girl blogs about her school meals

[giraffesCantGoPotholing]

anyone seen this?

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/18036473

neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk/ link to her blog, well worth reading

No wonder she's hungry!

DDs description of her schools chicken korma is chicken watery sauce, plus more water, uncooked carrot and pepper skin. She didn't mention whether there was any chicken.

She is fed up and often takes packed lunches. She knows their cook can make nice food, she did when they first started in site catering.

But then initiatives came in to make it healthier ie. Less child friendly and now the new firm has Riis things that were still edible

Ruined what was edible, sorry I'm going to bed far to many typos.

Too

DD occasionally has school lunch. On the days I've forgotten to buy her something (won't eat sandwiches ). She said they are small and inedible on the whole.
For her to say small is an indication of their size. She eats like a bird. Apparently, every one from nursery to Y6 gets the same amount.

That blog is really scary. How on earth is a growing child meant to concentrate all afternoon on one slice of pizza and a few kernels of sweetcorn?

They look like toddler size portions and totally unappetising.

Bring back the old school dinners of the '70s - Meat & two veg, pudding & custard on proper plates.

Brilliant blog! I'll be sending DS to school with packed lunches if they serve up meagre portions like that! Really after the Jamie Oliver campaign I just assumed things had improved...how wrong was I?!

When you think that for many children this would be their main (or even only) meal, it is really scary.

DS2 had school dinners for a term and always came home hungry. Some days the only 'pudding' was yoghurt or a piece of fruit - which as the main was a small slice of pizza and 2/3 potato wedges meant he was always starving (DS2 is tiny btw - he's 11 now but wears 8/9 clothes, so god knows how other children find it).

I think the only schools which get it right are ones where food is cooked from scratch on the premises - ExMil works in the kitchen of a school like that and the stuff they do is miles above DS2's school (where food is just reheated at school rather than cooked there)

I agree ScorpionQueen. One of the reasons that free school dinners was introduced was to ensure children had at least one decent hot meal a day.

jazzchickens, not sure it was much better in the 70s. When I was at primary, there were two children from each class on the table. The tins of food were put out & the two top class children dished up - which meant that you got VERY small portions if you were in a lower class. Even if they'd been shared out equally it would have been pretty small helpings all round.

(I still remember gooseberry crumble fondly as no-one else ever liked it so I always got a big helping!)

Even worse they changed the system before I got to the top class and the dinner ladies dished out

Aw - that doesn't sound very fair Takver.

You could have had my gooseberry crumble as well

Great blog, reminds me why mine have and always will have packed lunches

Having worked in a school kitchen (not cooking, but clearing up) meals look great on paper, but rarely live up to the hype. Portions are often small, combinations of foods are weird and last down to eat get hobson's choice!

On some days potatoes are hard and meat is overcooked. Some days I threw away huge quantities of uneaten food and had to ask children if they'd tried everything. The looks of disgust said it all, really. I wouldn't have eaten it either.

Food is unseasoned - no salt allowed, and puds look delicious but are sugar free, hence taste-free. Most school dinner kids get 1 meal a week that they actually like. The rest is either tolerated or chucked. Disgraceful really,

I'm so glad that things are not like that in my DC's school. The food there is great and the portions are suited to the child's needs.

My kids go to a newer academy and I have to say on the occasions where I have been doing things at the school and have stopped for lunch I have enjoyed what was on offer. The range at my DC's school is stunning with a seperate salad bar and jacket potatoes as well as the main meal selection. And before folks wonder the times I have eaten there are not special occaisions and I have qued up with the kids for my meal so everyone is getting the same options.

Reading this it seem a bit of a lottery as to what food you get depending on the school your children are at.

Blimey! I know that DD1 gets half-decent school dinners, and they always have bread and butter on the side if they want it and cake/custard type desserts. I'd be pretty annoyed at paying for the portion sizes this girl is getting!

I was shocked too. I thought Jamie had sorted all this for us!

Very bad. I don't think DD's school dinners are like this but obviously I've not actually seen them so it could be all description and no content on the meal list.

Secondary school portions aren't much better. On INSET days we sometimes get a free lunch, which is great, but they dish up the same-sized portions they give the kids and they're tiny! I practically begged for seconds last time.

I did show dd the pictures on the blog & she was shocked too - she says the portion sizes at her school are fine.

(Or to be more exact she says the main course sizes are fine but she would like bigger bits of cake for pudding .. . wouldn't we all, kiddo )

At my DD2's primary school a couple of years ago a friend of my DD was brought to the GP by her mum who feared she was becoming anorexic. It turned out that she found the school meals so vile she couldn't eat them. Pasta with a pea sauce etc. She recovered after having packed lunches. My DD refused to eat them to begin with and still has packed lunches at secondary.

I have heard from numerous parents that the school lunches at our school are much like this. Very very small portions, not enough left by the time the last is going through to eat, so some end up with practically nothing. Thankfully, DS2 will only eat a packed lunch.

On paper, the menus look good, but the reality always seems to be different. And always a stodgy unhealthy dessert.

I saw this too, am that the school is getting away with his. Both my DDs have school dinners, for £2.10 they have big portions and several choices, and often get seconds.

Good on Martha! I hope more children post their school dinners on her blog too.

Ours are apparently decent (according to the school themselves), but you don't know, do you? I do think on £2 a head they should be able to produce a proper, healthy lunch. My DD has packed lunches and they work out far cheaper than that, without the advantage of buying in bulk etc.

Personally, I would like to see higher standards and less choice at lunchtime.