Aibu to think the school lunch DD had today was a joke?

[ICameOnTheJitney]

Seriously....noodles and a beef burger with no bun...the other veg on offer was potatoes and cauli....followed bu "A cookie as big as my face" according to DD aged 5. Is that crap or am I fussy? She usually has a packed lunch....

[ItsNotATest]

So she did choose the noodles over the potatoes

This is a whole lot of drama lama-ing over your DD choosing an unusual combination over the very conventional alternative that was available to her. Isn't that normal kid behaviour?

[Chopchopbusybusy]

I like cauliflower. Are you really saying everyone in the world dislikes cauliflower. How odd.

[Chopchopbusybusy]

That was to wheresmycaffeinedrip

[Kewcumber]

Goodness, I'd never realised how relaxed I was about food. Live and learn.

[MrsKoala]

Did she eat enough to keep her alert and going through the day - thats really what food is intended for...

Wow - not to me it's not! This attitude (and others about food groups and balance) may be why we have the reputation we do about our food in Britain. The standards on what constitutes a 'meal' seem just so depressing.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Well you lot would be easy to please at a dinner party :o

But no, I still think its a vile meal certainly not one either dd would eat. I'd expect better from people supposedly experienced at cooking for large numbers. Food is supposed to look and taste good. You expect mis matched hurried combos at home when it's end of week/month, not at a school where menus are planned and numbers are known.

[Kewcumber]

DS's school serves noodles separate (see earlier post about kids not liking it with the sauce) - have never noticed it looked dry or congealed. They must have a magic ingredient.

OP was it so dry and congealed that DD didn't eat it - could you persuade her to photograph it next time? I'd like to assess more accurately who is being unreasonable here.

Best judge in general ime as to whether food is inedible is whether its, y'know, atcually eaten

[frogspoon]

but caffeine.

The OP's daughter didn't have to have a mismatched combo

She chose burger and noodles with cauliflower, instead of burger and potatoes with cauliflower.

Nobody forced her to have the "mismatched combo"

[Ajaney]

I am in Lincolnshire and I choose DS's meals when I pay for them. He is at preschool and the meals are taken there from primary school. There are 2 choices with one being a veggie option.
I used to choose chips and gravy followed by a 'Gypsy Cream' biscuit!

[Kewcumber]

The fact that people don't accept that food is actually intended as fuel is why we have cookies served as pudding and vegetables have to be served with cheese sauce

I love food and can cook pretty well but I don;t think it does DS any harm at all to understand the primary purpose of food and to occasionally eat something which is perfectly adequate rather than a delight for the eyes and taste buds!

Caffeine - don't you think that burger with potato and a veg is a perfectly acceptable combo? Should children not be allowed to pick from the across the planned combo's if they fancy it?

[MrsKoala]

Personally i love plain Cauli (my parents hated it so to me it was a real treat!) and have never served it with a cheese sauce (it's good roasted in cumin tho). And plain good quality food is fine - good bread, cheese/cold meat and salad etc. But why start fusioning your cuisines? Noodles with burgers and a side of veg? (reminds me of my nan who served that 'new fangled foreign pasta' plain, boiled to buggery with lamb chops, frozen veg and mint sauce and gravy when i visited once because it was the 'new thing' to eat )

I also see no need for puddings. I don't see the point of them at all i'd rather just have more dinner if i'm hungry - but that's just me i think!

[Kewcumber]

MrsKoala - I'd rather just have the pudding but DS almost never has them. We are the perfect pairing.

[HooverFairy]

I work in a school, the dinners are terrible. They are often mismatched and odd, not to mention tasteless. The school does its best with what it has but you will find that many of the schools built under the BSF funding if the last 10 or so years have their meals provided by an outside catering company (the same company that provides many hospital trusts). This is the same company many of the buildings are rented from. Schools have their hands tied, they don't have control over the meals.

I think many parents are misled in their beliefs that school dinners are healthy and nutritious, particularly after the Jamie Oliver campaign, they also think they are appetising. As a member of staff, if I want to stay healthy and not gain weight then I have to avoid the sandwiches and hot meals from our school because they are fatty and unhealthy - obviously I'm not blaming them for me being overweight, but I certainly can't lose or maintain my weight whilst eating them and I think parents should be aware. I'm horrified to see children regularly eating oddly matched foods together, and especially horrified at their weekly 'treat' menu of pizza, chips and gravy. It's not that I don't think children should eat these foods but I don't thinks school is the place for it or that gravy should be eaten with pizza.

YANBU - your child should be given guidance at dinner times until she's older.

[Kewcumber]

we built our own kitchen 3 years ago and food is cooked on the premises now

I don;t much care about odd combination but would draw the line at gravy with pizza.

[breatheslowly]

Why should the choices of children to mix and match their protein, carbs and veg be constrained by convention?

Your DD chose noodles instead of potatoes (which would have produced a more conventional meal). Do you want the dinner ladies to say, "no, you can't have noodles, that doesn't go"?

I wouldn't be keen on the huge cookie, but the main course sounded fine.

[SaucyJack]

I wouldn't want to pay two quid for a dry burger with plain potato and a lump of cauli either.

No wonder kids in this country freak out at anything with any flavour in if they're told that passes for a good dinner.

[LCHammer]

Oh, so now it's a dry burger, a plain potato and a lump of cauliflower. What drama.

[MrsKoala]

I think if they choose the odd combo then fine. But i thought this was all that was left? I've probably missed the bit where this was explained in the OP!

My DNieces have a weird thing at school where each year takes turns and if you are the last group to go you just get what's left. So if the offering was Jacket spuds & Tuna mayo and Rice & chilli, a lot of the earlier classes may have opted for spuds and chilli so all that's left is rice and tuna mayo - or something bizarre like that. Is this true of most schools?

[SaucyJack]

Well how else would you describe it Hammer?

You might be happy to eat like there's still a war on, but some of us actually give a shit about making food appetising.

[LCHammer]

How dramatic. Are you so hysterical IRL or just on MN?

[TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos]

Frogspoon it was mash AND pasta and tomato sauce, not mash and pasta and ketchup, IYSWIM. And, no, they are not Vegetarians .....

Greensleeves I remember the surf burger from secondary school!!

[SaucyJack]

I could embarrass you by giving you the real answer.... but I shan't as it isn't relevant to the OP.

[missorinoco]

Now that is the sort of weird meal my children would choose. Makes me , but it does it for them.

The cookie as big as face sounds slightly optimistic in a five year old fashion, although DC came home with hers when she was doing her staggered start, and it was large enough for her to want to eat it in two sittings.

I agree with the comment about no cakes in packed lunches, seems unfair when the dinners have daily puddings. (I get that the school can't police it etc, just seems harsh.)