School dinners....please tell me 5 meals that are on your school dinner menu.

[collision]

I am having a battle with the catering company that does school meals at school.

The food is appalling and I think it is because the menu is too complicated.

I would like to see foods that the children will recognise back on the menu rather than chickpeas and aubergines which generally children do not choose. This is why there is a huge percentage of children choosing jacket potato and beans.

I would like to see

Spag Bol
Breaded Chicken
Cauliflower Cheese
Sausage and Mash
Lasagne
Meatballs
Roast dinners

I want to know if it is the policy of the Government to have foods that are more complicated on the menu or if it is just Jamie Oliver arse who has pressured catering companies into doing this.

TIA

A kolache is technically a sweetish pastry, but in Texas it's a sausage baked into a bread roll. Texans make their own reality

DD is so envious of the Indian food on your menus. She is sick to the teeth of things like chalupa (a fried corn tortilla spread with Refried beans, with cheese, lettuce and tomato). She hates beans.

nothyorks on my school lunch(same as treedelivery)
My DD loves them and the cook even makes special meals for DD as she has to limit the amount of dairy products she eats.
Great value lunch for £2.10 a day.

OP I've looked at your menu and it's very much the same sort of thing as ours. I don't think it looks complicated - the chickpea and aubergine things are vegetarian - IMO vegetarian children are more used to that sort of thing. Your vegetarian stuff looks better than ours tbh. I do like dd to eat the veggie option sometimes, we have no problem getting her to eat meat based protein!

It looks pretty standard stuff with the occasional more interesting thing, which I think if you're doing a three week menu is what anyone would end up doing?

What is it you think is appalling - the selection or is it badly cooked?

portion sizes are poor

quality of ingredients

attitude of staff to children

Food to lower school is much worse than to upper school & 80% of the children opt for a JP with beans.

Just think they should rethink the menu.

Agree with Downy it doesn't actually seem that bad and there is a sort of roast every Wednesday.

We have a 3 week menu, today's selection was:

Roast Chicken Portion with Gravy
or Pasta Italienne (v)

Homemade Roast Potatoes
Brocolli
Carrots

Unlimited salad

Apple & Mango Crumble & Custard or
Fruit Platter

Tomorrow's is:

Cottage Pie or
Lamb Meatballs (5) & Gravy or
Homemade Soup & Toastie (v)

Creamed Potatoes
Peas, Cabbage
Unlimited Salad

and Flapjack Finger & Piece of Fruit or
Yogurt

and Friday's is:

Bacon/Sausage/Quorn Sausage (V) & Scrambled Egg

with Hash Browns
Baked Beans, Mushrooms & Tomatoes
Unlimited Salad

and Chocolate Surprise Muffin or
Fruit Ice Smoothie or
Fruit Platter

They have a Roast Dinner every Wednesday which is popular and something nice on a Friday which is a popular day too.

I dont like your menu much Coulson and neither would my DS especially.
H ewould eat Wednesday & Fridays only and chose jacket potato for the other days

I don't think your menu sounds too bad either collision. I think a lot if this is how you sell it. Your menu has fairly basic food on imo - pasta and curry and so on.

They have made a big effort to put plenty of veg and different meats in, which I think is great! Maybe some children would benefit from knowing they were eating 'curry' rather than 'carribean chicken curry', but I think it's quite nice the way they try to big up their meals. But then I am a foodie, and can see that children might respond better to something called simple chicken curry.

If I told my dd it was mexican beef she would say no. If I tell her its chilli like nanna makes, then she says yes Things like chickpeas can be explained away, baked beans but the sauce got washed off in cooking etc etc.

My 6yo still believes every word I say

OP your menu is very similar to our and I'm pretty happy with it. My kids have learned to eat food they wouldn't touch at home - it has made them much less fussy and at the same time appreciate more how good the food is at home - it's a miracle! and it's a whole lot better than the crap we were given in the 70's - smash, butterbeans in gravy, tapioca, oh having food flash backs and they are not good!

Marguerite - that Texan menu is shameful isn't it? For a rich country to be feeding their children that kind of food...it beggars belief. Poor kids!

this is dd's menu. She generally has school meal three times a week and mostly enjoys it.We can either opt in or out on the day and have the option of ordering from a choice of sandwiches or jacket potatoes and fillings at the kitchen in the morning if we prefer.

What's wrong with chickpeas and aubergines?

At my DD's school these are some of the main courses:

• pancakes with spinach and ricotta
• roast pork with roasties
• Vegetable (or four cheeses) risotto and salad
• Chicken soup, selection of cheeses and steamed carrots

• Turkey meatballs with grilled vegetables
• Grilled chicken and steamed potatoes
• Pasta with ragu (or carbonara) and grilled aubergine
• Chickpea soup, selection of ham and french beans

- Roasted cod or fish in a tomato sauce and steamed potatoes

Pizza and salad/fish and chips/lasagne and salad are given once during each 4 week cycle. Snack is fruit or a small slice of cake which is baked on the premises. No choice is given, but specific dietary requirements are catered for (we are in Italy btw). No big issues with children not eating - obviously there are dislikes and so on, but my 2 1/2 DD started eating stuff she would not even try at home (salad, tangerines, aubergines...).

we have roasts every wed ( either chick pork or beef on rotation)
a fish variation every fri,
pizza or a chilli wrap/curry tues
erm... thursday is sausage & pasta, jacket spud or budger & wedges.

monday is usually a pie or bake of some sort.

plus unlimited bread water.

puddings either a biscuit, fruit, ice cream or a sponge.

every meal has salad and veg.

this week dd has

monday - chicken Korma or red onion and tomato quiche

tuesday - lasagne or bean hot pot

wednesday - roast dinner (lamb) or brocolli and cauliflour bake

thursday - tuna pasta bake or cheese and tomato pizza

friday - chicken burger and wedges or tomato pasta

I agree that the dinners on offer at school should be things the children will recognise, normal homecooked food.

There is obviously nothing wrong with chick peas and aubergines but I think if you look at the clientele ie 4-11yr olds the majority of these children will not choose these options.

What the MERRY FUCK are 'breakfast tacos' and 'breakfast pizzas'?

Is it any wonder there are so many appallingly fat chi,dren in that country??????????

steak pie and veg
meatballs and spaghetti
beef or turkey and veg
fish and chips and veg
pizza
macaroni cheese and veg

OUrs get chicken pie, pasta, fajitas, pizza, fishfingers, roast beef, pork, and turkey, shepherd's pie, salmon thai fishcakes.... nice things.

Mashed Potato
Savoy Cabbage
Sweetcorn
Minced Lamb Hot Pot
New Potatoes
Creamed carrot and Swede
Broccoli
Roast Turkey
with Gravy
Oven Roasted Potatoes
Savoy Cabbage
Cauliflower
BBQ Chicken
Boiled Rice
Peas
Carrots
Chicken Breast Fajitas/
Pitta Bread
Beetroot
Mixed Salad

Chicken Pie
Creamed Potatoes
Carrots
Peas
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Cauliflower
Sweetcorn
Roast Ham with
Pease Pudding
Roast Potatoes
Broccoli
Carrots
Mince and Dumplings
Boiled Potatoes
Roasted Vegetables
Fish Fingers
Chipped Potatoes
Baked Beans or Peas
Mince Cobbler
Boiled Potatoes
Savoy Cabbage
Carrots
Homemade Margarita
Pizza
Half Baked Potato
Mixed Salad
Roast Pork
Gravy
Oven Roast Potatoes
Carrots
Broccoli
Chicken Casserole
Creamed Potato
Mixed Vegetables
Cauliflower
Burger in a Bun
Chipped Potatoes
Peas
Baked Beans
Corned Beef Pie with Gravy
Boiled Potatoes
Peas
Carrots
Shepherd?s Pie
Roast Parsnip
Green Beans
Roast Chicken Breast &
Gravy
Oven Roasted Potatoes
Carrots
Peas
Savoury Mince with
Yorkshire Pudding
Creamed Potatoes
Creamed Swede
Broccoli
Salmon Fish Fingers
Chipped Potatoes
Baked Beans
Peas

There is usually a filled baguette choice and a veggie choice

Yorkshire Pudding filled
with Vegetable Casserole
Creamed Potatoes
Peas
Vegetable Bolognaise
Boiled Rice
Cauliflower
Sweetcorn
Vegetable Chilli
Boiled Rice
Broccoli
Carrots
Baked Potato with Cheese
or Baked Beans
Mixed Salad
Macaroni Cheese
Garlic Bread
Mixed Salad

At my school, we have that menu too collision and we have seen a massive fall in the numbers of children having school lunches, packed lunches much much more popular now

this is a link to what in served in our area for this school year.

Next week our school has:

Sausage in a roll (they do this about once a month, and it is considered a "treat" meal)
Pasta plus various sauces for pupils to choose
Roast Dinner
Sticky Chicken and Rice
Fish Goujons.

There is always a vegetable alternative, and always a salad bar.

oh, and pudding of course.

It is approximately a 6 week cycle of meals I think. The school meals are compulsory and very very popular. My children adore them, and ask me to produce the same at home!!

This is our menu It's the same one some one else linked to.

It's fairly standard family food really.

Here are some of the examples of things my DS has for school dinners. His favourite is the roast dinner (Beef, Pork or Chicken)

Roast Dinners
Meatballs
Pizza
Chicken Curry
Fish in breadcrumbs
Raviolli
Sausages and Mash
Chicken Pie

You'd be happy to get my DD's school meals in a four-star restaurant. I've eaten there, and they are truly fabulous. All fresh, local produce, prepared and cooked in the school kitchens etc, etc. The children get several choices every day; I'd be the size of a house if I worked there. It's primarily a boarding school, so I think they have to feed the girls well.

DD, of course, complains about the lunches and would like basic fish and chips and pizza every day.

www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/7D215F35-E6ED-4DF0-8AC4-96AFD648F4AC/0/primarymenusept2010.pdf

This is our local menu- it sounds great, the only thing my DS doesnt like is the curry.

I would love to know what "Alien crunch" is though!!