to refuse to pay £2.20 on a cheese salad next week just because ds1 has chosen that and give him a packed lunch instead

[chocoholic05]

They have six choices a day and they have to fill in the form with money the Thursday before. Ds1 has chosen cheese salad next Monday I said I can make a packed lunch for much less but he said he wants school dinners so he can sit with his friends. He doesn't eat much in the way of salad when offered at home last time he had it at school didn't eat it then either! I've said no. Ds1 not happy!

he's 7 btw

He might eat more if he sits with his friends.

I can't make packed lunches for less than school dinners ( ours are £2 per day) I totalled it up one week.

but a cheese salad isn't very substantial is it?

Yanbu. My dd frequently requests school dinners. She is 9. However, every time she asks we sit down with the menu so she can tell me what she will have on each day. School have a week 1, 2 and 3 menu which they rotate. Without fail on 4 out of the 5 days she says she will have the packed lunch option which is usually a baguette or similar, fruit and yoghurt. I refuse to pay over £2 per day for something I can provide for 1/2 the cost.

Can he change his choice to something else at this stage? Explain to him that £2.20 will buy enough food for the whole family for breakfast (so he has an idea of the value of the money involved) so you don't want to spend that on much food that he won't enjoy. He can pick something else, so he still has a school meal, or he can have a sandwich, which does he want to do?

I would be more inclined to complain to the school about lunchtime segregation....my DC school allows them all to sit together.

I'd let him go. At that age he's going to feel not being able to sit with his friends much harder than saving you money, annoying though it no doubt is to you.

School meal are compulsory at DD's school and it pisses me off that she comes home some days having eaten plain pasta with a few slices of cucumber because there was nothing else on the menu she fancied (she's 8), but she likes the social aspect of it all.

Maybe ask him if cheese salad is really all he wants? Is it too late to change his options?

he can change his mind forms aren't in yet but adamant that's all he wants

Cheese salad will be cheese, salad and more than likely bread plus a pudding - not bad for £2.20 imo.

of course a cheese salad is substantial... and for £2.20 it isnt extortionate either..

I can totally understand a child wanting to sit and eat with their friends at lunch time too.