Are school dinners healthy?

[HungryHippo11]

What is the general opinion of school dinners? I know they're free but this is what my daughter has had this week:
Sausages and mash
Omelet and diced potatoes (chips)
Pizza and wedges (chips)
Some sort of vegetable pie and roast potatoes
Fish fingers and chips
All come with a portion of veg.

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure if a mum posted on here that her child had chips 4 times in a week, that wouldn't be considered a healthy diet. And I realise they're on a tight budget and for some kids the alternative is no lunch, so they're providing a service the best they can. But would you be happy with this? I'm thinking I might just send her with packed lunches instead.

I've wondered the same thing, OP. I appreciate that schools are trying to do their best on a tight budget etc, but my DC regularly tell me that they've had things like lasagne with garlic bread, followed by a muffin, for their school lunch. Or cheese and onion pie with a flapjack for dessert. It does sound quite high in fat and carbs and low in fresh fruit or veg, and I do suspect that my packed lunches are healthier. I live in an area with high levels of deprivation though, and there is a move to encourage everyone to have school dinners, to reduce the stigma of being on free school meals for those who are (this is for year 3+, once the universal free school meals are no longer provided). I don't understand about the stigma though - lots of kids have school dinners for all sorts of reasons and none of the kids can tell who gets them for free and who is paying, surely?

Personally I'll be going packed lunches BUT I don't think it's a terrible menu

I agree, it’s not great. Frozen potatoes in different ways four times is excessive. I think the whole “healthy meals” is more about the fact that they don’t add salt or fry anything, they are very carb heavy and there’s very little fresh salad. I’m a teacher and my children have always taken packed lunch.

I am a kitchen manager in a primary in quite a deprived area the company I work for holds the contract for the kitchen at school the school have chosen the traditional menu. I am well aware that this meal will be many of the kids only meal of the day and my food budget is 84p a day per child my menu today was
Macaroni cheese and garlic bread
Mince and veg pie ( carrot,onion,sweet potato and swede) with a fresh wholemeal pastry
Bbq chicken flatbread
New potatoes
Brocoli
Carrots
Jacket potato bar (cheese,beans and tuna fillings)
Tossed salad
Lemon iced sponge
Apple and peach crumble
Custard
Yoghurt
Fruit
Wholemeal bread.
Everything is cooked fresh by me daily apart from Fridays when it's fish fingers most of the kids have these but on the whole a treat of fish fingers and chips does no harm on a balanced diet.

@Armychefbethebest

Whether you work for my kids school or not, still I'd like to say thank you for all the work and effort you put in.

My daughter gets free meals and she loves them. Tells me what she has everyday and I just adjust what she eats at home to make sure she doesn't over do calories.

I’m a lunch time supervisor in a primary school and they don’t fry the chips/wedges or roast potatoes, they are oven baked. The wedges in our school are massive & child normally gets 2. The portions in schools are small and there is hidden veg in the cakes. There are also strict rules regarding sugar & salt.

I used to work in several schools and no, they’re not healthy on the whole. Plus even if they sound healthy on paper, the children don’t eat the healthy bits! There’s no one standing over them going ‘eat some more of your veg, go on, one more carrot’ so lots of kids end up eating mainly the carbs and that’s it. Lots of them also hardly eat anything at all - there is a hell of a lot of food waste in schools.

I’d say they are as healthy as possible given the budget for providing them. We make the kids eat salad at home to ensure they’ve seen a vitamin at some point.

My son has three school dinners and two packed lunches a week. He was getting constipated with the school dinners!

At least with packed lunches he has lots of fruit and veggies but I am lucky I can afford to do this and the school allows it

I think the school menu is diabolical. It’s unhealthy and made with exceptionally poor quality ingredients such as meat that is full of fat and gristle.

The sandwiches are frozen then defrosted for lunch time.

I agree with lots of versions of chips too. It’s super carb heavy.

I have literally nothing good to say about school meals provided by Newydd School Meals.

School meals are generally crap. Very little nutrition, small and I dread to think the quality of the meat or where it’s from. And the smell...how did they make food smell so bad? My son was almost sick once when describing what his friend was served. I wouldn’t let my kids eat them, not that they would anyway. Definitely send packed lunch.

The school lunches in my school are absolutely incredible. We have Hunters chicken, roasts, fish and chips, home made rice pudding with fresh strawberry coulis, Eaton mess with strawberries and fresh cream, pizza baguettes, fresh peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, fresh fruit salad and yoghurts, home made shortbread and carrot cake.
It’s absolutely marvellous! I’m a huge fan.

EmeraldRaine

She hasnt had chips 4 times in a week though. She's had them once, and chips once a week isn't going to hurt her. confused this
It was not once. The diced potatoes were also like chips and roast potatoes and wedges are similar too.

So it is all heavy on carbohydrate and saturated fat.

Old thread, bumped by a spammer.

No they’re vile. The lowest quality crap imaginable. I am a teacher and I am aghast at the quality of the ‘food.’ Look up the law on this - I know for a fact my school doesn’t even come close to meeting it’s legal requirements. Summary of the law attached

My son is in reception and I’m so disappointed with his lunches, crap, crap and more crap.
Last week he said he was still hungry so they gave him 3 puddings.

I'm genuinely aghast that anyone thinks a roast potato is the same thing as a chip, just a different shape

@TooManyUnits

I'm genuinely aghast that anyone thinks a roast potato is the same thing as a chip, just a different shape

Why? They’re both cooked in the oven and full of fat!

Oven chips / wedges / pre-prepared roast potatoes are generally pretty low in fat. I think McCain oven chips have about 4g of fat per 100g.

How many people eat a sandwich for lunch virtually every day? Bread isn’t any more nutritious than potatoes.

It’s complete carb-heavy stodge. I volunteered at My daughter’s local school when she was in state juniors and I almost vomited the ‘salt and vinegar’ fish back up. Really nasty tasting brown fishy cheap stuff. And they cooked on site for most meals.
Still don’t understand why a stodgy pudding is needed after lunch. Fruit is adequate if something sweet is needed.
I’m sure some schools get it right, but it reminded me of how aeroplane food or microwave meals might be described in a tasty, healthy way, but never live up to it in how they look or taste.

Its tricky. They have pennies to provide a lunch and dessert.
To lots of children potatoes are familiar and will get eaten, where maybe cous cous, bulgar wheat etc isn't
I wouldn't be delighted with the menu but if it was free and all kids were having it and it saved me making packed lunch I'd probably live with it and balance out with healthier options outwith school dinners.

DDs school menu is really healthy. They only offer chips on a Friday, roast potatoes with the roast on a Wednesday, rice or garlic bread other days. Salad bar and veg options everyday.

They also do really good themed days for anything going on, Easter, Chinese New Year, world book day, they have a special themed menu. It’s really good, they had it open to sample on parents evening. So much better than I remember school dinners being!

The problem is I guess you need to serve children the type of meals they actually want to eat, my DC’s school trialled a new menu and one of the things was broccoli soup, I mean I wouldn’t eat that let alone a child! That didn’t last long, also I guess you need to think about the kids that actually that might be the only meal they get that day, and if you think of all the energy they need for playing and learning a carrot stick isn’t really going to cut it

We're on holiday at the moment but for DS the first week back looks like this for meals:

Monday: Chicken schnitzel with dark sauce, served with organic peas and spaetzle OR Raviolini casserole with zucchini in béchamel sauce,
served with salad with vinegar-oil dressing
Dessert - Rice pudding with cinnamon and sugar

Tuesday:
Potato soup with salmon and dill, served with organic wholemeal bread and carrots
OR Potato soup with wholemeal bread OR
Vegetarian kebab with pita bread, soy gyros, coleslaw, tomatoes and tzaziki
Dessert- Fruit

Wednesday:
Hungarian goulash (beef) with organic spelt rice, served with cucumbers OR
Potato-broccoli casserole with green spelt, served with chive dip (100% organic)
Dessert - Marble cake

Thursday: Vegetarian sunflower seed hash with penne and grated cheese, served with salad and yogurt dressing OR
Apple crumble with vanilla sauce
Dessert - Fruit

Friday: A chicken thigh with barbecue sauce, served with potato wedges and peppers OR Vegetable meatball (carrot, celery, leek) with wild garlic sauce,
served with organic wholemeal rice and tomato salad in vinegar-oil dressing
Dessert - Cherry yoghurt

I find it a bit odd at times and quite dessert-heavy but they try to give the children a range of foods. It gets freshly cooked on site as well.