Cost of school cooking

[WindsweptEgret]

Just spent £9.19 for ingredients for a dozen chocolate muffins. Out of these, eggs and milk are all I would usually buy, if I deduct 4 eggs and 2/3 pint milk, then that's £8.19 I wouldn't otherwise have had to spend this week. The sugar and sunflower oil will eventually get used too (sugar is only used for tea and coffee for visitors), but my point is that this is an additional cost on top of my £30 weekly shop and I will be left with ingredients I didn't need. How would single parents on benefits would be able to afford it?

AIBU to think that the school could at least buy some of the more expensive things that the children only need a small amount of, such as cocoa powder and baking powder, and ask parents to send in a small amount to cover the cost for the term?

Actually not really silly at all!! flour is actually the most staple food in the world (corn, rice, wheat, maize) they allcan be made into flour and are the basis of a hell of a lot of foods we use and make!!

A dietary staple is totally different from a store cupboard staple and you know it, so no need for the faux-outraged exclamation marks.

I had this exact conversation last week.
Spaghetti Bolognaise, I had to buy mince, peppers, celery, we had in tomatoes, pasta, onion, garlic & stock. I was pissed off about the mince, as I don’t buy cheap meat and meal plan for a week in advance.
The Spag Bol was so tasty (apparently) the teacher took half of it and shared it out in the class so show how it should taste, so we didn’t even benefit (much) from the cooking anyway!
I asked my DS to suggest paying cash for shared ingredients in future and the teacher said she didn’t want to 🤔

Our School does provide the less used ingredients and I'm just glad they do something non-academic that isn't art!

OP if he made macaroni cheese last week surely that uses flour? That was plain flour, this week is self raising. I told him he could just improvise with extra baking powder (I think?) but he was anxious about it not turning out right, like I said, we don't bake.

DS just made a stir fry for dinner, no flour. It's not about the flour anyway, that was the cheapest ingredient! The cocoa powder, baking powder, and vanilla extract (if I'd bought it) were the most expensive, and things he will only need a small amount of.

The schools in the city I work in are on average £108,000 in debt. They can’t afford to buy cooking ingredients for each pupil. Yes it will be hard for some parents and perhaps on an individual basis schools might be able to help but it shouldn’t be the norm.

Ah sorry op, yes I use plain flour.

When I was at school my mum decided a real money spinner would be providing cookery ingredients for school children.

I consider ginger and garam masala staples!

So do I

How would single parents on benefits would be able to afford it?

They don't. Pupil premium money pays for it.
Schools get extra funding which can be (and is at our school ) used for this.

PP does not pay for food ingredients in many schools.

Being unable to afford ingredients means some parents don’t allow their child to choose Food for GCSE.

I pay £10 a term for cooking for my primary school children. They do only get 2 cakes to bring home, but it save me the effort and hassle of buying the ingredients. The money isn’t an issue for me it’s the time and organisation.

@PamelaX I agree with you. The school uniform thing really annoys me, if it wasn’t uniform you’d have to buy children some clothes to wear, so you must have known you’d have to clothe them! Shouldn’t be a shock!

SR flour is plain plus baking powder. 2tsp per 250g , I think.Easy to check on the net.