Shocking state of school dinners!

[dottiedodah]

This week a headteacher asked how hard it was to cook a potato? Really grim offerings .Sad part is that some children only have that food.Do those old enough to remember traditional school meals feel they were better then ?

I feel schools should offer two meals. One vegan and one meat one-pot stew. Fill it with nutrients. Better quality ingredients. Warm. Kids get one good meal a day.

They were shite when I was at school and they're still shite now imho.

Also I will never understand the portion sizes, although this could just be DC's school, but everyone from reception to year 6 is given the same sized portion which I think is ridiculous.

My kid has packed lunch because they don't have time to queue up and eat it. 30 mins is their longest break. School is all high stress. No wonder kids have anxiety issues.

Not sure what the menus are but I was told by an older child neighbour that it's all junk food anyway.

I'm 50 and school dinners were compulsory at my primary school
They were excellent as i recall all cooked on site with very decent portions the meals were very traditional but very appetising.

Yeah I think it was the same when my son was at primary and I agree it's ridiculous an 11 year old is twice the size of a four year old!,

I'm 65. School dinners at my primary secondary schools were old-fashioned dinners. I found them inedible - and my mother was not much of a cook, so it wasn't that I experienced great food at home.

DS eats pretty well at secondary school. His school has decent caterers and some tasty options. Unfortunately the food is so good everyone wants it and they can't serve the whole school in the frankly ridiculous 35 minutes allocated to lunch breaks.

The primary food was grim though.

We had great school dinners start of the 80s small primary 2 course. My kids don't have school dinners large secondry school no time as very long queues and only 30min lunch.

I'm staff in an infant school (so they are free to all kids) and I eat the same dinners as the kids do every day. There is usually a choice so if kids don't like the hot offerings they can have a sandwich or baked potato. I like the things like curry, stews, pie, roast dinner, "fishy Friday", but when there are things like fajitas with lots of veggies in the kids don't tend to pick them. The pasta tends to be overcooked mush by the time it is served after being kept warm so I don't usually pick that. And the mashed potatoes sometimes have lumps in because the staff don't have a lot of time to make it really smooth. Sometimes it is "cooked breakfast" day. The sausages look very cheap but the kids do like them. There is always a salad bar and anyoen can help themselves to that. There is always fruit or yoghurt on offer. Other desserts on other days are cakes or cookies. The kids wouldn't eat a fruit crumble.

It is VERY noisy and rushed at lunchtime in the hall becaues they dont have a lot of time to eat. It must be a world away from how things are done in France and places like that.

Queenofthewild So what happens if theres not enough time to serve everyone?

They're abysmal. I have one very occasionally and it's really poor. Staff dinners in my county are over £4 which is a complete joke for what you get. I asked my daughter what the carb was with pizza the other day and she replied it was rice. Who is planning these menus?!

I eat loads of school lunches all over England every year in LA schools and academies. Primary, secondary and post 16. Mainstream and special

9/10 are pretty good and some are restaurant (nice cafe) standard

How many do the people commenting eat?

Incidentally and to add, on the 4 year olds get the same as 11 year olds, adults get pretty much the same as 4 year olds too.

They wouldn ,t eat ,my son left school.last summer ,they only got half an hour for lunch too so I sent him with sandwiches

Also I will never understand the portion sizes, although this could just be DC's school, but everyone from reception to year 6 is given the same sized portion which I think is ridiculous.

Presumably because they are all paying the same. Kids have different appetites and some are big for their age or small for their age. Expecting lunch staff to judge portion size based on size or age of child while all are paying the same could cause problems tbh.

DC school is packed lunches only. Children on FSM and universal FSM (year two and under) are allowed a school packed lunch, all other children need to provide a packed lunch from home.

School where I work provides lunches and they're awful. There isn't a kitchen so food is driven over in hotboxes and put in a warmer until lunchtime so by the time it's served it's dried out/shrivelled up. The puddings are the best part - artic roll, jelly and ice cream, fruit salad, beetroot brownies... They do these spiced oat biscuits sometimes and I love being on lunch duty when they do because I can liberate one or two (or three) to get me through the afternoon.

My kids school meals are quite nice...but the portion sizes are ridiculously small. Not even enough to fill up my 5 years old.
Plus, 4 year olds in reception get the same size meals as the 11 yr olds in year 6.

Our kids are at school in France and the lunches are terrific almost every day. Three course meal, always balanced, local fruit at break time. Fresh baguette every day. The portions get bigger as they get older too. There is only two choices for each course and it's always pretty healthy - chips once a term when they have burgers, for example. There's no option for packed lunch unless there is a proven medical reason from the doctor, so almost all kids have school dinners or they have to go home. Those that go home often go to their grandparents if the parents work. Two hours lunch break every day.

I supervise the children in the dinner hall at a primary, standard of food varies depending on the type. I.e. Chicken Curry day is very popular and the children get plenty, sausages, chicken goujons etc are also popular but I despair at the state of the chips/wedges (served a few times a week 🤦🏻‍♀️) and the mashed potato is horrendous! Scraped two scoops off a child's tray this week and realized they were nearly solid and filled with lumps!
I have in the past reported issues like this to the kitchen but just get told they can't change the menu or processes due to budget constraints.
Our families have to pay for the dinners and some children don't get an option of dinner or packed lunch, they are in the dinner hall every day each week eating very little. Sorry state of affairs 😢

Also I will never understand the portion sizes, although this could just be DC's school, but everyone from reception to year 6 is given the same sized portion which I think is ridiculous.

This was DSs main complaint last year as a 6ft 3" sixth former, being dished up the same tiny portion as they were giving to 11 yo girls, just up from primary school. The portions were very small and not enough for most of the kids. (I work there) They all complain that it's expensive and they are still hungry after a meal. Even the Y7s - never mind the older ones.

I eat school dinner every day with the children. Most days are fine, though woefully underseasoned. Portion sizes are rubbish though if you saw how much food was wasted, it's appalling. Salad bar tops up the portion size for those who want some.
Am amused by the pp who thinks a nice stew would be a good idea, noone would eat it. The children generally try most things but the vast majority want their food separated, don't want veg or salad and are reluctant to try anything unfamiliar. In the area I work, the children have McDonald's more often than a home cooked meal for dinner or if parents do cook it's either food from their own culture or beige stuff, roast dinner day (every Wednesday) is the least popular day of the week.

It didn't surprise me to read that Chartwells is the caterer at that headteacher's school. They are the worst of the worst, profit above everything, and they deliberately serve tiny poor quality meals.

They also don't cater for allergies so the kids with allergies get a jacket potato with beans every single day.

Of course they show off nice sample food and quote tiny prices at tender, so they win, then they reduce the quality and up the price stating it's "unaffordable".

What can parents do? Well, they can contact their schools when any catering tenders are going out (usually done at academy trust level, and usually announced but you may need to ask in advance when the contract will be tendered), and implore them not to award to Chartwells.

Our school managed to terminate their contract due to the price rise requests, and went with a local company who are excellent.

My child’s schools has caterers, they sometimes use leftovers and make strange food with it…they use the muffins from the day before and put in yesterday’s meatballs and sell it as a burger. My son has sent me photos. One day he bought a panini and inside was just tomato puree which cost him £3. They refuse refunds and have had many complaints. They also don’t care about allergies, my son has a chickpea allergy and the amount of times he’s found a random chickpea in his food is ridiculous, they swore blue murder it wasn’t a chickpea even though it was clearly a chickpea. My son has to take in lunch now as he can’t risk it.

Lunchen meat and smileys 😂

I'm from a country where school dinners arent really a thing (unless you're in a fancy boarding school I suppose.) The British school dinners I've seen look revolting 🤢

I expect some schools have nice stuff, but
I haven't seen it!