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Original poster

School food packages

24 replies

Selah23 · 11/06/2022 22:37

We're thinking of a service for our university project. We are pitching a meal package that can be collected from schools for parents who struggle to find time to go to the supermarket and plan dinner for their family.

Included will a complete recipe and all the ingredients that are required for that meal. This can be conveniently picked up when you collect your child from school.

What are your thoughts on this?

OP posts:
LIZS · 11/06/2022 22:39

Working parents often don't collect children from school themselves.

nocoolnamesleft · 11/06/2022 22:39

Did you not like the answers in your last thread on this?

Dustyflash · 11/06/2022 23:16

I think you will find the same responses as your last thread. This isn't a good idea. You should rethink entirely.

OutDamnedSpot · 11/06/2022 23:19

I can’t imagine how this would work. How would it be better / different to something like Hello Fresh? How would you get the packages to school? Who at the school would manage the deliveries / handing out?

WishILivedInThrushGreen · 15/06/2022 16:26

If fresh meat and fish were included, how would they be chilled prior to collection?
School kitchens would not be able accommodate that.

You'd need a member of staff to deal with the collecting . Would you pay them?

As above, many parents don't collect their children.

rowkaza · 15/06/2022 16:31

Surely something like gousto that is home delivered is better?

comealongponds · 15/06/2022 16:42

It sounds like gousto/hello fresh except much less convenient. Not a good idea

coldandverytired · 15/06/2022 17:19

I presume it would not be local produce. I might go for something like that if it had tiny food miles and was decent quality fresh local produce but if not I’d rather get hello fresh to deliver to my door if I was looking for that sort of service.

RaaRaaLaLaLa · 15/06/2022 17:24

School!

Who is going to be giving them out? You would have to have a refrigerated van outside every school. Confused

QuillBill · 15/06/2022 17:27

You need to explain far more than this. As it stands, it sounds like the worst idea in the history of ideas.

Where are these meals going to be stored in these schools?
How much are you going to pay the staff for management the distribution?
Who is going to clean the fridges you will be providing and pay for their running costs?

User2145738790 · 15/06/2022 17:32

There's a whole group of you working on this and not one of you has managed to spot any potential problems?

Hellocatshome · 15/06/2022 17:42

Erm nope.

LilacPoppy · 15/06/2022 17:51

Stupid idea.

ScootsMcHoy · 15/06/2022 20:48

The meals would have to be £££££ to cover ingredients, delivery, packaging, people putting them together, staff wages for dealing with them in schools and storage in schools.

The meals would have to be accepted at the school office, stored and then delivered to the classrooms for the parents to collect. Who is going to do that?

Nobody who 'struggles to find time to go to the supermarket' is collecting their children at three thirty. They are collecting them from the childminder at six thirty.

Kerrangutan · 15/06/2022 21:07

What are your thoughts on this?

That I can't believe uni students in 2022 haven't heard of getting things you don't have time to shop for ordered online.

If it was some kind of foodbank / outreach program I'd have some thoughts though. Our school tried this and it failed because they made them free, which means the people who need them see it as charity and won't be judged for taking them - so they don't - and the people who don't need them take them because middle class people tend not to care about being judged for things like that.

Whereas the local children's centre does the same thing but charges 10p - £1 and that gives folk a bit of dignity while signalling what it's for and is generally avoided by people who don't actually need it.

BUT I strongly suspect you're talking about a HelloFresh type thing in which case there are so many holes in this plan it's kinda mindblowing.

JimmyMcNultyIsMine · 15/06/2022 21:11

When I picked up DC from school I was wrangling book bags/pushchair of younger DC/holding hands crossing road. I would not in a million years add carrying food home too.

DuckBilledPlattyJoobs · 15/06/2022 21:13

Sounds crap OP HTH

xyzandabc · 15/06/2022 21:18

Is this the same group that had a similar idea and called it a food desert idea a few days ago?

So many problems.

Home delivery exists and is successful. Why would I collect something heavy from school and carry it home, when I can get it delivered to my front door?

Schools have way too much to do already, they do not want or need an extra thing to administer. As good as your intentions might be, this will cause the school hassle.

People don't generally combine food shopping with the school run because it is a pita, carrying bags and artwork and lunch boxes and water bottles and letters and coats and pe kits, pushing pushchairs with younger siblings as well as keeping an eye on/cajoling the actual school age child, you have no hands left for carrying food packages, and half the time I'd probably forget to collect it

If I'm a parent who doesn't have time to plan meals or go to the supermarket, I'm quite probably not going to be at the school gate a 3pm. I'll be busy working and someone else will be collecting my child.

Sorry, you need to think of a different idea to get one that will actually fly

OperaStation · 15/06/2022 21:40

xyzandabc · 15/06/2022 21:18

Is this the same group that had a similar idea and called it a food desert idea a few days ago?

So many problems.

Home delivery exists and is successful. Why would I collect something heavy from school and carry it home, when I can get it delivered to my front door?

Schools have way too much to do already, they do not want or need an extra thing to administer. As good as your intentions might be, this will cause the school hassle.

People don't generally combine food shopping with the school run because it is a pita, carrying bags and artwork and lunch boxes and water bottles and letters and coats and pe kits, pushing pushchairs with younger siblings as well as keeping an eye on/cajoling the actual school age child, you have no hands left for carrying food packages, and half the time I'd probably forget to collect it

If I'm a parent who doesn't have time to plan meals or go to the supermarket, I'm quite probably not going to be at the school gate a 3pm. I'll be busy working and someone else will be collecting my child.

Sorry, you need to think of a different idea to get one that will actually fly

This sums it up pretty well. If I can collect my child at 3pm then I have loads of time to buy and prepare my own food and wouldn’t need this service. If I was really busy I would likely have a childminder or use after school club and would have hello fresh (or similar) delivered to my door.

The only way I can see this working is as a government subsidized scheme in deprived areas to encourage healthy eating. But that would make it a social enterprise and not a profit making business. And you would still have the same problem of schools just not having time to administer it or space to store it.

Rockbird · 15/06/2022 21:52

We do this for 9 or 10 children at my (primary) school. Works very well indeed, the kids get to cook and be involved in the meal preparation and it's very successful. They're PP children but there are other criteria that I'm not involved with. Ours are run by the local council.

WishILivedInThrushGreen · 16/06/2022 18:53

As a business model, 9 or 10 families is not viable.

IstayedForTheFeminism · 16/06/2022 18:58

Rockbird · 15/06/2022 21:52

We do this for 9 or 10 children at my (primary) school. Works very well indeed, the kids get to cook and be involved in the meal preparation and it's very successful. They're PP children but there are other criteria that I'm not involved with. Ours are run by the local council.

This doesn't sound like the same thing though. This sounds like a healthy eating thing to make sure PP children are getting a meal. Which they help prep and cook at school? Or have I misinterpreted?

@Selah23 it sounds pointless. Hello Fresh/Gousto etc are expensive. Mums who are around to do school pick up are probably then around to shop and cook. Even if they aren't they probably shop online. I've been doing that for 10+ years
It's hardly new and unknown.

Bigthicksliceoftoast · 16/06/2022 19:08

Sounds a bit patronising and not very practical for all of the reasons that people have previously listed.

What have you actually been asked for your course? Is it a business proposition / a scheme to promote healthy eating / a scheme to tackle food poverty? Your initial aim and motivation will dictate what you offer and who you offer it to.

RaaRaaLaLaLa · 16/06/2022 20:27

Rockbird · 15/06/2022 21:52

We do this for 9 or 10 children at my (primary) school. Works very well indeed, the kids get to cook and be involved in the meal preparation and it's very successful. They're PP children but there are other criteria that I'm not involved with. Ours are run by the local council.

For the benefit of the children or for profit?

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