Because lots of people are complaining the parcel is too small/no choice/kid doesn’t like beans/bananas were too brown/have to leave the house to pick it up/government has some sort of conspiracy theory to deprive children of the full amount of food they’re ‘entitled’ to/Parents saying they’d rather let kids go hungry or go hungry themselves than suffer the indignity of collecting their parcel. These are the sort of comments that give parents on benefits a bad name. And that’s very sad, as with the current pandemic more and more people are losing their incomes and having to rely on FSM and benefits for the first time.
As I said, most of the comments are coming from people who don't claim FSM. I don't think it's ideal at all and I have never claimed FSMs.
The food isn’t meant to replace the child’s main meal of the day, it’s to ensure the child has lunch 5 days a week. Even hot FSM at school are tiny in portion size and often there is no choice, or a choice between say a jacket potato or pasta with cheese.
FSM when they were introduced were meant to be as the child's main meal for the day. That was the whole point of free school meals- to make sure the child doesn't have to go a whole day with very little food. It wasn't so that they could have a snack in the middle of the day with the expectation that they would be getting a huge meal in the evening .I don't think this policy has changed as the reality some children still aren't getting much to eat in the evening..
You may not be getting the equivalent of what you feel entitled to cash wise, but schools and catering companies have to pay their staff, someone to make up the boxes, someone to sit there all day handing out the boxes. On occasion staff may need payment to deliver a box eg if a family is shielding or parent is disabled and nobody else can collect it.
There you are again assuming that because I don't think the situation is ideal I must be on benefits myself. I'm not blaming the schools themselves if that is all they can offer but that doesn't mean that this is what should be happening in this day and age. They should be able to give vouchers for people that want them.
Shopping online has a delivery charge too. I don’t understand why people think they should get the cost of travelling to collect free food refunded, be it a voucher for a supermarket or a food parcel from school.
Yes but when you shop online you can buy a weeks worth of food so it is cost-effective. The same applies to getting a bus to the shops. Paying 20 pounds a week for a bus fare (to get lunch each day) is not quite so cost-effective.