Horrified by school dinners!

[WillieverlearnQ]

I went to my daughter’s school yesterday for dinner with the parents. All they had was two scoops of mash (my daughter did say that it is usually just one scoop) the thinnest slice of turkey I have ever seen and a tablespoon of carrots with a drizzle of watery gravy. With a tiny pot of ice cream. When I was at school it was nothing like this.

She has been asking for packed lunches for a long time but I’ve always refused. But today and going forward I will always make her a proper lunch.

It just make’s you question what on earth is going on? How can that be a sufficient for a child at school for 6 hours. Also why on earth are parents paying £3 for such a terrible meal.

I am an adult and I only have 1 potato, there’s a lot of rice on the other plate!

We've always referred to the main meal of the day as dinner. When I was a child, dinner was always the middle of the day, whether I was at school or not. We'd have 'tea' ( a lighter meal) when we got home. Nowadays, I always have dinner in the evening.

Are you just other first time poster trying to get us frothing? You know perfectly well those dinners are fine.

That looks like plenty to fill them up for lunch. People just need to not be viewing it as their main meal and parents need to provide that in the evening.

The Japanese and French school dinners look amazing and well balanced nutritionally, fresh and cooked from scratch. But we can't ignore that here in the UK we have a very different food culture from both these places, thanks to history and geography (wartime rationing, post war diets, farming, etc). I'd love it if my kid's school started offering the Japanese or Indian or French style daily meals but I think there'd be uproar from alot of the kids (soup, rice all mixed in with veg, grilled fish with bone and skin on!!!) - generalising here but as a culture they're just not used to it.

I didn't know all meat was halal. I think it's only halal for Muslims that request vegetarian options.

Just the thought of the mass produced slop they used to serve at my primary school in the 80s makes me gag. My DS eats some of the meals fairly willingly but he always complains about the portion sizes and the quality.

That's not the case in my kid's school. People opt into eating specifically halal meat. Nobody is forced and if they are you should be complaining to the people that have made that decision.

I remember at primary school in east London you could smell the cooking, and watch them briefly if you were near the kitchen hatch. Lunch and pudding cooked on site and usually enough left for second helpings.

Unfortunately this is not the case. Many schools in the north of England serve Halal meat as a default. There is no option for children at these schools to choose a non- Halal option. Their only choice is to choose a vegetarian option if they don’t want to eat Halal meat.
Certain universities have recently tried to implement the same policy but fortunately they have been persuaded to back down.

That is so awful it really shouldn't be that way at all. I wonder if it's different in London? I work in a school and there is a vegetarian alternative for Muslims or vegetarians of course. I am relieved universities have rejected this. The government shouldn't allow this it's appaling.

I must be the only one who agrees with OP that the portions & quality are quite poor. My kids would definitely have been hungry! We're a lanky family though & we love our food, so my two kids always took a packed lunch.

Our grandkids aged 6&9 enjoy their school dinners. And they fill them up!
We are in charge of teas and they are often too full up at 5.30 to finish the teas they usually love.
So their favourite school dinners, cooked at the school, at last ask are roast chicken dinners, stuffed baked pots. Favourite puds are banofee pie, fruits and ice cream.
We are in London.

No I agree. Having been a teacher for 15 years I can vouch for how bad the food is (in many schools). My son has just started in reception and is ravenous when he arrives home. Everyday, he tells me he’s eaten all of his dinner (and reels of the type of potatoes and veg he had) but the amount of food he has when he gets back before tea is ready has been a real surprise to me! I can understand why now.

It’s also such a shame when you consider that the reason free school meals exist is try to alleviate the amount of hungry children in the classroom as for some, this will be there only meal of the day.

I'm so confused, she gets a breakfast for lunch? Thta one is particularly awful but so is that disgusting mixed veg.

I've only worked in London schools where Muslim children had the veggie option Tuesday to Thursday (Monday was veggie anyway and Friday was fish). Not one person has ever been surprised or annoyed their child didn't have halal meat, ever. So I don't understand why any schools offer it? It doesn't seem that anyone is asking for or expecting it, very strange!

All day breakfast is a feature on our school menu. Surely you have heard of all day breakfast?

Only people worried about that are racist. There is nothing wrong with Halal food, and it's the same quality.

LOL! Same way as your animals are treated. Stop watching videos made by bigots.

So does your company make a profit or not?

This isn't true, the animals are slaughtered without being stunned and are killed by having their throats cut and bleeding to death, if the cut isn't right then of course death can be much worse for them.

Right! This is a decent amount of food for a primary kid. Anymore and it would be wasted - give your child a breakfast and something for a snack at break, and that’s more than enough until dinner! Goodness.

No just posted under another name. If you think those meals are acceptable then I don’t what to say. I can accept the rice & chicken portion is ok. But what kid wants a dry piece of chicken dry rice and some manky looking veg? We’ve had packed lunches twice last week no headaches or crying she’s hungry when I’ve picked her up from school. I would never feed my children that crap at home so why on earth is it ok because they are at school?

Every child is ravenous when they finish school no matter how much they ate at lunch.

So if someone says they don't eat pork that would also be racist.