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.

Wow Penguin - curries, beans and risotto! That is miles away from what our LA provides (think meat, two veg and potato). It's nice to hear there's more variety elsewhere. If anything, it will appeal to more people IMO. For work reasons I have been familiar with our LEA school meals menu for years. It has changed very little so I'm not expecting any massive changes for next year, certainly nothing as sophisticated as risotto or as forrin as bean chilli

Zippy I'd get tired of pizza and macaroni cheese every werk TBH
School meals aren't compulsory in our school. I haven't decided if we'll do packed lunches (reasons stated above) or school meals (more convenient for me).

It's not every week, though. It's once in three weeks. And there are curries, risotto, spaghetti and meatballs etc on other days.

The only thing my dd really doesn't like is one of the roasts. On those days I make her a packed lunch, which luckily she loves having.

I was actually thinking of posting similar op. My reception aged ds used to eat everything, he started the free school meals fine, eating and seeming to enjoy them for the first term or so of school be we are now beginning to have an issue. He has become anxious about school meals, won't eat them at all anymore even things he previously liked. He's even struggling with packed lunches and getting much fussier at home. I think part of his anxiety is around the fact that the school are quite strict about how much they eat before they are allowed to go out and play, while I understand the reasons why I'm actually thinking of having a word with them to ask them if they can be more flexible for him. I'm worried it's giving him food related issues (he's started getting tearful at bed time about how much he has to eat at school the next day)

DDs school dinners last week were:

Chinese chicken and rice or mixed pepper pizza
Roast pork dinner or veggie cottage pie
Spaghetti and meatballs or veggie spag bol
Roast chicken dinner or lentil roast
Fishfingers, chips and beans/peas or cheese quiche chips and beans/peas.

Choice of a jacket potato or tortilla wrap and fillings/salad is always available. Pudding is usually a choice of a cake/biscuit, fruit or a yoghurt.

If he's anxious about how much he has to eat then you definitely need to talk to the school - of course they won't want to make him that worried.

Yes keturah I'll have a word with his teacher next week, hasn't been helped by the fact he's had a stomach bug recently and I've just received one of the health screening letters that the school nurse sends advising that according to his height/weight he is underweight! (He is very tall for his age as dh and I are both tall as is his big brother). Definitely don't want food to become a bigger issue for him.

MC don't want to worry you and I don't think you need to do anything but work with the school and be aware but I know someone whose child developed similar problems and has been diagnosed as having OCD. When they were younger they couldn't be specific so when questioned it was things they could verbalise/understand - like being made to eat too much etc. But as they got older it was things like being served at the wrong time (they eat school lunch in rotating shifts), sitting in the wrong place, the wrong textures together, clingfilm...and they were on packed lunch (also affected in other areas just the food was the most obvious one at first)
Then again I know someone else whose child just became incredible fussy at home and school. Severely underweight had to go to the dietician and was assessed for SN etc. As a teen is slightly still underweight but ok...no diagnosis just very particular about what they eat.

School meals in this LA area are shocking. Cake most days, plates full of beige food. DD (4) touches very little of it.

Sadly the school have a "school dinners only" policy for under 7s for the "social benefits". That would be great if it wasn't us parents paying for it!

" I think part of his anxiety is around the fact that the school are quite strict about how much they eat before they are allowed to go out and play,"

No child should be coerced into eating more than they want to. I'd definitely be having words.

birds eye burgers!

My ds (y1) enjoys the dinners and looks forward to them every day. It has enlarged his appetite now!! He eats a sandwich when he comes home and has a main meal with us around 7. He does eat from salad bar as well. He still is slender so obviously needs it! The only thing I find is he looks for a pudding after anyy main meal he has now. I think with cakes at school they can only put in a certain amount of sugar?

Thanks unlucky I'll bear that in mind! although he is fine at home and textures etc don't seem to bother him so fingers crossed it's just a school based issue.

Yes dissapointed I'll have a chat with his teacher. Going to swap to packed lunches from next week and get him more involved in choosing what goes in them so hopefully that will help.

Is your dc teething? my 5yo is getting molars through. you'd never bat an eyelid at appetite loss and off tum in a baby teething...