School stopping Meat Free Monday doesn’t make any sense

I think for most Brits, generally, vegetarian options are less likely to be appealing than meat options on a menu. So if the issue is that parents have complained they've likely complained because what the school's vegetarian offerings, either normally or as part of "Meat Free Monday" have been unappealing to quite a few kids.

And from a school's perspective, if they've had a few parents turn to packed lunches for Mondays they probably need to do something to try and win them back as most school meal systems need as many kids as possible eating to make it more effective.

Because it's a political statement, because it usually involves fake meat/fish, and presumably because it's not popular. Pure virtue signalling.

‘I’ve seen Tunnocks’. I hope you wrote to your MP about that one. 😂

Our nursery feeds the kids a lot of quorn, due to a high number of kids there not eating beef. So I found it a big relief that my son is now moving to school with a much better menu of meat options.

Sounds like a political statement that is not necessary in a school.
There are meat free options every day, you say, so why make an absolute ban on meat on a Monday and announce that?

Kids can choose vege options. If they run out the kids can choose a pie.

Do the kids bringing a packed lunch also have to comply?
I would hate having to stick to a regimented No Meat Monday rule if I wanted to use the left over Sunday roast in a sandwich.

"Red meat is classed as a probable cause of cancer. There is lots of good-quality evidence of a link between eating red meat and bowel cancer, but it is not as strong as the evidence for processed meat. In scientific studies, it’s hard to investigate eating red meat separately from eating processed meat.
There is some evidence that processed and red meat may increase the risk of other types of cancer, like stomach and pancreatic cancers. But we need more research to know for sure."

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer/does-processed-and-red-meat-cause-cancer

The amount of red meat some people eat is very high compared to our ancestors, it is not so hard to get hold of now we don't have to hunt it ourselves!

What's wrong with fake meat? You mean like Quorn?

I assume some parents were not happy to have the choice of meat/vegetarian removed.

Because, as the poster says, the vegi food often has gluten in it. This is not home made vegi food it is mass produced, usually frozen.

We could learn a lot from Japan, and yes I know money is tight but some of the things they do make sense.

Lots of schools in Japan have vegetable gardens maintained by teachers and students and used in the school lunches.

I know there isn't time in the day to add in gardening and obviously money is an issue, as is the lack of kitchen / cooks at some schools.

Leave me to dream, it makes me happy.

My children’s school only offers vegetarian and vegan options. It seems to suit all the kids. I’ve only ever heard one parent complaining, but she’s very pro meat eating and quite weird about it. She knew the menu when she enrolled her child there and the child eats the food happily, which the mum clearly isn’t too happy about. Apparently the child wants to be vegetarian at home but her mum won’t let her.

Some people seem to think they’ll die if they don’t eat meat multiple times a day.

No it isn't. Don't be absurd. Humans are omnivores and our digestive systems have evolved to digest meat safely.

Some highly processed meats such as cured sausage can be carcinogenic in large quantities but fresh meat is fine.

My ds' school tried it for a year then abandoned it too, because dcs simply weren't eating the food, which rather defeats the object. The main purpose of school meals is to ensure dcs are fed and ready to learn, and they weren't

The only meat-free food the kids would eat was cheese & tomato pizza.

Now there is a veggie option, but meat/fish based meals are always available.

Making meat-free food taste good requires it to be freshly cooked which makes it expensive. Child-friendly, nutritious & tasty ready meals are not easy.

Incorrect.

Or healthy food that contains meat.

@NeverDropYourMooncup my youngest has had same issues since weaning from ebf at months, it was horrific with multiple hospital admissions till eventually worked out what was going on. Solidarity to you, I'm hoping my fear of 'well Intentioned' ideas like this 'meat free monday' reduces by time he's at school.

If there's a meat free option daily, then there's no need to have a meat free day.
If they offer no one a meat one one day a week, that's just pushing their views on kids who don't want to be a vegetarian.
It's usually some HPF that isn't good for anyone. Or cheese pizza anyway.

Why force it on people? If there’s one thing I learnt as a fussy eater when I was a child (or still am) it’s that trying to force a child to eat something doesn’t work.

Oh, absolutely. It's just not so glamorous to explain that the consequence is either my entire digestive system shutting down for about ten days to a fortnight or a fifteen minute delay before I'm simultaneously shaking, sweating, shitting and puking whilst DP empties the bin in search of anything he might have missed, is it?

Haven't even mentioned that the gut damage from being glutened means vegan dairy alternatives would actually be a good idea were it not for all the sodding gluten contamination in them.

So I'll stick to the animal products. You know where you are with them - which isn't in the bathroom for a couple of hours and then dragging yourself through the following week like one of the walking dead with muscle pains and malabsorption issues affecting your bone density.

I have voted YABU but I disagree with your description of the options. You said:

You are being unreasonable- being meat free for one meal is not a reasonable request

Well of course there is nothing unreasonable about being meat free for one meal. What is unreasonable is imposing that on somebody who has made different food choices.

I am not vegetarian but I have meat free days probably once or twice a week. This is not because I am avoiding meat but simply because I enjoy a wide range of foods and this includes many dishes which do not include meat.

In theory then you could ask why I would object to an organisation imposing a meat-free day when I often have one of my choosing. But that's the point, it is my choice not someone else dictating to me what I should be eating.

@NeverDropYourMooncup surely you know by now, medical reasons for not being able to have foods is nothing, ideology and virtue signalling around food.... gets all the importance!#1

Many in the rural & farming communities find it a boy offensive. Slogging your guts out all year to provide quality British food & it's not good enough for the local schools.

Vegetables also come from farms you know….

I've stopped eating lentils for this reason

Yup, I've got a vested interest in this - when I asked about food suitable for coeliacs, the kitchen manager brought me a vegan mince meal (presumably the meat one definitely had wheat in it for some reason), so I asked about the ingredients in that and they brought me the list.

Barley and rye.

And to add insult to injury, every single one of the six jacket potatoes had been split and had the poison gluten containing minces dumped on top.

Just why?

The most annoying thing about even general foods, like grains and pulses, is that a significant number of those are also contaminated with wheat/barley/rye, so you can't even trust those - I've been glutened four times in the last 2 months despite a GF house and DP cooking from scratch as he's done daily for years; it has to have been the pulses each time, despite not trusting the May Contain packs - but meat and fish has been fine.

If pack lunch then it would have been a no for two of my dc as ham sandwich or wrap was the only type they would take

Last term at our school, meat free Monday was a choice of either the disgusting pizza that even the kids won't eat, or macaroni cheese.

To be fair, this term they are trying, it's either the disgusting pizza, or a 3 week rotation of spaghetti with garlic butter (so much less to make than £2.80), veg risotto, or vegan curry (sounds delicious but my kids tell me it's not).

But it's the waste that gets me - most of the kids either eat very little, or opt for a cheese sandwich, so all that effort goes in the bin. I'd be happy if they'd scrap the "title" and with it the pizza, and just offer a decent quality meat option on Mondays too.