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.

@Mrsjayy

*And that's not even touching on the fact that fucking tuna has been portioned out into money bags.

Is it really tuna in a bag 😲 surely that goes against every food hygiene rule there is !

twitter.com/LisaMarieTanner/status/1348751047242768387

@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?

I don’t claim fsm but if I did I don’t think my 6 foot year 11 son would get by on a tomato sandwich and an apple

A tomato sandwich? Who eats a fucking tomato sandwich?

HA !

@ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets

A tomato sandwich? Who eats a fucking tomato sandwich?

A lot of people it's perfectly acceptable food.

Marcus made a mistake that he presented it as "gofor family" and it got some people arguing. It's not really anywhere near the worth, that includes overheads ehich would usually be in it. Yes, someone is making a tidy profit...

Mine honestly eat less than that for lunch. They miss lunch most days if I'm honest. I have snackers they might just have a biscuit here and there. They are not neglect btw we do have food.

ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets

A tomato sandwich? Who eats a fucking tomato sandwich?“

To be fair, I do. With butter, mayonnaise and probably 3 tomatoes.

A solitary tomato in dry bread would really have fuelled my 6ft 3, 16 year old for an afternoon of intense A level study !

It’s not just little ones, this is supposed to feed 16 year old young adults too.

That’s not a great example of a food Parcel, where’s the fresh vegetables, and couldn’t they include things like tomato puree, tinned sweet corn, wraps, tuna. I think rashford is fantastic but he needs to realise that the food parcel is for the child only not for the whole family to use...

It's just disgusting. Stomach turningly disgusting.

My local FB has community projects and individuals, normal people who don't have much to start with, putting the hands in their own pockets, donating their own time and care to try and help others get through this shit show, and our government- you know, the ones who are actually paid to look after the people, never fucking stop looking for ways to cream off cash to line their own pockets.

Why expect anything different from this Government.

As far as they are concerned feckless parents who can't get good enough jobs to pay for the children they shouldn't be having don't deserve help and nor do their children.

So as not to get negative publicity they put something in place but the aim is not to actually feed the children but to make sure they or their donors/mates make money out of the public contract.

This is who they are, they are showing us over and over and over again.

Yet the opinion polls still put them ahead and they get MPs voted in in areas where children will go hungry because their government doesn't give two shiny shits about them

I've literally just seen this subject covered on BBC news. The company concerned says that the food is not what they specified should be in their hampers and there is to be an investigation.

Oh I love a tomatoe sandwich yum!

How do you make two portions of carrot soup from one stub of carrot - there are no stock cubes or onions or anything flavoursome provided so presumably this is just carrot and water and if you don’t own a blender then that’s lumps of carrot floating in water - and persuade a child to eat it??? And what nutritional value does it have?

Oh yeah, tinned soup so they can have something hot as well.

@ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets me and most of my family. Not as posh as cucumber mind.

At DD's school they post out Tesco e cards to parents In Place of FSM but it's at a rate of £2.30 per day not £3. So £23 for 10 days of lunches per child. So much better and more dignity than food parcels

@zaphodbeeble

Feeding a reception child and feeding a year 11 are two very different things, are primary food parcels the same as secondary ?

Ds1 (14, year 9) got 1 potato 1 tin heinz beans 1 jar dolmio sauce 1 500g bag pasta 2 apples 3 fruit pots (basically 3 spoonfuls of tinned fruit salad in a pot with a spoon) 1 loaf bread

3180smusic to be fair, the government didn't supply the food, it was one of the outsourced companies. It's only this one company that's been called to account. The others have been ok as far as I am aware.

Mrsjayy
*And that's not even touching on the fact that fucking tuna has been portioned out into money bags.“

Someone, please tell me that’s not true?

Are you reading this, Mr. Williamson? What will your children be sitting down to today? Slice of rubber cheese on two week old bread? And a frube, if it’s one of their lucky days?

Why can't the government specify a fortnightly (or much better weekly as perishables) selection of food that parents can collect at branches of supermarkets with a voucher? I realise logistics etc but this is wholly inadequate. Food parcels aren't an economic way of handling this.

There wouldn't be any need to pay distribution, storage and overheads if they had stuck to the vouchers. Where is the actual proof that they were widely unsuitable or abused? There will always be a small percentage of people who won't prioritise their kids- why does that mean we have to withdraw support for the majority that will?

It's the amount they are charging that is criminal!

Prices yesterday from my receipt...
Bread - supermarket brand 50p
Cheese - supermarket brand 300g £2.80
Apples - 4 jazz variety (expensive) £2
Carrots - 1kg 45p
Yogurt - posh ones 45p each
Spaghetti - 1kg 80p
Potatoes (rooster) - £1.80
Beans - 75p
Punnet of cherry tomatoes - 75p
Bananas - 4 for 67p

Didn't buy malt loaf ...

Lots more quantity here and costs just £11.87

@5zeds

Pasta/bread/potatoe. Main carb Fruit/soreen loaf/frubes. Pudding Beans/carrots/cheese. Flavour/protein

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

It’s only ten lunches in the MN world where a chicken lasts a family of four a fortnight.

Its completely disgusting
It's just another excuse for them to profit off kids.
Give the vouchers instead.

@Glitterandunicorns

The issue isn't the quantity of food so much; it's that the company are charging the Government £30 for that, which has been costed to about £5. It is thoroughly disgusting.

Absolutely - it's the problem with outsourcing. To be fair to the government they have made the right amount of money available (3 per day should be more than enough to create a decent lunch for a child) but in reality the company are creaming off the majority in profit.

I'd be interested to see what information was supplied in terms of the quality of the meals produced - I'm reminded of the external hospital caterers who circulated a menu referring to for instance beef stew and dumplings, served with creamy mash and a vegetable selection. Sounds ok right? Yet what would be served was some insipid broth the colour of dishwater with a couple of pieces of gristly meat, no dumpling, a blob of powdered mash and literally a handful of peas and carrots.

Where is the quality control in all this? :(