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Original poster

If they eat a good hot lunch at school what do you give them after school? DD starting reception soon....

25 replies

CountessDracula · 05/09/2007 15:56

I just wondered what you do

Her school has excellent lunches allegedly. So will she have tea when she gets home at 3.30ish (ie cold tea, sandwiches, fruit etc) or does she wait til 5.30 and have a proper meal again?

If she has tea at 3.30 then does she need something else before she goes to bed?

OP posts:

Sam100 · 05/09/2007 16:00

My DD was in reception last year and had cooked school dinner. But she was ravenous when she came in from school and needed something to eat straight away - banana or cake or cereal bar, especially on days when then going out to ballet etc. But as I have 2 younger ones too I usually did cooked tea as well at 5.30 to 6 ish and gave her the option of sandwiches instead. Making 2 different dinners started to irritate me so now told her she will have same cooked tea with the other 2 and a snack when she gets in!

elliott · 05/09/2007 16:02

They may be excellent but they might not be all that BIG...ds1 has always had cooked lunch whether at school or nursery, and has also had cooked dinner as well. We eat late though (6pm) and he needs a snack straight after school as well (fruit and drink, sometimes toast). The norm however (among the other families I know) is to have cooked dinner for the kids at about 4.30-5pm.

ConnorTraceptive · 05/09/2007 16:06

agree with elliott portion size does tend to be quite small so I think she'll still need a proper meal in the evening.

fruit for a snack at 3.30 then a meal later on

Original poster

CountessDracula · 05/09/2007 16:06

great, thanks!

OP posts:

bozza · 05/09/2007 16:10

DS has cooked dinner either with family at about 6 or if having a playdate just with DD and the guests at 5 -5.30 on Mon, Thurs and Fri. On Tuesday he has a sandwich at the childminders because he has a swimming lesson at 5.30, and on Wednesday he has a sandwich at home because he has football practice at 6. You can always just give a smaller portion of a cooked dinner. Do you and DH normally eat with her?

Original poster

CountessDracula · 05/09/2007 16:11

No not during the week

OP posts:

LIZS · 05/09/2007 16:20

We've found they usually need to eat again . Lunch can be very early , around 12, so snack when we get home and dinner later.

puff · 05/09/2007 16:24

school dinners are quite small (noticed this when I was teaching).

We do snack at 3.30 (eg a crumpet with marmite and a few grapes after)then a meal at 5.30.

francagoestohollywood · 05/09/2007 16:26

ds has school dinners at 12. comes home and has a light snack (he's now having an apple and 4 choc biscuits). we usually have a meal at 7, we are Italian we eat late.

thomcat · 05/09/2007 16:27

I'd give her fruit type snack / smoothie / cheese & cracker or 2 / at coming home time then tea at 5.30 - scrambled egg, boiled egg and soldiers, savory scones and cheese and grapes, pasta, fish finger sarnies etc etc.

cardy · 05/09/2007 16:30

Snack straight after school usually very hungry (if dd hasn't been stuffed with sweets - see other thread) then hot cooked dinner at 5/5.30.

As others have said they are not big and you can't be sure how much they have eaten.

mummydoc · 05/09/2007 16:35

dd1 had snack in car coming home from school ( usually biccies, cake etc) then sandwhiches and youghart at 17:00 , problem now as dd 2 at nursery and takes sandwhiches for her lunch , so as compromise alternate suppers for cooked on days dd2 at nursery and sandwhiches on others. have cleverly worked it so cooked suppers fall on days dd1 boards at school so she cannot complain about eating another cooked meal

thomcat · 05/09/2007 16:37

DD1 has to have a slice of toast and a glass of milk as soon as she gets in. It's almost the first thing she says when i pick her up! 'Hello mummy, eve, toast, milk, okaaaaay'.

She has a good packed lunch though, not hot food, but whatever she ate during the day she'd still have to have her toast!

KTeePee · 05/09/2007 16:39

Agree they need a proper dinner in the evening. didn't have school dinners where I grew up and I naively thought I could get away with a couple of sandwiches.... the fact that I discovered I would have to cook a hot meal anyway is a big factor in my dcs having packed lunches instead of school dinners!

KTeePee · 05/09/2007 16:41

Would add that if they are starving when they come home and need a snack - which then means they are not properly hungry for dinner - it might be worth having dinner ready to serve up as soon as you get in, with a snack later if they are still hungry.

foofi · 05/09/2007 16:46

Quite often they get a sandwich in the car on the way to various activities! If it's a quiet night I might manage to cook something but I don't worry about it too much as they've had lunch at school.

foofi · 05/09/2007 16:46

Agree they need to eat early.

NAB3 · 05/09/2007 16:53

Mine have packed lunches 4 days and a school dinner on the 5th. I cook them all a hot meal and they eat between 4 and 4.30pm. Depends on what I am making and when it is ready. Would still do a hot tea every day even if he had school dinners every day.

DarthVader · 05/09/2007 16:55

Small snack imediately after school and light cooked meal between 5 and 6pm - nursery food!

Blossomhill · 05/09/2007 16:58

Mine have both. Snack when they get in, ie crumpets, croissant etc and then dinner at about 5-6

Furzella · 05/09/2007 17:03

We do a proper meal in the evening too. In fact in the first few weeks of reception I brought tea forwards to about 4.14 as she was so cream crackered and gave her an extra supper after her bath - toast or malt loaf or similar. I'm going to do it again for the first few weeks of year one. Once she's settled in and is used to the long day we'll push tea back to 5.30.

Mind you, a proper meal does sometimes include fish fingers and beans, a boiled egg and soldiers (not at the same time) etc - I'm not talking about a huge fancy meal.

Furzella · 05/09/2007 17:03

4.14?! Sorry not quite that anal. Meant 4.15 and don't really mean that very precisely...

39andcounting · 05/09/2007 19:44

I find with my 7.5yr old DD that she could eat a horse when she gets home regardless if she has had a school or packed lunch. Try to stick to something healthy or the remains of her lunch (apple, crisps, snack bar) Then we have cooked anytime between 5 and 6 depending on DS and DH movements.

Have been having problems with DD and her moods and read up on mumsnet. A good piece of advice has been to push the fluids as soon as they come out of school, so if they take a drink to school and appear not to have touched it make them drink that or take a fresh one along with you. Have been back at school 2 days and have found she will drink gallons and has helped moods, tiredness and general foul child syndrome !

Even though yr DD school meals are allegedly good do keep an eye on them tho. Was recently doing a function atmy daughters school and found the freezer to be a bit too full of frozen veg for my liking !

bozza · 06/09/2007 08:58

Good point re the fluids 39, DS is dreadful for not drinking. I will start insisting on a drink after school especially considering he has already lost his water bottle. And left his fleece at school on Monday, and his book bag at school on Tuesday, and the hem down on both legs of his new trousers on Wednesday... I digress.

39andcounting · 06/09/2007 12:59

Oh dear Bozza, sounds a bit like my husband ! A fully grown man in training ha ha

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