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?

Oh yes, brilliant bread or pasta really helps my GI child.

But surely the catering company are sending in what's been ordered on the apps? Eg 150 meat, 60 veggies, 46 sandwiches and 65 jacket potato??

I think jacket potatoes are fine, as long as a child can't opt for just potato and grated cheese everyday without the parent being asked if they are okay with it first. It can be frustrating when you know your child will try other things when the easy option is removed. Jackets with varied toppings, fine.

Fewer options will mean less waste and save money, unless the last kids to eat don't get much choice currently. I think parents are usually up in arms at any change but in a year or two will have got used to it. Perhaps the school will increase the range of sandwich fillings?

Do the children have to remember what they have ordered?

It seems a shame to take JPs off as they are a healthy, filling option that fussier children will probably eat.

Like others, I can't imagine soup is popular with this age group, so it seems like an odd decision.

I'd be annoyed. DS basically has jacket potato on Mondays, tomato pasta on Tuesdays, a roast on Wednesdays, jacket potato Thursdays and fish fingers on Fridays. He is fussy and I'd actually he rather ate a jacket than some of the other options (pizza/hot dog).

Nope, they say their name and the dinner lady checks on an iPad for their order. My kids don't even know what they're getting pretty much every day 🤣

My youngest DD had jacket spud and tuna or jacket spud with Cheese and beans every day of lower school.
It was hot and filling.
Are they chucking out the Spuds because they aren't eaten?

Personally I don’t think soup is a filling meal. A jacket spud definitely is.

Out of interest why are packed lunches discouraged?

my daughter takes a packed lunch everyday and it is certainly more nutritious than a school lunch. I don’t see the problem as it’s not full of choc or crisps etc?

Jacket spud much healthier than bread or wraps which will all be UPF and full of emulsifiers and shit.

Have the opposite problem at my DC’s school, it’s either meat main, veggie main, or a jacket. My kids often don’t like the main so choose a jacket sometimes 5x a week! I wish they had sandwiches/wraps to choose from too.

Nope. My youngest eats almost anything, the complete opposite of my eldest who is very restrictive, and still doesn't like most of the school meals because they 'taste of nothing'. Maybe I was a little too arsed with that child??

Less choice is crap all round but at our school, no-one would be sad to see the spuds go, they STEAM THEM! 🤮

I'd be annoyed. My pescetarian child in reception eats a jacket potato about 3 times a week. There's not a lot of choice if you don't eat one of the options. Also, a lot of school meals are things like hotpot where everything is combined: difficult for a middling fussy kid. She's not offered sandwiches, but she only eats cheese sandwiches anyway so I'm not sure that would help much.

Ah see this is where I can see the issue! As you rightly put that’s actually only one option not a choice. There deffo should be a choice of two dinners that are different!

Too add- soup sounds very messy for 5 year olds and not filling, and the sarnies will probably be not very healthy. They should deffo keep the spuds. I don’t understand the discouraging of packed lunches… probably healthier then the school meals

This comment needs recognition!

JPs at my daughter's school always look insipid and frankly inedible, certainly not baked. I believe most of the food is steamed then reheated.

I have never met a primary school child who likes soup.

Dc1 (9) loves his school's chicken noodle soup and always has it when it's an option. It's only the school's though.

I wish they would replace the jacket potato option at our school *for something my kids eat.

Realistically, how many children would that apply to? Not as many as the number of people kicking off about it, I'd wager. It's the chicken nugget stand off all over again!

Mine is 15 mow but jacket potato was always the go to option and most definitely healthier than some of the mains.

Her primary invited parents to school lunch one day to try and get the numbers up for hot meals.

The food waste was astonishing! They can say I'm finished and scrape it all in a bin.

And good luck to the 4 year old carrying soup on their tray.

Don't they serve soup in a cup rather than a bowl? Still a bit risky.

I’d be annoyed by this.

I’d put money on this being about the catering company looking to cut costs in some way, rather than food waste.

if you want to cut food waste there are half a dozen things you’d do before axing jacket potatoes- not least, encouraging parents to check with child that they like the option that’s been chosen for them.