What has really changed since Jamie Oliver's school meals?

[UndertheCedartree]

Just wondering really if much has changed. I didn't have DC in 2005. I mean I remember the horrible looking school lunch and my DD's school lunches are a lot better. But I still don't think they are overly healthy and have quite a lot of processed food. My DD is on FSM so I am very grateful for them, of course. Is it mainly a funding issue why they aren't better?

@MythicalBiologicalFennel

Ours were pretty good, dull and old-fashioned in my opinion (stews, roasts, fish on Fridays etc) but good quality and with the necessary fruit and veg.

Standards have gone down the drain since Covid (don't know if Covid is the cause): pizza with chips, hot dogs, burgers etc in a disposable cardboard box. Never fruit, vegetables once or twice a week: "mummy I got 6 sweetcorn today" or "there was a bowl with cucumber for everyone". It sounds and looks disgusting. Mine are both on sandwiches now.

So not sure how much has changed!

@MythicalBiologicalFennel - there is definitely more convenience food on my DD's menu since Covid. Maybe something to do with staffing levels, perhaps?

@mineofuselessinformation - yes, I am hoping in September we get the salad bar back and convenience food less often.

@TigersandTeddybears

Yes exactly dietary changes should be small and gradual. Children are brilliant at changing their diets for the better if it's managed properly. Introducing new foods slowly and never when they are hungry (there should always be something they already like on their plate too). You make the change to sudden and radical and people rebel against it, kids don't want courgetti with lentil bolognese when they are used to spag bol. But you can add a little bit of courgette or some lentils to the spag Bol, you can half the amount of spaghetti, and add some broccoli or peas. You can add some cheese for calcium, or reduce the amount of cooking oil used or switch to a better cooking oil to reduce omega 6s.

I don't think Jamie O was based in the needs or feeling of the children or their parents at all. It was his idea of healthy eating. And there is no perfect "healthy diet" we all have different nutritional needs. Kids need a lot more starchy food and fat in their diet than most adults because they are growing and on the go more. And food is not just sustenance is it? It's about family, community, tradition, religion, comfort and celebration. It's a way to connect and share and bring people together. Food should not be upsetting for children, it shouldn't be a shock and totally different from the options at home. It shouldn't be terrifying and alien to them.

I agree with everything you say. I'd rather see something like strawberries with cream which gives vitamins, fibre and fat than cakes and cookies. But maybe as a start a piece of cake could have a strawberry or a raspberry on it? I know there are probably other barriers to this but it would be nice to see. I would think this would be more possible in schools with their own kitchen. I remember being very surprised when I realised my DD's school doesn't have a kitchen or dining hall. It just gets set up in the assembly hall.

I think it depends on a few things. Not all schools in my la cook their own meals. The schools funded direct by la have theirs delivered. I haven't seen them myself but I work with children in lots of schools and they are mostly quite positive about the food. I can't take that as a nutritional analysis though!

My kids are at a school which was an academy early on and does not have food delivered. When they joined they had a kids food committee and shouted loudly about their organic locally sourced and allotment sourced food. When we were still allowed open evenings there were food samples always and they were amazing I was very very impressed.

I feel very grateful for my kids primary school for lots of reasons though both the dds want packed lunches now and will accept quite a healthy lunch.

@LockdownCheeseToastie

Balanced meals with plenty of veg are marvellous in theory. But no use if the kids don’t eat them. Especially the FSM kids who need as many calories as possible. There needs to be a balance between getting micronutrients into kids and getting any food/calories into the picky eaters and deprived kids who will struggle most to learn anyway and will struggle even more if faced with a broccoli bake for lunch rather than nuggets and wedges with beans which has a decent chance of being eaten.

Yes, there is definitely a fine line to tread. This is purely me projecting but my DD is a FSM DC but I don't only feed her nuggets and baked beans! She actually says the baked beans are horrible at school and she won't eat her meal if they touch anything! I do rely on the FSM which is why I'm so concerned with them being healthy! I try to give my DC lots of fruit and veg but it can be difficult sometimes if you need to use the food bank as it is mainly tins, processed foods and bread.

@Dementedswan

My dc primary have a varied menu. Always a full roast mid week, curry, pasta, mince and dumplings, toad in the hole etc. Fridays are chip days, usually with fish or homemade pizza. All food is made fresh on site. Jacket potatos with various fillings and salad available everyday as well as vegetarian options. It's a small school with just one class per year group.

I love the idea of the food all been made fresh. My DD's school is 5 form entry and I wonder if there was a kitchen there once that closed due to space issues. The food does sound very similar to what we had pre-Covid. What kind of desserts do they serve?

@Herja - that sounds bizarre! Mash and a little bit of cucumber every day? Poor kids.

@Heyha - thanks for that - interesting.

www.washingboroughacademy.org/our-school/our-food-education/

Not too far from me.....

@nevernotstruggling - that sounds great. At my DD's school we used to go in for lunch on Mother's/Father's Day. I've had the jacket potato and pizza with salad from the salad bar and it was very tasty, despite no kitchen. I think we are definitely lucky compared to some schools.

@supadupapupascupa

https://www.washingboroughacademy.org/our-school/our-food-education/

Not too far from me.....

I love the idea of food education! Cooking every week is amazing!

It's a school philosophy. They grow their own veg, cook it, eat it, really important to the school

They have strange combinations of food now, roast beef slices, gravy and salad??

Definitely getting kids involved in producing ingredients is a massive help (can't say too much as would be outing). Never quite got enough to supply the canteen but it's great when there's a school function or kids doing food coursework using ingredients they've produced themselves. That was actually in the school that did terrible lunches...

I don’t think Jamie Oliver should be telling anyone what heathy eating is until he stops using so much salt in his food.
Salt is highly addictive and has recommended daily limits which Jamie exceeds. Eating in one of his restaurants was not good for your health.

UndertheCedartree

Ah beans! Yes, lots of children don't like beans all over the food. We used to provide the baked beans separately to be doled out at the table but Covid put a stop to that.

The puddings are tasteless and dry lacking sugar. Lots of wasted food

I was a kid in secondary school in 2005. Things I remember enjoying from the snack stalls was mini donuts, flapjacks, brownies,
iced buns, chicken burgers.

I work in the same secondary school now and they no longer have any sort of burgers or donuts, and the flapjacks and brownies are half sized. They also closed the after school tuck shop while I was there.

We use to get a bread mix roll or pizza for snack at primary school, now they get fruit. They've also put quite a lot of the onus on the parents for example not allowing chocolate bars in lunch boxes.

School meals were excellent. Then the school became an academy and shipped the food in from goodness knows where. Pizza, garlic bread and bread and butter pudding all on the same day made me swap to lunchbox.

It’s utter shite.

I was at school when the Jamie Oliver thing happened and all I really remember changing was our vending machines were removed..

My child is 8 she is a funny eater under there is no meat on the menu only an home made pie once a week with veg in no juice water and either a cookie ice cream or piece cake doctors and I did not know but for 8 months did not eat school meals was fainting at school when I ask her why did u lie and say u eating school dinners when u not said I wanted u to be proud of me no one noticed only when I noticed eating two three meals after school to catch up so I check the school dinners they are mostly home made at school but the menu is same week on week pizza with veg. Chicken balls with veg in them vegan sausages jacket and tuna mayonnaise but runny my daughter said this is not healthy when reapted each week for a year I give pack ups now meat yogurts raisins crisps fruit smoothies meats her diet and under doctors said her weight is perfect and said fatty acids are needed for brain growth so cheese and butter and bit chocolate I make my own food as my daughter now won't eat stuff with spices I think in part school dinners are to blame a bit and ended up at doctors for weight checks nails and hair and growth thankfully it's all ok but as a parent check if your kids are actually eating the school dinners and what the menu is