To think school dinners are taking the mick now?

Mine take snacks in their bag and fruit so it pads out lunch if they need it.

Our school has two queues: hot 'proper' meal and one for sandwiches (pizza too on Fridays)

It's £2.30 for a meal deal plus a quid for toast/teacake/croissant at first break if they want.

Get him to choose and pack some extras to take with him.

Most schools have servals options, it’s just the kids tend to prefer the grab and go options that aren’t as filling or as good value. At my school a meal deal can be a plated lunch, which would be something like pizza, wedges, a vegetable and then a cookie/flapjack/cake and a drink all for 3:20. Good value I think.

In our area council policy (very few primary schools are in academies round here) is that portions should be the same size for every child, from Reception through to Year 6. So the portions are fine for the littlest years but small for the older ones. Also the council insists that "its a hot meal NOT a main meal".

IN fairness to schools costs have gone up massively. The three biggest costs for a school kitchen are food, energy and salaries (mainly minimum wage) and every single one of them has gone up.

Also do take what your child says with a pinch of salt. Menus are easy to find online. I'd be very surprised if pizza is the only option.

Make him take drink and snack from home; the money will go further than. Ours is £5 a day!

My son’s school seems better than this - they have lots of choice anyway - I’m not totally sure if any of it is healthy! It’s £3.40 for a main course and pudding, but you can also choose a panino or a street food option etc. which is less.

Part of the issue, I think, is that they eat v early at school - some time just after 12 I think - so of course they’re hungry when they get home.

I do give DS some snacks to take as well.

DD goes to a different school but she moved to packed lunches because the veggie options are crap at her school - but she’s nearly 17 so makes her own - usually a pot of pasta and pesto plus cereal bars.

My sons just started year 7, hes been eating pasta every day which at £3.50 a pot for not much sustenance I put a stop to it. He was also buying a Radnor flavoured water for £1.70.
I now do him a packed lunch which he has no problems with.
I put money on so he can get breakfast at school which is much cheaper than lunch and I buy a 12 pack of the radnors in aldi for £3.99.

Jeez.

I just checked the school menus on the town hall website and apparently today my 4 year old had a starter of cubes of beetroot and goats cheese, followed by sauté of pork with coucous and olive sauce, and an apple for dessert.

50% of the ingredients have to be organic.

I work in a school and have seen the portion sizes they are given. I 100% would not pay for my child to have school dinners based on that fact alone x

I think he must be choosing pizza rather than other healthier options available.

There is newish government guidance(Feb 25) about what should be provided. If it isn't, challenge your school.

https://www.gov.uk/school-meals-food-standards

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools

My friend has a 13 year old and he takes a food thermos with something like pasta etc, sandwiches can be boring everyday but you can send other things. It doesn’t need to be a sandwich everyday.

I lived in the US briefly, high school lunch was often a pot noodle or nachos with that fake cheese sauce on. They didn't do nutrition! This was in the noughties though.

Nope - I would not be happy to be paying for this carb and sugar filled crap. Packed lunch all the way and let him help choose what he takes in it. Give him a bit of money for a snack.

Dds lunches didn't sound too bad but if her lessons were the other end of the school to the canteen, then there was very little left.
By the time she'd got in the toilet queue there was very little time to eat.

so I end up feeding him twice anyway

Would you not feed him again anyway if he had a bigger lunch?
DS left high school 5 years ago and it was £5 a day for him back then!

I agree with the others. That’s what he is choosing off the menu surely. Both of my secondary schoolers have full menus that include takeaway style, full on sit down meals and then the subs and panini sections.

None just have one set option and it’s the same option daily.

Yes, the school dinners in France are amazing. I worked as a teacher over there for a year and I had a school lunch every day! There were 4 courses and it was always varied and healthy. This was in 2009 and it cost €1. In a 14 year teaching career in England, I only ever had school dinners once…because I forgot my lunchbox and it was an experience not to be repeated!

Mine get £5 a day each. Cover snacks on morning and lunch. And yes I nearly pass out at the thought of paying £15 a day for lunches.
Luckily one now takes pack lunch and im sending some snacks to reduce snacks costs

But that's what he's choosing. Am sure there are lots more options

k

Schools are doing their best to provide the best meals possible on a minimal budget while also keeping prices down. It’s one of the many obstacles schools face!

Do the school publish a menu? The secondary schools in our Trust do. I bet there’s more available than what DS claims. Whether he fancies it or not is a different question.

There might well be more filling options than a slice of pizza. Can you compromise? I told mine I’m not paying for them to buy drinks there - they just take a water bottle. He can get the main thing there - wrap, pizza, pasta pot etc - but can take a Kit Kat or spare sandwich with him if he wants more.

Is it the same thing every day?

It's not the price I find shocking but the total lack of nutrition. Lunch is a main meal, he should be getting at least two of his five a day there and he's getting zero.

I live in France and a friend of mine moved back to the US with her kids a couple of years ago. She came back a year later and one of the reasons she told me was that her kids were being fed total shit at school and everyone seemed to think this was completely normal. The meals she described sounded less bad than what your son is being given.

Packed lunch. Get him to make it. It’s an extravagance to spend £16 a week on lunch and a good habit to get into making own for college/uni/work. Perhaps compromise at bought food once a week.

Is there not a "take away" type option where he can buy as much food as he wants. At our school there was a "Traditional" option which was like a roast or lasagne or Pie and mash and the there was a "Fast" option which was Sandwiches, wraps, chips, burgers, drinks etc. The traditional option is a set price and u get ur dinner and dessert plus a drink (like in primary school) but the fast option everything was priced and u just bought what u wanted. I lived on BLT, Strawberry milk and bananas for 5 years lol.

Don't make him have a packed lunch if none of his mates do