Jacket Potato Drama

[ANdiel]

So, I have 3 kids in primary school, today we received a notification on the school app about next years school lunches, where we live it’s universal very school meals in primary and packed lunches are highly discouraged.

Currently every day there are 2 mains (typically one vegan and one meat based apart from veggie Wednesday where both are veggie/vegan friendly), soup, Jacket Potato’s with toppings and some pre-packed sandwiches available. Yogurt, fruit and Jelly available for dessert.

The school has informed us that next year there will be no Jacket Potatoes. They reason being they want to encourage children to have more varied school meals and reduce food waste.
Next year the kids will have the option of either

• Soup and Main Meal
• Main Meal and Dessert
• Soup, Sandwich/Wrap and Main Meal

Well well well there is outrage … it was all that was being spoken about at the gate and several parents have informed the group chat that they will be sending emails as this isn’t good enough and now their children won’t have hot meals at all as they don’t like the main offerings!! (Someone should let them know soup is hot!)

AIBU to think this is crazy and no Jacket Potato is fine, surely the options there are enough? Would you be happy with this or no?

It will be the parents whose kids are fussy eaters kicking off... they will have to introduce the suggested "varied" food at home now and cba

im guessing you don’t have a food sensory kid who struggles to eat.
fair enough remove the potato option but don’t put limits on taking pack lunch

I definitely wouldn’t kick off about it, but on the days my daughter doesn’t like the main meal at school she always has a jacket potato as a back up so I’d probably have a fleeting moment of concern in this situation. She doesn’t like sandwiches and I’d rather her have a potato anyway as it’s more nutritious than bread or a wrap, since she eats the skin. However as per a pp that must be because I’m a lazy parent who can’t be arsed to introduce a varied diet so 🙄

Surely the soup will gazpacho in the summer?

If not, you should raise that issue too!

Exceptions on packed lunches are made for SEN/Allergies, they do ask that parents try school lunches first if possible then make a plan if packed lunches are needed. Obviously allergies are an exception, but the catering staff work around it where possible.

Completely ignorant post here of what parents with children with eating disorders go through. It's not that I "cba" as you nicely put it. It's that he has an eating disorder and a psychological disruption to being able to eat new foods in certain settings.

Might I suggest practicing a little empathy?

Soup, sandwich or wrap and a main sounds a lot!

Oops you’re right I meant dessert not main!!

Well to be honest if I had a jacket potato option taken away from me I would be fuming 🤣🤣 they’re amazing.

Why can’t they just come up with some fun, varied and healthy new jacket potato toppings and make it a big deal in the school about who’s trying what.

I didn't understand why anyone would be 'happy' with a more limited choice. Jacket potatoes are fabulous, of course I wouldn't be happy to see them taken off the menu.

That said, I would accept it, and wouldn't kick up over it.

I agree, it's a storm in a chip pan, but taters gonna tate!

My 9 year old will always choose the jacket potato option at school. She's a vegetarian and has tried all the options and does not like them. She's got a varied diet at home compared to many kids. So this would mean packed lunch for her every day.

Bollocks, not all restrictions in a childs diet are because parents CBA, how nasty. My DS has a severe peanut allergy and was a very restricted eater as a child due to his fear of a reaction. Jacket spud was one of his " safe" foods and yes, I would be concerned.

I would just tell them they have to eat the other options

They shouldn't have to have a diagnosed SEN or Allergy. The waiting list is ridiculous and as an adult if I wanted to eat jacket potato every day I could. It's a perfectly healthy option with a variety of fillings.

If the school cared that much about wastage they'd just cut it to 3 baked potatoes a week and potato option on the other 2 days.

Urgh I can't stand jacket potato, neither can DS so wouldn't be bothered by this.

But it seems strange that they are taking something away that parents seem to believe is popular in order to reduce waste? Presumable most of the jackets end up in the bin otherwise they wouldn't be looking to get rid.

Either it's popular and the school are wrong, or its not popular and the parents are wrong.

Scotland changed to this about 2years ago. I didn't even notice about the baked potatoes tbh as they still appear on the menu cycle.

I am really really interested to see how well the soup goes down in a primary school (or rather how well it goes all over the tables, floors, etc). I have never met a primary school child who likes soup.

I think they are being disingenuous about their reasoning and actually they're economising and they should just say so. But no packed lunches is ridiculous unless they are offering free school meals to everyone or their dinners are cheaper than average.

What’s wrong with a jacket?
they can be a perfectly balanced meal. Cheap to produce and a good addition as they can use the same fillings as wraps etc

Like I said, it’s universal free school meals in primary where we live so every gets it free.
I imagine your right, and in the list of options to rid of jacket is probably the least controversial.
My kids never have the soup but they like Lentil and Tomato so would be ok with soup some days.

But if it’s to reduce waste that suggests the jackets aren’t being eaten. So all the parents that are up in arms need to tell their kids to eat them.
Or maybe school could cook fewer in the first place.

Oh you did say didn't you, sorry.

At that age my DCs didn't even like jacket potatoes they were that fussy! It really depends on what the mains are. If they're staples like roast dinner and spag bol they might be ok. I wouldn't have said soup was that popular with primary aged kids?

Soup and lots of small children, yummm yer no thanks.

I have a child with an allergy some days jacket potato is the only option available on the menu for him.

I suppose for a bit of perspective it might be worth bearing in mind that for those of us who were at school back in the seventies and eighties the choice was eat it or leave it and mostly disgusting stuff such as shoe leather liver and bacon with tapioca and a dollop of jam for pudding.
I don’t advocate that these were in any way “the good old days” but nobody keeled over with hunger if they hated the meal and left most of it.
Surely people can still either find something on the menu the school is now offering which the children will eat or send a packed lunch and ignore being frowned upon?