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 ?

The problem is that most of the catering these days is done by an outside company. Back in the old days kitchens used to be independent and run by someone who knew what they were doing, how to cook and budget.
These days it’s an outside company. They determine the menu, the stock, everything. The last head cook we had was clueless. I pointed out to her that the cheap nasty frozen yoghurt mousse that they were serving contained pork gelatine (it was listed on the ingredients) therefore shouldn’t be served to the Muslim child who had just picked it up. We also had a stand up row about mayonnaise not containing dairy.

Yeah this. I worked at school and portion size so small. Half a baked potato for children as tall as me. Or chicken drumstick for 4yr olds who are already struggling with cutlery. For lots of children they just wouldn't eat it.

I was at school in the 70s and early 80s, school dinners were great back then! I remember, meat & potato pie, beef stew, roast chicken with all the trimmings, chicken curry, oh and the puddings 😋😋

Boy has it all gone downhill!! Basically the budget is very low per child. But also outsourcing to private companies means they put profit before nutrition. The school I work in is about to bring the cooking back in house, they are convinced they can improve the quality, I think they definitely will.

My daughter's school dinners are great.

It's £1.50 a day and they have a decent selection.

Choice of a wrap or a jacket potato.

A vegetarian option.

Plus meals such as spaghetti bolognaise, all day breakfast, toad in the hole, pizza and plenty more. Each meal has fresh veg with it.

Pizza is it's own carb surely?

Our (private!) school dinners were beyond horrible, but I see now they were nutritionally balanced: just inedible. However, in my student days, I worked at ILEA Playcentres and their dinners were splendid: lots of protein, carbs, vegetables, and always a good stodgy pudding with lots of milk-rich custard - and always well-cooked. For some children, it was the only meal of the day. We had tears when the kids thought they were too late to sign up for a dinner, but no-one ever went home hungry.

I don't recall school dinners being very good when I was a child. In the years I was a school governor the poor quality was a recurrent issue, and children not having them, some not because of fussiness.

DS's school usually offers two main choices (at least one is vegetarian) but they are allowed to mix and match between the two meals as well. Then they have a salad bar and can get a dessert and fruit, if they want. They can also go back and ask for seconds (and thirds) on most days.
It's a big through school and the secondary kids also have access to a pasta bar, so they can have pasta and different types of sauces and cheese every day, if they don't fancy the two mains.
Lunch is staggered and they generally have enough time to eat.

He's at an independent school abroad, though, so no Jamie Oliver influences. It's usually quite healthy although I do know that DS has days when he just has a plate of rice and a tangerine.

I'm 42 and school dinners were absolutely disgusting when I was at primary school. Over-boiled and unappetising - I had packed lunch because the dinners literally made me sick. And I am not a picky eater.

My son's dinners look ok. Not very exciting but edible and reasonable.

My primary school age DC's main gripe is the portion size. He has a big appetite but the portions he describes are reception child size. There also seem to be some interesting combinations of food as they may run out of rice for the curry so the children get pasta from the pasta option instead.

Now he takes a packed lunch with either a wrap or a food flask. Food flask works well as it's often leftovers from the night before so it doesn't feel like an added expense.

Dc in secondary seems to have better options but the queue time is ridiculous. They only take school dinners on pe day (as they don't want to carry a packed lunch and pe stuff)

I used to love my school dinners, apart from when they served greens. But the days of having liver, and bacon, with mash, and cabbage, followed by semolina, or sago are long gone. It is a shame what some children are being offered in the way of lunch at school. When Jamie Oliver spoke out, look at the backlash he faced from some quarters.

Interesting that children from many other countries are able to eat mixed one pot dinners. Why can't ours?

Surely pizza has a carb crust and you don't need an additional carb?

Yes!

My children both complain about portion size (one Y3, other Y6; my Y6 boy is almost my height) and have done for a while. My Y6 complains about the food but my Y3 says mostly it’s nice so I suspect my older boy and his friends just like a moan! They serve a variety of meals like curry, pie, Scouse (stew), pasta and roast. I’ve always told mine that they’re better off with hot dinner as they’ll get a pudding whereas if I did packed lunches it would be a small sandwich, piece of fruit, piece of veg and some sort of dairy - they’d be bored every day and they know that!

I’m not overly worried about them being hungry though as they get a good breakfast, after school snack and a decent hot meal for dinner. They have the option of bringing a piece of fruit for break but don’t bother because they’re too busy playing football!

Because that is how they may eat culturally. If that is how they are being raised, then that is normally what they will eat. A disservice is being done to the children here with the majority of food that is being presented to them, in school. And unfortunately many are being raised on a beige diet at home as well.

Will never happen as the vegan one will be left. They don't have money to waste.

Maybe I need to start photographing my lunch- some are really good- honestly.

School dinners were awful in the 80's. The only thing anyone ever says they enjoyed was a couple of puddings but most of those were vile, too.

Primary meals do seem inferior to secondary but I guess they are more 'set' meals.

Agree that whoever plans them in most schools is bonkers. Pizza with rice?! WTF? Although school pizza at DS's Primary is so bad that most shun it, so potentially the side carb is the only bit that gets eaten?

I used to work for a company connected with Chartwells. They are brilliant at what they do: putting in great bids, winning contracts and making a great deal of money.

Unfortunately, that is all they are good at; the actual food quality and satisfaction is simply not a priority for them. Your average local cafe is infinitely better at providing delicious, filling, well-priced food; but, as in most things, big well-known brands are seen as automatically the best option every time.

I worked in a school kitchen about 10 years ago and although the staff all did their utmost the quality and portion sizes were poor because the budget was tiny.
The veg was left in those heated containers for ages and I’m sure the two tiny bits of broccoli served as a portion had no nutritional value as they were over cooked and had sat for so long.
The only vaguely decent offering was a baguette.

Stew, casserole, curry, bolognese, soup etc are all normal foods eaten in the UK though. Why are UK parents raising kids on beige food?

I eat at a primary school 3 days a week and I really rate the food there. It's freshly made, tasty (other than a lack of salt, but that's understandable) and good value. My dd gets the same at her school and enjoys it, so I now only feed a snack tea in the evening as I know she's already had a large meal.

@Kalevala

Why are UK parents raising kids on beige food?

We're not.

School dinners don't represent foods eaten in the average home in the slightest.