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.

For those saying meals used to be better. I was at school in the 70s/80s and the meals were almost exactly the same as the pics you posted. They consisted of a meat, a portion of veg, and potatoes (boiled, mashed, or roasted only).
The mash was always lumpy and yet watery at the same time, the veg was rock hard. the only part that was ok was the sliced meat, unless it was liver day
The only decent part was the puddings (except semolina)😒

The meals look ok to me and are probably healthier than a sandwich lunch with processed bread.

@PixieandMe when I started secondary school in the 80's school dinner was.....not very good. We used to get thick slices of mystery meat plus potatoes and veg. Thankfully it changed the year I left to hot dogs, burger's etc

Gosh! I'm really not trying to be oppositional, but that would be plenty for me - a 60-something woman with a normal appetite. Not great nutritionally, certainly, but enough in volume.

I find nothing remotely ‘horrifying’ in your photos.

On what planet is that sausage, bacon, egg and potato waffle thing healthier than anything involving (gasp) bread? It looks horrible!

And the very worst day of the month was when both worlds of pain collided and you had liver for main and semolina for pudding. No matter how much gravy you had with the main, or how much jam you had with the dessert, nothing could disguise the tastes of those two foul foods. I have never eaten either as an adult - I wonder why?!

OP sounds like you went to school on an off day as from the photos they usually get a roast potato, broccoli and a yorkie with their turkey.

Apart from the roast which I agree could do with a potato or two more they look fine portion wise? Plus most schools have bread and salad available.

My child was often full from a school dinner and she's a child with a good appetite

My kids state primary had fantastic lunches, I still dream of their amazing pork and apple pie, best pie I’ve ever had, but ironically their private senior school’s lunches were atrocious and they changed to packed lunches.

Depends what is with the bread doesn't it?

They look fine?
what does your child have for breakfast as it seems a little dramatic that she is crying in the car with hunger after school.
can you show us the portion you give her at home?
is she a normal weight?

Portions size looks ok, but the food looks awful. They’re only concerned with it being cheap. I’d never have let my kids eat school meals, not that they would have touched them anyway. They used to feel sick just from the smell of them.

Brakes brothers get so much bad pressure. The fact is all food sold or offered to the public had to have provenance. Big companies like Brakes can do this whereas a lot of smaller wholesalers can't. Brake brothers don't sell junk,yes they do some ready made stuff but honestly, schools couldn't afford to buy them at about £3 a pop.

Not really. I personally think a ham sandwich, an apple and a Frube would be similar!

Our school has a serve yourself system, supposed to discourage food waste so kids don't get more than they want or end up with something they hate on their plate that they won't eat anyway. Sometimes some items are rationed, like if it's chicken burgers it's only one burger per child, but the salad bar is always all you cat eat and it's fine basic stuff - cucumbers, peppers, carrots, sometimes fruit as well. The carbs are pretty much a free for all as well and usually a lot of leeway with protein if it's something like meatballs.

They don't force the children to take any specific items or a set balance of items, though, which is different to how I'd do it at home - at least some vegetables are non-negotiable. But they've got a hundred kids and they can't remember that Sam won't eat raw carrots but he'll have broccoli or Evie will always eat peppers and cucumber if she won't have her cabbage. It does mean that some children will smash through a massive plate of plain pasta without the sauce, meat or vegetables. But I think the purpose of school dinners is to make sure the kids aren't hungry at school and if you've got a problem with little Jimmy eating plain pasta for lunch you need to make up for it at home.

Generally I think it's a good way to do it. I think the photos you posted look OK, though, tbh.

I think the issue is that the can’t charge enough to offer more. Prices have hardly risen in the last 10 years that I’ve had children at school, yet costs have soared - food inflation is huge and costs of employment rose hugely in April. My older children’s meals at secondary are double the price of the youngest’s at primary, and they don’t eat significantly more. I am hugely grateful that school lunches are provided though, for the particularly busy mornings, and just make sure I have a snack with me at pick up in case DS is hungry.

I think the problem is a one size fits all approach. Small portions are fine for a 4 year old girl. An 11 year old boy who plays football all break and lunch will need double that. And they don't seem to be adjusted (or adjusted enough) for age

I work in a school a school and I never eat school meals. I used to when the cooks used to actually be able to cook the meals. but now everything comes packaged with strict instructions of how it should be prepared.
I don't even think taste or appearance are even a thought.
some days I actually feel sorry for the kids.

DH tells me the same. He was in a very expensive boarding school 50 odd years ago and still talks about the liver.

And that on Sundays they had boiled sausages for breakfast with a single egg.

He's been vegetarian for decades since

Headaches are usually because of dehydration, which is not 100% caused by the lack of food. She needs to drink more water, perhaps take a hydration tablet with her to put in her water bottle?

Were they? My primary school meals in the early eighties came from the secondary school 5 villages over and were reheated. Tube-riddled liver, gristly burgers, veg so boiled it was all a yellow mush...best bit was the puddings.

Looks a lot better than my 60's school lunches, which I remember as overboiled stews and tapioca/sago puddings. Secondary school was better as we had a choice (and no scary infant teacher virtually force-feeding crying 5 year olds) and occasionally second helpings. The meals pictured look quite good to me.

I wasn't being remotely disparaging about Brakes - another poster had the halcyon view that all 80s school dinners were made fresh on site, and I was pointing out that the opposite was true in most cases due to government policy and the recession. Of course where there is need for mass producing food there are some suppliers that are better placed to do it.