A loaf and a block of cheese is not lunch for ten days

[ZazieSheHer]

So some of the free school lunch boxes contain very little food.

Marcus Rashford condemns free school meal packages

“...a package, supposedly containing £30 worth of food to last for 10 days, comprising just a loaf of bread, some cheese, a tin of beans, two carrots, two bananas, three apples, two potatoes, a bag of pasta, three Frubes, two Soreen bars and a tomato”.

mobile.twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

Can’t imagine what it’s like home schooling hungry kids. Would like to say I’m shocked but I’m not.

@PearlescentIridescent

This has made me so so anxious for those poor families relying on that support. It's such a long time to be closed and over winter too. Just can't stop imagining poor kids, stuck in doors, maybe cold and with way not enough to eat :(

I hope something will be done about this. How can we go on living in a society where resources meant for the most vulnerable are consistently filtered through profit making machines for the already incredibly wealthy?

There are so many resolvable issues with those parcels. The sight of those little treats thrown in is so upsetting to me for some reason :( I am not wealthy by any means but I am so, so grateful I can feed my children. I hope this situation improves quickly and dramatically.

I agree with you completely. We are not well off by any means but by the grace of god we have never been hungry.

I looked at that and all I could think of is there is nothing there they would like. No crisps or any means to have anything sweet of fatty or enjoyable.

Those boxes will provide only sustenance (if that), no pleasure. Anyone who approves this should be ashamed.

No, but it is intended to be enough food to feed a child a healthy lunch for 10 days. And a service worth £30 per child per 2 weeks. I can see no evidence of either.

This. Food parcels aren't necessary. Give people vouchers and if necessary specify what they can be spent on.

It seems this government has unlimited money to throw at mates in private companies to provide utter joke services.

and hardly any of those ingredients in the food packs, unless you feel that a quartered onion wrapped in cling film, left our for who knows how long, is ok to feed children with

Exactly. If your 'food pack' requires people have specific complementary ingredients in the home and unlimited access to fuel its missing the point.
All this justified because "a few" will fiddle the system. Just give people the money FFS.

Written to my MP because this is outrageous. You can find your MP here and do the same...it really didn't take long at all.

members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

I get that this is about corruption and mis spending.

But just for the posters who say 'my child wouldn't eat that' - nor would mine have, a few months ago. We now rely on food boxes. A tiny silver lining is that my children will now eat things like carrot soup, spotty bananas, slightly stale bread. And cabbage. Soooooo much cabbage.

Being picky is a luxury. My kids get that it's a luxury we don't have at the moment. So would yours, if they were hungry too.

Ugh I remember last time free school meals was in the news a few weeks back and Twitter was flooded with smug imaginary ‘If I was poor’ shopping lists from tories which always includes boiling chicken carcasses and eating endless omelettes

As a taxpayer, do people realise what it would cost to give £15 cash per week to every FSM child?

There are 1.4 million children entitled to FSM.

If we have a 12 week lockdown, that's 250 million pounds.

Where do people think this money is coming from?

A load of bread would also not keep for ten days. Bleurgh!

Where do people think this money is coming from?

Perhaps it could come from the same place that the 25 quid per box is going?

Where do people think this money is coming from?

The same place it comes from when they are in schools eating their FSMs on prem...

The bigger scandal is that 1.4m children live in families where the income is so low that they need nutritional support.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

As a taxpayer, do people realise what it would cost to give £15 cash per week to every FSM child?

There are 1.4 million children entitled to FSM.

If we have a 12 week lockdown, that's 250 million pounds.

Where do people think this money is coming from?

I would rather give that money to hungry children than to catering companies as seems to be the case here.

As a taxpayer, do people realise what it would cost to give £15 cash per week to every FSM child?

We don't necessarily need to give them £15 a week. This stuff can be bought a lot cheaper. And the government has already spent £30 of tax payers money per child per fortnight on these shitty boxes, so that's a complete non-argument.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland the question is where is the money going? The company has been paid with taxpayer money. They haven’t spent it on providing the service. They have taken it for themselves.

Welcome to Tory Britannia. Survival of the richest. Not surprised the majority has gone to line the pockets of a donor.

I bet Morrison’s could do a better job of this.

Wow. Some of those hampers are awful. We've been getting a hamper from our school for each of our children, but they have been better than that.

Each one contains a 2ltr bottle of milk, a full block of cheese, 5 yoghurts, 6 eggs, 2 bananas, 2 apples, 2 oranges, 1 cucumber, 1 pack cherry tomatoes, 1 tin sweetcorn, 1 big catering size tin of baked bins and 2 baking potatoes and a tin of tuna. I think they are also working on getting us a bag of pasta too.

My children are 7 and 9 and very small so this is fine for them, however there is no variety, its the same stuff every week. Back in the first lockdown we were getting 2 bloody great swedes a week and we still have about 10 x 280g tins of tuna in our cupboard from last time. Strangely my children don't want to eat tuna and swede for lunch every single day. The vouchers would have been better.

Is it even a block of cheese? I thought it was processed slices. It would be comical but for the hideous grift and profiteering and cronyism, off the back of vulnerable children. How do you eke out 2 bananas over 10 days?

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

As a taxpayer, do people realise what it would cost to give £15 cash per week to every FSM child?

There are 1.4 million children entitled to FSM.

If we have a 12 week lockdown, that's 250 million pounds.

Where do people think this money is coming from?

But the government is spending this money. They’re just giving it to a middle man to sort out rather than trust the families themselves!

I’d say a little light on protein but probably enough for ten lunches

Which is fine, but they are meant to be supplying £30 worth of food. So where is the other £25? (As if we don't already know...)

Chartwells getting a roasting on Twitter

exactly. If your 'food pack' requires people have specific complementary ingredients in the home and unlimited access to fuel its missing the point.

Yet on the other thread about this two days ago people were complaining about the makings of a sandwich being provided because they want the ingredients of a hot lunch.

You can't get it right!

@zaphodbeeble

The company is Chartwells, a division of Compass whose chairman is a Tory donor apparently

What a surprise! £25 profit directly in their pockets.

Not read full thread sorry!

Not convinced by a jacket potato either - either the oven needs to be on for ages (££££) for 1 jacket potato or you need a combi microwave for it to be edible. Also takes ages in the microwave.

Jackets are cheap cooked in bulk in an oven that is in use anyway and much less cheap if cooked on their own!