school dinners

[SarfEasticated]

Hi all, I could be way ahead of myself, but wanted some info from parents about school dinner. The school DD will be going to in September doesn't have a dinner lady, and all the food it delivered in by an outside supplier. I (rather idealistically) thought that after Jamie's school dinners, that most schools were going back to basics and cooking from scratch.
At dd's nursery all the food is cooked from fresh, and they have a really nice selection of hot food.
What happens at your children's schools?

at ds1's first school they used a company called Chartwells who delivered the meals and they were then steamed at school (so just re-heated basically)

at his current school it is all made fresh on site.

bear in mind that a lot of schools no longer have kitchens though. round here it's only in the last few years that they've started offering school dinners again, so it's a case of finding the space either to have a full kitchen and hiring staff to cook, or in many cases fitting in the steam ovens and just serving it up

My DS's school doesn't have hot meals at all. The school I work in has them cooked at a large local school and delivered. It's all cooked from scratch and fresh, just cooked 1/2 a mile away. (Still school dinners, though!)

Do check into it as they vary alot. My friend is a 'cook' in a primary school kitchen - her job is ordering and reheating processed food. She would never pay for her children to have school meals! Nothing made from scratch and no local produce.

At dd's school it is cooked at the local middle school and then transported across. I wasn't greatly enthused by the menus, but it isn't too awful. They're right on the edge of compliance with the relevant nutrional standards though imo.

As pps have said, it varies greatly by school and by supplier. I have knowledge of this area through work - some are great, some not so.

At my DDs' school it's catered in. It's very good, they use fresh ingredients and in-season produce as much as possible. They might have a tasting day for new starters?

DS's school has a small kitchen and meals are cooked on site with very little processed stuff apart from fish fingers and sausages, roast dinner once a week.

A school in Devon have an agreement with local pub , who cook and serve school dinners in the pub dining room. All sorts of solutions can work.

I'm a mid day supervisor at my kids school - we have stuff shipped in in insulated containers.

My kids will not eat that crap do not eat school dinners.

Ours are cooked from scratch. My dd goes daily and d goes at least twice a week or like this week every day. They also provide one of the other local schools with their lunches

School I work at, like most of the schools round here, use Chartwells, so I guess they are just reheating. I don't actually see as the kitchen is in the junior school next door.

Dd's school has it's own kitchen and all food is cooked fresh daily. Nice meals too.

we use chartwells steam heated food too. There's barely enough space on site for all the classrooms needed, so no space for a kitchen .

However, my DC seem to like the re-heated stuff. they do seemed to have a very varied menu and they claim it has been carefully thought through.

Our last and current school offer food from Cygnet Catering. Both schools have a kitchen so are heated on site. My children enjoy eating them.

Ours are cooked in the school kitchen fresh and from scratch. I'm actually really impressed with the variety and only processed food that they have is sausages and fish fingers although they don't appear every week and once in the 6 (week rotation pizza appears. We also have a summer and winter menu. Summer includes more salads and lighter foods and homemade soups and things appear more in the winter.
There are a selection of bread and fruit available daily to have on top of your meal/pudding choice as well.
I have eaten the school dinners and have to say really enjoyed them tasty and filling and plenty choice every day.
Dd loves her food and I couldn't keep her in packed lunches for the £10 a week it costs for her school meals but it would be a total waste to send ds1 who is extremely fussy.

As the school in question is pretty tight for space and is very oversubscribed, I imagine that they don't have enough space for full size kitchen. I don't like the idea of cold packed lunches during the winter, and I know she isn't really that keen on sarnies. She eats well at nursery and i know that is mostly down to seeing all her friends eating the same food.
I really like the idea of www.foodforlife.org.uk/Awardsforschools.aspx, especially the schools being in partnership with farms and buying direct from them.
Thanks for all of your replies, I really appreciate it.

You just need a food flask! Or thermos food jar.
My reception DD manages to open hers.
About £16 on amazon
I'd link but on mobile.

We put left over dinner or just a microwave jacket and beans which she loves. Voila hot packed lunch.

Our school has its meals shipped in - I provide packed lunches for my DS .

The menus sound nice ie: 'cheese,crackers and fresh fruit' as a dessert - however the reality was a dairylea triangle, two crackers and five grapes - no thanks.

The DDs' schools both have full sized kitchens - they buy frozen veg and stuff from suppliers but the meals are cooked from scratch and the DDs like them a lot. They are also generous about portion sized, seconds are usually available.

DD1's school is slightly less good in that DD1 has got a bit fussy the range of available menus doesn't always have something she likes, but she can always have a jacket potato with fillings, lots of veggies and salads and fruit so she always ends up with something nutritious that she enjoys.