To not understand how it's cheaper to send dc to school with a cold happy meal than a packed lunch?

[bobstersmum]

In the news this week, an article about children in deprived areas being sent to school with a cold happy meal. Then parents in another article defending the reasons for it, saying that sometimes it's all they can afford. I just can't understand it? A happy meal is 2.99 I think? But a cheap loaf of bread is 50p, a cheap pack of sandwich meat or cheese is less than a pound, bag of bananas a pound multipack of crisps a pound, that's lunches for the week for around the same cost?

Do you see the contradictions in what you posted, Squidsister? There is a massive amount of luck involved in having capable, thrifty parents who had decent mental health and the determination to prepare their children for a better life. You could also call that privilege. There are lots of parents out there who never experienced adequate parenting themselves. And lots who are just worn out by the constant grind of it all. Not everyone has the resilience needed to face the hard slog year in, year out. 'There but for the grace of God...'
Resilience yes, but I don’t think I said decent mental health. My parents grew up in a city bombed by the war. My dad’s father died when he was a child and his stepfather beat him. He left school at 14 with a basic education and got a job in a factory which has left him with long term health issues. He was on anti-depressants for a while, unsurprisingly. But yes he was resilient and bloody determined that his children would have a different life. Is that luck? I don’t know. I am aware of the sacrifices they made for their family and I never take that for granted. But this is why I made the point that being poor doesn’t have to mean you can’t be a good parent, and I think my parents and grandparents would have been offended by that assumption.

PS I did read the original article and it never said the McDonalds was due to poverty - the parent thought it was a suitable lunch and wanted the teacher to heat it up! which is why she took him to get a school dinner.

Being poor still doesn’t mean you have to be a bad parent. Parents now are no different to when your dad was little

Apparently, a cold congealed happy meal is better than nothing:

But it is isn’t it? Surely going hungry is worse than eating cold McDonald’s?

I might (actually hope) to be late in making this point but have you ever been so poor that you simply only had one or two pounds left? It might just be a day or two until payday, and it likely happened because of some unexpected expense such as medicine, but you are there, two pounds left and a day or two to live of it. I have only every been in this situation when I was a student, before having kids and luckily since have never been so poor that McDonalds is the only treat in respect to a special meal I can afford (I don't think I have been in one in 20 years). But I can imagine that there is a day in which you have to come up with a lunch for my child, one that will still be perceived as ok even if the heating has not been working in weeks, there is no money for even coats from the charity shop. I hope I never have to experience it.

If you have only £2 and no food in the house you ring the school, tell them you haven’t the money this week but will pay next week if they please allow jane/Michael to have school dinners. Then you ring the GP/social services and tell them you have no food in the house and no money to buy anything and ask for a food bank referral. If you find this is happening often you also ask SS to put you in touch with an agency who can help you with your finances. SS do offer support for people in this situation.

What you don’t do is spend that £2 in MCDs. You keep it, stick it in a jar and use it for milk or bread when you can get to the shop.

It’s neglect. I despair of people who have kids when they really, really shouldn’t.

Why is feeding your child leftovers neglect?

I'm surprised that people think a cheap cheese sandwich (likely made with processed white bread) and a packet of crisps is so much healthier than a happy meal. In reality they are probably on par - both overall unhealthy with the majority of calories derived from processed carbs and high in saturated fat protein...

I've sent my kid with a slice of uneaten pizza from the night before...wondering now if the teachers are judging me

£4 for butter? Is it flecked with gold??

Been on both sides of this. There was a time when we only ate if there was food in the reduced bucket at the mini mart and we pretended it was an adventure.

Having been there, I can't get my head around wasting a precious three quid on a happy meal when even at the corner shop (as opposed to supermarket), so much more food can be purchased... even if you leave out the gold infused butter.... I am not being judgy, but when I had nothing I didn't look to fast food because it simply didn't help me make my money stetch. I remember having a friend who gave her kids maccy ds every week and would think, one day we will be able to afford that kind of extravagance.

Thinking practically if I only had the three quid today that would be a bag of rice/pasta, cheap tin of fish, bag of frozen veg, squirt of ketchup or mayo.... that's at least five portions of what we affectionately called Poor Kedgeree.... it was yum.

At £2.10 a day, a school meal is way cheaper than a cold mac Donald’s every day. And school meals are free (at the moment) for reception, year one and year two.

It says they are sending chicken nuggets which might not be happy meal nuggets. You can get a couple of bags for less than £2. I know this as I've had to do it for my youngest when he'd been seriously ill and was living off them, biscuits and other high calorie foods to boost his calorie intake and before any judges me for it, that was doctors orders. He couldn't take enough calories in cause the amount he was abe to eat after he'd been ill and basically needed to slowly get his stomach able to take in more food. I don't agree with the idea of no appliances as even if no fridge can keep alot of fruit and veg without being refridgerated and can get tinned or a pack of eggs for the week. Although this has given me an idea for their christmas dinner packed lunch so they don't feel left out, definately better ption than what I originally planned :)

I'd rather send them in with a cereal bar and an apple than that junk, would probably cost the same. I don't believe MD's is the only option they have.

At £2.10 a day, a school meal is way cheaper than a cold mac Donald’s every day.

This. Healthier too.

Nutritionally I don’t think the happy meal is any worse than the cheap loaf and cheap ham teamed with crisps option. Both meals are high in salt, and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals. Both provide a dose of refined carbohydrate and a decent amount of protein.

@IWorkAtTheCheescakeFactory

No one has said that they are sending McDonald’s because they can’t afford food

But don’t let that stop you...

I'm surprised that people think a cheap cheese sandwich (likely made with processed white bread) and a packet of crisps is so much healthier than a happy meal

At least a sandwich is designed to be eaten cold. A cold Happy Meal is not a pleasant thing to eat.

I might be missing the point here but what kid actually wants to eat a cold happy meal??

I don’t expect they get any Choice

@notyetsleepingthrough

Yeah. I've been there, when my dh was out of work for two years and I was only part time. With three quid to last five days feeding two adults and two kids. Except I always made sure school dinners were paid for because at least then, the kids were having a decent meal at school when I had little in the cupboards at home.

We grew up in poverty, thanks to my father being a piss head. My 4 siblings and I had packed lunches when mum couldn’t afford school dinners. It would be things like a jam, or peanut butter sandwich, a banana or apple, and on good days, a biscuit.
I remember dinners being heavy on mashed potato to fill us up (in the days before pasta was ubiquitous), things like stew and soup, and when things were really grim, tinned tomatoes on bread.
Not all of it great, but all of it better than a cold macDonalds.
There is an element of poor parenting and/or laziness in this, alongside poverty.

WoraLiberty My thoughts too.

Small wonder kids get so ill, feeding them ‘food’ like that. It’s not down to poverty it’s down to poor choices. Parents who would want to give their kids a cold happy meal are not sensible normal people in my view.

No one has said that they are sending McDonald’s because they can’t afford food

But don’t let that stop you.

I was responding to a poster immediately before my post who mentioned only having £2 and a few days to make it last.

But don’t let that stop... whatever service it is you think you’re providing here.

SS does have legislation to enable them to give financial support if there is no food for children. Mostly with the rise of foodbanks people even with children will be referred there (saves the SS budget). No one, especially children should go without food. Of course a lot depends on financial management even although it has been generally taught in schools for a few years now.

The post above was also perpetuating the myth that the McDonald’s was about lack of money though