Fucking hell, we have to download an app and pre-order school lunches now?!

[AngeloMysterioso]

I have 3 DC, the eldest of which is in primary school. They’ve changed school lunch suppliers this year and now we have to download an app, set up an account and pre-order our children’s meals. I’ve just been sent an email reminder because I hadn’t got round to doing it since the letter went out last Friday because my mental load is already pretty heavily loaded, what with dentist appointments, swimming lessons, birthday parties, after school clubs, hospital appointments, paying the childcare fees, sorting packed lunches, and bloody everything else you can think of.

I’m like… seriously? As if I don’t have enough fucking family admin to do, now this? What happened to kids just queuing up and asking for what they want?

It was a reply to the poster asking how ordering in advance avoids wastage? I am confused!

I wasn’t suggesting our way is superior to the app way in terms of wastage. I was just explaining to that poster how ordering in the morning avoids waste (same as ordering on the app does), as she had asked.

If the school just cater for the total number of meals they know they'll need, guessing how many children will want each option, it’s very likely that every day it won’t be a question of some children towards the end of the queue "missing out on their favourite pasta", but of them being given something they actively dislike (and their parents paying for the privilege). The alternative is the school over-catering so there are still all options available right to the end of the queue, which would necessarily involve horrendous waste.

If I was you I would give them pack lunch and let them choose what they want. It's unnecessary control and it takes away children making choices for themselves. I was walking around one school last week and the choices that their children are given. I was feeling hungry when I saw the array of food on offer but they are not allowed seconds.

All I had to do was pay for the meals. My son may say he wants sausage on Tuesday and then change his mind when it's out in front of him and then he won't eat. I suppose your children has a choice not to eat it. My children have always had a choice.

We’ve always had to do that. You can order two weeks advance meals on a parent mail app that is used for all communication.

Menu is chanced half termly and you choose from about 6 options.

‘Ve never seen it as controlling what they eat. I know what they like, so choose accordingly. If there are a few options they like, I show them and they can chose. I’ve never even given it a thought and they have never complained.

I agree, many posters are missing that it's not just one thing you're being asked to do, it's another additional thing on top of all the other admin. We have three school apps- one for afterschool club, one for meals and trips and another that gives us regular updates with largely irrelevant info about school choir etc but occasionally info we need to know. All for one DC, all requiring personal information about him, even though the school already holds this information.

@AngeloMysterioso
I know this isn’t the point of the thread, but I’d like to use it as an example.
When the topic of neurodivergence comes up, and you hear the outcry of “everyone is something these days” I think of this type of situation in particular.

Society changes, rightly so. However, to maximise efficiency and minimise effort for the majority ,say with an increased usage of technology, there will some who inevitably fall way behind the general population.
This is where I am but I am at peace with this, and agree that this is how things will go.
I also acknowledge that there are some parts of say the Autistic community who find forward planning /efficiency through technology a massively positive step in how to organise society.

The most part of society will be capable, and will be grateful for the time saving ways of doing things, but many people with ADHD for example, struggle immensely with such things.
Often it’s this sort of situation where someone previously undiagnosed starts questioning” why is everyone seemingly ok with this sort of thing, whereas to me it’s made a significant difference in my life”. It’s the sort of question that ultimately leads to getting a referral to see someone.

Back in the day where all children had the same school dinners the only real struggle was finding the money. While literally finding, as in remembering to allocate/ find where money physically is, or remember to pay would certainly have been a struggle, nowadays the situation you describe would be 10x worse for someone like me.

There are people who live so much in the present, because of the lack of brain capacity to forward plan, that they can quite easily see how much of modern life they struggle to access, be it sorting out school dinners for their kids or booking online activities for the family ahead of time.

These are the type of invisible things that the majority of the population aren’t aware of.

I think it's another example of it making things simpler when the technology works properly.

These things are pain but help keep the costs of meals down…

Or maybe it’s all many of us have ever known?

It’s been this way for six years for my family. It is all I’ve known as a parent and I have two children in separate schools.

I sit down and do it. Takes 5-10 minutes, starting two weeks before term starts and done again during break or at the very end of the term.

It’s not daily or even weekly so it is not a massive chore or bit of admin that annoys me, but can understand others do/might.

My bank is the worst. I used to be able to log on to my account with my PC but now I have to take a photo of me. It drives me insane.

When I worked in an infant school, we changed to this and it was much better.
The previous system was the class teacher asking each child (during the register) if they were packed lunch or school dinners and if they wanted school dinners, they were asked what they wanted. They had a choice of meat version, vegetarian version, or jacket potato.
Bloody hell, the time it wasted!
Teacher : Johnny, what would you like for lunch?
Johnny : Errrr. Hmmm. Errrr. Jacket potato please.
Teacher : Are you sure? Mummy said you don’t like jackets and MDSA said that you’re not eating them. Do you want to try spaghetti bolognaise instead?
Johnny : Errrm. (Shrugs shoulders)
…… and on and on and on it goes x numerous children! 😂 I’m surprised it didn’t take until lunchtime to just sort that malarkey out!

Seriously though, it reduces food waste and is a good idea because the parents can choose what they think their child would like and not little Johnny choosing the same as what his mate ordered.

I know!

I think all this shows is that some people are good at admin and some are not.

I find all of it really easy, but I find life admin easy. Things get dealt with in priority order but pretty much as soon as received as I allocate a few mins each day for it.
Ex ignores everything until he is reminded at least once and can’t find anything as he doesn’t file it (digitally I mean-we don’t do paperwork).

I love an app. And all my apps are organised by topic. Just the way I am wired!

We dont have this. We have a really easy system. Pay via parent pay. Pick and choose what you have on the day or take packed lunch if you prefer

I like the French model. One choice, three courses, sat down and served. No packed lunches. No options.

My children chose when they got to the dinner hall. It sounds more like a cutting time and money exercise. Has the class sizes gone up to 40 yet in your school?

You’d probably have idiot parents whining that their kids would have preferred chicken nuggets and chips.

Exactly you do wonder if they run out of money to feed the children?

Sounds like my upbringing I ended up not eating because everyday it was the same thing. It would get to day 4 and then I would eat. The majority of the time I would go out and occupy my mind.

Yep it’s so bloody typical these days. I mean most people have their phones bloody stuck to their hand…is it really a big deal! Heaven forbid you should have to think about something and plan. I mean that’s just life is it not?!

No, not 40 - yet!
We never had the system where the children choose when they get there. They’re infant children, so 4yrs to 7yrs and we’d have had the same umming and ahhing as I said before.
The food was cooked on site and then taken to the school hall and trying to get 180 children through in an hour would have been impossible. Let alone if 70% chose the shepherds pie and only 30% chose the veggie curry but the kitchen staff would have to cook equal quantities of both dishes ‘just in case’. Dreadful food waste.

It makes more sense when you have to pay for the meals and might not be having a school lunch everyday. Parents don't want to lay £3 for a few bits of lettuce and a bread roll as that's all that's left the child will eat. They want to know they will get the sausage mash they paid for.

We have been pre ordering for ages. I do a half terms at a time so I don't have to do it all the time. I prefer it, it stops so much waste and I know my child will get what they want for lunch rather than what is left over which sometimes used to happen.

Aww you're getting a hard time in here, OP. Sounds annoying.