Why can't school lunches be simple

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My kids school changes the lunch menu after the summer and they now only offer 2 hot meal options for lunch many of which my children (one fussy one not ) do not like. There used to always be an option of either sandwiches or baked potatoes with a small choice of fillings but this has been taken away.

I would very really every have a main meal lunch followed by a pudding for lunch so I don't understand why they don't have simple options like sandwiches, baked potatoes, soup and bread for lunch and maybe one option for a hot lunch.

There is always so much chat about healthy lunches for kids etc but surely these would be healthy choices and then instead of pudding give them choices of yoghurt, crisps, fruit, cheese to go with them ?

I know that school dinners are the only hot meal some children get so an option should be kept but I'm guessing most children go home and have a main meal for their dinner so don't need a roast turkey dinner with pudding for lunch ?!

When DS was at Primary School he
had hot school dinners every day. Until he was about 10 he would have sandwiches etc for tea. DH would never get home before 7 so I thought that would be too late for DS to have his tea. When he was in Y6 he did start having dinner with us.

His secondary school only offers hot meals and packed lunches aren’t allowed, he then has a hot meal for dinner as well, but he is teenager who would eat the contents of the fridge every day if allowed.

Mine do 3 options
2 hot meals and a green tray
With picky bits or soup some days it varies and blue tray I think do baked potatoes etc so kids can have a variety
My youngest won’t touch them though, likes routine of his packed lunch and older son has any day there is chips
Otherwise both have packed lunches

Maybe as others have said because they're wasting food,maybe because if you want yoghurt and cheese and fruit and sandwiches then picked lunch is an option.

The cake issue is a red herring. It's complained about all the time in here like some silly trump card. Firstly, the recipes will be approved to have a balanced lunch. Secondly, there's portion control so a portion of cake at school is quite different from the larger slices we often have for ourselves at home.

If you're not happy with a couple of options then go onto packed lunches.

No, how did you infer that I don't think families should eat together?!
We've always eaten together as a family and we've always had a hot evening meal because that works for our family. You're saying you don't like it that your children are offered a hot meal at school because you want to cook them a hot meal at home. But you come across as rather demanding and that you want the whole school dinners system to change to suit your family's specific requirements. If you only want them to have one hot meal a day then send them with a packed lunch and cook at home, it's quite simple. I have found that lots of children find themselves very hungry in school so a hot meal at lunchtime is what they need. Just because as an adult you like to have the same small lunch everyday it doesn't mean that children don't want or need the variety of hot school meals rather than the plate of beige (cheese sandwich/cheese jacket, crisps, etc) you are suggesting. I could never understand why parents would sign their children up for a school sandwich meal when much nicer and more nutritious and colourful packed lunches could be provided more cheaply at home.

OP you compare growing children to adults on a couple of occasions but the needs of the two are very different. As a fully grown slight built adult female I need different foods to a growing child, particularly an active growing boy.

Many more children than you can imagine have free school meals, some may than have a family cooked meal in the evening but many won’t. Some won’t get anything else to eat. Traditionally in the U.K. people ate their main meal at lunch time. It is beneficial for many reasons to eat well at lunch: concentration, heat, energy etc etc. I don’t think schools schools be serving hot, sweet puddings daily especially as most don’t allow any form of crisps/cakes/biscuits/chocolate in a packed lunch so it’s somewhat hypocritical. I do appreciate that for a very few kids serving hot puddings would provide additional calories they need but personally think they should just serve bigger portions of the meal.

I think most kids are adaptable enough to understand at school they have a cooked meal at lunchtime but at home over weekends and holidays they have it in the evening.

Back in the day it was one meal only, no vegetarian option, and supervisors who made you eat up or kept you in.

Fewer choices means less waste, and simpler/cheaper production. It should be self-evident why desirable from the providers POV.

Also, children were thinner back in the 1970s, when most had the type of school dinner that is now reviled as too stodgy. I think blaming the pudding, or blaming school dinners, may well be misplaced

What about the kids on free school meals who don't like turkey dinner

So your complaining about one of the options being a roast? Hardly fancy food.

Two options should be plenty. Will hopefully reduce waste and mean children aren’t just having the sandwich option every day which is sometimes all too easy especially when young and easily overwhelmed by too many options.

DCs school has hot meat, hot veggie, jacket potato.
If they wanted a sandwich/yoghurt etc that would down to the parents IMO as that’s exactly what a packed lunch usually is!

I do think there’s the learning curve that comes with school lunches - that sometimes in life you get what you’re given and if you don’t like it you go hungry. It’s a safe place to learn that lesson and it’s not like we don’t all give them food the moment they get home so they won’t starve!

Packed lunches at my DDs school come with so many rules of what not to add/what to add,school dinners make it much easier in my opinion.I have neither the desire,will or time to be frigging about with carrot batons and cucumber sticks and hummous at 7 am every morning!!!
Her school lunches have 3 hot options and jacket potatoes and cheese/beans.tuna are always available on a daily basis too.
I also like the price at 2.20 per meal its a bargain for her ..a 2 course meal which is balanced seems really good value to me.

Ok so most people don't agree with me.

I do send them packed lunches but I would have liked to have sent them for school dinner some of the time.

My kids school do not police what they eat at all so they can throw it away if they want. I always say it would be good to do a tasty menu when a new one comes out where they kids can see the options that will be on offer and taste a little bit to have an idea if they will like them. My kids need to order lunch first thing in the morning and don't even get to see the food in real life before picking it which is hard for young kids I think especially my fussy eater. I know a lot of children are at least a bit picky so I think this would help them all be able to try things without comitting to it for lunch would maybe even give teachers or parents to encourage them to try things they normally would be wary of.

We also have the rule of only healthy options should be in packed lunches which seems a bit rich when they are serving ice cream, cake etc in the dinner hall.

Sounds like they’ve changed caterers. The lunches aren’t made by staff employed by the school, you know. They’re usually outside companies, and they provide the menus.

I don’t really see what all the fuss is, just send your kids with packed lunch if you don’t want them to have a hot lunch.

Personally, from being a teacher for so many years, I’ve seen too many children going hungry (ask most teachers, you’ll find that they also bring in food for their students who they know are deprived) and that will be the only hot meal they get that day. No, it’s not “most” children, but it is A LOT of children, not a couple of exceptions.

If the new caterers/school budget means they can only offer a couple of options at lunch, far better for those children to get their proper, hot meal for the day, and the parents who can give their children a choice provide a packed lunch of sandwiches.

I always say it would be good to do a tasty menu when a new one comes out where they kids can see the options that will be on offer and taste a little bit to have an idea if they will like them.
I'm sure it's totally practical and within budget to offer a tasting menu for school dinenrs each menu change and then pull all the children out of lessons to try food.

As for the "only having healthy rules for packed lunches", maybe that's because some parents stuff their children's packups with suggary crap and (as people have said) the deserts on the hot food menu will have had their sugar/fat etc approved.

Basically you don't like the change to the dinners and now want to pick at the system overall.

OK I am getting totally bashed here so I accept my opinion is in the minority but just to clear up my point.

I am not complaining that their are options like roast dinner etc I just feel that their should always be a simpler/ lighter option on offer as A. Some children are fussy and this would ensure they eat something and B. Most families I know will have their main hot meal in evening together

I am not suggesting get rid of the hot option and I know you can send packed lunch (but some days this can be an extra stress and would effect the universal free meals a bit if many kids started packed lunches all the time )

I thought other families would be like mine with possibly a picky eater and eating a dinner in the evenings.

I shall shut up now and go make the parked lunches

Our school has a jacket potato option daily which was all my reception ds seemed to pick for first term, luckily school then changed to parents ordering so I choose him other things.

The food seems standard fairly bland dull stuff (macaroni cheese/roasts/fish and potato/nuggets and chips) most of the time. There is a salad bar he ignores as well. He doesnt like it all but I reckon it's good for him to try things and hes more likely to find stuff he likes if his peers have it too. It's a short school day if he doesn't like it much he can have a larger snack at hometime.

I don’t get why people complain about the disparity between “packed lunch rules” and the school dinners.

Surely the answer is glaringly obvious?

1. The school dinners menu is set by an outside catering company, to their own set of standards for what to include in a child’s lunch.

1. The school themselves set the rules for packed lunches, usually because they are trying to gain/keep Healthy Schools status.

It’s hardly difficult to see why two different organisations have two different sets of standards, is it?

I do know what you mean OP, but I don’t think it’s the job of 'institutions' to cater to fussy eaters. And it’s a safe place for your fussy eater to learn that sometimes wet food touch the others etc etc and it’s fine if they won’t eat it but that’s the only option.

Remember their cake is not going to be the same as calorie loaded shop bought cake. It will be balanced in regards to sugar etc. Not loaded like when we were at school. Likewise so will their custard and biscuits and everything else!

Also no, not every family sit down to dinner together, when dc were in primary, I would get home from work anytime between 6pm- midnight, depending on where I was working, and if there had been any accidents on the motorway. So the dc would eat at 5pm, and me and dp when I was home, as he ate when he came home from work at 2pm, so wouldn’t need to eat at 5pm with time he dc. It’s a very blinkered perception to assume everyone eats together- yeah if everyone works 9-3/4/5 and just down the road, that’s not the norm for most people.

Sacha I think it's more like the school meals have to conform to certain nutritional rules...so there's an allotted amount of sugar etc...and a certain amount of veg that MUST be served.

They get all the veg in in weird ways...offering odd combos. They can serve cake because all the other stuff's been accounted for.

They have probably cut the options either because of budget requirements (most likely) or because they aren't popular.

And many, many families don't sit down and have a hot evening meal together, and of those a large number of them will be the ones who need the full school lunch the most.

Schools don't have the budget to deal with catering for everyone when they are so regulated nutritionally.

If your child is too fussy then send a packed lunch. If you child prefers a light option - send a packed lunch.

Ds has an eating disorder which means he only eats a very limited diet. So I send a packed lunch which contains what he will hopefully eat.

In the nicest possible way it’s not schools job to cater for fussy eating

Well then that's a case of one hand not talking to the others. The rules should be set to be similar across both options. Little kids don't understand why they can't have a biscuit in their packed lunch but their friend sitting next to them has ice cream or cake. Then it becomes almost a punishment for going packed ? Well that's a bit extreme but a disadvantage in the kids eyes.

My moan is that so many caterers (and I include restaurants in this) think that vegetarian food shouldn’t be plain. Drives DD and DH up the wall. We’ve abandoned the veggie school lunches for DD as she hated them all and was eating a jacket potato (always either under or over done) and cheese or beans for lunch every sodding day.

We do get free lunches for all throughout primary but they’re still not great.

What about the kids on free school meals who don't like turkey dinner etc I can't believe kids all kids on free school meals aren't fussy eaters
Funnily enough, in my experience, it's rare to find a fussy eater amongst children for whom this is their main hot meal of the day. Hunger wins in the end. (SEN aside. Although my extremely fussy SEN daughter always stopped short of starving herself)

They are heavily regulated. Those puddings won't be full of the usual crap

IN my experience, school food is generally poor quality and even simple 'puddings' come from a packet, tin or box.
The cupcakes at current school have a packet mix taste and ingredients used for cooked meals are well and truly budget quality.
Not regulated enough.

What time do you have your evening meal OP?