Schools aren't feeding children enough

[Squashpocket]

DS (5 years) has always come home from school ravenous. We have had to give him a 2 course breakfast and full meal sized 'snack' after school to get him through to dinner time. Then sometimes supper before bed as well.

I just thought 'oh well, he's busy at school', but now I'm wondering exactly how small are the portions of food at school?!?

I have sent him off to a (very active, sports based) holiday club this week with a normal packed lunch (popcorn and fruit for snack, sandwich, yoghurt, fruit, veg sticks, breadsticks and hummus and a cereal bar for lunch) and he has come home full and able to wait for his dinner. Breakfast this morning has just been a bowl of fruit and Greek yoghurt and he's fine.

So, AIBU or is school obviously not providing enough food? I'm shocked because this is not how I (fondly) remember my school dinners at all! It was all massive portions of mashed potato and puddings with custard (those were the days...). Does anyone else find this?

I feel as if I’ve read all the relevant points (clean plate awards, so he’s eating what he’s given, healthy weight etc). I work at a primary school and have seen the dinners. I know how much food is wasted, especially in those younger years, possibly because the 5 yr olds seem to be given the exact same portion as the 11 yr olds.

Maybe you need to give him a larger morning snack? Because he sounds as if he’s got a larger appetite than others, but I’m afraid that increasing the food across the board to all of the children will just result in far more food being wasted. (you could perhaps try to speak to someone at the school about it, could he get a slightly larger scoop of potato or whatever? I realise the official answer is ‘no’, but I have also seen these rules bent for special cases, such as extremely picky eaters who will only eat jam sandwiches, or whatever. Basically, you don’t ask, you don’t get…)

@EatWellStayFitDieAnyway

Thankfully I don't think the clean plate award is psychologically damaging him at the moment. I just think it contributes towards obesity. It's no different to the old fashioned attitude of parents forcing their children to eat every last scrap. It meas children don't recognise when they are full and can be and often is a substantial issue through to and during adulthood.

I understand it in from a financial point of view as we grew up poor and are still quite poor now. However to avoid waste I give my children a small portion if everything and they know they can and often do ask for more once they have finished that. It means all leftover food can be saved for another meal.

Exactly. I'll never forget going to lunch with some of DH's old friends and the Dad basically pressuring his little girls into finishing this enormous home cooked burger. They were about 6 and 7 and DH and I were as he said things like "Go on! Eat it all! You won't get an icecream if you don't!"

These burgers were MASSIVE. I could just about eat mine. Our own DD's ate about half of one each and DH said "That's fine...go and play" as we were all sitting in a garden.

My son had the free dinners at school when he started two years ago, and was underweight for a while. When COVID hit they gave packed lunches instead of hot meals and my son came home complaining that he was starving. Since providing a packed lunch from home, he put on more weight. I just think that kids don't tend to eat the school dinners because they aren't that appealing, which is worrying when it could be some kids only opportunity to eat in the day. My son hates fruit, so if the cake has jam and there's an orange with it, half the lunch isn't eaten.

Drip drip drip
OK, so the dinner is too small for a child who wakes up at 6.30am to do a high intensity workout before school and has sport lessons every day after school bike rides etc.
Most children don't do that.
My 5 year old wakes up at 7am and draws for an hour, then does school, cycling or running or swimming, goes to the park etc. She doesn't sit still but she neither does she do high intensity stuff. No wonder he is hungry after his yoghurt and fruit if he is using all thise calories.

I once went into school to speak to the catering staff about portion size. DS was 5, tall and active with a huge appetite. When I asked for example how many meatballs they might be given I was told 2 and when I asked what size they were I was told about the same as the ones in a tin. I had no idea how big a tinned meatball was and was told about 2cm's in size. I was also told that the calorific content of a school lunch is based on eating both the main meal and the pudding. DS only ever ate fruit which they limited to a couple of slices so he was missing out on a huge proportion of the calories a school lunch was supposed to provide but they wouldn't give more main to make up for the fact he wouldn't eat a calorie laden pudding everyday. It's all about the money.

I'm a primary teacher and the portions are tiny. E.g. a quarter of an apple if they choose fruit.
My colleagues and I frequently notice this and are cross about it.
If we know kids are on free school meals and won't get anyyhing else, we make sure they get a piece of toast at break... it's just not enough.
As a reuslt I have given all my kids a packed lunch, even when they could have had the free meal in KS1.
Mine take: sandwich, crisps, yoghurt, piece of fruit. This is much bigger than the school meals.

I'd certainly go for packed lunch judging by what I've read here about school meals.

Yea schools give pathetic portions, like I couldn't believe when my child in reception said they get two wedges! TWO WEDGES!! He gets 4 now in year 4. I get they don't want to waste food. But that's so silly. Even when it's chips, if my child can count how many there is without attempting to count it then it's obvious it's far too less.
Also it could be that your child doesn't always enjoy the school meals and is much fuller with the pack lunch you have provided as it's something he likes and eats.

I always give my children a actual full meal after school, it's something my parents did with us, and so I've continued it, also the culture i come from it's totally normal. Kids are active in school so they burn all the energy and naturally will be hungry by the time they come home. My kids are always hungry after school. They will then have a meal before bed time too. Don't worry they aren't over fed kids

I remember when I was at school. We got a generous portion, and when everyone was served if there's left over food, we were able to go for seconds

Ds is 17 & has a 1/3 baguette with cheese, ham & pickle, a yoghurt, piece of fruit, small bag of crisps or mini cheddars & a drink (hot chocolate or coffee in winter or bottle of water or a smoothie in summer) He is on FSM & the baguette, fruit & drink is covered by the allowance, everything else he pays for. When you thing the meal only costs £2.10 you can't expect them to get much.

That sounds really lovely Nat. I wouldn't mind that for lunch every day.

School meals have always been cheapskate: in my day cheap meat and veg and quite revolting, brown, smelly, fatty, grisly, lumpy, yeuch. Except for fish and chips on a Friday of course.

A good packed lunch is far better.

A good packed lunch is indeed much better provided the children are supervised to eat it up.

It beggars belief though that the very children who need a good, wholesome, filling meal (the ones on FSM) are getting scant portions in what could potentially be their only decent meal of the day.

And I wouldn't say a third of a baguette, fruit and a drink is particularly generous for a teen boy.

The problem is that as with those lockdown boxes of food (in many cases a total travesty) given to families with DC on FSM, a reasonably high % of that £2.10 is skimmed off by the outsourced middleman provider. I'm presuming that in the days when schools had proper canteens on site, meals were subsidised for all?

I think they don’t feed some children enough. My DS should be getting more than the child next to him as the tallest child in the class. He’s always so hungry after school. He’s also not at all overweight and very lean and strong - he’s wearing clothing 2-3 years above his age for the length. I know he could have a packed lunch but it shouldn’t be because he’s not getting enough food at school.

I work in a school and actually I think the portions are more than big enough, particularly for the younger years. Very few of my year 1s finish their plates as they are full. I do find it strange that the portion sizes are the same from Reception up to Year 6.

YABU

If you want your child to have a bigger lunch then give him a packed lunch.

I worked in a school and was shocked at lunchtime when the children scraped off a full plate of food into the bin every day and refused to eat it even though they had chosen that meal. No wonder they were hungry.

Flipping heck this thread is awful, never will I post what my kids eat!! My 15 yr old, 6ft tall son eats more than 4 adults put together.....imagine the judgements I'd get for that!
I don't give my 3 boys school meals because they all tell me they aren't enough, the portions are far too small but my kids are 10, 13 and 15 now so maybe different to the younger ones?

Schools can be vastly different.

A good test is to ask him if any teachers have school dinners.... if it's none or a couple once in blue moon chances are they're rubbish.
There's 2 schools I know and the disparity is shocking.... but the rubbish one cooks cake and scones for the staff and boasts everything cooked on site and a healthy balance (who puts beans and peas on a plate as protein & veg🙄).
most schools will give you a menu if you ask.

Send him to school with a packed lunch - easily resolved

@Ponoka7

You feed him a lot of sugar, are you sure that he's just not craving sugar and on an energy slump because school dinners aren't sugar based, rather than actually really hungry?

"popcorn (carbs/sugar) and fruit (high in sugar) for snack, sandwich (2 slices of white bread? Starchy carbs) yoghurt (often lots of sugar) fruit (more sugar) veg sticks (carrots? Again, very high in sugar) breadsticks (starchy carbs) and hummus and a cereal bar (very high in sugars) for lunch"

I also agree that this is a large packed lunch, more than I eat for lunch, and I'm pretty active. Maybe he comes home from school hungry because your portions are much bigger at home?

I took my daughter off school dinners years ago. We joined them for lunch one day and my daughter was having hot dog and chips. She doesn't eat sausage so she left that, ate the roll and had 6 (yes I counted) chips and a yoghurt, the alternative was a veggie sausage which she wouldn’t have touched. It became clear why she was coming home so hungry and we’ve stuck to packed lunch ever since. Now she has a home made tuna pasta salad and yogurt for lunch or veg sticks, fruit, yoghurt, sandwich or some other savoury and a malt loaf which sees her round until dinner.

I work in a school and portions are so small!

@BiscuitDrama

Ugh to the clean plate award. That’s sending them a really bad message.

100% agree

My daughter is 6 and comes out of school hangry. She only has snacks on her mind. Every day I have to take a snack bag with me to pick up with at least 4/5 snacks in it. She's a normal weight and height for her age. I send her in with fruit for morning snack. One of the mums from class, works 2/3 days at school and has said that the lunch portions are really small.

From a teachers point of view, no, the kids don’t get enough lunch!
I often take back plates and ask them for more for the kids in my class
The portions are tiny for some of my more ‘grown up’ boys and I just know they must be starving in the afternoon. I often leave out apples/ fruit for if they want it.

If I had kids that age, I wouldn’t pay for school dinners.