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.

@Sinful8

So there's quite a range in these...

Well, looking at the duplicates in the first photo, I’m guessing that’s for two or more children and the other is for one. Not that it’s an acceptable amount for one child.

Title misleading. Its enough...

People won't hold the government to account. So far we've had the catering brand blamed, the schools, the local authority, the parents, even those pesky weans for being too fussy to accept the food.

The government doesn't like FSM. That's a fact. The posts about them condemning the catering company made me laugh. Course they are. Nothing to do with them making the change!

That is beyond disgraceful and the company responsible should be ashamed of themselves but I doubt they will be!

We receive vouchers where we are and it works out so much better and its not just the lack of food that's been provided it's the fact that some DC have sensory issues that manifest themselves with the food they can and can't eat and so far I've not seen any food parcels that have been made with this in mind so for that reason alone I think the vouchers are a far better idea.

[quote Kissthepastrychef]@Wheresmykimchi

As I said previously, please quote where I have said that I don't think people should be given vouchers or that I think that the food supplied has been perfectly acceptable.

Oh no, you can't can you. Because at no point on the thread have I said that and if that is what you have taken from my posts maybe you need to reread them without jumping immediately to a certain conclusion.[/quote]
Eh?

I haven't said you did?

I used to work for a company that supplied Compass/Chartwells, they have always been very greedy and cut costs to the bone, always expected something for nothing, for the honour of supplying them. I am not surprised they are behind this scandal.
At that was 20 years ago.

[quote Kissthepastrychef]@Wheresmykimchi

As I said previously, please quote where I have said that I don't think people should be given vouchers or that I think that the food supplied has been perfectly acceptable.

Oh no, you can't can you. Because at no point on the thread have I said that and if that is what you have taken from my posts maybe you need to reread them without jumping immediately to a certain conclusion.[/quote]
I tagged you in the last post standing corrected that it happens as it was you who told me it did.

I've never said you've said those things.

Title misleading. Its enough...

Bollocks! It's not!

@Wheresmykimchi - I think the whole think is a travesty and I'm enraged.

I was just answering your question, which I didn't think was hypothetical.

People will sell vouchers because they need the money to pay loansharks (as often as anything else) and will buy them for a fraction of their value because they are also poor. Not for one second did I suggest that was a reason why food parcels rather than vouchers should be offered. Uplift universal credit or CB, or both, and not just for the duration of lockdown.

[quote Ihatemyseleffordoingthis]@Wheresmykimchi - I think the whole think is a travesty and I'm enraged.

I was just answering your question, which I didn't think was hypothetical.

People will sell vouchers because they need the money to pay loansharks (as often as anything else) and will buy them for a fraction of their value because they are also poor. Not for one second did I suggest that was a reason why food parcels rather than vouchers should be offered. Uplift universal credit or CB, or both, and not just for the duration of lockdown.[/quote]
No I know - I was referring to you telling me it happens. I've not been clear there. I genuinely didn't think that was a thing.

And I agree.

I love a tomato sandwich.

A couple of vine ripened tomatoes on crusty white bread, French butter and a sprinkle of maldon salt.

Not one watery tomato on a a slice of ten day old processed bread.

Fresh fruit and veg and bread aren’t going to last 2 weeks, when you compare this to a morrisons box or a shielding patient box it is really poor. They should be providing items that the kids can prepare and eat themselves as well. There’s limited choice for school lunches so a similar selection should be provided. Won’t they have already paid for the term of free school
Lunches so those companies will need to provide the food rather than giving vouchers? I don’t know how that part works.

@DenisetheMenace

ViaGetty

GlitterSandcastle
That's acceptable for five days. Not ten
Well it is in fact five days’ worth - not ten. That’s been confirmed.“

Yes, this evening after furore from every quarter. It’s conveniently for 5 days now. It was originally intended as 10.

Being for five days puts a different complexion on it.

@BungleandGeorge

Fresh fruit and veg and bread aren’t going to last 2 weeks, when you compare this to a morrisons box or a shielding patient box it is really poor. They should be providing items that the kids can prepare and eat themselves as well. There’s limited choice for school lunches so a similar selection should be provided. Won’t they have already paid for the term of free school Lunches so those companies will need to provide the food rather than giving vouchers? I don’t know how that part works.

Five days not two weeks.

If they were given £30 in vouchers to buy meal deals only in supermarkets for 2 weeks it would still be enough that's all I'm saying. This is absolutely ridiculous. It's the govs fault for letting their friends again take the lead in this to make profit out of us the taxpayers yet again. Same story different day situation. We are talking about friends who would go as low as making profits from starving children, this is the issue!

@Kissthepastrychef

They sell the £30 voucher for £15, put £15 in the lecky and are still able to get three times as much food for the children as they are getting with this criminal scam.

Unfortunately the parents that will spend £3 on feeding the kids on utter crap and the rest on a bag or two of heroin are the ones that ruin it for the vast majority of people.
"We can't give them vouchers, they are all feckless and will swap them all for drugs and booze" is probably a significant part of the rationale. At least with the FSM delivered at school you can be absolutely sure that it is the children benefitting.
But this is a total shit show. How is a mum that's fled DV and is living in a hostel with no microwave/no cooking permitted supposed to feed her children with a couple of raw potatoes ? Stuck indoors with no internet to home school, no outdoor space, barely any room and now a couple of tins of cold baked bean.

You think the hostel staff would just be like "meh fuck you and your raw spuds"?

Seems at odds with thier chosen job

Doesn’t matter if it’s for 10 days or 5. It’s absolutely piss poor and shouldn’t have been sent out.

And it’s only now conveniently for 5 days because a fuss has been kicked up. Wouldn’t have batted an eyelid and would have continued to send out this pathetic shit for the rest of lockdown if so many people hadn’t complained.

Of course it matters if it's for 5 days and not for 10.

@LivingOnAnIsland

Of course it matters if it's for 5 days and not for 10.

Nope. It doesn't. As PP said the five day figure has been plucked out of their arses to cover this.

@LizFlowers you do realise that for some children on FSM the food provided by the school is either their main meal or their only meal.

Do you still think it's adequate and more than enough?

And all this food being opened and divided out from their original packages. Is this really what we’ve come to? Rationing fucking vegetables?!

So it was for five days and for a charge of £10.50. Nice to see it isn't just thicky/racist brexiteers who get figures wrong to suit their purposes.

Here's the thing, the amount of parents given as a "reason" is very small. It also won't make a difference to them if it's vouchers or food parcels. Their kid will still be neglected,malnourished etc. But instead of targeting those families and those children, this method is more "fair" and "equal". Every kid can have a shitty ,insufficient parcel instead. Every kid that really needs it can go hungry and have a shit diet.

How is that logical or better? In what world is fucking everyone up better ?

Nope. It doesn't. As PP said the five day figure has been plucked out of their arses to cover this.

And you know this because? Let's see the evidence.

It seems a minority view but frankly I would give money rather than vouchers even.

As many have pointed out, there's more to it than just the actual food. No good having a spud if you've no power to cook it. Or a tin of soup if you've no pot to heat it in. Or if you have no transport and can't get to a supermarket and rely on a small independent corner shop.

Honestly treating people like they can't make decisions because they have little or no income is shocking, especially when we currently live in a society where some of our most valuable members probably fall into the FSM category.

Makes me feel ashamed.