to think that at 2 quid a time, they could manage not to make a total arse-up of the school dinners?

[Greensleeves]

The dinners are reasonable, bog-standard school dinners, I'm not complaining about them per se

but twice recently they have "run out" of something pretty integral to the meal and had to replace it with something else. My ds1 (10yo and has AS) is a bit iffy about things not happening as they should and he doesn't like nasty surprises. So if he orders the "jacket potato with tuna mayo" option, being presented with a dollop of mash and a splat of tuna doesn't go down well. And it's £2!

Today they ran out of rice so they served the chicken curry with pasta.

We did packed lunches for a while, but the boys prefer a hot meal for lunch as long as it isn't ridiculous (like Smash and tuna mayo)

AIBU?

Mine have a home-cooked dinner every night. I do do packed lunches in the summer, but the boys prefer a hot lunch when it's cold - as long as the hot lunch is something sensible, which mashed potato and tuna mayonnaise really isn't.

No, not a nannying service. A catering service. It shouldn't be too difficult to cater for a middle-sized primary school, when the meals are pre-ordered and that is, after all, what you DO for a living.

You sound a bit bitter Clipped.

It's pretty shit to run out of portions when they have been pre ordered.

However, you're having a giraffe if you expect gourmet food for £2 a day.

Send your DCs in with hot soup/stew in a thermos if you want them to have a hot meal so badly. I reckon you would end up spending more than £2 per day on their packed lunch unless you buy shit quality ingredients anyway.

Ps there is nothing wrong with mashed potato and tuna, that's how the jacket ends up after one chew anyway!

That £2 a day has to cover all manner of stuff over and above the food doesn't it? Dinner lady/cook wages, fuel costs etc plus the profit made by whoever runs it, at least if its outsourced, which many are
Maybe a £1 spent on food if you are lucky! Nasty crap with barely enough to go around is pretty standard from my experience. Not saying its right, but I wouldn't waste my money and subject my kids to it frankly. Sure you can complain, but that won't change the fact that a £1 will not buy the quality and choice you expect and deserve
I can make a far healthier, tastier packed lunch for half the price

It always amuses me when parents state the need for a 'hot lunch' for their children. How hot exactly do you think the food served up to infant school children is? That's right - lukewarm and vile. So you might as well send them with a lovely packed lunch and give them their 'hot meal' when they get home.

I would expect £2 a meal to get you more than that. 'Corps Meals' at Army camps are less than that and are substantial - enough to fill a hungry squaddie in any case. I certainly wouldn't be happy with Tuna and Smash!

What really got me running for packed lunches like the wind is that tinned spaghetti hoops are now a vegetable. Meals are very carb heavy and, in our school, arrive in the boot of a car. Also, they use ALL frozen veg. Surely, they can cook a carrot or a bit of broccoli?

Our meals are £1.75 and IMO fantastic value. Always the option of a filled jacket or a baguette. The cook is a wonderful young woman who cooks everything from scratch during the morning - even the bread. If any staff have forgotten our lunch she will always bung us a nice plate of food, too.
Perhaps easier for us to provide food like this though as we are a small primary.

The best solution for you is in your own hands.
Make their lunch.

fieldfare how do you KNOW the meals are laden with fat and salt? If they're homemade chicken burgers - healthy. Potato wedges - fine. Home made pizza with veggie toppings - fine.

£2 for a meal with bread is v good value IMO.

And I'm also amazed at the number of people who opt for packed lunches because their child is fussy. I have a terribly fussy eater and for that reason she has school lunches. Otherwise she'll be eating the same old cheese sandwich till kingdom come. And slowly, slowly she's improving because she's being served and seeing a wide range of foods.

rose nothing wrong with frozen veg. Sometimes they contain more vitamins than fresh veg if its been sitting around for a while.

I love mash and tuna mayo, one of my favourite comfort lunches, fail to see much difference between that and jacket potato

But I do see the difference if you are a child with ASD who hates change.

Still think £2 is good value

Crikey. School dinners were £1.10 when I was at primary school more than 15 years ago! Can't believe they've gone up so little in all that time.

The head shouldn't be bullying your DS into silence on this, but at the same time if you consider £2 is too big an outlay for an undetermined foodstuff, then consider other cheaper methods of giving your DS a hot meal.

TBH I can't think of any hot lunch I could buy and eat on the premises for £2 including VAT and service, not even soup!

I do pack-ups & a cooked meal in the evening precisely because of this.

School lunches do tend to be crap - lukewarm, overcooked, too much junk, weird combos because of bad stock control.

I could definitely do a huge vat of veg curry/chilli/pasta sauce every day, & serve it with a reasonably appropriate carb, for £2 a day, so I never quite understand why the whole operation's so very shite.

Other than it being a daft idea to try to run it like a cafe - it should be 2 choices, one of them veggie, & a range of sarnies, & do those few things properly.

Yes, there is something wrong with it...it is soft, mushy pap often. Peas and sweet corn are Ok but broccoli? Carrots? That strange mix of weird cubed vegetables? It takes no effort at all, and is cheap, to chop up a few cabbages or boil a pan of water.

I think the head sounds like a defensive, autocratic, bananaheaded crusher of the free press. Ds1 should dedicate the whole of the next issue of his newspaper to exposing his true colours as a dictatorial fool. May I suggest "LET THEM EAT SMASH" ORDERS DESPOTIC HEADTEACHER!" as his next headline?

Tuna and mash is lovely. M&S used to do a tuna cottage-type pie, with sweetcorn and dill sauce carbs and protein, what's wrong with that? Tuna fish-cakes are also very nice.

DD's school dinner menu did used to wind me up no end though. yy to spaghetti hoops as the vegetable portion and the double- carbing. Veggie protein option baked potato with cheese and beans then served with chips

Tuna cottage pie sounds fine. I think there is a world of difference between that and a scoop of school mash with a splat of tuna mayo though.

At the infant school I teach in the dinners are hot, why wouldn't they be?

I can't get over the fact that you only pay £2 a meal. School dinners are £2.50 per meal where I live which is why my DC don't have them.

Just send packed lunches, I've never much liked the school meals at any of the four schools my DS has been to (excpet one, where my friend was the cook ) - its no big deal, save money and make your own lunches. And if you can't be bothered haven't got time to cook a 'hot' meal in the evenings, just remember that no one needs 'hot food' - they need nutritious food, which can be cold

I wouldn't dream of contacting the Head about such a non-issue.

You don't like the school meals - vote with your feet and make packed lunches - sorted.

YANBU OP

But if you don't want to speak to the Head about it, speak to the Deputy Head or anyone else in the SMT.

Primary school dinners are anything but hot though. They really are tepid to say the least. I know that because I eat one approximately once a month.

Do they cook the meals onsite or is it ordered in from a supplier? If it's ordered in I would say that they need to tweak the order somewhat to make sure they have enough of everything.
DD's school makes lunches not just for their own 400+ pupils but for 2 other schools in the area due to it being the only one to have an actual kitchen so they are a bit spoilt for choice. They get a choice of either a meat or veggie hot meal or sandwiches and salad with a fairly large choice of desserts. It's bloody good too for £1.90 a day, the days when parents get to try out a school lunch are booked up months in advance!
Try sending him in with a thermos full of soup/pasta or stew if you're not happy, I understand about him wanting something hot in winter, mine are the same, and if he struggles with change at least bringing his own in gives him an element of control. You can get some good flasks wide enough for chunkier food.

School meals for us cost £2.10 a day.
For that there is a choice of 3 different meals a day. At register time each child who has school dinners are asked what they would like.

Their meals are cooked off site and brought in fresh at lunch time.

My daughter loves most of the meals that are on offer and we can look at the school website to see what is on offer that day.

They also have the option of fresh bread/extra salad etc

And it is a 3 weekly rota of meals so week 1 is menu a, week 2 menu b, week 3 menu c and then changes back to menu a.

So because all the children order what they want in the morning there is always plenty of food.

So YANBU

When you put it like that Greensleeves you're not wrong. School mash ice cream stylee and cold mayo just ... boaksome.