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?

The free school lunches in my area have up to half their calories in the pudding on some days. Some meals are great - i really admire them, the roast in particular, but some others are very cheap to counteract the more expensive meals so that the average cost balances. On a short week the kitchen will drop the most expensive meal which is normally the roast but is sometimes a meat pie or curry. I'm particularly unimpressed with quality of the burgers and sausages and dont eat them.

A infant children are entitled to a free school lunch. That's the irony.

I would be classed as in poverty (dc get free school meals). I then give them a light evening meal the money I save not providing a hot lunch 5 days a week gets saved to provide hot meals in the school holidays. In my opinion food on a low income can be provided in a healthy way however to do this people need to be educated on budgeting, know the value of a healthy diet, be able to plan ahead, have the physical ability to do so, be mentally able to sustain producing meals week in week out and know what a healthy diet is.
They're are days I am unable to cook due to my physical health on these days the dc will have either a basic meal they can cook themselves or something I've batch cooked and frozen.
If mine 10-15 year olds were younger and unable to cook for themselves I'm not sure how I'd cope.
My MH is not great however I manage, I can imagine if you were further down the slippery slope of MH you wouldn't be able to provide adequate nutrional intake sustainably for yourself never mind dc to.
They're are always going to be lazy parents (this has nothing to do with money), there will always be parents who's priorities are perhaps not what they ought to be there will never be a solution for this small minority.
Perhaps what we need is for our dc to leave education with the skills to budget and cook nutrional meals. My dc are taught this by me as part of my parenting not all will be (not all parents know how to).

• She said: "They'll sometimes just have half a sandwich. I've also had children being sent in with chicken nuggets and an expectation that the kitchen will warm them up. I said no and sent the child for a school dinner. Parents sometimes send in cold items from a McDonald's Happy Meal for the children's lunches.*

For everyone frothing at the mouth despite the article saying often and banging on about the happy meal,the teacher says sometimes.

And you know what? Sometimes it can happen for various reasons... fussiness, chaotic home life,really busy parents, not wanting food to go to waste (bought by them or someone else) and yes poverty. Because even poor people and children deserve a "treat" now and then and to be just like other people.

I love how everyone is waxing lyrical over the happy meal and mostly ignoring the half a sandwich.

We had a kid coming in every day with just a slice of cake,lovely home made cake and nothing else.

"Children may be eligible for free school meals if their parents receive the following benefits:

Universal Credit, provided the annual net earned income does not exceed £7,400 (£616.37 per month)
Income Support
Income based Employment and Support Allowance
Income based Job Seekers Allowance
Child Tax Credit (conditions apply)"

Do you understand now @bobstersmum?

@MorvaanReed and I have given you practical,real life and very different examples of how not being able to feed healthy meals can happen,so I really hope your question has been answered.

I'd also like to thank @EmmaOvary for recognising and hearing us

www.theschoolrun.com/free-school-meals-for-infants-your-questions-answered

Cold McDs for lunch isn't good, obviously. And if it's regular it's dysfunctional and not cost-effective. BUT do people really not understand why a parent might spend £3 on a "treat" happy meal from McDs rather than another loaf of shit bread and cheap cheese spread?

Maybe it's because just occasionally, that parent gives in to the temptation to offer their deprived child something that that child recognises as a treat, something normal children look forward to, something their friends talk about having?

Poverty is unrelenting, grinding misery. Feeling constantly guilty, anxious, depressed and hopeless. People crack sometimes and make a less than stellar choice; if you're poor, everyone assumes the right to critique your every move

Parents feed their kids junk because often it's the only indulgence they can afford to give them.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of No's in the lives of children whose parents are struggling financially. Parents and children are bombarded with images of families enjoying everything consumer culture has to offer and maybe spending a little on a happy meal makes up for not having any hope of the lifestyle trappings that the child is constantly begging for.

In some ways, parents who cobble together the money for the happy meal or the bottle of fizzy drink or the bag of Doritos are showing they understand the emotional meaning of food.

Better off parents can say No to the junk because they can afford Yes to a lot else. Trips here and there, a holiday, new shoes, books, footwear, a bedroom decorated as the child wants, a home free of mould, and above all else, the promise of a good start in life.

There are psychological elements to poverty that are not always apparent to those living the MC life.

Ex-post with pigeononthegate

X-post

duh

I love it how people are coming up with reasons for this happening other than lazy and shit parenting.

It’s not normal or ok to give your child a cold mcdonald’s for their dinner everyday is it? There are no excuses. A one off is forgivable if you’ve been in a crisis overnight or something, but if it’s a regular occurrence then it’s time to get your shit together really.

Plus - cold, chewy chips from McDonald’s 🤢 Poor kids.

What PidgeonOnTheGate and Mathanxiety said and said very well.

And yes, I have been through hard times I understand that desperation and hopelessness. However, I still don’t understand the correlation between me struggling financially and my children eating a cold McDonald’s for their lunch. If anything it would just exacerbate the guilt, knowing my child is eating cold manky chips.

I would have thought it's much more likely that the DC in question nagged and nagged for a Happy Meal one teatime and when the parent finally cracked, they wouldn't eat the bloody thing. I suspect the words 'Right, if you won't eat it now, you'll have it for lunch tomorrow, I'm sick to the back teeth of this' were uttered.

We can discuss how much this & that cost but personally I’d feel rather inadequate if I sent my child to school with a cold happy meal but unless you know the circumstances of every child/parent it’s hard to pull apart.

when my dc were young on 2 occasions we had massive inters rate hike to over 15% in real terms in meant our mortgage went much higher (think 50% don't ask!) dh & I went veg (dhal anyone) with occasional tuna & I can no longer eat tuna as I cooked it so many ways over that time (tuna bolognaise anyone?) tuna/baked beans fish pie, tuna fish cakes... curried tuna, sweet & sour tuna … dc served first always, another time dh went through a period of redundancies so I do know what its like to struggle - which is why I worry because many people really don't seem to know how to cater/cook for their family - I can understand buying pizza & chips which will feed more than one person but not the tiny potions of take away macd & chips

O.M.F.G. the are literally only three people on thos thread who have read and understood the 'news' article.

I guess you could also argue that family members or friends bought their DC that HM & the parents had no money so they used what was left from the HM to send their DC to school with?

I have had conversations with children about their evening meals and heard about pot noodles, pasta with bread, mashed potato butties, etc etc
It doesnt stop with bad packed lunches. There are lots of people living in poverty and there are lots of people who just want be arsed.

Yep, Strictly- it almost looks as though it's just easier to froth about the feckless poor in the run-up to a General Election, doesn't it?

*cant

... personally I’d feel rather inadequate if I sent my child to school with a cold happy meal but unless you know the circumstances of every child/parent it’s hard to pull apart.

They're are reasons for everything, whether they are good or bad is up for debate. For example, my reasons for washing clothes more than they need and worrying about smelling, even with a lot of washing and anti-persperant should be easy to guess at. The mind set that causes me to feel this way probably isn't much healthier than that of someone who can't face making a decent packed lunch, it's just more "respectable".

@funinthesun19 who said anything about McDonald's every day? Did you actually read the article?

Im going to share something personal on here, my Sister & BIL came to visit they sat on my sofa with their 3 kids, with £1.50 in their pocket - no food absolutely nothing! I went to MD to treat everybody what’s to say they didn’t take it home to give to their DC to take to school because they had nothing. Don’t drive, they’ve been walking 4 miles to the food bank & it’s still not enough. They felt embarrassed to ask for help but finally did & we are all too happy to help their family but how many don’t ask for help through shame