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AIBU?

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Original poster

Jacket Potato Drama

200 replies

ANdiel · 29/04/2024 15:55

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?

OP posts:
PoochiesPinkEars · 29/04/2024 16:43

I wouldn't be impressed with the regime as I'm happy making excellent packed lunches for a fraction of the price or school offers meals for.

maybe there are benefits to the school in controlling allergens or something, but my school can't beat me on the first and that matters to me.

my DC love jackets so that being removed would be another negative.

chaticat · 29/04/2024 16:43

Tlolljs · 29/04/2024 16:37

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.

Or the wastage is all the other food as the kids keep eating the potatoes instead

WittiestUsernameEver · 29/04/2024 16:44

My DD is wheat intolerant, but not coeliac,so can't get Specific GF meals. She'd be able to eat about 4 meals on the 3 week rotation of meals if there were no jacket potatoes.
She can have part of the roast.(Without the Yorkshire and gravy) and the curries without naan which are 4/15 meals.... and all the rest is either pasta, pastry, dumplings, bread (pizza/sandwich if the day) or coated bread crumbs or batter of some sort.

WittiestUsernameEver · 29/04/2024 16:47

Weallnamechangesometimes · 29/04/2024 16:39

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.

Same here, gluten intolerance here. Her meal choices for a 3 week rotation are;

Week 1 - jacket potato, jacket potato, roast (no Yorkshire or gravy) jacket potato, jacket potato
Week 2 - jacket potato, curry (just rice with it?jacket potato, jacket potato, jacket potato
Week 3 - jacket potato, curry, roast, jacket potato, jacket potato

😂

SevenSeasOfRhye · 29/04/2024 16:49

They reason being they want to encourage children to have more varied school meals and reduce food waste.

That reason will be bollocks. The only reason they'd do this is to save money.

WittiestUsernameEver · 29/04/2024 16:49

ALovelyCupOfNameChange · 29/04/2024 16:33

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

Jacket potato is the most expensive way to serve potatoes.

WittiestUsernameEver · 29/04/2024 16:49

SevenSeasOfRhye · 29/04/2024 16:49

They reason being they want to encourage children to have more varied school meals and reduce food waste.

That reason will be bollocks. The only reason they'd do this is to save money.

Agreed.

Why pay for a 4 different meals at like 10/50/30/20 ratios when you can pay for 2 at 60/40 and save money!

FloofyBird · 29/04/2024 16:50

Jacket potatoes are very popular in our school, especially when the children don't like the main dinner. Soup, well that must be fun!

CatamaranViper · 29/04/2024 16:51

DS is in yr 2 and his school has always served soup. It goes down a treat! Chunky veg soup mind do a bit less messy than tomato but he never comes home covered in soup.

Baked beans however....

WittiestUsernameEver · 29/04/2024 16:52

Allfur · 29/04/2024 16:26

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

Easy for you without a child with gluten intolerance. If my DD ate the other options, she'd be suffering from diarrhoea every single day and possibly soiling herself at school. As it is she's has 11/15 meals as jackets because of the menu containing Gluten in pretty much every single meal (except part of the roast and curries)

Megifer · 29/04/2024 16:57

Wouldn't matter to me, I'd just send my DC in with a jacket potato in their discouraged packed lunch 😬 (they wouldn't have minded eating it cold)

BogRollBOGOF · 29/04/2024 16:58

Jacket poatoes tend to be a third option on school menus because they are allergen friendly, veggie/ vegan friendly, and popular with restricted eaters who like reliability of taste and texture. They're also easy, healthy and unprocessed.

Soup is a stupid alternative. It's likely to introduce allergens like gluten and milk and it's unpredictable in taste and texture. It's common for ND children to struggle to accept it as a food because it's like a drink, but isn't a drink except when it is a drink (e.g. cup a soup) so often results in refusal.
It's not a "safe" food in the way a jacket potato is.

ButWhatAboutTheBees · 29/04/2024 16:59

I'd be annoyed too
Jacket potatoes are a fairly cheap option which can be customised to suit taste so on days the main was something they don't like then there's the option
And for some kids that WILL be their only hot meal if parents can't afford it/too busy. Whether that's right or not is a different issue. I can imagine the soup is fairly thin and watery tbh, not a "meal"

spanieleyes22 · 29/04/2024 17:01

Potatoes are pretty expensive compared to the other options . Will they make the sambos to order: that would save a lot of waste I guess

TTPD · 29/04/2024 17:03

NeverEnoughPants · 29/04/2024 16:21

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. I love a jacket potato for lunch!

My DD gets a jacket potato on the days when the school dinner offering looks crap. It's not a fussiness thing, it's me not wanting her to have the plastic looking burger bun.

If they removed the option, she'd have packed lunches on those days.

Womblingmerrily · 29/04/2024 17:03

Some of this could be down to an expected poor harvest of British potatoes and the likely increase in price that means they will not be a cheap option.

"British farmers issue stark warning they could run out of potatoes"on March 8, 2024
British farmers have issued a stark warning we could soon run out of a cupboard staple due to a poor harvest. Back in November, it was predicted that the potato harvest had hit a record low of 4.1 million tonnes and this could force Brits to rely on cold storage supplies

NestaArcheron · 29/04/2024 17:03

Caroparo52 · 29/04/2024 15:59

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

Oh do fuck all the way off. Try having a child with ARFID, or SEN who will actually physically vomit at anything outside of their safe foods.
How bloody ignorant you are.

utilitarianism · 29/04/2024 17:04

I'd be annoyed that they discourage packed lunches and would start sending one anyway, if my child didn't like what they offered. They can 'discourage' all they want, but if they don't outright ban them, they'll just have to get over it.

Octavia64 · 29/04/2024 17:06

Jackets are lactose free and gluten free.

They're also pretty bland for the fussy eaters.

Personally I'd rather they got rid of the soup,

My DS refused to eat school dinners at school for over a term because he got anxious,

We were allowed to send in snacks so I sent in a lot of substantial snacks.

ButterCrackers · 29/04/2024 17:06

There’s no need for the baked potatoes. They use up a lot of power to cook them. A piece of bread or pasta would be good. It’s wrong though to discourage packed lunches.

ringoffiire · 29/04/2024 17:07

Not a big deal at all as long as kids are allowed to take packed lunch, and for kids with sensory issues there shouldn't be restrictions on what they can bring.

CrazyAboutYou · 29/04/2024 17:09

It’ll be a cost thing regardless of the bullshit reasons the school come up with for the change.

I wouldn’t be happy with a school that discouraged packed lunches.

gojumpjump · 29/04/2024 17:13

Our school did this with sandwiches, it got rid of the sandwich option and there was uproar. Lots of people complained but they stood their ground.

Whatsitcalled38 · 29/04/2024 17:16

A jacket spud is far superior to a packaged sandwich. I'd be annoyed. I wouldn't start the march but I'd join it.

DiscoBeat · 29/04/2024 17:21

That would be fine, with packed lunch as an additional option. Also, if they continue to include JPs as part of some of the main meals.

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