Quorn every day on school lunch menu

[BlackInk]

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 :)

Some unbelievable ignorance from some posters.
Lentil lasagne is not responsible for the obesity crisis! Quorn is not equivalent to Turkey twizzlers! Is has far less fat and salt and environmental impact...
Surely people don't really believe that all children must eat meat daily?
In our district we have 60+ schools. The one currently best only serves vegetarian food, cooked onsite by staff of a locak cafe. It has excellent catering facilities and the students cook regularly. They are successfully teaching children important life lessons about food and nutrition. And that doesn't include processed meat (nor much Quorn).

Yanbu. I was a vegetarian from birth and still eat little meat. I don't mind quorn but it's very salty and gives me a stomachache. Even 20 years ago veggie options were more creative than that. Do students even need to eat meat every day?

YANBU
Dd wouldn’t eat the veggie options. In her words when we talked frankly about eating animals and being grateful, she decisively said “I eat meat”.

I’ve had a look at the menu at school, which used to be Quorn heavy from a previous caterer and basically a replica of the meat version. Now the offerings are things like lentil and veg pie, stir fry veg in black bean sauce. Quorn does feature but only once in 3 weeks.

The only thing you can do is complain as it is unhealthy. Dds school is now with the 3rd supplier since arriving st her school. She’s in yr6 now.

Quorn is THE best source of protein out there. It is 100% protein and 100% fat free? That's EHY the famous runner is on the ad hmmIt always amazes me how many people think because it's in a plastic packet with a bright orange logo that it's junk! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Wow do you work for Quorn or something, why so defensive? Your posts are embarrassing, please educate yourself.

Yeah Quorn definitely isn't 100% fat free...

I'm instantly sick when I have quorn. I believe that's a relatively common thing and that it was almost not approved as a food-stuff as a large enough proportion of people couldn't digest it.

So on that basis YANBU

Appalling. I would most certainly approach the school as this is a lazy lazy menu. So many vegetarian options they could do instead. I have been vegetarian for years and have no trouble planning balanced meals without using his meat substitutes. Vegan is more difficult but vegetarian is simple.

I would just have them eat meat for a few weeks. Or buy a packed lunch on the way to school.

Quorn is terrible for so many people. Search online. So many people are intolerant to it. I've experienced terrible digestive symptoms after eating it previously. Bloat, vomiting, stomach pains etc.

@mummylife2018. Quorn is made from the soil mould Fusarium venenatum strain PTA-2684 (previously misidentified as the parasitic mould Fusarium graminearum). The fungus is grown in continually oxygenated water in large, otherwise sterile fermentation tanks.

Copied from goggle. Can you see why i dont consider it a food.

Quorn is made from the soil mould Fusarium venenatum strain PTA-2684 (previously misidentified as the parasitic mould Fusarium graminearum[33]). The fungus is grown in continually oxygenated water in large, otherwise sterile fermentation tanks. Glucose and fixed nitrogen are added as a food for the fungus, as are vitamins and minerals to improve the food value of the product. The resulting mycoprotein is then extracted and heat-treated to remove excess levels of RNA.

To the posters who are using the argument regarding Quorn intolerance, plenty of people have nut allergies and wheat intolerance, but you don't see menus being stripped of nuts and bread because of it

I'm pretty sure our menu is nut-free! And there is bread on offer, but not as part of a meal. I'm struggling to think of a hot meal that bread would form a part of?

Soup?

Pizza? Garlic bread with pasta?

Stuffing?

pizza, yes, of course. I don't know if stuffing is ever on the menu.

Soup? Wouldn't the bread be on the side?

Bread may be an ingredient in:
Meatballs
Burgers
Sausages
Anything breaded

Quite every day is incredibly unimaginative.

Also meat eaters don’t just eat meat, I frequently go for a veggie option in the canteen for lunch.

I can't believe they don't offer a jacket potato everyday! My daughter's last three primary schools all had a meat option, a vehicle option, and a choice of salad and jacket potato everyday.

All inner city schools and nothing private so I think your kids primary school are being very unreasonable! I don't even think they are supposed to be offering such limited options to be honest

*vegetarian option

YANBU. My kids go to a small school and there is a varied veggie option (I don't think quorn even features). Baked potato, macaroni cheese, veggie curry with lentils etc,

That’s poor and unimaginative, and lots of people find quorn difficult to digest. It’s also incredibly expensive compared to actual vegetables. YANBU.

I actually think all schools should do a couple of meat free days per week anyway (perhaps some do?). It’s better for the environment and would help them develop more interesting recipes.

I'm not opposed to Quorn as such. We very occasionally have it at home (Quorn chunks in a curry for example) and also occasionally eat other meat substitute products like the Linda Mccartney sausages.

But, Quorn is highly processed (made in labs/factories from an artificially produced fungus) and low in fat, which isn't great for growing children. It is a source of protein, but not much else.

My problem is the lack of variety. A vegetarian diet (which generally includes eggs and dairy and is still omnivorous) is only healthy if people gain their protein from a variety of sources - dairy, eggs, beans, pulses, soy, etc.

It also makes me think that the school has some kind of deal going with Quorn.

DonCorleoneTheThird
It would be really unfair to impose a meat-free diet on the poorest kids because they can't afford it at home. My kids love things like sausage and mash, or fish and chips. Really mean to take that away from kids who can't afford them at home.
What about Hindu families? Are they not allowed to be poor?

This isn't particularly about my kids. As PPs have said I can just go back to making packed lunches. It's about all children being offered a fair and balanced diet.

Thanks everyone for your input and sample menus. I think I'm going to approach the school and talk to them about making some changes :)

That's an extremely unimaginative menu which can only have been put together by someone who structures their diet around meat. My youngest DC is vegetarian and initially, when cooking separate meals for him, we tended to use meat substitutes. Now, I pretty much avoid them, except for convenience (and that could be when there are no eggs in the house to make a very convenient omlette) and more often than not the whole family eats vegetarian meals.

The planetary health diet in the news today recommends no more than 14g of red meat a day, which equates to a burger a week. Meals with beans, lentils, chickpeas and nuts are great, tasty and relatively cheap.

Is there something scary about vegetarian meals that means meat eaters can't eat them? It's concerning to read up thread of a child refusing to eat a vegetarian meal because they "eat meat".

@Howhot Embarrassing?! 🤣🤣 How exactly? It's you that has embarrassed yourself for thinking that protein is junk food! Nothing embarrassing about the facts I have stated!
I don't work for Quorn, I've just eaten it all my life. Educate yourself please lovey 🙄

@Mummylife2018 I think the point is that your "facts" are wrong. For example quorn being 100% fat free.

Quorn is indigestible to a significant number of people. There’s actually a mild warning on all the packets. It is also an allergen. It is also highly processed. Good vegetarian and vegan food is not about chucking in a processed meat substitute all the time. Using real food is much better. Good protein sources, apart from cheese are things like chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, quinoa, peas, eggs.
I’d make a written request for a healthier variety of foods.