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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Re hot school meal and evening meal?

193 replies

rabbitheadlights · 22/05/2019 16:27

After reading a few threads about evening meals just lately where posted say that if DC's have a hot school meal then they generally do a snack type dinner such as crackers cheese and veg sticks or pot noodles etc.

AIBU to think this is the few and not the many?

My kids all of them healthy weights would be calling child line and declaring starvation if I didn't give them a "proper" cooked meal every night!! By proper I probably mean more substantial I certainly don't cook from scratch every day but I know I could never get away with the above

OP posts:
Serin · 22/05/2019 18:27

Totally agree with state trooper, I've worked in schools and the standard of school meals is still awful. Salad can literally be one lettuce leaf, 2 cherry tomatoes and a slice of cucumber.
Sausage and mash will be one sausage and a tablespoon of mash.
The menu reads well but the potions are pitiful.
Even worse though are the well meaning parents who send in flasks of "hot" stew, by lunchtime its invariably a tepid congealed mess that my dog would turn his nose up at.
Why bother having kids if you cant be bothered to feed them properly. Sad

CottonSock · 22/05/2019 18:29

I've given my 5yo a cold sarnie type dinner before. She ate it then asked 'what's for dinner.'

arethereanyleftatall · 22/05/2019 18:30

Absolutely @DHhasahobbyanditsnotcycling
And that is exactly why for some people a 'snack' is fine because it still means a healthy dinner, and for others 'a hot dinner' is fine because it still means a healthy dinner.

I don't think a single person on this thread has said that by a snack they mean a single cracker and cheese eaten in solitary confinement whilst watching you tube, followed by a pot noodle eaten in the same way the following hour.

PollyShelby · 22/05/2019 18:30

X posted there but glad others are saying about portion size too

outsho · 22/05/2019 18:32

I give mine packed lunches because I refuse to pay £36 a week for a shoddy school dinner every day.

I almost always cook a real dinner regardless of what they ate for lunch. We do sometimes have a big salad rather than cooked meal if the weather is warm or veggie wraps. I have the occasional lazy day where it’s just beans/eggs on toast or pizza.

outsho · 22/05/2019 18:32

I give mine packed lunches because I refuse to pay £36 a week for a shoddy school dinner every day.

I almost always cook a real dinner regardless of what they ate for lunch. We do sometimes have a big salad rather than cooked meal if the weather is warm or veggie wraps. I have the occasional lazy day where it’s just beans/eggs on toast or pizza.

DHhasahobbyanditsnotcycling · 22/05/2019 18:34

arethereanyleftatall
but sadly, looking at school pick-up, a "snack" does mean a bag of crips and a pack of biscuits for many people.

happyhillock · 22/05/2019 18:34

@Adaline. I never said a hot meal is better than a hot toastie or a cold one, as school lunches were served 12.15pm by dinner time around 5.30pm-5.45pm DD's were hungry, i was preparing a hot dinner for DP and myself, could be spag bol, macaroni cheese or pizza and wedges of course DD's ate with us to

Yerroblemom1923 · 22/05/2019 18:35

We switched to packed lunches as I wasn't convinced the school dinners were healthy, certainly couldn't see much veg/fruit etc
Depending on after school activities my dd has a variety for tea - sometimes "emwrgency food" eg quick to cook like stir fry or Jacket potato with cheese and beans and others something that takes longer to cook eg lasagne, shepherds pie, spag bol, pasta bake etc. The carb/protein/veg ratio is usually pretty similar though.
There's no excuse for a Pot Noodle though. Unless it's 3am and you've rolled in from a night out, obv!

KinderSurpriseBump · 22/05/2019 18:35

The schools portion size dinners are tiny. My 9yr old gets 2 fish fingers with a scoop of mashed potatoes and peas in school. At home she would eat the double of that.

arethereanyleftatall · 22/05/2019 18:37

Re portion sizes. Everyone in this thread has said school portion sizes are too small, and yet we have a growing obesity crisis. I don't know the portion sizes at all the schools clearly, but maybe they're not too small, maybe they're right?

Bluntness100 · 22/05/2019 18:37

My daughter is now 21. She always had a proper hot meal for lunch.

Without exception she came home starving, would dive into the fridge as soon as she got back, and couldn't wait for dinner, she's tall and slim.

A snack of crackers and cheese or veg sticks would be what she ate. Before her dinner, if I said that was it, that was her dinner, she'd have been starving.

School lunches, irrelvant of the temperature are lunch sized portions.

DHhasahobbyanditsnotcycling · 22/05/2019 18:42

I don't know the portion sizes at all the schools clearly, but maybe they're not too small, maybe they're right?

I think they really are too small. Ideally (and it's never going to happen), the kids should have their main meal at lunch time, a small snack mid-afternoon and a light diner.
They are also not exactly healthy.

When my kids are home and have what we think is a normal lunch, they don't need to snack all afternoon and are not so hungry at diner so a light option is enough - and that's days when they will be running around all day, not sitting in the classroom for hours.

flumpybear · 22/05/2019 18:42

Both get hot lunches and dinners albeit sometimes dinner is beans on or nuggets and chips with veg (usually when I'm cooking something they won't eat - chillis involves usually 🙄

WindsweptEgret · 22/05/2019 18:43

Even worse though are the well meaning parents who send in flasks of "hot" stew, by lunchtime its invariably a tepid congealed mess that my dog would turn his nose up at.
Why bother having kids if you cant be bothered to feed them properly
My DS used to take hot food in a flask. He said it stayed hot, it would all be eaten, and he continued to ask for the same for lunch again and again, so he was obviously happy with it.

bratzilla · 22/05/2019 18:47

The portion sizes are small, the meals are bland and most kids just pick at them. Mine wants them sometimes, he had pizza on Monday and a ham roll on Tuesday, he definitely needs something substantial in the evening.

Goldmandra · 22/05/2019 18:56

There is a weird cultural thing among humans that a meal needs to be hot / "cooked" in order to be nutritious or an adequate expression of love/care.

This^

I think it's quite bizarre TBH.

Let's face it, the food is the same temperature when it hits their stomach, whether it as served hot or cold, especially when a bunch of children are eating together.

As long as their overall diet has a healthy balance and their is sufficient to fill them up, it makes no different whatsoever whether it's hot or cold or called a snack.

Nogoodusername · 22/05/2019 18:59

My best friend is a TA at my children’s school and she says the meal portions are tiny. Mine are hungry at pick up let alone dinner time! We always have a hot dinner here. May occasionally do a quick dinner like beans on toast if it is an after school with back to back clubs on and no time to cook anything else

Mummab1991 · 22/05/2019 19:04

My DS has a cooked school lunch and a cooked dinner... god forbid if I didn’t give him a decent dinner!!

Yerroblemom1923 · 22/05/2019 19:05

My dd takes hot soup in a flask in winter....it's a Thermos and by lunch time it's still piping hot!

arethereanyleftatall · 22/05/2019 19:08

I think, for whatever reason, my dds primary school must be different from the other schools referred to on this thread, because they do eat good quality food, and the right amount, there. (I know this because I'm so precious about food, I volunteered as a lunch time helper there for two weeks to check!)

I have a funny feeling that everyone on this thread is actually on the same page, even though we're all arguing. We all feed our kids good food, be it hot or cold, called a snack dinner or not.

reluctantbrit · 22/05/2019 19:18

School meals in primary were tiny, DD came home starving. In secondary she only manages a sandwich thanks to long queues and no time.

She also has three time quite late clubs, she needs fuel either before or after .

I cook for the family when I come home and we eat together.

Nottheboreworms · 22/05/2019 19:20

It's not just fuel, it's also about eating together as a family. My family all eat our main meal in the evening when everyone's home from work/school.

This only works if you are all home in time to make it feasible. On the days I work, the DCs are collected at 6. They have both eaten at nursery/school. DP not home until gone 7 at which point both DC are ready for bed. They get a snack when they get home if they're hungry (rice cakes, sandwiches, fruit, a biscuit etc). DP and I eat together later once we've had time to decompress. It's just not feasible for us to eat together as a family in the week. Funnily enough we still manage to be a close and loving family and my children know how to use cutlery and have table manners Hmm

Schnitzelvonkrumb · 22/05/2019 19:23

My DS has school dinners twice a week but i always do a main meal as the rest of us are eating anyway. When I've been to school the school dinner portions are smaller than he has at home so hes usually hungry by tea. The only time he doesnt eat with us is when hes been to afterschool lub although they serve dinner between 4.30 and 5pm so he has been known to eat another dinner! usually needs a snack later

Schnitzelvonkrumb · 22/05/2019 19:26

My DC are 9 and 12 and we very rarely eat together during the week. DH is not often home before 8pm and if he is he is off to play sport. I do kids tea before their evening activities sometimes but if i ate at 6pm i would probably be hungry by bedtime!