.

@Anne TikTok scared me with all the videos of people feeding their dogs off the spoon before eating off it themselves or the baby eats off of it.

Thankfully my daughter has a Christmas party at school and we have been told not to bring any food then. All food will be provided by the school, I think this is the ideal way

@Anne I think that’s why people who need the food prepared a certain way eat in restaurants that have that in mind. There are a lot of halal restaurants where I live now. We actually just had food from one this past week.

Somebody I knew I'd probably be okay with, like friends or family. But random people no, I have no clue how clean they actually are or what could actually be in that food. Plus my son is diabetic and we have to track the carbs of every single thing he eats so he gets dosed the proper insulin for it and it's soooo hard to dose for homemade things other people make. We can make our best guess but it still always leaves his blood sugar either running too high or crashing low which is not fun for anyone, especially if he was at a school event. My family knows to keep track of the carbs whenever they make something he'll eat so they can let us know but we can't expect strangers to do that

@Zainab🗝️ haha o jeez!! 💩

This made me look out of curiosity, both my sons and daughters schools don’t allow home cooked food during parties. Only prepackaged.

I'm so glad that my kid's school doesn't allow potluck style meals

I’m think because more than half the kids keep halal, many can’t use utensils and some have AFRID, to just order cheese pizza from the one guy we know of a first name basis and hasn’t poisoned us yet 🤣

@Raqi ya I just looked at both of their handbooks.

@Zainab🗝️ can’t go wrong with pizza in my eyes lol

I don’t let my kids eat anything I didn’t make unless it’s from a restaurant or close friend. We don’t eat pork and I’m very clean so I can’t trust others to triple check the ingredients they use or how the prepare so I just make sure I have food for my kids anywhere we go.

No. My children have allergies and I can’t be sure what ingredients they used. We always err on the side of caution and don’t eat food we cannot read the ingredients on. If my daughters are not 100% confident, they don’t eat it. Not to mention some people have different cleanliness standards and have pets that roam their kitchens and sit on and lick the utensils used to cook.

Nah man we don’t have restrictions or any allergies and school had this baking show I bought some stuff and never ate it😂. I can’t eat stuff from strangers when I haven’t seen their kitchen or they are professional business (which is still a risk but you know at least you know they get inspected and all !).

No cuz people will think stuff is allergen friendly just cuz they didn’t put wheat or peanuts in there without realizing the amount of ingredients that have wheat and peanuts

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. But we don’t have allergies etc. I love trying new food!

I’d be fine with it except my baby’s allergies are too severe and I’m celiac. To make potluck food that’s dairy, gluten and egg free just wouldn’t be fair on the other attendees 😂

Yes. But we have no allergies/dietary restrictions/religious restrictions etc. And honestly the people who have the dirtiest kitchens won’t be the ones who cook, they’ll be the ones who buy pre packaged 😂

No, we have multiple allergies.

I’m undecided but I’ll cross that bridge when it comes on Sunday as it’s culture dress up day & we can bring a food in from our home country. My daughter is quite particular about things so probably wouldn’t eat what everyone else has brought in but she has asked if I’m going to make something so I guess if I’m making something I can’t really say no to her eating other peoples although I’m not sure that she will unless it’s a pudding then she probably will! 🤣

They don’t allow homemade foods at our kids schools. They only allow store bought that has the nutrition label and hasn’t been opened.

I personally wouldn't care if it's not regularly, but she doesn't have allergies, and there are no religious things that would stop us. Although I would worry it's gross. I don't eat at some of my relatives house because I know how disgusting they are thoufh

As long as I'm made aware of what's in it because of allergies. Same thing as going out to eat.

I worked in a Lebanese restaurant that told customers the meat was halal. It was not. When I found out I was pissed. Anyway, I don't eat potluck meals if I've never been to your house and seen your kitchen. We rarely eat out and when we do I try not to think about it or I can't enjoy my food 😭. I worked as a server for 12 years...the grossest shit was usually the utensils and cups. We have a cat & two dogs and they're not allowed in the kitchen when we are cooking/baking. The gate gets locked. As a teacher, we held potlucks for parties because my students enjoyed baking and it was cheaper for some families to cook than to buy already made stuff. The rules was all homemade items must have a recipe card and we tape it in front of the food. If the recipe card was forgotten the food could not be served. The foods could not have pork or nuts, ever. Some parents didn't want their kids eating potluck stuff and I let them know that they need to have that conversation with their 12 yr old kid 🤷🏾‍♀️

Nah people are gross.

Depends

i made my kid food all the way til 10th grade. now shes too cool for home cooked meals lol

Yeah. I dont care. They’ve eaten dirt and sand from a sand box that a cat surly peed in at some point.

I read the email wrong 🤣 they didn’t mean food. They want something to show and tell?? Kind of? Like something traditional to our family for holidays.

“Bring something to share for the holidays” sounds like food to me. Am I crazy?

Hmm I would think they’re talking about food too lol. I know when I was in school they had a multicultural day and had the students bring in food from their culture. If it’s that short of shindig then it’s most likely food. Are you able to call them to clarify?

@Eviee I emailed the teacher and she explained further. I’m happy I asked. Now I’m thinking that I have to get the teachers a new years gift but I don’t know what to get them. Should post about that now 🤣

Ooh good! What did she say was it good that they want the kids to bring in? I don’t get teachers gifts lol they have to be exceptional for me to spend my money on them. So I can’t help with that one 😂