Junk food at school

[Letsgetdrunkontheminibar]

I thankfully send my 7 yo with a packed lunch which he asks for but am getting really pissed off with special days at school like today for example we have an email titled ‘Nugget day’ and it’s a menu for a weeks time when they’ll have chicken nuggets, chips and beans and chocolate cake for dessert. WTF? Friday’s are already fish fingers and chips day so why do they do this? Surely a day of promoting different foods from around the world or new fruit and veg they may not have tried. What is this teaching our kids? My husband wants to email the school!

I do I’m not that mean!

Not surprised he's wilful, TBH....

Why would people take the piss @Letsgetdrunkontheminibar

If you are happy and confident with what you provide, why would you want to hide it? It might inspire others.

Last year, my DD's primary school organised a Pringles, cake and Coke reception for every child in the house that won the annual house points competition. Parents of children in that house were asked to sign a consent form for it.

This is despite a big banner across the school's website and across the bottom of the letterhead paper stating "we are a healthy school."

Every single parent in my DC's Y2 class refused to consent, and we weren't the only ones. We let the school know what we thought of it. The junk food reception was cancelled.

Sour dough rolls or bread with either tuna, egg or no nitrate ham.
Cut up veggies
Natural yoghurt and some lentil crisps or home made flap jack.

It’s not a bad trait

Sounds good, @Letsgetdrunkontheminibar

I’ve worked in a school kitchen, the cakes are made with sugar although they do put fruit in them such as grated apple etc.
The portions that primary kids get aren’t that big to be honest so the amount of cake they’ll actually get is actually quite small and when it comes to nuggets they get something like 3 each

That’s wonderful that you all stood together on this issue, from some of the responses on this thread it seems that some parents are in favour of schools giving children junk food which i cannot understand at all.

I mean of course all kids will eat unhealthy food from time to time but surely as a parent you would want to control when they have access to it, and not have schools just choose to ply your children with junk food every day? and your only way to avoid this is to opt out of school meals entirely. it’s so weird that people are accept of this.

i am curious whether they ever considered just not doing cakes at all? seems like it would be more convenient for the cooks, cheaper for the school and healthier for the kids ,to just not have them.

I agree! And this is what my point is really! We all let our kids have sugar etc from time to time but it would be nice if the school didn’t encourage it. Feels like lots of people think I’m mad for having this thought!

It seems to be a thing when needing to feed a lot of people such as hospitals always seem to have a main and a pudding too.

@muggartthe school I was in had cake or biscuits for dessert regularly. We always had fruit and yogurt as an option too and lots of kids chose it but the unhealthy desserts were a regular thing.
I never understood why they do a dessert at all, apart from fruit or yogurt that would make it cheaper for the school, easier for the staff and healthier for the kids

The unhealthy desserts are about cheap, filling calories: energy rather than nutrition.

You're very preachy aren't you?

We have eaten at our school to sample the catering on site. One day it was chicken nuggets and chips.

large homemade goujons, being made on site and potato wedges cut and cooked on site. It was unrecognisable to Birds Eye and the like.

I agree. When we visited secondary school they said they prided themselves on healthy habits and meals.
Once the DC started there was a constant stream of reward chocolate, good attendance cake plus all the shite they served at lunch.

It is very likely that 'nugget day' or similar is a special menu for 'census day'. As i understand it primary schools receive meals funding on the basis of the number of children eating on specific census days. If few children eat on that day, they get less funding for meals. However, they must provide free meals to all KS1 pupils who request then regardless of whether they take a meal on census days or not. Schools therefore try to schedule a popular menu (nuggets, fish & chips, sausage etc.) on that day to encourage take up.

And you’re rather rude, aren’t you? But I presume that I had touched on a sore point for you to react like that to a different opinion!

Also, i make no claims to be a great parent but my DD has desert or a sweet snack practically everyday. So did I as a kid. It is much more common than mumsnet would have you believe DD is very sporty and a healthy weight. As part of a balanced diet, it need not lead to weight gain. Im not suggesting it is optimal for health or anything, but it isnt atypical.

Never had an issue with Primary school food.

Kids need the energy as well as the vitamins etc. So a small piece of cake (with hidden veg or fruit) was fine. They spend quite a bit of time running around outside, and for some (too many) this will be their main or only meal of the day.

2 courses allows those that reject one, to eat the other. Meaning that that kid has something in their tummy before the afternoon ahead. Likely therefore to be more focussed on their own work and less inclined to disrupt others. As well as the welfare aspect of having an underfed child.

I do also worry that some people take "healthy" to be all veg and not much else. Healthy should mean a balanced diet, with all food groups - and chocolate and (gasps) carbs etc can be part of that. As long as the child is not eating chocolate for breakfast lunch and dinner that is fine.

And I really do wish people would ask the school / caterers for the recipes and portion sizes. They really aren't the getting the sort of cake served in a local cafe that is 6 feet high and wide and crammed full of sugar, cream - the sort I personally would lust over!

Secondary food however, that is awful!

Also (just for balance) my DD's old primary school did not police lunch boxes. When DD took a lunch box (mixed with dinners - depended on the menu) she always took a penguin, club or similar biscuit/cake thing aa part of it. The school did not bat an eyelid.
I have no problem with school dinner deserts. I'd love schools to be able to serve palatable higher quality protein options more regularly. However, that requires more funding & many, many mumsnet threads suggest taxing to fund such things is unpopular .....

I used to be a lunch lady and the meals were all poor quality junk out of packets. However I would also say that the packed lunches I saw were even worse, so much processed packaged food. I can only think of 2 children out of 300 who were given healthy food. It’s no wonder they’re always sick.
Youtube channels of mums making crap food and saying ‘he ate it all up’ and food deserts and swamps don’t help.

But what's your definition of healthy?

It sounds like you are setting impossibly high standards if only 2 in 300 meet them.

That’s exactly what I was going to say. Census day usually has junk food to try and get the best attendance.