School dinners - enough food for a primary school child?

[BettyBathroom]

neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk/

Have a look at this blog by a nine year old girl. I can't believe how little food they seem to be fed and I also can't believe that food costs £2.00.

mumnosbest, My DSis is a teacher, she takes one child's uniform home to wash because if it goes home it gets sold (the uniform came from the lost property box) She also saves charity pens to give to children who would otherwise not have one (i.e parents don't provide them, not that the child has "lost" it)

Marking spot as I want to show the pictures to my girls. My 10 year old always complains about the size of the meals and TBH if they are like that I can see why. I only give them tea when they get home too. I'm sure they make up for it by the time they have tea, snacks and supper.

Eye opener. may have to rethink lazy school dinners!

God I feel guilty.

The portions are tiny.

I'm surprised that catering companies don't offer more than one portion size since most 4 year olds don't eat as much as an 11 year old.

O2B I think I've just hardened with age, I used to do things like that, I still give out spare waterproofs, wellies, PE kits etc but I get very annoyed when parents expect school to provide even the basics, like breakfast. I'm by no means rich, currently struggling on maternity pay but I do feed and clothe my own children and don't expect school dinners to be anything more than a healthy midday lunch, like what I'd provide at home.

insanity I am going to show ds tonight too. Poor boy, I always say 'you can't be that hungry, you have had a huge school dinner'...

Olympia, I know I always say, you've had a dinner at school, you can't be that hu ngry. Starting to think I will be doing a proper dinner at night even if they still have a school lunch dinner.

Marking my spot too.
Will show Ds when he comes home and ask him if the pics are like his school lunches.
They look dreadful. Very beige. Where is all the fruit and veg. How can food colourings and sugar be 'pudding'. Shameful, actually.

Have to say, I am not naieve, but the posts re feeding kids brekkie and tea snacks at school and taking home a uniform to wash so it didn't get sold made me well up. OSB, please give your sis a hug from me. She will make such a diff to that childs self esteem by valuing him/her needs like that. .x.

mumno It is sold to parents a dinner ie a substantial, mostly hot meal. I have two in primary and pay £22 a week for this.

I agree with you mumnos, but these school meals aren't usually a healthy lunch imo, because of the quality of the ingredients. Plus, they give the illusion of being a "proper" meal on the menu, so parents think their children have had "dinner" and plan the evening meal accordingly. i.e. Ordinarily if your child's had "roast" at lunchtime, then the evening meal could be a sandwich

We had a 'take your parent in for a school lunch' day last week. I couldn't go but wish I had!!

Our school's dinners bear no relation to those featured in that blog, but cost the same amount. They are balanced and varied, cooked from scratch on the premises and full of veg.

However, my DC in year 2 does find the portion sizes small. It's a problem, because the activity levels of the children vary so much. I have a child who cycles to and from school and bombs around at every outdoor opportunity, as well as after school for an hour and participating in organised sports. Also fidgets all day and has the physique of an athletic stick. Lots of children are driven to school, sit around at playtimes chatting and then are driven home again where they sit in front of the TV. I expect the number of calories the two different lifestyles require is v different. Yet, schools must provide healthy food and follow average guidelines. I think they're between a rock and a hard place.

Nothing excuses the crap depicted in the blog . I also agree with colditz.

Tbh though, I got free school meals in the 1980s, and the stuff on that blog looks more nutritious (though not more filling) than what we used to get .

DS2's primary school has recently switched from the County Council meals service to doing their own in-house (they have become an Academy which is why they are allowed I think). Meals are still £2.10 per day but the quality and portion size has increased hugely (I volunteer in school so have had the chance to compare old and new!).

The portion sizes shown in those photographs may well be adequate for a 4 or 5 year old but I doubt very much whether they would fill a 10 or 11 year old.

It does bother me that some children will be having no breakfast, a school lunch and then nothing much for tea. This applies to a friend of DS2's who always has toast for tea (so he tells me). The poor lad was agog when he came to our house for tea - he was amazed that I was cooking tea "even though" DS had had a school lunch. I've never seen a child look so excited by sausage, mash & gravy .

I love the fact that she got sent back for salad because she'd forgotton to get some. Oh yeah, she's going to find that happens to her a lot .

Our school dinners are much bigger than that! They always have extra salad on offer, and brown bread and butter too. They are cooked fresh, even the things like fish fingers are home made.
They are more expensive though- £2.40

My dcs have complained about school dinners for a long time but it was their choice because I refused to give in to a junk-filled lunch box - they have finally decided that my "healthy" but less trendy food is still better than the crap they get at school, so I get them back on pcked lunches on my terms!

As for it being just lunch - lots of working parents I know feed their child a very quick snacky tea because they believe their children are getting a substantial school dinner.

I know we are trying to deal with an obesity epidemic - but diet isn't about one size fits all - you can't make a rule for the overweight kids that suits the underweight kids. I don't think kids are overweight because of what they eat for lunch!

Children need adequate food at school and I don't believe this is what they are getting - I have skinny dcs who really need something more substantial at break than a piece of fruit or veg but that is all their allowed - they don't bother because they say it just makes them feel more hungry! What is wrong with a protein snack?

I think food in general needs an overhaul in schools, well ours in particular as that's where my experience is.
Betty, I agree with you that a protein based snack keeps my dd fuller for longer - a hard boiled egg (she gets complained at because it smells!), or cheese with her apple (got told off for having cheese as it's "fatty"). Can't win!

The children might not be exposed to different foods at home but I'd actually like my dd to feel happy about taking different things in and not have people complaining at her, or making retching sounds as she eats because they're not familiar with it so it's automatically "disgusting". (I'm talking cous cous and chicken here so not that outlandish!)

Betty, I absolutely agree on snacks. My reception aged DC is not yet 5, and if you look at nutritional guidance for under 5s, they should get protein, carbs and some fruit/veg for snacks. Smallish portion sizes for main meals are fine if they're eating frequently, but a couple of carrot sticks or pieces of apple doesn't cut it as the only food between a 7.30am breakfast and lunch just after noon. Even my 2 year old only gets fruit for snack at preschool, whcih I'm quite about.

I hated the tyranny pof packed lunches, but despite endless bullying persuasion by the school I did give them packed lunches so I knew they were getting good nutrition - ie a balance of protein etc, and plenty of fruit - so I could then complement that with the food we had in the evening. Crazy giving the kids 'puddings' at all, why not give them fruit - oh, yeah, tinned sponge and ice-lollies cheaper and easier to store than fruit, never mind about teh rubbish the kid is being filled with

Re protien the schools don't provide it because protein is more expensive than rubbish carbs.

Where I work the dinners are brought in and aren't too bad - clearly the "protein" will be the cheapest available, but they always get offered 2 veg and a range of about 4 salads, plus they get fresh fruit (strawberries, pineapple, grapes, orange, apple, banana) and a yogurt / smoothie / sometimes ice-cream.

SquishyCinnamonSwirls That is the experience my dcs had previously - they brought in a wide variety of food but got teased because their food was a bit different - they used to bring in things like pasta, chilli, curry, stews, home made pizza, risotto which they loved but it got to the point where the only acceptable food according to the little buggers who did the teasing was a ham sandwich on white bread with crisps and a Kit Kat - so I thought it didn't matter how bad school dinners were, they had to be better than the "ham sandwich" lunch

My dcs are a bit older now and more robust and love good quality food, so hopefully the situation when it arises again will have less impact.

Been following this thread for a bit now.. I'm quite shocked at the quantities on offer.

PestoPenguin ds's preschool have started doing toast and jam and cheese and crackers for snacks midmorning as the children have been ravenous on just the fruit they usually get (they're mostly 4 year olds starting YR this Sept) and almost instantly the staff noticed that if they have more substantial snacks their behaviour improves. Ds always has cheese and toast, and is still starving at midday when I pick him up. Judging by the lunches shown on that blog, he would still be starving after lunch too!

That sounds like a good idea headfairy! At my youngest's preschool parents have to provide the snack and we are encouraged only to provide fruit. Sometimes there are oatcakes or crackers, but the one time a parent brought in cheese I thought the member of staff's head might explode, as she started going on about food intolerances, getting permission from the manager and risk assessments. This is a preschool that serves hot midday meals, including such dangerous substances as, yes you guessed it, cheese.

I think the school's nursery class get free school fruit and milk under the nursery milk scheme. Not as filling as it could be, but better than just fruit. The under 5s in reception who would still qualify for the milk scheme don't get it though.

they have asked us to contribute £1 per term to buy some supplies, they just do cheddar slices, but to me that's the difference. Protein fills you up longer than fruit, plus our dentist will thank us, he has a lot to say about fruit snacks for children.