If your child has school dinners, what do you give them for tea?

[Lovecat]

Just wondering, because I need inspiration!

DD's school policy is that everyone must have school dinner. The school has a healthy eating policy so chips are never on the menu and fruit/yoghurt is the pudding most days.

She's 4, nearly 5 and is not particularly reliable at remembering what she's eaten, but her reception teacher says she makes sure they all get a helping of veg with whatever they choose - from the odd snippet I get, it seems she has pasta with sauce, roast dinner when it's on, or pizza most days.

She's quite happy to have a sandwich when she gets home, but as she only likes ham or cheese, I'd like to put a bit more variety into her tea. I give her cucumber, tomatoes and carrot sticks too, but there's very little else she wants - although I'm wondering if I'm right to let her have what she wants, iyswim?

Also, as she gets older and stays up later, I'd like us to all have our tea together, but DH and I tend to have a cooked meal in the evening...(this may be my own personal weirdness but I feel giving her two dinners a day is just... well, wrong! I don't want to overfeed her, she's not fat but she is solid...). At weekends we all eat together and she'll have a sandwich for lunch and a hot dinner with us.

So I'd be very interested to hear what others in this situation do?

[GetOrfMoiLand]

DD has always (well, mostly) has school dinners, and she has always eaten a dinner, the same as me and DP, in the evening.

I don't understand why you would think that it is wrong to have two dnners a day. To be honest she may well not eat a huge amount at school.

I think it is more important to all eat together at the same time than worry about overfeeding her.

[Crocky]

My two eat a full dinner with us in the evening.

[meltedmarsbars]

Mine have school dinners principally because I'm too lazy to make packed lunches.

They then have a snack at about 4 and proper dinner with me at 6 or 6.30.

DH gets it reheated later when he comes in.

[Bella32]

My two have school lunches but we all eat the same cooked dinner in the evening.

[duckyfuzz]

snack when they get in - toast, crumpets, muffin or similar usually some fruit too, then tea with us. THey arealways starving, despite eating a good lunch!

[TimothyTigerTuppennyTail]

I ask DS what he wants!

Sometimes he just wants something like cheese on toast, sometimes he goes the whole hog and wants something like spag boll + extras!

As long as it's something 'sensible' I don't mind.

He's 5 btw.

[brimfull]

THey have always eaten a proper dinner in the evening.

Do you not have access to the school dinner menus? We can see photos of what they get online.
They also get a sticker if they have finished their meal

[Lilyloo]

Mine both have normal cooked meal the same as me and dp and dd2 in the evening.
They are ususally ravenous when they get in from school too.

[Mamazon]

a few of my friends have a routine of only giving snacky food because their children have school dinners.

I give them the same cooked meal that D and I have.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I always preferred dd to have school dinners as (apart from the laziness and lack of wanting to make sandwiches in the morning) in the cold months I would always prefer dd to have something hot. I personally have soup or pasta or something hot at work for lunch when it is cold. I certainly wouldn't give myself a sandwich in the evening just because I had already eaten one hot dinner already.

I much prefer to eat dinner late, say 8pm, but when dd was younger I bought back dinnertime to 6, 6.30 in order for us all to eat together. The time got oushed back gradually as she got older, and now we all eat together at 8ish.

I think it is far preferable for the adults to adjust their dinnertime for a few years in order that the family eat together. I think it is a rather sad concept for a child to be eating sandwiches or fishfingers or whatever on thier own, and for mum and dad to be sitting down to chicken casserole an hour later.

[TheFallenMadonna]

Oh dear. Am starving ym DC...

Mine have soup and bread, or eggybread, or pizza, or a bowl of chilli, or beans on toast, or jacket potato. Something like that.

[ByThePowerOfGreyskull]

DS1 has hot lunch at school and hot dinner again in the evening

he is nearly 6 and is eating like a monster at the moment, constantly hungry very often has 2-3 bowls of porridge in the morning before school and needs a snack almost as soon as he gets back at 3.30pm

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I also think - why bother cooking/preparing two different meals at different times? Just cook one dinner for everyone. Why make things difficult for yourself.

[TheFallenMadonna]

DH doesn't get home until 7pm-ish, so that wouldn't work for us at the moment.

I wouldn't have any objection to them eating a main meal with us, and I dare say we will do that in a few years.

[frogetyfrog]

Does nobody just have sandwiches, fruit and cake for tea after school (and a school lunch). My dc dont have school dinners so have a cooked meal in eve but i have really fond memories of a hot meal at school and then tea in the eve of sandwiches and cake. I would love to do that with mine.

[BonjourIvressedeNoel]

Our DD could do with putting on a bit of weight, so if i can get away with it, another full meal, or cheese on toast, boiled egg or an omelette.

[Bella32]

OP - you say you don't want to overfeed her?

5 year olds need 1800 calories a day: almost the same as an adult woman!

[SparrowFflamau]

Full dinner here too (except for a Weds which is activity night from hell). DD1 will eat anything in sight though - some days she will go for breakfast club, have 2 bowls of cereal, toast, juice, sausage/bacon and beans (and is normally offered any leftovers), then have a cooked lunch, then will happily come home announce hunger and have a snack before an evening meal. She is an average sized 6 yr old

[tispity]

i fell out with a friend after i told her that a few grapes did not sound like a substantial enough dinner for her 2 year old; i have always made sure i go the whole hog with the evening meal. dd loves everything i cook, ds likes about 80% of it and is a lot less fussy in this weather (seems to need to eat loads and be dragged out of the kitchen every night)

[Lovecat]

Thanks, you've put my mind at rest.

As I said, it's no doubt my own weirdness, my mum had a thing about not giving us 2 cooked meals a day (there were definite 'lunch' meals and 'dinner' meals iyswim?)and I suppose I'm still carrying that about with me.

DH doesn't get in from work til 6.30, which I felt was making her wait too long for food when she was in nursery, I'm now trying to make the move to us all eating together (and eating the same thing!)

Sandwiches is a rut I've fallen into, hence why I'm posting on here.

Good to know that 2 dinners a day is the way to go - thank you

[compo]

Looks like I'm the only one who doesn't give the kids another dinner
they have toast and sandwiches and fruit and yoghurt at 5pm
in bed at 7pm
me and dh have dinner at 8pm

[PlanetEarth]

Maybe I'm weird then, because I don't see anything weird in two hot meals a day!

[Ineedsomesleep]

I must be in the weird club too then. DS has school dinners then a cooked meal with us at 5. If DH isn't in, which is most nights, his gets warmed up later.

Don't think that having 2 hot meals a day will make her overweight.

[Lotkinsgonecurly]

We do a combination of things if they have school dinners. Some days its just easy sandwiches, soup, beans on toast or omelette, fish fingers and other days it is our dinner.
Really depends, what it is and how hungry they are.

Favourite supper at the moment is fish fingers, bread and carrot sticks in front of the tv. !!!