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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think school dinners are too much (food wise)?

227 replies

DragonPies · 27/02/2017 10:33

There's always something like fish & chips, pie & mash, etc. and then a desert!

DD then has a dinner (around 6pm) and I feel like it's way too much. She's even getting a bit chubby.

I appreciate that I can stop school dinners (which I will be doing) but they shouldn't be giving kids stuff that could make them put on weight, surely?

OP posts:
Tomorrowillbeachicken · 27/02/2017 12:28

I assume there is also a sandwich option. Fruit always available as is salad bar probably.

SparkleTwinkleGoldGlitter · 27/02/2017 12:30

On that menu you've posted I can see Spag Bol, chicken with Yorkshire pud and veg, jacket potatoes! Fresh fruit platter, yogurt so I'm not sure what the problem is tbh

DragonPies · 27/02/2017 12:30

No, there isn't a sandwich option.

Also, the salad bar is only optional as a side on pizza day, the other sides are shown.

OP posts:
DragonPies · 27/02/2017 12:32

Oh I see salad is available, but look at the other sides? Why do they need pasta with pizza? There is literally 2 healthy options that then have sides.

OP posts:
Topaz0117 · 27/02/2017 12:35

YABU... A school dinner may be the only proper meal some children get. Sad. Wrong, but true.

danTDM · 27/02/2017 12:35

pasta and pizza Hmm my point exactly. Crazy.

OP drop the lunches. It isn't you, it's that. 5 days a week.

BarbaraofSeville · 27/02/2017 12:35

It isn't even cake every day.

I see fruit or yogurt every day, or waffles on Tuesday or fruit crumble on Thursday, plus more fruit, or cheese and biscuits.

Given that everyone has said that portion sizes are adequate at best for a 9 YO, it doesn't look like a menu anyone is going to gain weight on.

Penfold007 · 27/02/2017 12:37

DragonPies your daughter's school lunch menu does seem to be on the unhealthy side, lacking in vegetables and a Muller Corner offered every day!
A nine year old girl needs around 1600 kcals a day and a school lunch is meant to average 530 of those calories. Carefully balanced packed lunches may be a better choice for her.

Babycurls · 27/02/2017 12:38

I can't see that menu properly on my phone. I am surprised to see that there's a muller corner yoghurt available every day.

danTDM · 27/02/2017 12:38

It could be healthy, but DC's don't necessarily do that and I think that is the problem.

Oblomov17 · 27/02/2017 12:40

I have the opposite problem. Ds2 eats like a gannet, but is currently losing weight. I cant get enough food into him, and he is permanently starving, after having eaten an hour ago.

So no, Op, just because your child is becoming chubby, I am not sure that is a general issue. It all depends on the child. Some kids eat practically nothing. Both mine eat tonnes.

Maybe give less for dinner?

ChoudeBruxelles · 27/02/2017 12:40

It depends on their age. For a reception kids probably yes but ds in year 6 is always starving when he gets home.

Notso · 27/02/2017 12:45

That menu is way better than the one my kids get. The salad bar is an option on other days not just pizza day plus there are choices for pudding.

For comparison this in a week on my kids menu there is burger and wedges, pizza and fries and fish finger and chips. The weeks puddings are crumble, ice cream, cookie with chocolate sauce, custard slice and cupcake, fruit and yoghurt are available though.

UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter · 27/02/2017 12:48

my dc have a good breakfast that doesn't involve cooking. a Weetabix with milk or yogurt and fruit chopped and mixed into it. apple and raisins at the end of the week, when all the nice berries have run out, but things like banana, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, kiwi etc.

doesn't have to be expensive as I buy from aldi or local Saturday market.

they have the same with shreddies and a bit of chopped fruit instead of sugar. In the winter porridge with berries or apple and cinnamon.

dd is 10 and yr 6 and has hot school lunches twice a week and always comes home complaining she's hungry. She never picks the cake and custard option though, either jelly and fruit or cheese and crackers.

if shes had a hot school meal I will give her a smaller portion of whatever we are having for dinner. so much smaller bowl of pasta.

she also is very active, plays netball and hockey and walks to and from school etc, not one for sitting indoors playing on the ipad but out on the trampoline or rollerskating.

however she has filled out and put on weight. still within 'normal' weight ranges but she looks very different now to how she looked 12/18 months ago. She has hips and boobs, and chunkier thighs. I try and keep an eye on what she eats and without making fuss offer healthier snacks when she comes in and luckily she only really drinks water. I try not to pass on my own insecurities with food and weight. We women in the family tend to carry a lot of extra weight and gain weight quickly, hence we talk about eating and exercising for health and not for weight loss or to be skinny etc.

maxybrown · 27/02/2017 12:48

I wouldn't call it a cooked meal tbh! I bet like for.like the calorific content of the amount they get offered is much less than some.of those on packed lunches.

I've worked in a few schools and I would say that almost all the juniors will still be hungry after eating a school dinner. Like.others have said, portions are small and deserts are tasteless as little to no sugar! A lot of our kids threw desert away.

I do think it's probably her body changing too and possibly not moving enough? My DS was out of school for a year and after being back in for 6 weeks he has already lost some of his extra layer he accumulated from being at home.more - he has autism and its very hard to kick start him into anything. Just being at school has made a huge difference (he weighs the same as your daughter but is about 6 cm taller and is also 9 so still normal). I do agree with others that the lunch time food is not necessarily the problem here.

maxybrown · 27/02/2017 12:54

And yes the menu is crap but nothing that I've not seen before and portions really are small. Never seen a Muller corner yoghurt offered like that mind you! Imagine it's not a full size one we get in supermarkets? I know they do mini ones too......But interesting!

Goldenhandshake · 27/02/2017 12:56

DD's school are not too bad on the dessert front, it is offered every day, but isn't constantly cake and custard, they vary it with things like fruit kebabs or fruit salad too, and they have the option of cheese and crackers too.

I've seen the portion sizes and they are quite small too so even the unhealthier days like burger and chips, are still not as bad as a mcdonalds for example (and the burgers look like they have at least been acquainted with a cow, unlike McD's).

BarbaraofSeville · 27/02/2017 12:58

Since when has roast chicken and veg or spaghetti bolognese been 'not cooked' or 'crap'?

Aren't muller corners just a type of yogurt? I know it's not organic sweetened only with unicorn tears naice yogurt, but maybe they're the most popular, or the school gets them at a good price?

PickAChew · 27/02/2017 12:58

I think the portions are absolutely tiny. DS1 lost loads of weight and left school ravenous and pretty damned hangry when we experimented with school dinners when he was in infants. Didn't help that the veg was rank.

SomethingBorrowed · 27/02/2017 13:02

The issue is that they plan school dinners so that most of the children will eat with no fuss. So pizza, fried food, dessert... yes there might be healthier alternatives but show me a child who will choose lettuce over fries...
I truly believe that if they only offered healthy food, the children would eat it eventually! And that would be so much better for children who only get fed carbs/junk food at home.
But no, let's make life easier for the adults, and give children unhealthy food that they like.

MrsTarzan1 · 27/02/2017 13:05

School meals are tiny!

AnoiseAnnoysanOyster · 27/02/2017 13:05

My dc's school menu is great. Curry, wraps, sausages, roast, there's a real variety. I would much rather they had hot dinners than go in with sandwiches. It also means they'll try different food that they might refuse at home.

SEsofty · 27/02/2017 13:08

School dinner portions are absolutely tiny. Children are normally starving after school

Giddyaunt18 · 27/02/2017 13:11

For many children this is their main meal. The portions are quite small and very few children clean their plate!

T1mum3 · 27/02/2017 13:12

It's not a great menu - no veg integrated into the food except possibly the spag bol, although on the plus side there is a decent amount of protein whereas lots of school menus have a lot of "double carbs" - pizza with chips, mac&cheese with garlic bread, burgers with chips.

Weird to offer the muller yoghurts nearly everyday, especially as they are (I assume) sugar sweetened ones. A normal muller yoghurt has around 22g sugar (some from the yoghurt itself) which is high.

At least they are only offering cake type puds twice a week from what I can see.

My DC eat mostly protein and veg in the evenings to make sure they've had enough of these. We don't do sandwiches normally, as it's not the starches that they are missing out on.

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