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.

@likeamillpond

The only good thing about school dinners used to be the pudding.

Not so good now they are 'healthier' or 'low sugar' versions I'm afraid. Some of them have little taste left.

[quote LAgeDeRaisin]@dementedpixie yes, I know they're not forced to eat it. But isn't it odd to say packed lunch can't or shouldn't include sugary treats, but offer sugary baking/puddings themselves?[/quote]
Our packed lunches are allowed a pudding.
I think it does say something about not sweets and bars of chocolate, but certainly home bakes, a biscuit, etc are allowed.

The puddings already include fruit, yogurts, etc. It's not always a sponge cake and custard, a biscuit, etc.

@LibertyWX

No crisps!! That's insane! I send my daughter in with a packed lunch. I don't like the "convenience" meals that are provided i.e fish finger & chips. Pizza. Etc!

Why is "no crisps" insane? Genuine question.

In our state school we just sharpen twigs and sticks to eat with, and then send the children off to drink from the nearest puddle.

None of those fancy "proper knives and forks and water" here.

Quite right. It's just spoiling them. They'll be expecting shoes next.

@Cozytoesandtoast00

It's disgusting that school meals include sugar laden puddings. Sugar is addictive and children crave it after school because of these puddings. They then crave it as adults causing binge eating disorders and diabetes. Don't get me wrong, I struggle too and my children have chocolate biscuits in their lunch boxes otherwise they will be the odd one out. It needs to stop.

Have you read the thread, including comments from those who know what those 'sugary unhealthy' puddings actually are.

By law the meals have to meet set guidelines,

As a kid, I was always ravenous so puddings used to fill the gap - chocolate sponge, pineapple upsidedown cake, pies etc.

But to be honest I put whatever I like in ds's lunchbox on the few occasions he has a packed lunch.

[quote RosesAndHellebores]@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.[/quote]
Birds custard is the taste of childhood for generations of British people. You keep your creme anglais, I’m happy not to be a custard snob.

In our state school we just sharpen twigs and sticks to eat with, and then send the children off to drink from the nearest puddle.

None of those fancy "proper knives and forks and water" here.

Twigs AND sticks?! You’re posh. We just have a trough.

@SchadenfreudePersonified

In our state school we just sharpen twigs and sticks to eat with, and then send the children off to drink from the nearest puddle.

None of those fancy "proper knives and forks and water" here.

Quite right. It's just spoiling them. They'll be expecting shoes next.

We were told to wear date boxes on our feet, with string, if we were that soft we needed shoes.

We were told to wear date boxes on our feet, with string, if we were that soft we needed shoes.

String?

You had STRING?!

It’s a tough one. The portions are so small that they need the pudding to bulk it out a bit, otherwise kids would be really hungry. On the other hand, my kids had no concept of “pudding” until they started school. Now they expect something sweet after their evening meal.

'Herring boxes without topses sandals were for Clementine.'

Because the main courses aren't great, if the child doesn't eat the main at least they might eat the pudding?

Pudding tends to be made with less sugar than most pudding, often here its sponge and custard (low sugar), jelly and fruit or a cookie, there's also a choice of fruit.

@JeanneFrench

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.

Sadly, the UK doesn't have a culture of educating children about food. As evidenced by much of this thread.

"They won't eat *that"?

"Wot no crisps?" and so on.

It's a bit like the difference between UK foodbanks and Spanish food banks. A spanish food bank would offer a box of fresh veggies, some frozen fish, and a rabbit. Some sort of fresh meat, anyway. The UK version? Tins and packets. It's unlikely one would find anything fresh in those. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/food-banks-spain-hunger-coronavirus-poverty-covid-19-a9536341.html

I've noticed that people in the UK brag about not being able to cook. Which for a French/Spanish is like someone bragging they can't read. It's a basic skill, poor souls.

Poor rabbit😟

Isn't that a bit stereotypical- most people I know cook well

@Cozytoesandtoast00

It's disgusting that school meals include sugar laden puddings. Sugar is addictive and children crave it after school because of these puddings. They then crave it as adults causing binge eating disorders and diabetes. Don't get me wrong, I struggle too and my children have chocolate biscuits in their lunch boxes otherwise they will be the odd one out. It needs to stop.

That doesn't make sense

@WinniePig

It’s a tough one. The portions are so small that they need the pudding to bulk it out a bit, otherwise kids would be really hungry. On the other hand, my kids had no concept of “pudding” until they started school. Now they expect something sweet after their evening meal.

Right, but for how long?

If having a pudding after school dinner is habit forming, then not having one after home evening meal is happily forming too.

Does no-one just say, “no” to their child? Mine had zero expectation of a puffing after every home meal 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s an utterly nonsense argument. If having a pudding after school dinner is making them expect a pudding at home, why is no-one posting about their child wanting a sponge pudding after their morning cereal?

You just say no.

@Cocomarine your right. Some comments are a bit OTT as though they don’t allow their kid to have a biscuit!

When DS started reception he has never demanded puddings and said well I have one at school . Truth be told if he wants something sweet it’s because I usually allow him to have it at home anyway.

@jessstan2

MmeLaraque, you're my hero (or heroine), a girl after my own heart!

Ooh I forgot to mention baked apple, yum.

However all that was at home. School dinners are often not that good, when he was older son took packed lunch. When I was at school the dinners were virtually inedible as well as looking and smelling terrible!

Why thank you, but I *am a full grown woman. 50 is a wee bit old to be a "girl"

School dinners in the UK can indeed be appalling. I remember both. British school dinners always seemed so stodgy, with the French version (I cannot bring myself to write "equivalent" because they are *not equivalent) more of a gourmet meal/fine dining.

French kids *are taught to enjoy good and healthy food. This thread has been quite enlightening, if nothing else for the number of people insisting that British kids wouldn't eat certain things. If a child is raised to eat certain foods, with no expectation of educating the palate, that's what the UK turns out as adults.

This is perhaps why my family enjoy a good steak saignant (when finances allow:thanks, discounters), which most UK peeps would probably refuse. Our diet is meditterranean. We cook from scratch every day, and on a limited budget. Fresh fish or meat with fresh veggies. Yes, our teen eats that. They were raised to enjoy that. We don't buy things no one likes, but there's no reason a achild can't be raised to eat well.

I’m a teacher in a high school and the meals are shocking at ours! The other day they were giving kids the option of jacket potato with a topping and chips or pasta with the same toppings and chips, this is then served with a biscuit with a blob of jam in the middle! I got a curry one day and they gave me bread, rice and chips then at the till they virtually insisted I took the cookie because it comes with my meal even though I kept saying no it would be a waste. The curry had chunks of potato in it too I realised once I was eating.

After eating my lunch I felt full and energy less as a result, I imagine the kids feel the same because I am much more active than they are in lessons.

I appreciate it is the only hot meal lots of our kids will eat but it doesn’t teach them anything by giving them something so unbalanced.

Birds custard.

Cornflour
Salt
Vanilla flavouring
Annatto- it's a seed that when crushed turns things yellow. You don't need very much of it- I use one or 2 seeds to make a whole pan of yellow pilau rice.
Iirc it's something like 2 tablespoons powder, 1 tablespoon sugar and a pint of milk to make a pan of custard.
How many additives are in that??

Seriously though, I don't care what my youngest one eats at school. The school dinners are widely reputed to be delicious and when I had to drop something off at school during my lunch break on roast dinner day all the staff were tucking in with the children as well. All their meat comes from a local butcher (catering arm), and if you're so inclined you can buy exactly the same stuff from one if their retail shops.

And as for the sugary puddings, I suggest you look for and try a recipe for beetroot 'brownies'. However at dc2's school there is always an alternative dessert of cheese and biscuits, and the cheese served varies. Proper cheese, none of this babybel stuff either.

Cocomarine - I do say no but it’s an argument I would rather not have had.

MmeLaraaque: This is perhaps why my family enjoy a good steak saignant (when finances allow:thanks, discounters), which most UK peeps would probably refuse. Our diet is meditterranean. We cook from scratch every day, and on a limited budget. Fresh fish or meat with fresh veggies. Yes, our teen eats that. They were raised to enjoy that. We don't buy things no one likes, but there's no reason a achild can't be raised to eat well.
.......

I agree with that and we always cooked very well. We had quite good appetites and enjoyed different textures and flavours. A lot of people don't seem to cook so much nowadays and aren't that interested in 'proper' meals so there is less variety in their diet. I've seen this happen gradually over the last twenty odd years, there is definitely a lack of enjoyment in food preparation and cooking - yet it doesn't all have to take forever if carefully planned.

French school dinners sound marvellous, I'm sure I would have loved most of them.

Thank you, Madame.

PS: I love a rare steak too.