to find it difficult to believe that 'only 1% of packed lunches are as nutritious as school dinners'?

[gogoflo]

This is the statistic quoted repeatedly on the literature being sent home from school. Dc currently have packed lunch and though they'll try hot meals, tthey're keen to keep having packed lunches but school are really keen on everyone having hot meals once it's free. Just looking at the menu, tomorrow it's chilli and rice, jacket potato and beans or fish and chips followed by chocolate sponge and custard or jelly and ice cream.

Tomorrow their packed lunch will be crackers with ham, cheese and sausage, carrot, pepper, cucumber with hummus, fruit salad with 4 portions of fruit and a biscuit. I don't think school dinners are more nutritious and struggle to believe that so many people are sending their children to school with such crap packed lunches that fish, chips, chocolate cake and custard is nutritionally better.

Aibu to find this statistic difficult to believe?

Falling, (not along)

Here is the link to the full report they are quoting. Relevant bits from page 40.
www.schoolfoodplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/School_Food_Plan_2013.pdf

there is a bit of tweaking of results in there. Well, not tweaking, but leading analysis.

For example they analysed how many lunch boxes contained fruit. 57% And then in brackets put the comment (fruit is the least likely lunch box item to be eaten). So? It's probably the least eaten item with school dinners too but they don't comment on that. And the 1% is the number of lunchboxes out of a sample of 1000 that meet all the required nutrition standards. As individual lunches. Yet with school dinners it's not every meal that has to meet all standards, it's averaged out.

And they seem oddly obsessed with sandwiches = bad! Why? You can have a very healthy sandwich. There's a comment about 'pre-sliced bread'. Oh dear, poor children getting a nice healthy wholemeal sarnie from Warburtons instead of doorsteps of artisan farmers market bread. How odd.

You really can prove anything with statistics.

It's an interesting read - especially the case studies. It sounds as if some schools are doing a fantastic job with their dinners and in inspiring children to expand their food range.

But I just don't believe the majority of schools are like that.

I remember that Dimbleby report and was (NOT) that a person running a catering business should come to the conclusion that catered food was better than home-prepared ones. It was the funniest thing I've read for ages.

Kentish re the "1% doesn't meet nutritional standards",I'm guessing they don't scrutinise how many school dinners actually plated up and consumed (not the pretty titles but the actual meal that gets dolloped out)meet nutritional standards and what are the nutritional standards exactly?

The stat twisting and scaremongering really gets my goat and as for putting somebody with a catering company as a mouthpiece for this(we'll gloss over the fact he's friends with DC) well that's an impartial view- not!

Our school dinners are certainly not healthier than a packed lunch that I would give DS. Firstly, they have a sweet treat every day as a pudding, whereas previously I had confined puddings to friday - sunday treats. Secondly, the main course often seems to run out leaving my son with the cold choice which is always white bread (baguette, pitta etc) and cheese, no salad as they are supposed to take the veg option from the hot foods . . . . but who eats creamed cauliflower or cooked carrot with a baguette? So then I've paid £2.20 for a small cheese roll, not value for money. I only go with school meals as they are less hassle, and next year they'll be free as he's in YR1. The literature is very impressive but the food less so.

Oh yes the literature bears little relationship to reality.

I'm still waiting for somebody to tell me how fish,chips,milkshake ,shortcake and a spoonful of veg(which gets left) is healthier than my dc's tuna sandwich,veg pot(which gets eaten at home if not in school)yog and juice water which I guess wouldn't be part of the holy 1% due to the sugar in the yog.

Somebody from gov really needs to start answering these questions and why books seem to be less important than crappy food for kids that don't even need it, the cost of which is lining the pockets of catering companies.

you can only measure the nutritional value of a school dinner or a packed lunch on what is provided not what is eaten children leave parts of both

all school dinners provide at least 1 veg and should provide 2 only 57% of packed lunches had any fruit/veg to start with,

so 43% of packed lunches contain absolutely 0 fruit/veg before going on to any other category

our local village school lunches are good

working as a dentist and in public health I know that most children's diet are not good enough by a long shot, not just the packed lunch but other meals too

I think the average child eats more like this

1. breakfast sugary cereal with milk drinks squash with it maybe followed by toast and jam too

2 lunch if packed white bread sandwich with plastic cheese slice/ wafer thin ham/ jam, crisps chocolate bar carton of juice and an apple if lucky or maybe a character yogurt fat free but full of sugar

3 sweets on way home followed by biscuits

4 dinner pizza chips sausages fish fingers with fizzy juice beans on toast

5 evening more crisps /sweets while watching TV
this is sad but true I think average 5-8 year old eats 1-2 packets of sweets a day and maybe 2 portions of fruit/veg and has a least 1 can of fizzy juice

this is sad but true I think average 5-8 year old eats 1-2 packets of sweets a day and maybe 2 portions of fruit/veg and has a least 1 can of fizzy juice

I don't think I know any children who eat like this and, in 14 years of childminding, I have only had one child who was consistently sent with a lunchbox of utter crap every day.

Even school aged children in the holidays have always brought and eaten a decent amount of fresh veg and fruit. The only thing I've ever really found to criticise was the number of bags of crisps because I think one a day is far too much.

Bollocks your "average" 8 year old doesn't have a diet like that.I don't know any kid with a diet like that.

I'm sure some do but not your average child on a national level as a whole.

Those fruit/veg amounts in school dinners are shameful when you consider portions are supposed to be 7 or 10 depending on what you read.The spoonful of veg that is the 1 potion doesn't even land on plates they are allowed to reject it and take white bread instead.

And sorry your supposed average lunch(kids aren't allowed chocolate cars in the maj of schools) doesn't seem any worse than the school dinner I listed.The sugar in the milkshake and shortcake would easily match that in a yog. Same fat in fish and chips as in a packet of crisps.

Oh and the second portion which is generally a made from concentrate carton of teeth rotting juice doesn't seem that healthy to me.

The sum total of fruit/veg that my dc got is a slice of white bread to replace the rejected spoonful of veg and a carton of juice or 3 cubes of fruit in jelly.

Healthy- err I don't think so.

And just how nutritious are vegetables that have been cooked and kept warm in a ven swimming in water then in a serving plate kept warn for another hour?

I doubt there's much left tbh especially as the water they are sat on would to be used in the food or gravy or anything

Van

I've been in enough school trips to know the overwhelming majority of packed lunches are crap . Someone buys all the processed shit that's sold in the food shops . You guys are kidding yourselves if you think the average is nutritious !
But , it's my child and I will feed it what I want . I work really hard to buy and cook the best good I can for my children . I don't want them eating food daily that I can't control . And control is the word , five main meals a week is a huge chunk of their intake .

Oh I send treats for school trips.Crisps and a choc biscuit as they never have that kind of thing normally in their packed lunch and will burn up more calories on a long trip out.

I'm sure many do.

Oh I send treats for school trips.

Same here. DD2 has already asked if she can have crisps in her lunch on their end of year trip next week.

Yes I do. In fact trips are the one time they get a jam sandwhich or a cereal bar because I worry about any meat or tuna getting too warm on the coach.

Well someone must be eating all the cheese strings, perperamis, mini juice cartons, packets of ham full of salt and other shite that is sold in the supermarkets.

Maybe the school dinner kids eat it for tea.

DC3 eats most the "shite" listed by chickenFajita (not the carton juice). And I think his diet is still better than avg kid because of all the F+veg he eats.

I tried pudding only on Friday with DC1 & gave up by yr1; he would have been only one without.

My children have some of those as occasional treats. I have been know to eat some of them too. I just don't pack them in my DD's lunch box routinely and I haven't seen them that often, apart from ham, in childminded children's lunch boxes either. They most certainly don't make up the majority.

:o @ retro

Quite possibly, after all schools already fed them

Would just add cheese string is just cheese,ham is ham and the cartons of juice are just juice all of which get served up regularly in your average school dinner.

Ok - please add to my post...
I've helped in school over enough lunches to know the average pack up is full of crap .
Oh , also please add ...
I've sneaked a look into enough kids lunch boxes when they come here to tea to know blah blah blah (immoral?)

cheese string is just cheese

Are you sure?

Well cheese and paprika,think it's made in a similar way to mozzarella hence that lovely rubbery texture.