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.

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

And is this meant for 2 school weeks ?

They should have given this contract to the supermarkets!

They could have encouraged all of the supermarkets to make reduced profit on the parcels and give back to the community. Lord knows they have all profited from these terrible times.

£30 would buy a lot of food in Aldi or Lidl.

@5zeds

What are you on ! Please do is a menu for 10 days for 1 school child !

Main
Two cheese on toast
One tomato sandwich
Two carrot soup and bread
Two baked potato and beans
Three pasta and cheese sauce

Pudding
two bananas,
three apples,
three Frubes,
two Soreen bars

10 mains/10 puddings

As I said it’s light on protein and definitely NOT £30

So based on this, technically, the food provided is enough for 10 (fairly basic) lunches and also does contain 10 portions of fruit/veg (just). But if your child doesn't like cheese or beans they aren't going to eat much.

And the main point is that the food itself costs less than £10 so the company are taking at least £20 as overheads/profit which is just scandalous.

The Gov could get so so much more for its money by just giving out vouchers or even cash (which is happening in Scotland).

Not the point of the thread but the £30 is meant to cover admin/staff fees as well.

FSM families in my school are getting £25 supermarket vouchers per child to cover 10 days. This covers the exact cost of the school lunches they would normally be getting.

That hamper is shameful.

Chaotica - good points

Crikey. My children are eating me out of house and home due to boredom, general growing child hunger and the fact that their school desk is next to the kitchen.

I can imagine trying to make that stretch. Heartbreaking and yes that company is taking the mickey.

Sorry but it’s for school lunches why should it be £30 a week, it’s not for a whole weeks shop, maybe it’s changed to the parcel which does contain the lunches for the relevant amount of days as it’s more cost effective for the schools providing it. There is only limited budgets and our grandchildren are going to paying for this for rest of their lives. Why can’t people be grateful for the help they do get. People are always wanting more.

I agree with you.

Maybe we need to remember the country’s in economic crisis too? School budgets are stretched to breaking point.

You’re not ‘entitled’ to a set amount of cash for FSM you’re entitled to food for 5 lunches for each child.

Perhaps the time involved in making up all these boxes and paying staff to hand them out to those entitled to them is using up some of the money. Remember they’re still cooking and serving food to the kids in school as well as the ones who aren’t.

I think it’s bizarre anyone would suspect a government conspiracy theory to deprive kids of FSM!

People complained about the voucher system too, some parents will always find something to complain about when it comes to free food provision. Do you go to the Food Bank and complain you’re not getting what you’re entitled to there as well?

*can't

A loaf of bread has around 22 slices so that's ten days worth of sandwiches for a start - if you have a freezer. There is definitely enough food there to provide something to eat for ten lunches. However, it's not overly nutritious, not practical to expect the parents to be able to turn the vegetables into soup, and sure as hell isn't worth 30 quid.

Well yes, obviously. 1 loaf for 10 weekdays. With the intervening weekend, on the last day it’s a fortnight old.

Not difficult.

Thanks for that Would you want to eat two week old bread, or give it to your kids?

@Idontwannadance1

I was asking someone why the schools were giving out hampers instead of vouchers this time and was genuinely upset to hear that it was because parents were selling the food vouchers for half price so literally taking the food away from their children.

Why would anybody do this? If you sell your food voucher you still need to buy food for your family unless you are literally starving them (at which point you would hope child protection would step in). It doesn't make any sense at all.

And if 1% of parents were doing this, it still wouldn't make sense to take the support away from the rest

feelingverylazytoday

I've never spent £3 on an adult lunch, let alone a childs. Around £1 per head is adequate as dinner is the main meal of the day.”

Ok, this is where we part company.

For many hundreds of thousands of children, this meagre parcel IS their main meal of the day. Dinner? Maybe a packet of instant noodles later, if they’re lucky and there’s electricity that day for the kettle.

Some people just have no idea.

It’s disgusting profiteering and children will be malnourished

- if you have a freezer.

Which many people do not.

They should have given this contract to the supermarkets!

Supermarket delivery services are already on their knees trying to keep up with the demand

There is no chance they would have been able to fulfil the orders
Imagine the outcry if people were being turned away from their local store because the shelves weren’t being restocked due to staff having to make up hundreds of food parcels

Hopefully the public shaming will give the existing suppliers the kick up the arse them need to do it properly from now on...

There are costs involved, wages, rates, storage. It's naive to assume the whole amount should be spent on food

Its naive to think that it costs 25 quid to supply a poor quality bundle like that. Its also naive to think they are paying a fiver for that much food. If the private companies can't supply a poor quality food bundle for less than 25+ quid then they shouldn't be in business. Give the vouchers to the families and let them do the shopping and buy what they need.

That particular example provided no choice either for dietary requirements so tough shit if they send ham and you are veggie, kosher/other or if you have food allergies.

As a tax payer I want my money going to families who need it, not profiteering "caterers" with a mate on the council or in government.

A carrot does not make a carrot soup. A pureed or boiled carrot is something of offer to a weaning baby......not my child for their lunch. 🤨

@Mrsjayy

*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*

And is this meant for 2 school weeks ?

That was for 1 week. We got exactly the same the next week.

a little tight for 10 days but I could make it work for me, and I'm an adult.
You're having a laugh. 'a little light'? Is this the lunch box equivalent of the chicken that feeds the whole street for a fortnight?

A loaf of bread lasts me four days – and only with lots of things added, none of which are in this box (spreading cheese, avocado etc).
The cheese might stretch to a few days in sandwiches, although there's very little else to go with it.
A tin of beans and, again, if you have bread left, a bit of that, is a lunch; make it last two days and you'd get two VERY light lunches from it.
Two carrots and two potatoes could go into a soup, but a small one; and if you've not got much bread/cheese left, and nothing salad/veg to have with it, it's pretty light.

What are people meant to do with the bag of pasta, make a sauce with the one tomato?
Two bananas and three apples is fruit for a couple of days.
Frubes and Soreen bars might add a tiny bit of nutrition but in terms of filling you up, won't touch the sides.

@ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets

A tomato sandwich? Who eats a fucking tomato sandwich?

not me and so would none of my kids, they would eat the bread

Ereshkigalangcleg

Well yes, obviously. 1 loaf for 10 weekdays. With the intervening weekend, on the last day it’s a fortnight old.

Not difficult.

Thanks for that hmm Would you want to eat two week old bread, or give it to your kids?“

No, of course not!! You seemed to be questioning that people were being expected to give 2 week old bread to their kids.
Think you’ve misunderstood me.

@Idontwannadance1 how many parents were doing this? Where is the evidence? It’s certainly true that some vouchers could only be spent in one supermarket eg Asda and posters on here argued that they couldn’t get to an Asda so could have sold the voucher to someone with a local Asda and spent the money in a supermarket that they could actually get to. That’s reasonable.

Round here, over the Christmas holidays charities were inviting anyone to turn up for a hot meal. They weren’t asking for proof of hardship, just providing food to whoever showed up. I think it’s worth the cost of maybe feeding a few unscrupulous people who don’t need it in order to feed hungry children without judgement or humiliation. There will always be a few people who exploit the system but we shouldn’t make all poor people suffer for that. The most unethical, greedy, criminal people are the Tory donors taking taxpayer money for their own profit instead of doing the job they’ve been given. Not a tiny minority of parents who might misuse vouchers.

No, of course not!! You seemed to be questioning that people were being expected to give 2 week old bread to their kids.
Think you’ve misunderstood me.

You misunderstood me first! I was saying did reasonable people really think that's ok? As suggested by my other posts.

www.morrisons.com/food-boxes/box/5-meals-to-feed-a-family-of-4-box

This is what Morrisons will provide for £30 taking into account their overheards, for comparison