To think banning fried eggs is a step too far?

[NameChanger2026]

Whilst I agree with most of this, what’s wrong with an egg in decent oil?

No rule for parent-provided food could realistically be introduced that would apply to a child with a diet restricted due to medical reasons.

If you have a medical reason, get it on your child's file in writing.

(And no, this is not packed lunches anyway).

Thanks.

Disgraceful. Eggs are packed full of nutrients. The only thing I’d prefer is them not being cooked in seed oils.

Poached eggs are easy to make on mass and reheat, just have poached or scrambled egg on toast

if they want to reduce the amount but serve it every day then a child could choose a fried egg every day.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12523826/

its known that nutritionally the fried egg has lost its nutritional value, even cereal which to my mind is like eating flavoured cardboard, has had vitamin pumped into them therefore slightly better

cereal is not better. They are a terrible food that turns to sugar in your body, just like all carbs including oats. I wouldn’t even class it as food.

Fgs you can’t judge on shopping trollies 🙄. My trolley wouldn’t have fruit and veg as I get that direct via my veg box

I think it's insane that public money is spent on providing school children with puddings after lunch. Who the fuck eats pudding after lunch any way? I don't know anyone in real life and surely it would be better to spend the money on a better quality main and not encourage kids to think this is normal. I mean you could give them a square of dark chocolate or something if absolutely necessary but you're more or less doubling the calorie content with some of the options you hear about and there's next to no nutritional value. Gosh, I sound like a pudding nazi but when funds are short surely this makes absolutely no sense!

Agree cereal is not better food

Oh look the orthorexics have arrived

being brought up by someone with such anxiety around food is damaging to a child

Kids need calories. Especially children who live in poverty

A fried egg is a much healthier option than a fortified breakfast cereal. A single egg yolk contains all essential vitamins (except vit C) and a wide range of minerals and other nutrients.

And they're far more bioavailable than the nutrients in a fortified breakfast cereal.

I don't. Plus, it's for school food and it would be very difficult to poach loads of eggs.

Not when the egg is fried, boil or poach to retain the nutrients

When I moved back to the UK with my 8 and 5 year old, I was actually quite taken aback by the amount of parenting that my DC's school did. Actually I would also call this state control. My DC went to an international school overseas, where you dropped them off in the morning, they had a great time and a good education, then you picked them up. Non of this big brother watching you.

Are UK parents that pathetic that they can't even get a half decent meal down their DC?

Perhaps frying an egg in oil is not the most economical way to get protein into a DC. I take it, it goes on toast? You can make egg mayo sandwiches up front and have them for breakfast. I have this all the time for breakfast on my early work shift.

If we are talking about obesity, why are DC having desserts every day of the week? Desserts are a treat, which could be had on a Friday. No one else has a dessert after their lunch M-F, why are we giving it to our DC? Lunch with a side salad - Fruit afterwards. That is enough. Use the money to make a better main course.

There are lots of DC with food intolerances and texture issues. I know this. However, everyone else shouldn't be coming to school never having seen a lentil or chickpea in their lives. If the schools are now going to give these to our DC, we had all better get our DC used to them or they'll be going hungry. We need to be educating our DC about food, not the school. When my DC went to their overseas school they were given porridge made with meat and vegetables for breakfast. They get used to it.

You cant possibly genuinely think frying an egg removes all its nutrients

Frying has a minimal effect on nutrients. It's still better for you than a fortified breakfast cereal.

That’s exactly what happens in catering, large amounts of eggs are poached then reheated or kept warm. Same with scrambled eggs

Schools are not doing fried eggs, no high yield kitchen is - they each egg is cracked into a shallow muffin tin and baked..

I agree.

Barely any obese people when I was a kid and our school dinners would have been chips every day back then. It’s not about school dinners it’s about every other meal and drink!

One of my children is really fussy and while I can try to get her to eat better at home using various strategies, it doesn’t work at school. She’d rather eat nothing than something she doesn’t like the idea of. So while she was having school dinner about 3 times a week, she’ll likely be packed lunch every day now with these rules.

So many kids already tip half their school dinner in the bin. The quality isn’t great. It’s like eating a whole meal of smart price crap.

And the egg thing- I am quite partial to a nice burford brown myself 🤣

This is what i think is interesting is that people do want the state to interfere in - well, capitalism- and restrict the sale or production of unhealthy foods.

people won’t just “learn” not to eat takeaways or processed food. They’re clearly well embedded in our lifestyles

Maybe it is to do with how the cooking oil for frying is reused and repeatedly reheated in commercial settings causing toxic byproducts.

sadly this is not correct, frying also changes the cholesterol in an egg if the edges are crispy even more so.

there are plenty of different ways to cook eggs to serve for breakfast and gain the nutrients

Baking is the worst cooking method of nutrient degradation. Along with microwaving.

Frying in olive oil and butter is healthiest frying option.

The problem is that, for so long, we have been told that 'low fat' diets are healthy. So people see oil and fat as the enemy. They're not.

You can always Google to check

Frying an egg doesn't wipe out its nutrients — but there are some real losses worth knowing about:

What holds up well:

• Protein content stays essentially the same
• Minerals (iron, zinc, phosphorus, etc.) are heat-stable and largely unaffected

What takes a hit:

• Vitamin A and some B vitamins (like folate and riboflavin) degrade somewhat with heat exposure — studies suggest frying can reduce some of these by roughly 10-20%
• Vitamin D and choline are fairly heat-stable but can drop slightly with prolonged high heat
• Antioxidants (lutein and zeaxanthin, good for eye health) are also somewhat heat-sensitive

What actually matters more:

• Cooking method (frying vs. boiling vs. poaching) and how much oil/butter you use affects the calorie and fat content more than it affects the core nutrition
• Higher heat and longer cook times cause more nutrient loss than a quick fry
• Overcooking the yolk (getting it fully hard and browned) degrades more nutrients than a soft, quickly-cooked yolk

So a fried egg is still a genuinely nutrient-dense food — just not quite as nutrient-dense as a raw or gently-cooked one. If you want to minimize loss, cooking it quickly over moderate heat (rather than high heat for a long time) helps preserve more of the vitamins.

It depends what oil you are using. If you use a more stable oil, oxisization is reduced and there is little impact on the nutrients.

However they are cooked, eggs are better for you than cereal.