Quorn every day on school lunch menu

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AIBU to be annoyed that the vegetarian option at my DC's primary school is Quorn 4 days out of 5?

My DC are aged 6 and 9, and have been vegetarian since birth. They are having school lunches at the moment for the first time ever because we're having our kitchen replaced at home.

The reason I've never tried to persuade them to have school dinners before is that the veggie option has always been almost exclusively Quorn. I'm not keen on Quorn myself and we rarely eat it at home. DC have never really liked it. But regardless of that, would it really be healthy/balanced to eat the same highly processed meat substitute every day? Isn't it the same as only serving Bird's Eye Fish Fingers every day?

The veggie options are always an exact replica of the meat offering - so Quorn hotpot, BBQ Quorn, Quorn and apple (??), Quorn Bolognese was last week.

Does anyone else think this isn't very good? I know I can give my DC packed lunches and that it's my choice they are vegetarian, but I'm not just thinking about us.

Thanks :)

@SavoyCabbage - my daughter's school is vegetarian. The food is excellent.

You’re right, it’s not healthy and not very nice. It’s also expensive, I would imagine. It’s like having chicken nuggets or whatever processed food hidden in things as a ‘meat’ instead of actually just cooking something decent.

Our school only occasionally offers quorn, maybe once a week? Otherwise veg options are curry, lentil or vegetable bake, soup, etc and often the jacket potato is veg too. Something like lentils or chickpeas in whatever sauce the meat is cooked in would be far better and cheaper.

Not a veggie but trying to cut down in meat for health/environmental reasons.

Think this is actually pretty bad form of the school and shows a lack of thought/imagination. Never thought I’d say this but actually agree with PP re:having only veggie options as think of the environmental impact that could have. The trouble would be [those parents] that would be crying to the Fail that it had been done to appease Muslims or pushing burger through the bars like they did when healthy eating rules were introduced!

Yanbu. It would be cheaper, and just as easy, to substitute the meat for lentils/beans/veg etc.

A vegetarian diet is also proven to be healthier than an omnivorous diet. Meat is a proven carcinogen. There is no reason why the school dinners cannot be vegetarian at least a few days a week too. No one needs to eat meat at every meal! (It's also terrible for the environment)

YANBU, they could substitute Quorn mince for green lentils in bolognese, Quorn chicken style pieces for Tofu pieces. Falafel/chickpeas/beans, all of these would be cheaper and healthier than Quorn.

Very poor choices. You don't need a meat substitute for a vegetarian meal. I make pasta dishes with a variety of vegetables, jacket potatoes with cheese, cauliflower and broccoli in cheese sauce, all sorts of things.
( Quorn gives me diarrhoea.)

Why not give them some sandwiches and fruit to take for lunch?

I'm very nervous of quorn. Lots of people are allergic to it. I wouldn't want my kids to eat it every day. If you are a mixed meat/vegi household I'd genuinely encourage them to eat meat when out of the house to keep their diets balanced, if that's the alternative.

That does seem a lot, quorn is only on the menu once in a 3 week rotation at ds's school. He has the vegetarian option often, yesterday he had cheese puff and beans, and today was a vegetable curry. In fact he probably had the veggie option more than the meat.

Small shops and supermarkets sell things like sandwiches and vege stuff so why not organise packed lunches for them this way.

Or tell them to eat the meat option one day. They might like it.

Wow that menu is awful.
My childrens school is
Monday: (Vegan monday) Vegan friendly spaghetti bolognese with garlic and herb focaccia Or mild spiced vegetable chilli with steamed rice or jacket potatoe with beans (with salad)

Tuesday: sweet and sour chicken or stir fried crispy vegetables with crispy seaweed/ organic noodles or potato skins with cheese and chives
Wednesday: Roasted turkey breast with gravy or winter root vegetable loaf served with roast potatoes/seasonal vegetables or red pepper with pasta spirals
Thursday: Bangers and mash (Chicken or pork sausages) or seasoned vegan sausage served with mash or beans or creamy vegetable carbonara with spaghetti
Friday: Battered fish or cheese and onion pastry with chunky chips/garden peas or pomodoro sauce with penne pasta

I now feel lucky with my childrens menu. Only one meat option each day with 2 veggie options.

And thats just week one that ive posted!

Quorn makes me blow off hugely and is also made of myco crap. Just saying.

YANBU. My DC are also vegetarian and one of them (like me) can't digest quorn properly (bad tummy aches), so this would be pretty annoying. Vegetarian food should be plant based foods, rather than based on processed stuff.

It is lazy, I’m sure vegetarians don’t live on quorn. I’m a meat eater but only a couple times a week, the rest of the time i manage not to eat quorn.

Dd’s School do vegetable lasagna, macaroni cheese, pizza, roasted vegetable and tomato pasta and they offer a jacket potato option which is usually Vegetarian. There’s rarely quorn on the menu.

Well, I'm not a vegetarian and rarely cook specifically vegetarian food but even I could do better with that menu and still keep it similar to the meat one. What's wrong with Bean hotpot and Lentil mince? That reduces it to 2 Quorn meals with no effort what so ever.

I've just had a look at 4 weeks worth of menus for the 3 different caterers in our city. The MOST quorn a child could eat in a week would be 2 meals and there is always a choice of vegetarian dishes (although the second choice may be a sandwich or baked potato and soup). Interestingly Mondays appear to be completely vegetarian for all 3 providers.

DS primary school has one meat or fish option; a vegetarian option (2 of 5 days Quorn); baked potato with tuna/cheese or beans; sandwich or salad bar - every day - all cooked on site, single form entry school. £2.30
How I wish he'd even contemplate it instead of the peanut butter sandwich he insists on every day.

So yeah, Quorn every day is not good, not varied and basically inconsiderate of vegetarians.

am I the only one that still adds veg to the plate when using quorn? Its veggie yes but its a meat substitute not a veg substitute. I have no issues with it but more than one veggie choice would be better.

That sounds rubbish.

My school do quorn once every 3 weeks (quorn sausages, mash and gravy) the rest of the time its things like omelette, vegetable lasagne, vegetable stir fry, or they do a vegetarian version of the main meal but burgers is vegetable burgers, roast dinner is chick pea loaf, pie is cheese potato and leek etc. There's also jacket potatoes, a choice of a few different cooked vegetables and a very well stocked salad bar (we are trying to encourage all children to eat more vegetables). Some days our vegetarian options are more popular than the meat options and some days both options are vegetarian.

Crikey - tht really is the equivalent of turkey twizzlers every day. I just checked ours and there isn't one quorn thing on the menu. Chickpeas stews /sweet potatoes and veg goulash/pasta/veggie pizza/baked potatoes.

YANBU quorn is fake food

Being a vegetarian is a CHOICE. OPs children are electively cutting out half their meal options.

and a valid one, and one the school should cater for (there will be veggies for other reasons as well, obviously). DD is 9 and finds the idea of eating a dead animal very distressing.

It is worth mentioning to the school, we changed catering companies because parents complained the previous one was expensive and not varied.