To think free school meals have ruined the eating habits of ds2

[IamtheDuchessstill]

Ds2 is in Y1 so we have taken advantage of the free meals at school this year. I have really noticed his tolerance of a variety of foods has declined over the last few months and can't help thinking there is a link.

He is used to eating a variety of veg, meat and fish in the form of home-cooked meals, usually things like pasta sauce, mild curries etc. For weekend lunches, sandwiches would always be supplemented with chopped cucumber and toms or pepper/carrots.

Lately he is getting ridiculously picky over veg, not eating the salad bits with sandwiches and generally doing my head in! He seems to get cake a few times a week at school and meals seem a lot more bland than we eat at home. I am basing this on the experience I had when invited to eat a lunch with the children before they started.

Is there a link or is it normal for this age group to start refusing meals they have previously eaten happily? It is infuriating to see him faffing about with meals he has previously loved.

Perfectly normal.

Hmm. It has had the opposite effect on my daughter! She eats pretty much everything these days (thank god). The school meals aren't too bad in my opinion. However, the only fish they have is in battered form on a Friday in our la.

Yes, we've had the opposite experience. They eat far more now- I'm really pleased. I think we may have come from a fairly bad starting point tho!

It's most likely that your DS don't have anyone encouraging him to eat salad and veg. Most schools don't have the staff to speak to every child in the lunch hall to encourage them them to eat what they don't want to.

Our school don't have cake a few times a week. Cake and custard are on the menu once every three weeks and between that there is fresh fruit, yoghurt or flapjack available. The meals aren't bland either as we have chicken or veg curry, veg or chicken fajitas, steak pie, home made soup and a sandwich or fish in cheese sauce (which is a one week menu that changes every three weeks). Perhaps he'd prefer a packed lunch?

We have had the same. Being around children who pick and fuss over the same meal she was served has been a fucking disaster for DD1 (also year 1). It was a fast and noticeable change in the autumn. She's quite susceptible to peer influence

doesn't not don't

Mine ate "adventurous" food, eg houmous, olives curries, fajitas etc... But wouldn't touch a vegetable if her life depended on it. Now she tries absolutely everything, and her tastes have widened considerably.

Hmmm - I think they do change tastes as they get older - mine got fussier. I remember being smug that my 5 yo would eat any veg and her friend would only eat broccoli and then only if smothered in ketchup ...by age 10 it had completely changed round - friend would eat anything and my DD would only eat pasta with grated cheese...(and she's only slight better now at 14)
School meals though do play a part though ...DD1 (about 7) started refusing homemade burger but said her burgers were one of her favourites at school
(I ranted about her liking 'rubbish frozen bird's eye burgers' and she burst into tears - she thought they had bird's eyes in them I did put her straight - maybe I shouldn't have!)

Hmm, interesting! Maybe my dd has friends who are fabulous eaters and she's copying them!

OP that is exactly what I'm afraid will happen next year when DC1 starts full time school . Like you say, 3 or 4 types of veg in rotation, and also cake every day, potatoes nearly every day, veg option being things pizza or macaroni cheese, white fish cooked in a dull way on Fridays etc.

School meals are their main meal of the day for most of the week for most of the year so I think they have an important influence.

Very normal, they usually start picking up again around 9. My nearly 9 year old is coming out the other side of this phase, my 11 year old still needs to be asked to try or to eat a little more variety and so far my 5 year old is still eating anything and everything he can. Every child is different.

Our meals are not like that at all miss. Lots of mild curries, bean chili, risotto etc. I doubt the veg is marvellous as it has to sit there, but hasn't translated to issues with veg at home.

Miss - school dinners aren't usually compulsory... If you're bothered, make her a packed lunch?!

We have curries, pasta bakes, roast dinners etc as well as macaroni cheese (which is perfectly healthy for a five year old, surely?) and pizza.

It's completely normal

I wouldn't necessarily link it to the 5 tiny meals he has per week in school

Zippy -most ks1 kids I know won't now take one as they want to be with their friends.

I think it can go one of two ways. They either get used to eating anything and everything or go hungry, or, they go off foods they used to like due to less tasty versions served at school alongside soggy veg.

I think, if it's at all.possible ghats people put the "free" aside and so what's best fir their child. If that's packed lunches so be it.

School dinners aren't our main meal, we eat a family meal in the evening.

Saying that I've found reception DD's school lunches have been very good, there is usually a cakey option for pudding but she often chooses fruit or yoghurt instead. Cooked options are normal things, roasts, pizza, curry and rice, spaghetti and meatballs, fish fingers and chips on a Friday.

She has even started choosing from the salad bar sometimes and has expanded her veg intake to include raw carrots, peppers and sweet corn

Quite, giles. I do think if you're a key stage 1 child, you have little choice over what you're given to eat. "Most ks1 kids "won't" take a packed lunch"? Erm, if I think the school meals are rubbish (which I don't!), my child will be having a packed lunch whether she likes it or not. Of course I wouldn't want her to be isolated and if she were, i would rethink. However, in my class there is always at least a handful of children who bring in a packed lunch.

At our school there is 1 y1 child out of 60. I get why DD1 would resist being that isolated.

DSS ate absolutely anything when I first knew him, age 4. He is much fussier now, age 9. Don't think it has anything to do with external influences as they haven't changed. I put it down to an age thing really.

I think.people underestimate the significance of "5 meals a week"

I used to pay for dd to have school dinners. She's never been one to eat to main meals a day. and with the likes of the bread served along side the meals and the cakey puddings she was often too full to eat much more than a small sandwich or slice of toast and some fruit in the evening.

I realise not every kid will be like that but those 5 meals a week did have an impact on my dd. her range if foods went down big time and she actually became extremely pale and bloated and then had a really bad run of illnesses, just your typical viruses and asthma and eczema flare ups but enough that she required a few days off school.

She never ate the veg as it was soggy. so shed eat bread and pudding and a bit of the main if she liked it. not the healthy diet I'd hoped for that's for sure.

Fair enough, penguin!

Mine eats a full meal each evening, too.

The meals are good. I just wish her best friend wasn't a super fussy eater who she copies (fussy about meat unless super processed, fish, potatoes. ..)