Am I being a food snob?

[Haventaclue2]

Hi,

DD is starting school in September and I have been sent the menus to chose her first months worth of lunches.

There are two jacket potato options, a meat dish and a veggie dish. There seems to be the same 6-7 meals: burger & potato cubes, pizza & potato cubes, lasagna, fish and chips, tomato pasta & garlic bread etc. Desserts are a cookie, ice-cream, yoghurt, chocolate mouse...

The veggie options sometimes include some veg but I was expecting more fruit and veg in general, some days there is no fruit or veg at all and mainly carbs? I expected some peas on the side or an apple for example?

I always planned for her to have a hot meal at lunch as mum friends have always said how expensive and a faff packed lunches are and most of it can left anyway where as at least she'll probably eat all of the hot meal?

Am I being a terrible snob? 😳

Obviously its only one meal a day so its not going to do her any harm but the food at her nursery is so different it just came as a surprise?

The meals usually come with veg. My sons school picture the main meals but say veg/salad is chosen by each school and Xmas be different to what’s advertised. Plus the children have fruit snacks each day as well. My son is a picky eater but really enjoys the meals at school, whilst they’re free it’s silly to not take them up and give them a go. If you are concerned then just make sure they have a fruit snack after achool
and plenty with dinner/at wkends

• may be different

It's how I was brought up and not strange. It's not like we never ate junk or treats, but home cooked/prepared was probably 90% of what we ate. It was healthier and more economical and still is. It's also easy. 😊

I doubt the pizza/burger meals offered at school are much more than 600cal, it’s not a gourmet pub.

My kids had a phase of taking thermos flasks with soup/chilli etc. to primary, but not in reception - more in the later years. I think they had sandwiches up until the school put a proper kitchen back in and the meals really improved. There was a salad bar like lots of other posters have said. They used to dip in and out of school dinners depending on the menu choice each day or how organised we were. They are generally good eaters and ate lots of (well some at least) fruit and veg at home, so never really worried about it. I suspect a lot of lunches (packed and hot) end up in the bin so that they can get out to play.

Oh and they occasionally took humus and carrot sticks too! 🤦🏻‍♀️They preferred that to sandwiches at one point. I am a bit of a foodie and it’s rubbed off. We did go through a beige food phase too though.

The amount spent per meal is really low, at our school its about 2.75 a day, when you think thats got to include equipment, energy costs for cooking & refridgeration, staff to prep and serve, profit to a private company, all the admin of preparing menus and taking children's orders, it leaves fuck all for food.

They basically barely use any fresh veg because its got a short shelf life and is harder to store. Plus they have to deliver an amount of calories for a price and veg adds little on that front - I'm constantly disappointed that there's no broccoli, kale, sugar snaps, courgettes, spinach, peppers etc.

Just the same peas/sweetcorn/baked beans.

Not the same school, but we’re in Hackney so we have the same provider and similar menu, ours often has vegan meals. From what my son says, virtually everyone in his class (year 4) have school dinners. He has a pack up due to allergies, but on the suitable days he does have a school dinner and enjoys them.

It may not look like much veg, but my son likes the mexican bean wrap, it doesn’t say on the menu but alongside the beans and potato there is lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber in the wrap.

Our sons new school doesn’t have a menu online, but I’ve put a screenshot below, all children receive free school meals from the ages of 6-16. When we visited his school the food looked nice, we also noticed the staff were eating it which is usually a good sign.

I don’t think a huge amount has changed with meals in the UK since the never seconds blog.

Salad bar is separate and doesnt appear on the menu

You’re not been a snob, my sons school constantly tell them about healthy food and then feed them total rubbish. I told the head my son doesn’t like either of the options they offer on a Friday (always pizza or fish fingers) and she said that is weird 🤦‍♀️and I should encourage him to have a hot meal. I was like he has a healthy cooked meal when he gets home thanks 😂😂 I do agree though packed lunches do take up time, and as school dinners are free it’s hard to turn them down. My son does get the option to have a sandwich instead.

If you decide to send a packed lunch, there are tricks to making it very easy. I do most of my prep on Sunday and only make the sandwich or entree fresh each day. I have 5 sets of identical containers for the lunch kit so it can all be set up in advance.

Thank you, that's a really good idea actually.

I blame Pinterest personally, its set the bar far too high with packed lunches 😁

lol over in the real world carbs are not the devils faeces

Yep pretty standard and imo it’s even worse when you actually look at what is on the plate of children.

That’s one reason why my dcs have had packed lunches all the way.
Be ready to have some pressure from school re what can go in it. Stupid rules (esp when you see what’s on the menu!) and a total lack of understanding of nutrition.
But much better furète children all around imo.

Nothing snobby about not wanting DC to eat UPF crap.

Your name is on that screenshot and your grandsons school...

Oh shit, how can I delete it?
Thanks for the heads up

Check with the school about fruit and veg at dinner times. I work in a school and the fruit and veg isn’t listed on the menus, but is readily available along with a salad bar. Fruit should also be provided as a snack usually in the morning.

It's a massive big deal. On the surface, who cares about the odd beige meal. However, the food and dietary habits that children develop, impact their health forever. For poor children, the school dinner is the most decent meal they often get. If it's low quality that sets them up for poor nutrition for life. This directly contributes to the fact children from low socio-economic groups have worse health outcomes and lower life expectancy compared to those from more wealthy backgrounds. We should care massively about what our children eat at school. Not just for them, but all children.

I’m with you, I thought school dinners had moved on. Despite them being free and packed lunches being a faff mine have packed lunches as the options are so nutritionally poor. It’s really sad that the options aren’t better!

School food is disgusting- we can choose to have it as teachers but nobody does. The kids all eat it though. They’re operating on a shoestring unfortunately. The problem is that the children get used to it and view it as normal food which it really isn’t.

I found pack ups cheape, as my son didn't like a lot on the hot lunches menu. He asked for a jacket potato once, it came with beans and cheese, he hates cheese, so asked for no cheese. But he got given it with cheese, do he didn't eat that day. I was annoyed, as I paid £2:95 for my son to go hungry. Then he tried again another day, for a hot meal, but there was nothing on the hot menu he liked, so had a sandwich, a bun and a juice. So I paid for hot meal and he came home hungry.
So since then, I packed him up, with sandwiche, fruit pot or yogurt with a cereal bar, which he would eat as, I asked him what sandwiche etc he wanted. A multi pack of cereal bars and fruit pots, at the time weren't too dear. (a few years ago)
He had Christmas Dinner and Christmas party food when these got offered.
One of my problems was a lot of things had cheese on it.

I wouldn't be too worried as if the breaks are anything like DD's school, they only gets 15 mins for lunch anyway, most days she doesn't eat all day because they go in late and have to clear out for the next class.