School Dinner = No Hot Meal at Tea?

[Skittlesss]

I’ve seen the debates re hot school meal vs packed lunch, and part of the discussion has people saying that having a hot school dinner means the parents don’t have to put as much effort into providing a hot cooked meal at teatime.

Is this really a thing? Do people think kids don’t need a decent tea after school if they’ve had a school dinner?

I'm from somewhere where packed lunches are not a thing. There is a full hot lunch with salads and breaks everyday provided by the school. Still everyone has dinner at home. Eating a hot lunch at 11-12 doesn't last rest of the day.

Threads like this are so pointless, since everyone will obviously feed their own child whatever their own child needs.
Those who don't, won't be on mumsnet.

I just do a light tea in the evening. School dinners at my dc's school are good and they can come back for seconds or even thirds if they want to.

Theres 6 of us, two DC have packed lunch every day, one has a mixture of school lunch and packed lunch, one is working part time and just left college so sometimes home for lunch other times buys food out, DH rarely eats lunch during the week and I'm at home and usually have leftovers or soup.
I'm not going to be faffing round providing different options depending on who has eaten what at lunch time.
If someone's not hungry that's fine they can eat less of what's on offer or make themselves something else.

I cook 95% of all weekday evenings for DH and me, no point in making extra for DD so she eats with us since she is on solids. I never believed in children's tea at 4.30pm as she was in childcare or attended clubs so dinner was late anyway.

At primary school she had a smallish hot meal at her childminder 3x a week after school.

Dinners at our school are more rubbish and less substantial than a packed lunch. I would do a hot dinner in the evening but as PPs have said, it's less about temperature and more about content.

I can't understand why I wouldn't give my kids dinner! It doesn't have to be "hot", I mean salad with cold chicken works perfectly.

I much prefer having a proper meal, even with small portions, even cold, than them snacking all afternoon and evening.

No-one's saying they wouldn't give their DCs dinner. Just that they might have a sandwich for dinner if the lunchtime meal was hot.

The confusion appears to lie with whether a sandwich counts as actual meal food or a snack.

a sandwich is definitively a snack.

Both mine have hot school dinners which are of a high quality. They get a snack at the childminders and we get home around 5:15/5:30. What they have to eat in the evening depends on how they are feeling. I will also them how hungry are they, do they want a hot meal or a sandwich. If they’ve enjoyed their lunch they might only want a sandwich and fruit. If they weren’t so keen or have had PE that day, they may want a hot meal. Either is fine, I can’t afford to cook a meal o my to have them not eat it because they aren’t that hungry. I will prepare what they feel they have an appetite for and we sit together to eat. If they want a sandwich and I and DP (who is home later) want a hot meal, I might just have a snack with them while they eat and I’ll eat later with DP.

EarlGreyOfTwinings depends on the size of the sandwich. I mean, are we talking finger buffet style or thick filled door stop beasts?

I have done both. DC1 used to have a "supper" of cold food, like falafel, cous cous, crudités etc., as she'd eaten a full hot meal at school. (Such a big meal that the teachers had to ask her to leave some food for the other children). When DC2 went onto solids, DC1 started having a hot dinner again, as we were cooking for our youngest, and so might as well have cooked for our eldest, too.

DC2 has just started school and so both of them are now having cold suppers. Only this time, they have toast or a sandwich and some fruit etc. Mainly because they both complained about the cous cous, pasta salads etc., but also because it means I don't need to go to the supermarket for fresh food every few days. Having a cold supper has taught my DC1 not to overeat, so it's been good for her, and it means DC2 can get to bed early, which is necessary, as nursery means there is no longer time for an afternoon nap.

That said, my DC are in private school, and the food on offer (although bland to cater to childish tastes, as opposed to the adult food we serve at home) is decent. There is a hot meal covering all good groups, with a buffet of veg, a salad bar, with cheese, cold proteins, bread and butter, fruit and dessert. The school also give snacks in the afternoon, and then more again at after-school clubs.

If the food was horrible, I'd cook a meal, but they both enjoy their school lunches so I think a sandwich or whatever is fine in the evening.

And yet, @EarlGreyOfTwinings for my (healthy, perfect weight) dd2, a (decent) sandwich is perfectly ample for her between school and bedtime. #shocker- children are different, who knew?

a (decent) sandwich is perfectly ample for her between school and bedtime
so a proper meal would work just as well?

I am not sure what your point is

The British are fixated on 'hot' meals being superior to others. It's weird.

I still don't understand why a sandwich doesn't count as 'a proper meal'.

A chicken salad sandwich is likely to have more calories and be more filling than a chicken salad for example so why isn't it a 'proper' meal?

They are not!

People eat junk food, take away, snack convenient food and ready meals in front of the tv. As a whole, the Brits are fixated about junk food.
And crisps, oh the Brits love their crisps.

Mine are always starving after school no matter what they had for lunch. I almost always give them a cooked meal for tea. Partly because I'd be cooking anyway for myself and OH. Sometimes I'll do something like sandwiches or toasties if they have clubs and were in a rush.

DD has a hot lunch at school (they serve themselves so portion size is as big as she wants, and can get seconds if she wants) but it's so early in the day (sometime between 10:30 and 11:00) so she needs a proper tea as well, usually hot but sometimes salad or something else cold. Plus after school snack and supper (toast)

I agree with the poster who said a sandwich is a snack. Maybe not for young children but definitely for older ones like my 11 year old. He has a packed lunch then a full dinner at teatime. An hour or 2 later he has a sandwich as a snack also followed by cereal most days. A sandwich most definitely won't pass as a substantial evening meal for him. For packed lunch he has a couple of sandwiches with fruit and crisps because school dinners would not fill him. But no a sandwich is definitely a snack in addition to a full meal.

Growing up in the 60s/70s we all (as in friends living in the same village ) all had a similar set up.

Primary school : School lunch, Meat/Fish/Quiche with Potatoes/Riice /(occasionally) Chips and Vegetables /Salad . No choice just had to eat what was served. Followed by a Pudding. The puddings were amazing.

Evening meal was Marmite /Jam/Peanut-butter sandwiches. A piece of home made cake and a piece of fruit.

Mum cooked for her and my father and they ate together when he came home from work - we would be in bed by then.

Once we got to secondary school, packed lunches and mum cooked an evening meal because all the bed/bath/reading routine did not require her input.

I can't remember ever having friends who were obese as children.

Hey Bluerussian why DINNER in shouty capital letters? Not everyone says dinner. My 2 DC have school meals and will be sitting down for a hot TEA when they get home.

I don't understand why people think it's fine to give a lunchbox containing a sandwich plus a few extras with a cooked meal in the evening, but not a cooked meal at lunch with the sandwiches in the evening. I can see the point that often the hot school meal is not big enough or the children don't like it of course, but how can something that is considered fine for lunch be called a snack that isn't nutritious or filing if eaten in the evening.

My son considers a sandwich as a snack. But that's not tne only thing in his packed lunch which is why it's perfectly fine to include as part of his packed lunch. A sandwich on its on would not be considered lunch

I see school dinner as low quality, low in proteins and high on carbs. So the evening meal is really important and should contain fruit/veg and good quality protein.