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.

Did you know that prisons get more per prisoner to provide food for a day than primary or secondary schools get for pupils?

Well that doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Prisoners are fully grown adults, mostly men, needing three meals a day.

School children are children, some of whom are tiny, and they are funding one lunch per day.

What a useless comparison.

"Compass Group operates several owned brands including Trattoria Pizza, Mondo Subs, (UK & USA) Grab&Co Food to go and Spice of Life (UK Hospitals) as well as operatingCosta Coffee,Subway,Papa John's Pizza,Chick-Fil-AandStarbucksunder license. Compass Group also operates several owned service systems including Steamplicity, and Trim Trax.[33]"

Well there's a start with some places to boycott.

[quote IndieTara]@5zeds

Carrot soup or a tomato sandwich??
My child is a good eater but wouldn't like either of those!
Our children are not in the poorhouse being only entitled to eat gruel!
Amd how do you make one loaf of bread last 10 days once it's opened?[/quote]
Just put the bread in the fridge

Primary Schools usually get about 80p to spend on school dinners per pupil per day

I have vouchers again. £15 a week for the 17 year old and £12 each this time for the 9 and 7 year old. The older ones are for Tesco and the younger ones are Morrisons

@LizFlowers

Sounds fine to me as long as the block of cheese is quite big. I could easily live on that, even less.

Does your roast chicken last 3 weeks too?

That 80p is the food element, the balance of about £1.50 is spent on wages, equipment costs etc. Technically if the Government were replicating what schools normally get for food for FSM they should be giving out vouchers for £5 per week or the catering company should be spending that amount on the food in the hampers.

@LizFlowers

Sounds fine to me as long as the block of cheese is quite big. I could easily live on that, even less.

And you think endless cheese is a suitable diet for children?

Why are the parents not given a voucher to buy what their children like eating?? It seems really stupid to be making up these terrible boxes. Let parents spend that money on buying stuff in for their kids. Or am I missing something??

I think it possibly varies by area? We use chartwells for our school meals.
Our boxes arrived today. We had to have boxes, no option for vouchers, it was decided by our local authority.
Our boxes are 5 day ones and in it was:
A loaf of bread
A tin of tuna
A block of cheese
Six large eggs
Two jacket potatoes
Two carrots
Three apples
Two bananas
Three yogurts
I think that's really good to make 5 lunches for an infant and our parents were really appreciative.

The Government haven't chosen Chartwells as the supplier for hampers. Schools can choose who to supply them

I hope you aren't applying logic to this debate, where's the finger pointing towards the government (when this isn't on them for once), the frothing and the painting a picture of everyone who is eligible for FSMs living in some sort of Dickensian poverty?

That 80p is the food element, the balance of about £1.50 is spent on wages, equipment costs etc. Technically if the Government were replicating what schools normally get for food for FSM they should be giving out vouchers for £5 per week or the catering company should be spending that amount on the food in the hampers.

FSM children get extra money spent on them which is paid to schools because they are considered disadvantaged. The Pupil Premium. It's considerably more per child, and doesn't include the FSM cost. And £5 a week voucher per child would buy better stuff than this.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium#eligibility-and-funding

@cansu

Why are the parents not given a voucher to buy what their children like eating?? It seems really stupid to be making up these terrible boxes. Let parents spend that money on buying stuff in for their kids. Or am I missing something??

You're missing the fact that some of the people whose children get FSM are whispers poor. We can't just trust them willy-nilly with vouchers. They'd be swapping them for crack, lambrini, kebabs, new iPhone, sky, a big telly - all kinds. It'd be chaos.

The Government haven't chosen Chartwells as the supplier for hampers. Schools can choose who to supply them

But the government are ultimately responsible for the FSM policy.

@ineedaholidaynow no, because it’s cheaper to bulk buy so that 80p per lunch per child will get more when spent by the school on ingredients for 100 lunches than if you are doing an individual shop.

@FuriousWithTheNHS

Did you know that prisons get more per prisoner to provide food for a day than primary or secondary schools get for pupils?

Well that doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Prisoners are fully grown adults, mostly men, needing three meals a day.

School children are children, some of whom are tiny, and they are funding one lunch per day.

What a useless comparison.

What about the 15 year old boys who are presumably doing more exercise than prisoners?

@Backbee

The Government haven't chosen Chartwells as the supplier for hampers. Schools can choose who to supply them

I hope you aren't applying logic to this debate, where's the finger pointing towards the government (when this isn't on them for once), the frothing and the painting a picture of everyone who is eligible for FSMs living in some sort of Dickensian poverty?

You have no idea.

@LizFlowers

Sounds fine to me as long as the block of cheese is quite big. I could easily live on that, even less.

The lack of logic and critical thinking must be made an essential part of our curriculum now. It’s astonishing to see how many posters so completely lack these skills that they cannot figure out even the basic maths of the question posed by OP.

My woman I know was given this for a week of lunches for her teenage son.

The school has now went back to vouchers.

"painting a picture of everyone who is eligible for FSMs living in some sort of Dickensian poverty?"
To be eligible for fsm you have to have a household income of less than £7400.
Or be in receipt of income support or jsa.
Not Dickensian but it is poverty.
They wouldnt need free food if they weren't in poverty surely?
Who do you think is getting them?

@seepingweeping

My woman I know was given this for a week of lunches for her teenage son.

The school has now went back to vouchers.

What did they expect her to do, use the cheese and biscuits to lure mice in and kill them to feed to her son.

@aleC4

I think it possibly varies by area? We use chartwells for our school meals. Our boxes arrived today. We had to have boxes, no option for vouchers, it was decided by our local authority. Our boxes are 5 day ones and in it was: A loaf of bread A tin of tuna A block of cheese Six large eggs Two jacket potatoes Two carrots Three apples Two bananas Three yogurts I think that's really good to make 5 lunches for an infant and our parents were really appreciative.

@Backbee

Who do you think runs the local authority who make these decisions? Chartwells or the government?

As an aside @aleC4, and with all due respect, most people would find it easier to cater to an infant.

@Backbee

The Government haven't chosen Chartwells as the supplier for hampers. Schools can choose who to supply them

I hope you aren't applying logic to this debate, where's the finger pointing towards the government (when this isn't on them for once), the frothing and the painting a picture of everyone who is eligible for FSMs living in some sort of Dickensian poverty?

If you are able to be as flippant as you are you should be glad.

Why are the parents not given a voucher to buy what their children like eating?? It seems really stupid to be making up these terrible boxes. Let parents spend that money on buying stuff in for their kids. Or am I missing something??

No, I don't think you are. As far as I see it, it is completely pissing taxpayers' money up the wall to provide a series of basic ingredients with ridiculous logistics and other overheads when FSM is about providing a balanced meal, ready done for children who may not have another decent meal that day.

Vouchers are preferable, and would cut costs for better results.

You have no idea.

I lived through it, 2 meals a day if we were lucky, we didn't have heating let alone had to ration it, i didn't own any new clothes until I bought them myself in my first job at 14. I know. What I don't like is the painting of families on FSM on posts like this. They are normal people in shitty situations, yes many will be suffering with their mental or physical health, or will have been disadvantaged growing up which makes entering the workplace challenging and leads to chaotic homelife; but ffs it doesn't mean that the majority can't cook anything. Of course the lunches are fucking ridiculous, but so are a lot of people on here and the way they portray people.