To think school dinners are taking the mick now?

[QuietRiver]

Just signed up here after lurking for ages so sorry if I do this wrong!

DS1 is in year 8 and has school dinners most days. They’ve just put the prices up AGAIN and it’s £3.20 a day now. For that he gets a slice of pizza and a cookie or a wrap and a juice. He’s always starving when he gets home and raids the fridge so I end up feeding him twice anyway.

Packed lunches would work out cheaper but he says everyone at school does dinners and I’m being tight if I make him take a sandwich.

It’s not even that the food is nice - he says the chips are soggy and the queues are massive so he barely gets time to eat.

AIBU to just send him with packed lunch from now on even if he complains? Or is this just the price of having a teen these days?

My teens had similar at high school. With teen no.2 not only was the food expensive for what it was the school kept making the dinner period shorter and shorter until she gave up buying/eating school meals at all as they just didn’t get the time!! In the end we sent her with snacks she was happy to eat at school instead and then fed her a light tea as soon as she got home followed by a proper dinner later in the evening.

Send him with a packed lunch. I usually have a small amount of money in their account so they can grab a cake/drink if it looks nice

I used to let them have a bit on their card for snacks or breakfast - then packed lunches Monday to Thursday and a full dinner on a Friday - worked out much cheaper

Are they the only choices or is it that he doesn't want a sit-down meal with cutlery etc?
My daughter's school and mine is £2.60 for a meal deal, there's a few hot choices on each day eg. Mac n cheese, katsu chicken curry, korean noodle bowl, cheese whirl and chips, that's alongside the standard pizza slices and wraps.
Our food was terrible and expensive so our Head tendered it out and its much better now.

Don't make him have a packed lunch if none of his mates do

Is there not a "take away" type option where he can buy as much food as he wants. At our school there was a "Traditional" option which was like a roast or lasagne or Pie and mash and the there was a "Fast" option which was Sandwiches, wraps, chips, burgers, drinks etc. The traditional option is a set price and u get ur dinner and dessert plus a drink (like in primary school) but the fast option everything was priced and u just bought what u wanted. I lived on BLT, Strawberry milk and bananas for 5 years lol.

Packed lunch. Get him to make it. It’s an extravagance to spend £16 a week on lunch and a good habit to get into making own for college/uni/work. Perhaps compromise at bought food once a week.

Is it the same thing every day?

It's not the price I find shocking but the total lack of nutrition. Lunch is a main meal, he should be getting at least two of his five a day there and he's getting zero.

I live in France and a friend of mine moved back to the US with her kids a couple of years ago. She came back a year later and one of the reasons she told me was that her kids were being fed total shit at school and everyone seemed to think this was completely normal. The meals she described sounded less bad than what your son is being given.

There might well be more filling options than a slice of pizza. Can you compromise? I told mine I’m not paying for them to buy drinks there - they just take a water bottle. He can get the main thing there - wrap, pizza, pasta pot etc - but can take a Kit Kat or spare sandwich with him if he wants more.

Do the school publish a menu? The secondary schools in our Trust do. I bet there’s more available than what DS claims. Whether he fancies it or not is a different question.

Schools are doing their best to provide the best meals possible on a minimal budget while also keeping prices down. It’s one of the many obstacles schools face!

But that's what he's choosing. Am sure there are lots more options

k

Mine get £5 a day each. Cover snacks on morning and lunch. And yes I nearly pass out at the thought of paying £15 a day for lunches.
Luckily one now takes pack lunch and im sending some snacks to reduce snacks costs

Yes, the school dinners in France are amazing. I worked as a teacher over there for a year and I had a school lunch every day! There were 4 courses and it was always varied and healthy. This was in 2009 and it cost €1. In a 14 year teaching career in England, I only ever had school dinners once…because I forgot my lunchbox and it was an experience not to be repeated!

I agree with the others. That’s what he is choosing off the menu surely. Both of my secondary schoolers have full menus that include takeaway style, full on sit down meals and then the subs and panini sections.

None just have one set option and it’s the same option daily.

so I end up feeding him twice anyway

Would you not feed him again anyway if he had a bigger lunch?
DS left high school 5 years ago and it was £5 a day for him back then!

Dds lunches didn't sound too bad but if her lessons were the other end of the school to the canteen, then there was very little left.
By the time she'd got in the toilet queue there was very little time to eat.

Nope - I would not be happy to be paying for this carb and sugar filled crap. Packed lunch all the way and let him help choose what he takes in it. Give him a bit of money for a snack.

I lived in the US briefly, high school lunch was often a pot noodle or nachos with that fake cheese sauce on. They didn't do nutrition! This was in the noughties though.

My friend has a 13 year old and he takes a food thermos with something like pasta etc, sandwiches can be boring everyday but you can send other things. It doesn’t need to be a sandwich everyday.

I think he must be choosing pizza rather than other healthier options available.

There is newish government guidance(Feb 25) about what should be provided. If it isn't, challenge your school.

https://www.gov.uk/school-meals-food-standards

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools

I work in a school and have seen the portion sizes they are given. I 100% would not pay for my child to have school dinners based on that fact alone x

Jeez.

I just checked the school menus on the town hall website and apparently today my 4 year old had a starter of cubes of beetroot and goats cheese, followed by sauté of pork with coucous and olive sauce, and an apple for dessert.

50% of the ingredients have to be organic.

My sons just started year 7, hes been eating pasta every day which at £3.50 a pot for not much sustenance I put a stop to it. He was also buying a Radnor flavoured water for £1.70.
I now do him a packed lunch which he has no problems with.
I put money on so he can get breakfast at school which is much cheaper than lunch and I buy a 12 pack of the radnors in aldi for £3.99.

My son’s school seems better than this - they have lots of choice anyway - I’m not totally sure if any of it is healthy! It’s £3.40 for a main course and pudding, but you can also choose a panino or a street food option etc. which is less.

Part of the issue, I think, is that they eat v early at school - some time just after 12 I think - so of course they’re hungry when they get home.

I do give DS some snacks to take as well.

DD goes to a different school but she moved to packed lunches because the veggie options are crap at her school - but she’s nearly 17 so makes her own - usually a pot of pasta and pesto plus cereal bars.