To wonder why school meals include a pudding every day

[LAgeDeRaisin]

My DC aren't at school yet, but I had a look at our local primary school website today to read a bit about it. On the lunch section there is informarion about packed lunches including requests not sending in crisps/ sweets and cakes. Suggestions for lunches were included. All seemed pretty normal.

I've also had a look at the school dinner menu and there is a pudding every single day- sponge and custard, rice pudding, iced biscuits, brownies, etc.

In our house we will make a home made pudding at the weekend as a treat or if we have guests/it's an occasion, but meals through the week don't come with pudding.

AIBU to think that schools shouldn't be giving children pudding every day (especially if packed lunch boxes forbid it)? Could they not give some of their suggested sweet treats instead like malt loaf, fruit, yoghurt, etc?

What's the point in having a policy about not eating rubbish if you're handing out daily brownies?

Fully prepared to be called a bore.

I think it's an interesting point. Mine are mid 20s now but frequent lunches at their primary seemed to involve frequent chips and frequent breaded foodstuffs and very often quite spicy foods. The menus were not appetising to read and a cording to my dc were not appetising to read. There also seemed to be "cake and custard" daily and I suspect the custard was not home-made with egg yolks, cream and vanilla but rather a chemical laced concoction. I think lunches were about £1.60 per day in about 2002?

What I do recall is that a good packed lunch cost more than a school lunch. Wholemeal bread with: tuna, ham, cream cheese, chicken, etc; a fromage frais; and two cherry toms, an inch of cucumber and some chopped pepper; or sometimes two chicken drumsticks, carrot and sultanas and a kipling finger. They took in fruit for break.

The real shocker was the fact that they ate of polystyrene and weren't allowed water in a cup with lunch - in case they spilled it. All rather ghastly.

When ds switched to the independent sector the lunches were much more balanced with far greater variety, served on proper plates with proper knives and forks and water! But they were I seem to recall £3.85 per day.

I do think society needs to be more realistic about what comprises a healthy meal and how it should be eaten in a civilised manner. Perhaps we need to pay more tax. Certainly I wouldn't have wanted my dc to eat what served up in their primary schools and it was far far worse than the lunches served using proper China plates and cutlery at my school in the 60s.

The worst by far was the government directive that schools should get involved in table manners. On the hall wall was a teacher made poster interpreting this rule: the knife and fork cross to the centre of the plate when the meal is finished. The twit drew a circular plate with the knife and fork crossed at right angles in the centre. Not an interpretation of table manners I needed to be shared with my dc and I would venture that if governments want to shift that responsibility to schools then perhaps the teacher training colleges need to include table manners for its students! I kid you not. That happened. It was also a bit of laugh when the school used to write to us in a quite dictatorial way about healthy eating. The head, the deputy, the head of KS1, the peripatetic music teacher and two KS2 teachers were morbidly obese along with half the dinner ladies. You honestly could not have made it up.

I remember pudding in primary school as a massive slice of a tray bake pudding.

It isn't like that now. Some days my DS gets n apple for pudding, other days he gets cheese and crackers, which he doesn't eat. His favourite is flapjack.

In most schools, parents have the option of sending in a packed lunch anyway.

Just wait till the pta is fundraising in the playground after school, selling actual cakes packed full of fat and sugar. Also once they go to high school the meals are all pizza and brownie type affairs. Jamie Oliver seems to have been forgotten.

The sponge pudding and custard in our school certainly isn't hot 😂

This drives me mad. Either it should be: school puddings and kids that bring in a packed lunch allowed to include a ‘pudding’ eg a biscuit bar or whatever, OR school puddings should be fruit or yogurt and packed lunches the same. It’s not fair to have one but not the other. (I am a teacher).

It’s beyond depressing isn’t it OP, it seems the nation ignored the healthy eating messages. To be fair the utter shambolic state of some of the food that gets served at home is even worse for a lot, that is if anything is ever cooked for some.

Exceptionally lazy parenting and extremely poor efforts on the school menus.

I wonder how much the school lunches cost in France and how much time they have to eat their lunch. I also can't see many children in this country eating some of those meals on offer.

Most schools in this country have to have at least 2 sittings as they don't have a big enough hall to cater for everyone. They don't have very long breaks so it is case of getting as much food in them as quickly as possible and then out of the door to make space for the next group. Soup would not be a good choice for that! Not all schools have kitchens so their meals will be brought in, which doesn't always help with the quality/choice on offer.

The average cost spent on food for a school meal in England is about 80p, the rest of the cost to the parents is catering staff costs and overheads.

This meal can be the only substantial meal for a number of children, hence the controversy over free school meals in holidays.

I suspect the custard was not home-made with egg yolks, cream and vanilla but rather a chemical laced concoction

I suspect custard served in most households is Birds or its equivalent and there’s nothing wrong with it. I’ve never eaten custard made with egg yolks, cream and vanilla outside a restaurant.

My son doesn’t have school dinners.

Children who have school dinners have pudding everyday, they are carb central which isn’t good for anyone.

My favourite day is pizza day, the side dish is pasta!

Yeah it bugs me too . All lockdown they were looking for lunch pudding as they got one at school.

Surprised to hear how strict many packed lunch policies are. Our school suggests one treat item only, eg packet of crisps, biscuit bar (eg penguin) or similar. I generally give DD a Soreen cake bar or something home-made if we’ve been baking.

Crikey, let kids be kids!

Unless there are special dietary reasons against pudding, I think kids should be allowed to enjoy it. As a pp has mentioned, I too remember childhood school dinners that always had a pud (1970s), and there was very little childhood obesity in those days. I really do think exercise and outdoor play (safely of course) is the key.

In France and Spain we eat something sweet (and or cheese) after lunch and dinner, we learn this from childhood, at home and at school. It's part of the meal and helps digestion. It's bizarre that the UK has the greater problem with obesity yet has a great fear of eating dessert.

Roses: frequent chips and frequent breaded foodstuffs and very often quite spicy foods.
......

Gosh, how times change. When I was at school it was horrible brown stews and steamed cabbage with lumpy mash, liver and bacon, that sort of thing. Looked like diar..... and smelled vile. We only had chips with fish and chips on a Friday, the one day I felt able to eat! Puddings included lumpy and/or watery custard. Yeuch.

My son's schools all had a decent variety of food on offer for lunch, served cafeteria style, however as he grew older he chose packed lunches because he wanted to do things at lunch time other than queuing up, sitting down and eating which was fair enough and it was easy to do. Whatever anyone had for lunch, we always had a good meal in the evening. Looking back it was nice then, us sitting around the table, eating and talking about things, often others would join us.

Long time ago now though.

@LucilleTheVampireBat

A piece of home baking. Wtf does that mean 🤣 No sponge and custard for me Miss Smith, I'd much rather have a piece of home baking.

Yes the home made stuff may be healthier than the school stuff, school shouldn't police people putting a desert in their dcs lunch box

I ignore my school and give my children a treat in their lunch boxes, as it's unfair that those with hot dinners are allowed pudding!

@DavidsSchitt

"it's about not teaching children that a daily pudding is normal and healthy."

What isn't normal about a healthy and balanced diet?! A small daily pudding is completely fine.

This.

This topic has been done to death before. So my vote is for you're a bore.

Don’t have much of a sweet tooth and school was the only time I ever had dessert really. Butterscotch tart ! Sponge and custard! I used to queue for seconds.
Anyway after that sugar rush, I completely agree op - it makes no sense to ban but then provide. Partic this year when quite a few will have been doing home baking etc.

Lots of kids only pick at school dinners (they can be rather grim!) but do tend to eat the pudding.

Not ideal but better than kids being hungry all afternoon (again, from experience, kids learn very little when hungry & classroom behaviour is generally worse).

Sweet fatty foods seal the appetite. Does not have to be a big portion, just a little is fine. It is good if the children can get that at the end of their meal and have time to sit down and eat it.

@dementedpixie

My local primary offers daily soup

Same, here in Portugal soup is a completely normal part of the school meal. My toddler in particular loves eating soup now. It’s healthy and warming, and kids don’t throw soup around, as some posters think is bound to happen. I’m sure most kids in the UK would also be capable of eating soup in a civilized manner, if given the chance

@Alsohuman
Birds Custard, bright yellow and full of additives, add powder to milk and heat in saucepan (looks and tastes awful) or

Beat three egg whites with 1/2 pint single cream or milk (or a mixture), add two or three tbs caster sugar (from the jar where the vanilla pod nestles) heat gently while stirring until it thickens.

Takes no more time, uses no more pots and tastes infinitely better and is sans chemicals.

What a shame if most households in the UK do the former rather than the latter when it is so easy.

@Beautiful3

I ignore my school and give my children a treat in their lunch boxes, as it's unfair that those with hot dinners are allowed pudding!

Amen to that, they're your dc

The biggest issue was that the primary insisted children ate everything, including packed lunches. Not good dietary advice. It should have been stop when you feel full. Bizarre.

@RosesAndHellebores the school cannot win. Everybody wants different things as you can see from the thread.

A childs idea of full will be inaccurate so they can go out and play.