to be really disappointed about no school meals

[TerrysNo2]

We're currently in the process of moving house to a totally new area. DS starts reception in September and I just discovered that the school he will hopefully go to does not do school dinners. WTF?!?

I thought they were an institution???

Not all areas have them. We never did (1980s)

but how else will he learn about lumpy custard and Turkey twizzlers?!? I might have to join the pta!!!

I'm sure the reason we were all skinny back then was because school meals were so rank. A turkey twizzler would have been a dream- it was grey liver and boiled beans for us. This was 1980.

You're not missing much. Our (Outstanding) primary do supposedly "excellent" meals. In reality they're dreadful....DD1 can't understand why the cheese sauce is almost neon yellow/...I had to explain that it came from a packet and was basically fake cheese.

Both of mine have packed lunches.

I think there was a phase where schools were built without kitchens. There's one locally that doesn't do them.
For children with free school meals they get a packed lunch from school, which I think is dreadful. Firstly everyone knows who gets free school meals and secondly I thought the whole idea was to get a good hot meal for them.

Some schools get local pubs to cater for them...I read about one village school where the kids all traipse over the road daily for a pub lunch! The pub does them at £2 a head which is cheaper than ours!

Tiny school though...but the food looked great.

DeWe there's much debate about how necassary hot food is...it's not "better" than cold...what's important is what's IN the packed lunch.

hot pasta with fake cheese sauce and a gigantic cookie is not "good hot food" and that's a sample from my DDs school menu.

I'd rather she had what I give her.....granary sandwiches, selection of salad and fruit, nuts, juice and yogurt.

Other samples include meatballs which DD likes...she asked me to make some and I did...from fresh minced beef. She said they were "wrong". I guess the school's are tinned!

YANBU - I can't stand faffing with packed lunches either before and after. All mine have school meals.

I don't find it a "faff" at all now. I did at first, but I soon got used to it. I put drinks and fruit in the boxes at night...stick them in the fridge...the next day I make a sandwich each and add that.

It takes all of 5 minutes!

I'm just lazy and disorganised

I honestly can't be bothered! my poor child will be on a diet of cheese and ham sandwiches for his school days!

I'm very envious of patents who are allowed to include nuts (running out of packed lunch ideas...).

I would love the children to go back on school dinners, but its just so expensive

PaRents - stupid phone!!

There are some peculiar decisions involved in providing school meals.

Dinners at DS's school are cooked at another school with a working kitchen and delivered, a journey of about 10 miles from the village school doing the cooking to DS's school in town.

But, DS's school shares a campus with a special needs school that cooks the same menu in it's own kitchen. So why doesn't anyone do the sensible thing and arrange for the special school to cook dinners for DS's school? Right on the doorstep, so food would be hot, their kitchen is big enough to cater for the additional food and I'm told that although it's the same menu, the food in the the special school is better.

DS prefers to have packed lunches.

What about children who receive fsm? Do they get a free packed lunch?

Children who get fsm get a free packed lunch if meals aren't available for any reason. This happens for some events/trips, etc for children at DS's school.

YANBU at all. DD has school dinners at her pre-school and it means that if DH and I fancy something in the evening that we don't think DD will like (Chilli or Curry, something too spicey) then she can have something lighter because she's eaten at school.

It's a real shock to the system when she has to go to the CM in the holidays because I have to do her a packed lunch. I start work (work from home) at 7am, have to get DD up at 6.45am and downstairs with me by 7am so another 5 mins getting a packed lunch together would be a pain.

Also, it's really improved DD's eating habits, eating things at school that we don't have at home, especially when all her friends are eating the same thing!

I'd love to swap with you.

No packed lunches allowed at our school. I and the children would much prefer them.

We have hot dinners available, but they are shipped in ready prepped - my kids take packed lunch -

When the school dinner company did their "taster" session - it was all beige except some salad on the side (the kids can take a couple of slices of cucumber, a quarter of a tomato, dessert spoon of coleslaw and a 1cm thick slice of pallid baguette...) HOW they managed to make even sweet and sour sauce look beige I do not know - but they did..... and most of the veggie meals were cheese or jacket potato and beans based.

So a lack of hot school food would be no great loss to us...