to complain about the state of the school lunches?

My kids school get them through a large provider and it’s on a 3 weekly rotating menu. They choose from 3 options in the morning so they know how many are needed.

Both kids like the vast majority of food served and neither come home starving - they take a piece of fruit each day for a snack.

Do contact the school about it certainly. But if you don't want to be that parent then my suggestion is that you do raise it with the school, but do so in a way that shows you're not one of those parents. Start by acknowledging that budgets are tight and by stating that you're interested to "find out more about the provision of school meals". Don't condescend with lots of stuff about the importance of nutrition (they already know that) or obviously anything about your precious little darlings (they're all precious), and most of all, don't go in all guns blazing.

Write to the Head Teacher and to the Chair of Governors, asking that it be brought to the attention of whoever on their board deals with Facilities/Resources, or whatever they happen to call it at your school. You'll likely find that they're so pleased someone has taken an interest expressed in a grown-up and reasonable manner they might actually engage in a meaningful conversation about it. For example, the governor should be able to explain the selection and evaluation process. They might invite you to try the food, but as was suggested elsewhere, it's possible though actually not hugely likely that they might go the extra mile if they know they have a visitor coming to try the food, so you could discuss the idea of it being on a previously unspecified date.

Many schools use outside firms and because it's a pretty competitive industry with such slim margins they're likely to be willing to engage in proper dialogue about it.

In general I'd say there is more to it than meets the eye, but if you follow the above suggestions you might gain more understanding and be able to be a positive influence.

Sometimes the school can’t win though. Our old headmistress introduced different meals from around the world and loads of parents complained that their little Tarquins didn't like it.

When ds3 was at primary I volunteered and one of the duties was monitoring the dining hall at lunchtime. The school dinners were generally very good, all cooked on the premises, plenty of choices and extra fruit and bread if required. The teacher and volunteers got a free lunch. There was still a lot of waste though.

They vary so much between schools. I do supply teaching and I can see a meal in one school and the same meal in another school and they are completely different. For example one of the meals in our LEA is roast pork, roast potatoes, carrots and green beans.

In some schools they are making the food from ingredients. Roasting pieces meat, peeling potatoes etc. Then in others they are using that round cylinder of what was probably meat once. And tipping out some tinned carrots.

How do people know what food their child is eating? I've never seen the food as I've never been in at lunchtime, and we get zero feedback from teachers about this

I worked in my youngest son's school kitchen for a short while, one day (his class were always last in for some reason) they had run out of the protein part of the meal (meat or fish fingers) so they were offered grated cheese. Grated cheese, boiled potatoes and mixed veg.

Disgraceful. He had sandwiches after that.

I find it shocking but £2.50 is so cheap!
My children go to school in France we are charged on a sliding scale for canteen depending on parents earnings. We pay 7€ a day for a three course meal. The highest charge is 9€ and lowest 1€. The food is often organic and locally sourced and always balanced. I’ve never seen pizza on the menu, that’s really poor form.

I used to be a TA and lunchtime supervisor in a primary school. Some meals were OK, some were dreadful. Pizza was one of the worst. A massive square base, sliced into 20 tiny portions. The corners were always burnt with hardly any topping so you were unlucky if that was your portion. My kids went to a different school but used the same provider. They had a packed lunch!

At the school I work in meals are definitely much better since changing catering company last summer. Everything is cooked from scratch every day, mains and desserts, except fishfingers and sausages and a couple of vegetarian options. The cakes and biscuits are variable and baked with oil not butter but fresh eggs and less sugar so not bad. There is always a selection of fresh chopped fruit like melon and pineapple and freshly baked bread and salad too. The kitchen staff will do their best to give larger portions to the older kids in spite of government saying they should be same size from 4-11 but as food is ordered in advance and carefully monitored for waste it’s not always easy. Jacket potatoes are always available with a couple of toppings but no butter so parents who order a plain jacket, it really is just a potato and a bit of veg.
Generally it’s ok and portions seem small because we’re so used to eating a lot these days. I suspect a fair few kids don’t see a lot of homemade (albeit in bulk) food these days.

That's not great. I have to say that the food waste in my school's dining room disgusts me, there is SO MUCH food cooked and so much of it just gets chucked out.

If you can afford it, and you have the time I’d advise you to send in a packed lunch.

They are there all day and are always starving. My kids were happiest in lockdown when we had to send a packed lunch.

Schools have been outsourced too much of our parenting, and they struggle to do a good job as they are constantly under funded.

I’ve never left my school to it. I don’t think you can leave them to teach your child the basics of maths and English or give them a nutritious meal. They’re too busy, stressed and constantly under barrage.

My dcs school meals through both primary and secondary have been patchy in quality, to say the least. 90% of the time they've opted to take packed lunches.

It just boggles my mind that so many other countries treat their children as valuable and important enough to warrant feeding well at school, whereas in the UK we generally feed them any old crap as cheaply as possible then wonder why we see so much obesity, tooth decay and poor eating habits in later life. It's bloody shameful.

Also, an ex employee of the company told us if they come in under budget they used to get perks / praise / whatever. So basically they are being incentivised to turn a bigger profit. Nothing to do with the teachers who are on lunch break at that point.

I've worked in a lot of primary schools and in most of them the meals have been very small. Definitely not big enough for a main meal for the day for most of the children. Despite the size of the portions there is still a lot of waste and some children barely eat anything and can't wait to throw it away and get outside. They are encouraged to eat but they can't be made to and so are going through the rest of the day with a few mouthfuls.
In contrast, I remember the dinners at my school being enormous in comparison but that might not be true!

You lost me at 'aren't doing anything about it'. We complain about our lunches all the time thank you, the office staff are great at recording this and complaining to the company, who then come in to monitor.

Don't blame teachers for your kids shit lunch when you haven't done anything about it either.

The lunches don't cost £2.50, ks2 childrens paid meals subsidise the pennies that schools are given for the 'free' ks1 meals.

I don't think the argument that the poor children stand out stands anymore no one knows who has free school meals my eldest child gets free school meals because my financial situation when he started school wasnt good. You order the meals online no way does anyone know who is getting it free and who's parents paid.

Edited to say kids who eat packed lunches are also learning social skills? And presumably aren't being forced to eat alone in a cubicle

Yes of course. Sometimes I let him have sweets too, I should report myself to social services.

We have been sending packed lunches for two years now. Food was disgusting, veg sizes tiny, my DC was asked to “eat up” potato wedges twice before getting her pudding. No thanks!

Exactly the same at my kids school except they are £2.65 a meal and often get the wrong meals, it's OK though because the school keep repeating that it's getting better 🙄

We raised it at our primary before ours even started school as it looked like they were serving crap. They basically just admitted budgets are really tight.

Fussy eating in reality contributes to the hunger, but then I’d be fussy if I ate there, so I don’t blame them really!! I send in a packed lunch 3 days a week as a compromise, I guess if I wouldn’t eat it I shouldn’t force my child to either, he basically ends up with roast dinner one day a week and fish finger friday.

Obviously we have enough disposable income we can give him lunches, but the genuine kids in need get some kind of meal at school so it’s not all bad.

Anyway by all means raise it, but I don’t think the outcome will change much, ours is a very tiny school of just over 100 and they actually have a dinner lady that does the lunches, apparently it was cheaper than outside catering which I find somewhat crazy…

If you’re knowingly giving your dc food that’s as awful as you describe surely you’re being neglectful?

Because the free school meal dc are disadvantaged by standing out as poor so feeding everyone together evens that out. You also teach social skills which sometimes don’t happen at home, even in rich families where both parents work and fail to provide those basic skills (dh and I both work but still parent, but there are pockets of people who don’t). Anyway, it’s a leveller for those early years.

I agree they are overall awful, unhealthy and tiny. My son is in year 1 when the free school meal bit is over I'm definitely moving to packed lunches (I'm just too much of a cheapskate to do it while it's free!)