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AIBU?

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Original poster

To not make dd1 eat school dinners

52 replies

Gardeninginsummer1 · 28/08/2018 15:35

Dd1 is supremely fussy... and stubborn... but we have made real progress with her eating supported by her fantastic preschool. She's just started school and I has insisted she have school dinners. Today we went along to try the dinners. She had been excited to try the meatballs but my god they were utterly disgusting. Soft, pale mushy 'pork' with poorly cooked pasta and a watery sauce. Dd started crying because she couldn't eat it. I felt like crying to because I had to 😂
Other pupils were having the cheese sandwich...a Warburton style bap with a slice of plastic cheese.
To cap it all off was the pudding... it was called frozen yogurt ice cream. It was like a mousse and the ingredients were rank. Claims to be low fat and therefore healthy but I disagree with low fat products as I believe sugar is the main health issue.
I'm now thinking of providing packed lunches instead.... healthy and I can monitor the ingredients. I'm really particular about my meat and where it comes from.
I'm just disappointed as I thought school meals would open up a variety but I doubt dd will ever want to try meatballs again after today 🤢

OP posts:
Original poster
Gardeninginsummer1 · 28/08/2018 15:35

List of pudding ingredients

To not make dd1 eat school dinners
OP posts:
Original poster
Gardeninginsummer1 · 28/08/2018 15:36

Oops

To not make dd1 eat school dinners
OP posts:
Gileswithachainsaw · 28/08/2018 15:37

Oh god I wouldn't think twice. Send in that packed lunch!! That all sounds inedible

Gileswithachainsaw · 28/08/2018 15:38

And that "pudding" reads like a science experiment not food.

silkpyjamasallday · 28/08/2018 15:40

Yep, just do a packed lunch. That way you can still introduce her to new foods, but good quality ones that hopefully won't go to waste.

IsTheRainEverComingBack · 28/08/2018 15:40

Yeh that’s total crap. I wouldn’t eat it or feed it to a child. The schools I’m close to all have fab menus with lots of variety and seem cooked well (though always the odd slightly barmy combos to meet the nutrition requirements) Id go with packed lunch too, you may well find your DD is less fussy even about what goes in that when she’s eating next to her peers, I know so many children who eat things at school they won’t a home.

serbska · 28/08/2018 15:40

Send her with a packed lunch.

Rebecca36 · 28/08/2018 15:40

Packed lunch all the way! I always refused school dinners but thought they had improved in recent years. Obviously they are different but I was wrong about improvement.

BlackInk · 28/08/2018 16:21

Does your DD still want to try having the school lunches? If she does I would let her, but if she doesn't I would give her packed lunches. Very few children in infants at my DC school have packed lunches because the school ones are free. Those having packed lunches could feel a bit singled out.

My DC are a bit fussy and are vegetarian. The veggie option at their school is Quorn pretty much every day, which I wasn't really keen on.

But at our school you can view the menu in advance and opt in and out of school lunches each day. My DD sometimes chooses the school lunch on 'jacket potato day' and my DS usually has the Christmas dinner.

I agree that most school lunches are a bit suspect nutritionally, but if your DD wants to have them it's unlikely to cause any problems and probably would make her try different things.

bsbabas · 28/08/2018 16:24

That looks like penny pinching in the extreme and not at all healthy or nutritious. Some chopped veggies and sandwiches and a yoplait would be better. Perhaps crisps and an orange juice too:)

AdoraBell · 28/08/2018 16:27

Definitely packed lunch.

oldsockeater · 28/08/2018 16:30

I think you should make an official complaint about the quality of the food. She would be better off eating a mars bar than that so called healthy pudding.

OutPinked · 28/08/2018 16:31

That sounds dreadful. I made all of mine have them in ks1 because, free but they all had pretty much the same thing every bloody day! Usually a cheese panini or jacket potato with cheese and beans except for pizza day.

I would send in a packed lunch if that’s what they were offering to show off to parents though.

OzymandiasFanClub · 28/08/2018 16:32

Yes- do a packed lunch but try and make sure there's a variety of new things for her to try in her packed lunch.

stargirl1701 · 28/08/2018 16:35

You are in Tayside, right? Tayside Contracts providing the free school dinners for all P1-3 pupils?

Is the school a cooking kitchen or is it delivered from another site?

The guidelines underpinning the meals are from the Scottish Government.

Bestseller · 28/08/2018 16:36

I have a real issue with apparently "healthy" school menus. I've worked in three different schools who were very proud of their healthy home cooked meals which were actually anything but as the quality of the ingredients is so poor. e.g roast dinner using processed meat and yes, pork meatballs made from mushy sausage meat.

The absolute cherry on the cake is the ice lolly desert which is basically coloured flavoured water but meets dietary guidelines because it's free of sugar, fat and salt - all of which children need in some quantity anyway.

stargirl1701 · 28/08/2018 16:38

One day left to add your voice to the consultation.

https://consult.gov.scot/support-and-wellbeing/food-and-drink-in-schools/

Nacreous · 28/08/2018 16:43

Gosh that sounds vile and inedible. No point in making her fussiness worse, and frankly I don’t see any way forcing her to eat horrible food will make her less fussy:

Knittedfairies · 28/08/2018 16:46

Please give her a packed lunch. My mum made me have school dinners years ago and the only thing I ate at lunchtime was the jam tart, which we had about once a fortnight. She relented after a year. A whole year.

Janek · 28/08/2018 16:46

I gave my dd2 (now year 5) a packed lunch all through ks1 because i didn't want her having a pudding every day. I also wanted to know what she was eating and how much and i also knew that she could have chosen similar to her packed lunch, but lower quality items from the canteen. In addition i would have had to pay for dd1 who was never entitled to ks1 school meals, so this 'free' thing would have cost me £500 a year!

And she was not the only one who had a packed lunch, although the other did it for different reasons possibly.

bookwormnerd · 28/08/2018 16:51

My dd has packed lunch and has since reception, she tried a week and didnt like. The school dinners dont look that appetizing and what she takes in is alot healthier. It also means I can see what she has eaten. Im sure when youngest goes to school will do the same as I know he would not eat the school dinners

Original poster
Gardeninginsummer1 · 28/08/2018 16:57

Yes it's Tayside contacts and it's delivered in. It was honestly rank. And I love food.
I am now even considering some sort of thermos so she can have warm dinners. I think days when it's pizza or baked potato I'll say she can have school meals but I'm not letting her eat the meat again.

OP posts:
YeTalkShiteHen · 28/08/2018 16:59

That sounds rotten OP, the local council must have farmed the contract out to the lowest bidders!

DS1 has packed lunches, but DD has school dinners. That said, our LA has nice meals, if I was in your position I’d send her with a packed lunch.

Original poster
Gardeninginsummer1 · 28/08/2018 17:20

Filled in that consultation thanks also.

So disappointed with the standard of food given to our children. I mused to dh that prisoners are probably better fed. And just as well it's free as I wouldn't be paying for that rubbish

OP posts:
user139328237 · 28/08/2018 17:22

Thermos' are probably banned so I wouldn't use one of them.
No reason why she can't have one 'cold' meal a day 5 days a week anyway.