To not make dd1 eat school dinners

[Gardeninginsummer1]

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 🤢

I've looked online... the have a recipe book and an ingredient list. The meatballs are 65%pork.

That's disgusting OP! Definitely send in with a packed lunch .. and only 65%?!? What the hell else is in there?!

Definitely double check about the thermos as they were banned in DBs school when DM tried the same thing!

It says water,pea protein,dextrose and various antioxidants and favourings. Oh and dextrose. So much they've listed it twice it seems.

Makes me appreciate my dd's school dinners now.

They are all cooked onsite and look fantastic. There's a variety to choose from and we get to order them 2 weeks in advance through a parent portal.

Examples would be something like:-

Cheese sandwhich and salad bar
Chicken curry with rice and naan bread
Roast pork with creamed mash and veg
Roast chicken with creamed mash and veg

We get to pick one for them and then choose from 4 different deserts

Delivered in is never the same as cooked on site. Can the Parent Council start a campaign for a kitchen?

I'm not sure... also cooking on-site it would still be the same ingredients. It's a tiny village school so no room either.

I cook in a school kitchen.
We serve to kids on-site and send out to another school (not yours gardeninginsummer1 )

The Tayside Contracts menu more than fulfills the Scottish Government nutritional requirements (which incidentally are more stringent than elsewhere in the UK)

The menu is based on a four week cycle, and unfortunately you seem to have been unlucky with regards to which day you were attending in that today's menu is relatively processed.

As you can probably imagine, transporting cooked pasta can be a bit hit and miss - the time between undercooked enough that it continues 'cooking' during transport and is served perfectly and ending up overdone is a small margin.
The sauce shouldn't have been watery, the recipe includes loads of chopped veg and once it's blitzed, it should be thickened if required.

The frozen yoghurt is a new item being trialled on the menu this year, and so far they've been quite popular in the 3 primary schools and 1 nursery we cater for.

Those particular pork meatballs are used, in part, because they contain less allergens than other ones (in particular, they are gluten free)

Chicken dishes are prepared using raw chicken. Steak casserole and steak pie etc use diced shoulder steak from a well-known and well-regarded butcher, who also supply the sausages, beef burgers and mince used in cottage pie/chilli/Bolognese etc. I'm not sure why you say all the meat is processed?

I didn't say it was all processed but what I saw today certainly was
. It was a strange texture and basically pretty grim. The sauce was certainly watery.
I'm sure the yogurt is popular...dd ate all hers... my point is that it's so far removed from any real yogurt or indeed dairy. The key ingredients being sugar syrup and palm oil. I have my concerns about palm oil from an ethical stance.
I'm prepared to concede that today may have been a bad day... although the chicken nuggets were anemic and unappetizing looking also. I Will ask to pop in another day and see what's offered.
As a matter of interest why use the plastic cheese and the cheap nasty pre-cut rolls? Nutritional value again must be fairly low.

I'd just give her packed lunches. Our school dinners are not as bad as what you have described but they really aren't nice and they aren't plentiful either. My child has a bird-like appetite and has school dinner once a year for the Christmas meal. It is tiny and she always comes home very hungry.

I've sent her for the past seven years (she's just left primary) with a sandwich (usually some kind of cheese), a yoghurt, some kind of fruit plus carrot or cucumber sticks and maybe another small item like some olives, dried fruit or crackers/breadsticks (try to make these wholemeal where possible). Sometimes the sandwich gets replaced by a little pie or a sausage roll for a change. I'd be astonished if that wasn't healthy enough, and I think it is definitely more filling than what the school dinners kids get even though it isn't hot. I wanted to try sending eg soup in a thermos with a bread roll but DD is weedy and couldn't undo the top of it with any kind of reliability so I gave up and stuck to cold things. But other parents do this so it isn't necessarily forbidden. Some people take eg warm baked beans with grated cheese and a roll, or stews or whatever. One kid brings cold pasta and sauce from home and seems to like it.

All of these things, including my child's cold lunch are better options than what you describe!

I’m torn on whether YABU. We live in France, both my boys are school age and pretty fussy -at home anyway. They both have school lunch. The rules here are really quite strict:

Salad starter, main course, cheese, dessert every day. Expected to try everything, but not to clear the plate.
No choices - everyone gets the same menu.
The only exception is “without meat” thought it’s not always veggie. You have to ask in advance for this.
Any specific dietary requirements need a drs certificate (includes vegetarian).
Packed lunches not allowed in school.
Dessert is usually fruit, sometimes yoghurt, once a week it’s a small cake.

The quality of the food is... well it’s always going to be mass catering. But my boys have really benefited from eating with their friends, trying new foods, being presented with foods that I’d never usually offer them at home (veal, squid, beetroot, cardoons, spinach etc) and not having the easy option of packed lunch to fall back on. They are 10 and 7 now, and although they are still picky at home they can work their way round a typical French restaurant menu with no fear (last meal out, DS1 chose cuttlefish, DS2 chose duck!).

OTOH I’ve looked at Scottish school menus (I’m from Dundee, my nephew lives in Edinburgh) and I’ve been a bit gobsmacked at the widespread use of processed foods. And the lack of veg. And the junk desserts. So I can see why you’d rather offer a balanced packed lunch to her, at the expense of her not being exposed to new foods and encouraged to try them.

Sorry I’m on the fence!

19g of sugar per 100g in the dessert! Nearly 1:5! How big was the dessert?! That’s a lot of sugar for a ‘healthy’ school surely? Dread to think of the come down 😦

Do you get a menu to choose from? We go through the menu and they usually have something they like as one of the choices. If they really don't they get packed lunches. Your example sounds awful but surely there are some days where there are some decent choices. School dinners have made my DS less picky which is why I am less inclined to say packed lunches are the answer.

Yes, Tayside Contracts provide a menu with 4 options.

Meat option
Alternative protein option, e.g. fish
Vegetarian option
Sandwich option

Salad bar and bread basket at every lunch.

Soup starter OR pudding.

Your poor daughter! That meal doesn't sound very appetising.
I had similar problems when my daughter started school. It took a major campaign to get the catering company to offer a piece of fruit as an alternative pudding. Even a school is without a kitchen should be able to manage that.
I would share your concern about poor quality ingredients- palm oil doesn't do anything for the flavour. But will make it cheaper I suppose.

My DC has a small thermos flask for a hot lunch in the winter time.

We did try the school lunches but the textures and quality were so variable and often not edible.

Works brilliantly, I think it is called "king"

Sorry gardeninginsummer1 I think I misattributed someone else's comment re: processed to you.

It's unfortunate that you and your daughter had a disappointing try of school dinners, I hope you persevere because there are some really lovely things on the menu.
If you feel the meals served aren't up to scratch, then please get in touch about it - we do try to offer a good service but mistakes can happen and if you let them know you aren't happy they'll try to rectify any issues.

I'm on my break just now, but I'll try and address some of your queries before I head back through....

Cheese on the sandwich: is actually sliced cheddar cheese, NOT 'processed' cheese slices.
Meals are main plus either starter or dessert. There are always a selection of fresh fruits and yoghurts for them to have if they don't fancy the daily offering.
The frozen yoghurt is offered twice in 4 weeks, ice-cream or frozen mousse on the other two weeks; between Easter & october. 'homemade' soup is on 4 times. Melon/grapes/vegetable crudités/ bread sticks/ crackers and cheese are the menu item at least once a week. Most of the cakes (once or twice a week) have fruit or vegetable in them.

...I'll be back later...

I’ve heard similar from my older two from when they’ve had school dinners at Christmas or whatevs.

On paper, the food looks and sounds great. The reality... not so much. Undercooked veg. Bland sauces. Small portions. Yadda Yadda.

But the upside was that they grudgingly admitted that my own cooking really wasn’t anything to complain about after all.

*SaucyJack

But the upside was that they grudgingly admitted that my own cooking really wasn’t anything to complain about after all.*

I sometimes use work recipes at home, that would really confuse them

With regards to portion sizes, I have often wondered myself why there isn't a difference in recommended portion size between P1 & P7. Nursery portions are X, 1-7 are all y, then secondary school increases to z. Although, if they take most or all of what they can, they can have quite a plateful. Choice of 3 hot mains or the cold sandwich of the day, choice of 2 carb accompaniments, at least one hot veg, fresh bread, selection of salads, then the starter or dessert.

It's a shame you weren't there today gardeninginsummer1 cos the leek and potato soup was delicious and the steak casserole is fab.

That does sound better tbh
😁
I love that you're so passionate about the food jammy...i will perhaps ask to try again another day and hope it's been a blip

Why does a child need a starter or dessert with their lunch every day though? There’s just no need. We wouldn’t have either at home, surely it just encourages over eating?

Not necessarily... the French have been eating 3-4 courses since forever, and they've stayed a lot slimmer for a lot longer than the Brits! The French tend to offer salad / veg starter first, before the protein / carb main course. The main course will be a smaller portion as a result. Similar amount of food overall, but eaten more slowly (brain has time to register fullness) and 'healthier' foods offered first.

Sorry to go OT OP!

@IsTheRainEverComingBack

For some children, it is the main meal. At the most, it's a packet of crisps at home after school.

Sounds disgusting, packed lunches for her won’t hurt if she’s having a hot meal for dinner time in the evening then you don’t need to send a thermos?

We are in the Stirlingshire area and similar setup with 4 weekly menu but meals cooked on site and my boys quite enjoyed them, eldest 2 at high school now but went school dinners 75% of the time. Youngest 2 go packed lunch one purely for routine the other is quite fussy, but friends kids have school dinners and rave about them.
Shame areas differ so much in quality.

stargirl1701 fair point. Even more reason to make it good food. I have fond memories of my school dinners.

To be fair, the cooked on site school dinners are far better than they were 20 years ago.