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!

A.chicken nugget is just breaded chicken. It is not intrinisically unhealthy or evil. It could be - chicken breast/thigh, dipped in beaten egg, coated in breadcrumbs and baked. A great option i'd of thought. Or it could be mechanically recovered chicken bulked with filler, thickly coated in batter and deep fried. Or anything between those extremes. Money and funding will influence the quality. If we want better quality it has to be paid for.

If it’s Thursday January 15th, that’s census day.

If you’re worried about the routine nutritional value of the school lunches across the week (as iirc it’s worked out by the week not by the day, in the same way as it’s a ‘balanced diet’ not ‘a balanced meal) you can ask the school -or their caterer - to show how their menus match the required standards for the age group. Remember that active, growing children in cold weather gave somewhat different needs from fully grown adults.

Not really… the healthy lunches were one girl who had a warm lunch made for her, for example pasta with vegetables, Spanish omelette or a homemade soups. She had whole grain crackers and chopped egg as snack and chopped carrots and cucumber. She had a different pierce of fruit every day.
The rest were UPF filled, tube yoghurt, chocolate bars, white bread sandwiches with ham, jam or chocolate spread, crisps (often two packets). The occasional apple which got thrown in the bin.

I imagine sponge cake is a lot cheaper than more meat and veg though.
They could probably replace it with white bread and butter.

So one girl had vegetables and homemade omelette, but 298 others had the cheapest white bread with chocolate spread and zero fruit?

Hmmm. Not convinced! I strongly suggest most were in the middle - just most didn't avoid all UPF's - because that is not easy on a low budget or if you are time poor and so therefore they failed to meet your high expectations.

And that's what School meals should be too. It will be the best they can offer with the budget provided. It will not be organic or UPF free on the money they have! But over the week, there is variety, there are options, and they are healthy. Yes, even the puddings. Considering the money involved I think many caterers perform miracles!

Oh, and don't judge a kids diet on one meal. For example, I stopped giving my children fruit in their lunch boxes. No point. It came home bruised and battered and thrown away. They were much more interested in getting out to the playground. Instead they had (and still do have it) as a snack when they get home from school - a smoothy is often the popular choice.

I’ve just googled it and in 2024 the school had 44% of children receiving FSM so roughly 132 children , the rest were 50:50 pack ups and paid for lunches so 85 ish children bringing in packed lunches. I don’t so much judge the parents as much as I judge the society which doesn’t value its children. The area which I work in is extremely deprived and I expect it’s different in other areas. The catering companies who supply schools are abhorrent and should be outed in the press.

Wtf is going on here today. With this thread, the 11 yr old in a car seat and lasagna with potatoes. There must be some very bored folk around today. Go play in the snow.