to think that this is a pretty shocking school dinner?

[anchovies]

Today my boys had Caribbean style chicken with spaghetti hoops and garden peas. Pink sponge and custard. Strawberry milkshake.

£1.90 a day.

Thought there must have been some sort of mistake but have just checked the published menus and that is what they had planned for today. Only other main meal was the vegetarian option which they are not allowed (again with peas and spaghetti hoops.) Could have chosen fruit for dessert.

Mentioned it earlier to my neighbour who also has children who have school dinners and she thought it was fine as "the carbohydrate is in the spaghetti hoops".

Wrote (yet another) email to our local council but am now thinking I may be wrong?

I'm with Jajas here - Just offer fruit for 'dessert' and water or milk to drink. I really don't think children need to be given sugary, stodgy puddings and sponge cakes with custard/cream alongside sugary drinks.

We don't even eat dessert after dinner (evening) every day - only occasionally. I would much rather they filled up on healthy food rather than having room for sugary rubbish afterwards.

What about as treats?

Just thinking about this..do hose of you whose children get school dinners with 'pudding-type' desserts also give them crisps and/or biscuits for break or after school snacks and then another dessert? That's an awful lot of unhealthy food in one day....

What do you mean by 'treats' olivetti? Sometimes we will bake muffins/cookies or occasionally have ice cream but we don't eat them regularly - certainly not a few times a day! If we're having dessert after dinner it is usually fruit - melon, strawberries, mango or something...no custard, no cream. We never grew up with dessert and I always took a packed lunch that may have had a biscuit (the only one I would have had for the day) in it. DH was the same as were most of my friends. This is a very strange concept to me - it just seems so unnecessarily unhealthy!

sounds ok except for the hoops. rice would have been healthier. if kids are having a main meal at school - hoops on toast is something quick and easy they might have as a light tea.

not that keen on the pudding either - maybe as a once a week treat but they should be having yogurts instead.

and if milkshake is made with real strawberries than fine but not if it's that ready made rubbish

My children don't have puddings or dessert at home - we are not really a dessert family at all - so a dessert at lunchtime is OK.

My take on school dinners is that although it sounds like a lot of food, the portions are microscopic and DS1 for one hardly ever clears his plate as he's eager to get out to play. We are in North Yorkshire and the menus are fab and generally very healthy. The desserts tend to be based around fruits and flapjack things rather than sponge puddings.

Nope, would not have put that meal together...

Btw, what on earth is pink sponge? Is it like normal sponge, but with a bit of food colouring?

Oh I just wondered whether you ever let them have cakes or ice cream. Actually, we sound pretty much the same - by pudding, I mean fruit or a yoghurt, except for an occasional treat of e.g. an ice cream. You sound perfect, though! In fact, you all sound like food saints.

DD's school menu today was:

Pork Sausages, Yorkshire Pudding & Broccoli
Vegetarian Sausages - for the veggies
Fresh Fruit Salad (most days it is a proper pudding though)

Always on offer as well:

Jacket potato, cheese and salad - instead of main meal
Fresh fruit - instead of dessert
Bread and butter

Primary school I work at:

Children chose each morning between meat or veggie, and Halal avail to those who have preordered it)

Meat option - Cheese flan with herby diced potatoes
Veggie option - vegetable and quorn paella with crusty bread
Halal - Halal Lamb Dhansak with steamed rice
Vegetables - broccolli florets, sweetcorn
Bread and butter, and some salad always offered

Dessert - iced cupcake with glass of milk OR pineapple and melon

Honestly, I don't think a little bit of sponge and custard is going to be a problem. Most of us grew up with it every day and grew up fine and healthy.

My DD gets a dessert every day at school and I am more than happy with that. She has fruit or salad/veg for her mid morning snack (sometimes with a dip) and in an evening after her main meal she may have a yogurt, fruit or a couple of times or so a week a small chocolate bar or some sweets. She;s perfectly active, healthy and normal with no medical issues, no food issues, nothing.

I can't be doing with so much fuss over what a young child eats these days. Bet our parents just sent us off to school nd so long as we had our lunch that was as far as they concerned themselves!

At my dd's school they are able to mix and match on their own, so choose at the serving table from hot meat/hot veg/cold 'salad (eg ham) main, 2 different hot veg or cold salad and whatever carb option is designed to go with the main course. So sometimes there are some odd combinations (pizza, rice and cabbage anyone!)

I think if you swapped the spaghetti hoops for rice it would be fine - although custard and milkshake does seem a bit much. I like that mine have puddings at school. They need the energy and they absolutely love them.

Cat? Who said they could only have salad? There are plenty of healthy foods that are filling. Jacket potatoes, rice, pasta (not of the tinned variety!). I don't think it's 'bad' for children to have cakes etc from time to time but not everyday and not several times a day!. A balance doesn't mean 50% healthy and 50% junk! You don't need sugary sponge for energy either. There are healthier sources for that too. Basically, there is no NEED to serve sugary desserts.

Tbh i like my dcs having puddings at school because i dont want to have any puddings around at home as i will eat them all myself

Its funny, if the pudding is in front of me i want it, if its not i wont miss it because we didn't have pudding after meals when i was a kid. I love cakes but i prefer them with mid afternoon coffee.

We only ever had water at school. Milk at break. That was back in the day when school used to give us a biscuit at break though (small biscuits, eg. rich tea or Nice, not Penguin biscuits or anything).

Although, we could never have sugary drinks, so perhaps it all balanced out.

It just doesn't go does it.

school milk shake is just pink/ brown milk. Our school offer it as a drink option ( water is on offer everyday) once a week. Only one carb choice would be a bit odd at our school, its generally pasta OR potato. seldom rice.
Today was burger in a bun with pasta or wedges and baked beans or salad. apple crumble for pud. LOTS of carb, not much veg. BUT its only one day of the week, yesterday was sausages, mash or pasta and carrots or broccoli.

I love spaghetti hoops, we have them at home sometimes, but no way would I want to pay for my DCs to have them at school, especially if it happened a lot.

i wouldn't mind eating it

hula - couldn't agree with you if i tried :)

hula - NO NO! i MEANT to say i couldn't agree with you MORE if i tried!!!