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.

@Crumbleandcake so poor parents need to demonstrate their desperation and then gratitude for scraps? And we all need to ignore our taxes going into Chartwell’s coffers, giving them unearned profits, and not question the inadequate provisions because poor people don’t matter and don’t deserve any better?

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@Wheresmykimchi I am not defending but your blaming the wrong people here , if a company is given a certain amount to provide then that is what it should do.
The company that quoted what was in its 2 week box is providing it so why are the others
Your blaming the goverment , but if they are paying and its not being supplies is it not the suppliers fault or does that not suit your narrative[/quote]
My narrative is feeding these kids. Yours is?

Interesting. Piece on R4 just now says that Chartwells have issued a statement saying that the above is supposed to last 1 week and the cost to the government was £10.50

@Wheresmykimchi no your narrative was to purely blame the goverment ? Instead of making sure suppliers are held to account
Even the goverment have condemned some of these

Adding the voucher to UC would be great. But it would involve raising the benefit cap/allowing the extra payment, which we all know the tories don't want to do.

Govey or Govey's best mate is packing cheese in boxes at we speak, and Liz Truss no doubt faffing about to check it's not imported.

I agree it's a bit protein light (on R4 someone tried to justify that at not having to have a vegetarian option) - probably would make ten lunches. It's just the sheer waste in terms of resources for packing/delivery, which probably accounts for half the £30 value.
Supermarket vouchers would be far less admin-heavy, and result in the family having a far more substantial supply of food that would provide for more than five lunches.

The news is on as I'm writing - Chartwell, the supplier, is now saying it's a five day supply and cost to the state is £10.50 - but cost of delivery/admin would be on top of that.

Someone else is paying to feed your child.

Me and I don’t begrudge a penny of it. I’m probably paying to educate yours too, let’s hope they get better lessons in compassion than you did.

It would be hard to just add to benefits , systems are set up
Vouchers seems a good way but then some complained they were hard to use as couldn't get to shops etc
Also paying the catering companies I guess also keeps people in jobs but even at £10.50 most of is could put a better box than some of these together , let alone at wholesale prices

Oh god sorry @donewithitalltodayandxmas, that was obviously for @Crumbleandcake

@Wheresmykimchi where once did I say I dont agree with FSM , show me my post that says that !!

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@Wheresmykimchi no your narrative was to purely blame the goverment ? Instead of making sure suppliers are held to account
Even the goverment have condemned some of these
[/quote]
I don't care whos to blame.

"Even the government have condemned some of these" Aye so they have. The same government who voted against FSM in the first place.

You are dreaming. If your biggest worry in this issue is making sure the right people are getting a telling off, be glad.

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@Wheresmykimchi where once did I say I dont agree with FSM , show me my post that says that !![/quote]
I misquoted you @donewithitalltodayandxmas - my response was to crumble. I'll repost and get that deleted.

How much would it cost one of the people complaining on here to set up a logistics project to get boxes of food to thousands of children? Let's say you won the contract. What would you need? Premises, vans or couriers, staff to source the food, an admin team to coordinate packing and dispatch, an accounts team to pay suppliers, heating, lighting, computer equipment, broadband, phones, broadband, insurance, vehicle insurance.
The overheads are high.

The government could have done it cheaper through a partnership with supermarkets and their delivery network.

But don't think if the government pays £30 that there's going to be £25 worth of food in there.

The Voucher entitlement is £15 a week the £30 is to cover 2 weeks worth of lunches.

Either way the are still pocketing the same amount.

Crumbleandcake I'm a Carer working 60- 70 hours a week for an extra £30 am I starving my kids by needing these vouchers? or should the Government pay us a fair wage, considering what we save you the Taxpayer a vast sum.

@DianaT1969

How much would it cost one of the people complaining on here to set up a logistics project to get boxes of food to thousands of children? Let's say you won the contract. What would you need? Premises, vans or couriers, staff to source the food, an admin team to coordinate packing and dispatch, an accounts team to pay suppliers, heating, lighting, computer equipment, broadband, phones, broadband, insurance, vehicle insurance. The overheads are high.

The government could have done it cheaper through a partnership with supermarkets and their delivery network.

But don't think if the government pays £30 that there's going to be £25 worth of food in there.

I'd give them vouchers.

But then I'm not an idiot who thinks all FSM parents spend it on drink and fags.

@Crumbleandcake
If you are going to quote and substantiate a ridiculous post with an even more ridiculous one, at least make sure you are consistent.

You say you don't agree with FSM (Not sure why anyone thinks they should be able to decide whether kids get fed or not, but each to their own).

Yet you say that it's OK for parents who work hard then get into a tough situation, or ones who are "known" to be unkind (not sure what that has to do with anything, finance doesn't equal kindness and kindness doesn't pay the bills) but not for those who sit and PLAN to have FSM for all their children's lunches (that's honestly the most ludicrous point I've read so far, I'm sure at pregnancy stage they sat there and thought yesssss let's have another child and in 5 years time the government will give them a loaf of bread and bit of cheese, that'll save us a pound).

So who do you think shouldn't have them? Keep reading the papers.

@Wheresmykimchi but it is also making people accountable so the companies are shamed and up their game
Also rightly or wrongly the goverment voted against fsm in holidays not in general and no goverment past or present has provided fsm in holidays or had it in their manifesto that they would.
The goverment backed down rightly so , due to current time but they did not vote against fsm blanket stop.

They don't need that much. It's all going to the catering company and they're not providing meals, just cheap ingredients. This could be done more cost effectively

I think catering costs will depend on how many children are still in school (requiring catering staff to cook and clean up for them) and how many staff it takes to plan the boxes, their contents, source packing materials, pack the boxes, stay longer hours to hand them out. Obviously not all the food the school had ordered in will be suitable for food boxes so they probably spend more buying packed lunch type items they don’t already have in stock. And catering for special diets (eg allergies) and potentially paying staff to deliver to families who are isolating/shielding or have another legitimate reason they can’t collect. Hopefully these are teething problems.

TBH we’ve been in this pandemic almost a year now, parents are used to bubbles bursting at short notice, nobody expected schools to close at the start of term but it was always a possibility with the infection rate soaring. I like to think most parents have been saving some food in the cupboard for such emergencies, or putting a bit of money aside each week to cover their child’s lunches in the event of sudden school closures. I appreciate some people simply can’t save anything, but most can save a few tins or £1 a week out or their benefits/child allowance. I do think parents need to take some responsibility for their child’s lunches, not blame everything on the government/catering company.

The content of these boxes is appalling. Over processed shit. I made for lunch today for my 5 kids and me tomato soup out of one tin of tomato's, half an onion and a wrinkly courgette. But I'm privileged because I've got a hob and saucepans and a blender and the knowledge to know how to do it. It probably cost £1 to do all of us. I made it because we were out of food and I couldn't be arsed to go to the shop.

The point of free school meals is that for some it's their main meal of the day. These boxes should be containing a selection of ingredients and recipes and families should be able to choose between hot meal and sandwich based. For context hello fresh can provide 6 hot meal ingredients for scratch cooking for £30 and they are a premium provider.

Trust some corporation to get hold of a great idea and turn it into a money spinner. 3 frubes and a loaf of white bread. Ffs.

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@Wheresmykimchi but it is also making people accountable so the companies are shamed and up their game
Also rightly or wrongly the goverment voted against fsm in holidays not in general and no goverment past or present has provided fsm in holidays or had it in their manifesto that they would.
The goverment backed down rightly so , due to current time but they did not vote against fsm blanket stop.
[/quote]
No....but previously we weren't going through a worldwide pandemic. It's nothing to do with holidays. We needed FSM during "holidays" because we were in lockdown!

The government made the deal with the companies and knew what was happening.

I honestly have no idea why you are so defensive of the government and are reacting as if they paid all their money in good faith as they truly believe in FSM and want to help the children but oopsy the company let them down.

They don't give a shit. Neither do the companies, but without the government's backing they wouldn't have been able to pull this off in the first place.

Saw this photos on Facebook, of what Castell Howell are proving for Caerphilly CBC - I can’t believe the difference! If Caerphilly is able to provide this amount of food, why can’t England/Chartwells?

And according to Castell Howell, they also provide fresh fruit and milk to go with it!

@VinylDetective

Someone else is paying to feed your child.

Me and I don’t begrudge a penny of it. I’m probably paying to educate yours too, let’s hope they get better lessons in compassion than you did.

Yes!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I do think parents need to take some responsibility for their child’s lunches, not blame everything on the government/catering company.

Spectacularly missing the point. The taxpayer, ie you and I, is paying £30 to commercial companies to supply this food and getting crap value for money. If your supermarket shop looked like that and you were charged £30 at the checkout, would you be happy?

@VinylDetective

I do think parents need to take some responsibility for their child’s lunches, not blame everything on the government/catering company.

Spectacularly missing the point. The taxpayer, ie you and I, is paying £30 to commercial companies to supply this food and getting crap value for money. If your supermarket shop looked like that and you were charged £30 at the checkout, would you be happy?

A couple of brilliant posts from you Vinyl.

Precisely. Next time you go to buy something at the pound shop, I'll charge you a tenner cause you know, overheads! That's OK right?