School dinners v packed lunch

[F05ters1]

Reception age daughter begging to go on packed lunches already after 6 weeks of full time school.

Every day without fail when I ask her what was for lunch I get... fishfingers chips and beans, I didn't like the chips and I'm off beans so I ate the fish fingers. Please can I take a packed lunch?

pasta and cheese, I didn't like the cheese and the pasta was soggy so I just had the biscuit for pudding. when can I go on packed lunch?

mince and dumplings today, mince was too salty and the dumpling was soggy, please can I go on packed lunches?

blah blah takes a packed lunch. (dd has even approached said mum who said her dd was a picky eater 🙄)

why can't you just say I'm a picky eater mum!

For context she'll eat a salmon fillet at home but won't eat a fishfinger.
She'll eat fillet steak but not a burger.
She eats all veg and salad but isn't keen on meat. I make soup packed with lentils and do lots of eggy things for protein

I'm torn. school meals are free and I work shifts, it's been a godsend not having to worry about lunch for the four year old restaurant critic! but she is so adamant, should I relent?

Honestly in your position I’d stay with the school meals. It’s free, you work shifts and she’s fed.

Also I remember being in primary and switching between packed lunches and school dinners depending on what my friends were doing. My poor mum.

The school food doesn’t sound very nutritious to be fair. I’d make her packed lunch. Can you make more for dinner and pack leftover for lunch?

Let her take a packed lunch. Sandwiches don't take very long to make and don't cost too much.

We used to let ours have up to 2 packed lunches a week. More in the summer. It's a balance. Get her to look at the menu.

I really don't believe school food would be too salty in this day and age. They are huge on not adding salt.

Without question. The school dinners at our place are rank, I wouldn't eat them, I wouldn't expect my child to eat them. Not that they are made without love, they are, but they're not nutritious or tasty.

My top tip is, make five sandwiches at the beginning of the week, tin foil them individually and freeze. Each morning just remove one pack from the fridge and stick it in the lunch box, it'll be defrosted by lunchtime.

The school meals could be a rotation of nothing but her favorite foods and she would still probably prefer a packed lunch. The problem isn’t the menu. The problem is that mass-produced food made on an extremely tight budget tends to be absolutely awful.

School dinners are gross. End of.
Fish fingers are not nutritious.
The burger is likely not lean ground.
Chips are not healthy.
Baked beans are loaded with sugar and sodium.
Why we accept this for our growing children is beyond me.
If you can manage batch cooking on the weekend, a chili/curry/spag bol then sandwiches on two days and toss in 2 pieces of fruit and some chopped veg with hummus you'll have a happier and healthier child.

If she doesn’t like meat, can you try her on vegetarian school dinners for a week?

It’s free, you work shifts and she’s fed.

Shes not fed because she’s not eating them.

Let her take a packed lunch. They sound disgusting.

I'd switch to packed lunches. The school lunches here seem to be no better nutritionally than McDonalds. Ok occasionally but not every day.

Do you get the menu ahead of time?

Could you negotiate one or two days of packed lunch, or send her with snacks? So if it is fish fingers and chips and beans she could take some salad or fruit.

I'd be surprised at anything salty though, schools have rules about things like salt.

Alternatively you could send her to France, she would fit right in.

I would probably do the packed lunches and use dinner leftovers. Might compromise if possible so she has school dinners 1 - 2 days per week. Agree the school food doesn't sound very nutritious.

Does the school not do a sandwich option? DS quite often gets that, plus whatever he fancies from a salad bar (he's an odd one & likes salad), which is similar to what I'd put in a pack-up but without the stress on a morning. He usually still has hot pudding, as their allowed to mix and he loves anything with custard.

OP my reception aged DD tried that as well.

Talking to my DD it was because the school didn't realise she has a food intolerance so getting school dinners upset her as she was scared of the consequences. Once the school was made aware of her intolerance she has been happy to eat school dinners.

I also have nephews and nieces who refused to eat meat until they were about 8+. So in some cases their parents asked for them to have vegetarian meals.

If you DD has issues around eating meat then talk to your DD about whether she would be happy to have vegetarian meals, and then tell the school she is vegetarian.

Don't they get a choice? Ds school do a main, a veggie main, jacket potato and filling or sandwich. With salad bar or veggies. Plus pudding.

I'd try to keep school dinners until y2 at least.

I don’t blame her. School dinners here are so grim you wouldn’t feed them to a dog. Why is school food so dire still?

Hasn't it always been not great, I'm not sure it's any worse now

This 👆

School meals are free for everyone in KS1. With the cost of living crisis, I'd stick with school meals and maybe try to get your child to try some of the other options.

I wouldn’t take your 4/5 year olds comments at face value. Speak to her teacher to find out what she’s really eating. It’s likely a lot more than she’s telling you. She seems obsessed with taking a packed lunch and maybe exaggerating how much she’s eating and how bad the school lunches are. There’s also likely more veg and salad accompanying these meals than she’s telling you. My kids get veg and salad with every meal at primary school.

I would be very reluctant to start packed lunches when the school lunches are free. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to be preparing nutritious packed lunches.

school dinners should be abolished in my opinion, the amount of money wasted on them is insane. The tax payer is paying the wages of all those people who make and serve them, plus the energy costs, and the schools have sacrificed all that space for out of bounds kitchens, and the food itself is worth about 80p, if that. You could increase child benefit by 10x the value of the food they are getting and still make a profit by abolishing them

I'd stick with school meals too. You work, they are free, perfectly nutritious and your dd will get used to them.

What will she do when she goes on play dates, to McD's or soft play? Complain there's no salmon?

Our school does sandwiches and jacket potatoes so DD usually has that if the hot option isn't pasta. Does she know all the options? Last year I ended up calling up to understand what they offered and how it worked because DD was convinced there was only one type of food available. I do a packed lunch when they have special days (like Christmas dinner) and nothing else is available but that's it.

DD went to holiday club over the summer for a few days a week and by week 3 she was complaining about having a packed lunch. You can't win.

I have to say, as someone who works in schools, I don't recognise the way school dinners are being described here. There are strict nutritional guidelines at a primary level where specific limits, minimums, maximums, etc. have to be adhered to across the planned menu. Many of the dishes are adjusted to take account of this, including things like what is actually going into the burger meat to improve it's nutritional value before making the burgers, and there's a huge amount of veg and salad served with each meal. Secondary school lunches are a different story with no guidelines in place at all.

Perhaps my experience is the exception but the dinners served at my current school, and at other schools I've worked at/with, have always been lovely. At least 30% to 40% of the staff at my current school order dinners every day.

For some children, their parents would get more drink/smokes and they'd lose their only proper meal in a day.

I wish parents could see how little some children eat at dinner time. The portions are already tiny and i've seen some children go out to play having only eaten a yorkshire pudding or 2 roast potatos.

It may be free, but if she's not eating then it's not worth continuing. I would try sending her with a packed lunch.