Are school meals really so bad?

[cheeseallthroughthebitch]

My child attends a private school and the meals are predictably made in the school kitchen from scratch and very good. I don’t remember my own primary school dinners as I always took a packed lunch (that probably speaks for itself!)

There’s a thread running at the moment about bringing snacks for children at home time that has descended into a 4 Yorkshiremen sketch of whose children have the worst school dinners. Lots of descriptions of beige plates, rolls with cheese spread, single teaspoon-sized portions of veg, and minuscule servings of everything. So much so the kids are absolutely fainting with hunger by home time.

Is this representative of school dinners? Do any parents complain?

YABU- not at my kid’s school
YANBU- yes, they really are like that

I once went into school at lunch time to pick one of mine up, and for some reason I was taken through the hall. I was shocked at how small the portions were.

That cannot be good for their ability to focus in lessons and take in new information.

My son loves his school meals. They have a pretty varied menu and he comes home every day saying what he had and how much he liked it. It's a small state school.

This is nice to hear. My friend’s children attend her village school. It’s tiny and she said the meals are very good, so perhaps the smaller the school the more they can stretch their budget for food. I am completely ignorant as to the ins and outs of funding for school meals.

At primary school my dc said the portions were small...they both took packed lunch.

They are in secondary now...the food is apparently great but they still take their own lunch because they say the queues are too long.

@cheeseallthroughthebitch parent with child at indy secondary school and their school dinners are good by all accounts (from DD) with ability to get 2nds etc.
Her primary state school meals were so bad she ended up on packed lunch.

You have to remember most independent schools have a larger budget to provide decent meals than state schools. Not really hard to understand surely?

Go on OP, tell us a couple more times that your kids attend private school.. 🤣

I didn’t say it was hard to understand… if you read my OP I said the meals at my child’s school are “predictably” made from scratch and very good.

My thread is asking for people’s opinions on the meals in their children’s schools.

My child also asks for second helpings some days, I am assuming then that in state schools children get one helping and cannot ask for more?

I went to a private school and the food wasn't great....it was typical mass catering type stuff...it was a long time ago.

More than the one time it’s mentioned in the OP as it’s pertinent to my question?

Do you have any input on the topic or are you too weighed down by the massive chip on your shoulder to type any more?

Mine attended 5 schools between them.

1. They had no kitchen, so it was a cold packed meal. Some days good, some days not so good

1. Pretty decent. Except the curry.

1. Never tried them

1. They were happy enough

1. Terrible apparently.

The portions are supposed to be a certain number of calories... but if they don't eat half of it as they don't like it, including the pudding!, they will be hungry. Plus they ate used to bigger portions at home...

That said, yesterday my 12yo ate her whole packed lunch and then got a full meal and ate all of that too, and was hungry at 3pm when she got home....

I think given the obesity crisis, the school dinners are not great. My son has fish fingers, burgers, pizzas, macaroni cheese... all finished off with cake or a sweet treat of some kind.

I think primary school children should be given healthy food each day with either fruit or yoghurt or something healthy as desert.

What's the point parents working hard to teach healthy habits if the children go to school and 5 days out of 7 are eating poorly and having cake etc..

Jamie Oliver tired to change things, but nothings changed.

I remember his programme. I wonder if nothing’s changed or if things are even worse now.

Portion aize will be calculated on nutritional guidelines and probably less than some portions dished out at home. Similar to the way pub measures are smaller than hone-poured drinks.

Very good point above -they need to eat it all (not just the bits they like) to get to that calorie intake.

That menu is to pander to children's likes. Reduced fats, no sugar or salt, strict guidelines. The state schools I've worked in all produced good food for the £1 subsidy for each meal. Staff, including me, would often each school lunches.

I work in a primary school and cover lunchtimes in the hall. I always think the lunches look and smell delicious! A lot of teachers pay to have them as well so I don't think they can be that bad.

What is shocking is the amount of food waste. Most kids won't eat the food and a lot ends up in the bin. The only day that doesn't happen is chip day 🤦 I do tell some teachers about certain children getting rid of their lunch every day so they can talk to parents but I think because for the younger ones it is free parents either think we are exaggerating or aren't that fussed if they eat it or not.

Don't assume that cakes and sweet treats are the same as you would make at home. Schools have to follow very strict nutritional guidelines, and puddings are often made using alternative ingredients. For example using beetroot in cakes.

Portions are small because they have a cake a yoghurt fruit plus the meal all my children's primary schools did good meals made from scratch loads of hidden veg even when they were shipped in they were made from scratch at another school so it's a non issue

I work in a school and i willingly eat and pay full price for some of their menu. We have a cooking kitchen and there's not a huge range on the menu but there's always a veggie option or two, fresh fruit available for free for the kids as well as the usual suspects (pizza and chips) for the kids who may not want vitamins but do still need calories.

Those commenting on portion size....they only end up being small when children don't eat the whole meal. So on a roast day they have meat, potatoes, Yorkshire pud and then at least two veg. A lot of children will eat the meat and the Yorkshire, possibly the potatoes as well and then leave the veg. Same with pasta. That will come with a side of veg. The children might pick at the pasta and then leave the veg. The portion they are given looks fine (and is adapted based on year group) but if the child only picks at their meal or leaves bits they don't like then of course they will be hungry and say they didn't eat much.

I hadn’t considered this. The meals will by law need to have enough calories for each child, so do primary 7 children get to have a bigger portion than primary 1 children?

Also, yes if they’re not enjoying it they won’t eat it all. My child is allowed to ask for extra helpings of whichever part of the meal he wants, which is typical of what happens at home. If he loves the curry but doesn’t want the rice, his second helping will just be more curry.

My DD seems to enjoy them and they seem quite varied with different options each day. She tends to go for soup and sandwich quite a lot but also enjoys the pasta, curry, steak pie and roast beef with mash.

I usually send her in with an apple and packet of crisps for snack time and she quite often only eats the apple so the portions can't be that small or she'd be scoffing the crisps as well.

DS' school cooks on site and they have a great chef, meals seem decent, 4 options each day a meat/fish a veggie, a jacket or pasta option and sandwiches/, wraps and they have a salad, fruit and bread bar, but it's a large 4 form intake primary so makes sense financially I guess. He had Caribbean chicken curry yesterday with rice and beans with green veg he also had some salad, the portions are small though the jacket potato option is half a medium sized potato. Friday is always fish they've got fish pie broccoli and green beans today. Packed lunch is not an option in infants. His school is a very mixed socio economic background 38% FSM , so I think this is a easy of making sure all children have the option of something nutritious and hot for lunch

That’s difficult, but if the meals are free and it’s too expensive for parents to make packed lunches, what can they do? It’s such a shame there’s so much waste, but those kids must be so hungry too.

I do remember running on little more than chips at secondary school though! 😬

I often eat at school and generally have dish of the day which is normally a curry or stir fry with rice ( secondary school) It's pretty decent, has a good amount of fresh veg and I always compliment the chef. I think he is a bit sad as most of kids just eat pizza and panininis!