In the U.K., it’s too often junk food…put there by well-meaning but poorly informed parents.

Sandwiches (usually white bread, often made with trans fats) and chips (called crisps, often high calorie, low nutrient salty snacks) are the two most popular packed lunch items, according to a new survey of 700 British moms.

Fresh fruit is third; cookies and cakes fall further behind, but they still make the top 10. Fortunately, there are few sodas packed there; fruit drinks are 8 times more popular.

These are the real dietary guidelines for kids, no matter what the new U.S. dietary guidelines say, or the revised pyramid shape, due out in February 2005.

What to do instead? Ten steps to a great lunch. (can be printed for kids, because the very best lunch is one that a kid helps make herself, with the foods you choose—no salty snacks, cream cheese and butter. Give a treat that’s not a cookie, candy, pie or sweet—which would rocket kids into the atmosphere after lunch anyway!