Are school meals really so bad?

They are very bad at the secondary school I work at. I have raised it but there is limited funding to improve it.

Precisely. You've worded it better than my initial post did, and doubtless the OP will reply with a version of chip on shoulder/get grip/ODFOD - but it is the case that the whole post reads a bit like -

1. Oh I wonder what the poor kids eat these days - sorry I have NO clue as my kid goes private... just curious is it all rubbish food?
2. Followed by - another post specifically again repeating - oh I know nothing about the ins and outs of state school food (reminding us that she clearly, so obviously, goes private)
3. Further posts - about second helpings and selective second helpings - about how more curry is available if no rice is wanted and so on.

Such a glib, faux-innocent, "illuminate me about how the poor live, I don't know the ins and outs of it you see - mine gets second helpings you see" type post.

Just why?!

Awaiting the next version of ODFOD/chip on shoulder/jealous much/get grip etc!

My daughter loves her school meals.

She knows what she’s having every day and it’s made her a more adventurous eater, as there’s things she wouldn’t have tried at home, once upon a time.

They have 3 different options, along side a veg and salad bar.
Recent meals dd has had - roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings, mac and cheese with broccoli, Salmon fish fingers with chips and peas, Spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread and Mini chicken fajitas with rice and salad. They get a choice of fruit, jelly, yogurt , a cookie or small slice of cake for pudding.

Parents were invited to have lunch with our kids a few months back (reception) it was a lovely thing for the school to do, but I overheard a few of the school mums saying things afterwards, like “I can’t believe that’s all they get to eat” “it tasted like cardboard” “ my daughter eats so much better at home, she eats sea bass”
They sounded ridiculous. Of course they are entitled to their opinion, but I thought they sounded like snobs.

I think the school do a wonderful job of providing nice, balanced meals.
It’s all homemade on site and they change the menu every term. You can’t make everyone happy though, can you!?

I think the difference is you will have told this to a teacher that he was upset and they will have then told the lunch staff if they queried it and said 'oh Freddie's mum is aware, it's being dealt with'. We do have some who don't eat much and we know about.
Some children when I say to tell their grown up they don't like school dinners simply say my mum won't let me have packed lunch. I then pass this on to the teacher and tell them the child isn't eating. It then seems a shame when they are still having school dinners, not eating them and the teacher says they have told the parents and they just said ok (no reason).

They have started a new more 'exciting' menu at my kids primary school, my kids aren't fans they prefer pack up. I only have 1 who receives fsm now and they normally choose a jacket potato. The older 2 used to come out of school absolutely starving when they had school dinner. Also I have a friend who worked in the dinner hall and they said the food was pretty shocking.

My secondary has 50% FSM.

Many of our children live in genuine poverty and expect the lunchtime meal to sustain them.

The menu on paper looks fine. I think if people saw the state of what was actually served (tiny portions, literally no veg or colour, often running out entirely before all children are served) they'd be in uproar.

The catering company will be making bank. The food just gets worse as inflation rises.

When I saw the picture of the shit chicken wrap someone posted upthread my genuine first thought was lucky, they got lettuce.

My children enjoy their school dinners. There’s always a good variety varying from curry, roast dinners, goujons, burgers, fish etc. They always come home saying they enjoyed it and I let them pick what days they want dinners each week from the menu.

OP, why does it matter? If your kids are at private school it doesn't affect your family one jot what the rest of our children are eating.
Your post reads a bit "good God, is that really what life is like for the rabble?!" People who can't afford private school aren't zoo animals for you to gawk at and exclaim over.

Someone posted a picture on social media of a raw-inside chicken burger at our local high school. It already looked disgusting, but with the completely pink meat in the middle, urgh.

My son would love to be able to eat the school lunches, but the huge difference between the meat meals and the vegetarian ones (he's a veggie) means there is only about one thing a month he likes. Sometimes he has a jacket potato, but they only get a 1/2, not a whole one. That's not enough for a midday meal. He has dinner the second he gets home, he's so hungry if he has school lunch.

I went to a boarding school many moons ago and the food would’ve provoked a riot in a Victorian workhouse. It was so disgusting.
However I wonder if that is the reason I’ve never put on much weight - maybe my stomach shrank like a jockey’s.

My DCs school Junior school seem quite good. 4 options; Meat/Fish (bar Mondays which are Meat Free), Veggie/Vegan, Pasta and Jacket Potato as well as a baguette/wrap (changes daily) option.

The meals are cooked at the high school they share grounds with and then bought down to the Junior School. They're very popular apparently.

I do remember running on little more than chips at secondary school though!

Memories! I remember a bag of crisps or a 'Marathon'. It wasn't a problem and I ate at home.

I live in Hampshire and my DC goes to a school with their own kitchen so they prepare all their own food. The food at all state schools in Hants is done by HC3S and has always been of good quality. The menu is varied and the food is really good. Their infant school has a salad bar daily as well as a red (meat), green (veggie) and jacket potato option every day.

The only issue I have is the portion sizes - they are the same in year R as they are in Year 6. I would rather pay more to have a bigger portion as DC gets older.

The food at older DCs academy secondary is however shit.

I think it really depends on the school/who has the school contract

That's so expensive, I pay £2.60 for a decent meal ie curry and rice, not a huge portion but enough for lunch.

Lunches are fine at my dc primary school

Nutritional content and price of food at secondary is shocking. There are healthy options but costs >£5 a day, and the cheap food is awful eg - chicken pops, slice of pizza, sausage roll.

dd prefers school lunch but admits she would eat much healthier if she was taki mg a packed lunch

I work in a primary school and ours are awful. Portion's are tiny, potatoes are often both burnt and undercooked. Pizza is just really thick bred topped with tomato paste and cheese etc.... I think it depends on the school and chef but they're definitely not as good as they used to be. Before COVID we also had a salad bar and bread etc... now that's all gone.

My two DC go to a very small rural primary. Delicious menu but evidently portions are too small for what they need. I've started doing packed lunches now and although they're ready for a snack at pick up, they're not absolutely ravenous and hangry like they used to be when eating school dinners 😅

From someone who has run the council run primary school kitchen. We literally have to follow a production sheet for each dish , so for instance fish fingers on a Friday the KS1 are allowed 2 and KS2 3 , 30g of chips per portion and 30 g of veg. I totally agree mouse portions are bigger, we topped it up with fresh bread. A salad bar, fruit and either yoghurt(weighed out) or a biscuit/cake. If we went over the portions then at the end of the month when we did the stocktake we would get grilled as to why we're in debt. Couldn't wait to leave if I'm honest and this was the main reason as I hated seeing the kids faces as they had yet another microsized portion (deprived area) probably the only meal they would get that day :(

I posted over a year ago when DD was starting reception that I was shocked how bad the school dinner menu was and got mainly torn to bits and told I was a snob who was over anxious about 5 out of the 21 meals a week she eats 🙄

But I stand by my view that they are awful and I've learnt most parents hate them too, apparently the school is tied into a contract for the time being. DD has a mixture of dinners and packed lunches as they now do a sandwich option which is similar to what I would pack up.

The portions are small but they’re nutritionally balanced to be correct sizes / calories for children of this age. The problem is that most children eat far bigger portion sizes at home than they need / should be eating for their size. Many children are effectively given adult-sized portions of meals at home, so the school dinners look tiny in comparison. That’s why such a huge percentage of primary school aged children are overweight or obese.

I loved school dinners and my girls do too

School meal contracts are usually all the same across a locality. My FIL is a recently retired head and he used to eat the dinners so they can’t be that bad. He said the dinner ladies got to know the kids and they would serve portions up according to appetite, my DC has never complained he’s hungry.