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?

Our local premier shop in our rural village charges 1.75 for the cheapest loaf of bread. Ham is 2 quid. None of our supermarkets are within walking distance

Anyway, we've established that its just the clueless parents giving the cold maccy ds.

The poverty stricken parents giving half a sandwich is a very sad situation. I'd like to think that claiming FSM would be less embarrassing than your kid not eating properly, but if not then I am not sure what anyone can do about it.

There was a time i had zero cash in my bank. Nada.

I was miles from a supermarket, no car, bus was 3 quid return.
Local shop charged 2.50 for card transactions under a tenner.
There was an Aldi near work, but they didnt take credit cards. And i had no money in the bank to use a debit card.
That left an accessible m&s . Higher prices, no card fees, no travel costs but they accepted my credit card.

Life's not always simple.

And no.... i never gave mine crap food...but i wonder at the cheap prices that have been quoted!

I can see this.

There's times when I look at food my toddler has refused to eat, and half think about putting it in her lunch box for preschool. It's such a waste otherwise. I don't though, but I do eat her lunch as part of my dinner if she hasn't eaten it all that day (she gets something freshly cooked, which is inevitably wasted .... and the carousel goes on).

I can well imagine other parents thinking along similar lines. I mean, no-one would notice if it was a sandwich from the day before, or bits of salad and chicken from the previous day's dinner. It is just because it is a Happy Meal that that there's so much shock and horror.

It's been interesting to read everyones different views on the article. I have to say after my initial post I do now think the article was misleading, the likelihood is that the cold maccy d saga happened once and will now become an urban legend. The half a sandwich situation though is very sad. I too thought that all reception kids got free school meals, apparently that's not the case. School meals for all should be a part of normal school budget, because children need full tummies to be able to learn to their full potential!

where are you shopping? You can get ham here. In one of the most expensive place in England. For £1. Butter block for 90p. Cheese in Lidl can be £1 too. And a loaf of bread is 50p...

This has been answered hundreds of times. Lots of people live in villages where the only shop within walking distance is a Londis/Premier Foods where the prices are at least triple what you've quoted.

Honestly, this an odd thread. Poverty is terrible but school lunches are one of the few things that are free to people on very low incomes. So there is an actual solution to a regular half a sandwich.

Not sure why we are all arguing tbh

school lunches are one of the few things that are free to people on very low incomes

That very low income is actually incredibly low. If on universal credit the household income has to be less than £7400 (after tax) to be entitled to free school meals. Even on the old tax credit system the household income had to be less than 1 full time minimum wage to qualify.

I think thats only one criteria?

Working poo do not qualify for fsm.

Poor poor

The number of children who qualify for FSM, but won’t eat them is also actually quite high. Being told every day by school that your child has not eaten their lunch can be a factor in making sure their lunch box contains something they will eat, however rank someone else might find it.

@adaline

Who got out of bed the wrong side this morning? I didn’t read all 19 pages.....surprisingly

@adaline. That is my local shop!

The full list for England is here:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

But, afaik, all the other benefits are being rolled in to universal credit so it is the only one which will matter in future. As a pp said, working poor aren't entitled to free school meals.

This has been answered hundreds of times. Lots of people live in villages where the only shop within walking distance is a Londis/Premier Foods where the prices are at least triple what you've quoted.

The majority of people don't and live in reasonable distance, so what if you have to walk 20 mins to supermarket. I'm guessing if you have a Macdonald's nearby but it's not just supermarkets b and m homebargains Poundland, heron foods ect sell the basics cheap enough.

I see this at my school in a relatively affluent area. Parents who put their wants before their child's basic needs. It is, more often than not, a lack of education. It's a shame that home economics isn't a core subject at secondary school!

Yes because I’m sure if they’d had home economics at secondary school that would make all the difference

@passthecherrycoke
What's with the emoji?
Why wouldn't it help?
That plus UFSM for infant children in England, child benefit, child and working tax credits, surely that would allow most parents to make a cheap nutritional packed lunch?

It know there are some very rural areas in the UK with very expensive shops ,but the area this article is linked too is Blackburn and Darwen neither of which are particularly rural.

Home economics? Do you remember what you learnt in yours? We learnt how to make disgusting scones and fruit flapjacks. Can’t remember anything else about them.

It’s all a bit harping back to the golden ages of the 70s where we all had domestic science and yet at the same time enthusiastically embraced instant mash and dried custard powder.

I agree with posters who say that this sort of thing is due to 'poverty' is insulting to parents in poverty who make huge efforts to ensure that their kids eat as well as they can.

And some of the excuses 'oh they might not be near a supermarket, maybe their only accessible shop is an artisan deli which sells bread at a fiver a loaf, maybe they live next door to a single McDonald's with not a single other shop that sells anything else cheaper for miles' etc.

Let's call it what it is: crap parenting.

Now of course the reasons for that crap parenting are many and not just that those parents are 'Bad People'.

But feeding your kids stuff from Happy Meals in their school packed lunch is nothing to do with poverty.

Oh for gods sake 🤣

This has been answered hundreds of times. Lots of people live in villages where the only shop within walking distance is a Londis/Premier Foods where the prices are at least triple what you've quoted.

So how are they getting their McDonald's in these 'villages' then?

@pasdthecherrycoke
Patronising, teaching young people to budget and eat well is laughable is it?