My kids' secondary uses Parentpay and has a canteen. There is a set meal option that seems like reasonable value at £2.20 a day, but it's a bit limited. We live in an area with fairly high free school meal entitlements and as far as I can tell it's done in a reasonable way so students can't tell who's on FSM. However, there is a snack kiosk at break. For a lot of last year this wasn't running so it probably helped to save money.
I'm hoping to get some paid work as I was hoping to do 18 months ago but at the moment we're living on one not particularly high wage but above FSM and means tested benefits, and we have quite low housing costs as I bought more than 20 years ago so before several waves of house price inflation. So it's reassuring to see that other parents worry about the possibilities of very open ended spending at lunch.
I worry that outsourced contracts for secondary school catering means that private companies want to make up what they can charge for the main options by all the possible extra snacks and drinks and treats, and I'm very sceptical that claims of healthy eating policies and this private catering are compatible.
Also my boys have two very generous aunts - one of my sisters is in quite a well paid job and when I freaked about school meal costs and my struggles to afford back in 2019 she started putting money in for DS1's extras on top of the basic school lunch, and has increaed the amount to cover DS2 as well. During the pandemic we've used the money for their favourite fruits and a few other treats when they weren't in school, and for snacks they could take in when the kiosk wasn't open.
For the moment they will get their meals and I will give them the chance to spend their aunt's money on some extras, because I don't want them getting too hungry, especially on the days when they now have an extended school day. But we've also talked about continuing with some portable and reasonable value from the supermarket, If when I am topping up Parentpay I find DS1 is taking in extras and spending £4 or £5 every day I will question it, but as my sister's being so kind I will actually try and make sure we're doing what she intended.
On drinks, DS1's spending at school is often just on bottled water, but I do think if kids have to get separate drinks it's an encouragement to choose less healthy options with a lot of sugar. At their primary,, there was a water jug on every table in the dining room, and I think that's a better way to encourage healthy habits, plus environmentally better and then the money for meals can go further on actual food, which is good when schools have a lots of kids on FSM and many of the families who don't quality might be no better off, just low waged work, high childcare and private rented housing costs etc.