school meals - any examples of great school meals?

[midnightexpress]

Our Parent Council are currently in discussions with our local council about the quality (or otherwise...) of our school meals. We're being fed a load of flim-flam about nutritional guidelines, healthy choices etc, but I still see 'fish fingers and potato smiles' or 'pizza slice and chips', flavoured milk and so on among these 'healthy choices'. So, I was wondering if anyone has a school meal service that they are really pleased with and if so, could you give me any examples of the sort of meals that are provided, so that I can take them along to our next meeting?

I also wonder what having all these choices is good for. I understand it for older kids, but my two are 5 and 6, and faced with the choice of vegetables or no vegetables, chocolate milk or plain milk, pizza or chicken stir-fry, how many 5 year-olds would choose the healthier option, I wonder? While I still have traumatic memories of certain school meals I at least know what I don't like because I had to try it. It seems to me that offering endless choices (in our council's case, that means two hot meals, 2 cold meals, a starter and a choice of puddings, plus several drinks) means it's always possible to choose unhealthily. I'd be interested to see what other people think about this too.

TIA.

Our menu...
www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/education/school_meals/school_menu_primary11.pdf

Do'h try again

Oh thank you - so no cold options then? Do you have to bring a packed lunch if you want a sandwich? I like the symbols to tell you about where the food comes from too. I also like that you can always get a baked potato!

I think that there may be sandwiches available too, not sure as my DSs tend to have packed lunches, but I remember one parent being slightly that she was paying for school dinners and DC was always having a sandwich.

I should add, the chocolate cake is apparently chocolate and beetroot cake. Have made my own and is very yummy!

Oh I know. I get extremely when DS1 tells me he's had a cheese sandwich on horrid that I could have made for tuppence on decent bread.

www.gemseducation.com/uploads/image/_MEDIA_MANAGER/WIS_Documents/GEMS-Wellington-International---Blue-Frog-menu-10-June-20122640232.pdf

Hope that worked!
First time I've ever looked at our school menu as mine always have packed lunch, But it looks good. Interesting that they list the calorie content and all ingredients per dish. Good if you have allergies but not sure why kids need to think about calorie content
There is also chillers with sandwiches, Salads etc to.

I think our school meals are great. They do roast twice a week, have a daily veggie choice and theme days every so often.

Like LittleMissGreen's menu, desserts contain extra fruit and vegetables. Teachers have lunch with the children most days. Before starting Reception, parents are invited to bring DC to have lunch time at school to try it out. They also have a selection of school meals available at Open Nights, School Fayres etc. DS likes crackers and cheese/fruit instead of pudding. I ask him not to get sandwiches as I would rather make them.

The main benefit is that we can decide daily whether to have school dinners or packed lunch. DS can take food in a flask or packed lunch if he wants. He has a school dinner 3-4 times per week.

Some of the items on my DC's school menu...

Pasta Carbonara or Pasta Pepperonata, cheese, broccoli & beans
Roast Beef/Roast Chicken/Quorn with potatoes, carrots & cabbage
Jacket potato or rice with meatballs in tomato sauce, tuna or beans
Gammon & Pineapple Or Quiche with cauliflower & sweetcorn
Beef or veggie lasagne
Sausage/Quorn sausage with mash, carrots & broccoli
Fish & chips with carrots & peas

There's a salad bar too which they all have to get an item from. Once a week there's a sandwich lunch (normally Fridays).

Puddings are traditional sponge/crumble & custard, frozen smoothie, chocolate brownie. There's always a fruit option.

Thanks all - really interesting to see the variations. I like the fact that teachers eat with the pupils - perhaps if more schools did that the meals might improve! Expatbrat, I really like that they list the ingredients on yours.And a school that offers fish every day - blimey! Our deputy head reckons that most of the children at our school only choose fish because it comes with chips, and then they eat the chips and throw away the fish. She reckons the amount of waste is absolutely scandalous. Eggrules, our school also let the new starters have a meal as part of the induction. Poor old ds2 ended up with a plate of solid macaroni cheese which has put him off it for life!

What a shame. I had cheese and potato pie, fajitas and DS had curry and roast. All were very nice and the two Reception class teachers sat with the DC/parents. The headmaster has school dinners whenever possible.

DS doesn't have school dinners on a Friday; I don't want to pay £2 for chips and peas. I am generally happy and would eat them myself.

I do think it must make a difference to see the teachers tucking in. The one thing I'll say in favour of ours is that it's cheap (£1.20) - the average seems to be about £2.00 from what I can see on the web. Though I'm sure that to some extent you get what you pay for, and I'd willingly pay £2.00 if it was good food. But I know not everyone is in a position to pay that much every day, especially if there are several sibs.

The main problem with the school dinners in our school is that the portion sizes are the same for an 11yo as they are for a 4yo.

Now my two are older, despite having a cereal bar and an apple at break time, as well as the hot dinner, they come out of school ready to chew their own arm off.

Feeding a 5ft 10yo the save as a 3ft 4yo is ridiculous. And they do it in 'sittings' too, youngest to oldest. So the Y5 & Y6's often don't end up with a full meal, as only the veggie option is left, if they don't like that they end up hungry.

I have written letters to the governors about the portions, trying to explain that a 10yo needs more calories in a day than a 4yo, and the 4yo's finish the portion.

I KNOW how small the portions are, from when they did the Mother's day lunch, and they are ridiculously small.

As my DC get FSM's, I can't afford to do 3 packed lunches that are nutritionally balanced, so it is frustrating me that the Governors won't look at the calorie intake guidelines that says that a DC over 10yo needs more calories!

I carry a banana for each DC, or a wrap, that they can eat on the walk home! If a DC is walking 20 miles a week on the school run, they are going to need more calories!

That does sound daft. At our school they have to choose what they're going to have at the start of the day, so I guess at least the people at the end would always get what they asked for. And the older children always get theirs first, in fact (2 sittings). Might it be worth contacting the council directly, if they provide the meals, if you're not getting any results from the governers?

At my DC's school they can ask for a small, medium or large portion. I asked for medium when i went in for lunch and it was so huge that i needed to lie down for the afternoon i'm amazed any child can eat that amount.

OP - forgot to say in my earlier reply that it's important to make sure that the vegetarian option provides plenty of protein. Don't just rely on beans!

I'd be more concerned that there's no veggie option on some of the days! What are those kids meant to do? Suck it up?

TBH, kids object to eating healthy stuff, and if the options were only cous cous etc, you'd get loads of kids not eating it, getting upset, leaving their food and choosing to be packed lunch. The kitchen wouldn't make enough to run.

All catering done on site, no input from LEA, so the Governors were the last port of call. It's getting to the point with my two very active DS's where I might HAVE to try to find the money for packed lunches, despite them being entitled to FSM's.

One thing I cannot really understand is why school dinners in this country do not seeem to include pulses, except from baked beans sometimes. They are very cheap and very healthy and very present in other countries' school menus

Probably should have said there is a separate vegetarian menu

Our suppliers are ( apparently) one of only 4 Gold Standard Food for Life producers in the country! Not sure whether that is as good as it sounds but as they say:
?At least 30% of our ingredients are organic or Marine Stewardship Council certified
?At least 50% of our ingredients are locally sourced
?We use organic meat, dairy products and eggs as much as possible
?All of our chicken is from free range hens, reared on open pastures in Norfolk
?All of our pork is from outdoor reared pigs, produced near Newark
?Our meals contain no undesirable food additives or hydrogenated fats
?All of our meat meets UK welfare standards and our eggs are from free range hens
?Our meals are produced by well trained and dedicated catering staff
?Our meals contain NO GM ingredients
?No fish is served from the Marine Conservation Society ?fish to avoid? list
and it tastes good!

www.thefarmkitchen.com/menu.aspx

DD1s school menu here Bit at some of the recipes - but they do a "pick n mix" option too, which is basically a sandwich/roll/wrap with fruit and pudding. Don't think any of it is free range or anything!

DD's school provides good school meals. They have their own kitchen - rated 5 star hygiene, etc. and full time cook. Everything is made fresh on site every day on a 3 day menu. Looking at the menu every so often it looks like they refer to Jamie Oliver and The Dinnerlady books :)

I have eaten there and it is tasty. Cook also did a Come dine with evening for parents a year or two ago.

DD's school is limited on choice but for a primary I think it works well. They offer the main hot meal, a veggie option (if signed up by parent as veggie) or jacket potato with salad and cheese/beans. Specific diets due to allergies, etc are catered for on a 1:1 basis with consultatons between parents and cook. There is the main dessert or fruit every day. And bread and butter on the table.

DD's school provide excellent school meals. All parents are invited to eat there when during the first term, so I know how good the food is! The kitchen is rated 5* and all the food is cooked fresh on premises, included breaded fish (the cook breads or batters his own fish pieces). They have 2 choices, plus the option of jacket potato and a choice of filling every day. There is also a salad bar and they are all allowed seconds. The food is served on real plates and they get their pudding after they've finished their meal, so it's still warm when they come to eat it. This is only possible because the school is so small - 55 on roll.

We are sent a menu home every Friday and the menu for the following week is:

Monday: Tuna and spinach pasta with fresh tossed salad or Cheese and potato slice with vegetables. Pudding: Carrot and Orange cake or fresh fruit

Tuesday: Meat pie with boiled potatoes, garden peas and beetroot, Pancakes with spinach, cheese and garlic. Pudding: Ginger sponge and custard or fresh fruit

Wednesday: Traditional roast dinner with all the trimmings. Pudding: Chocolate sponge or fresh fruit

Thursday: Spaghetti bolognese or Vegetable korma with brown rice. Pudding: Apricot flapjack or fresh fruit

Friday: Oven baked salmon fillet with wholemeal crumb, new potatoes, garden peas and broccoli or Sausages, fluffy creamed potatoes, peas and broccoli. Pudding: Oaty currant bar or fresh fruit.

I want to eat there, sounds way better than my rushed while I chase after 12mth old ds sandwich

Our menu, we're in the Isle of Man, the guy who organises the school meal is v. passionate about healthy eating (in a sensible, not OTT way). He gave a talk about how the weeks meals are carefully arranged to contain the right amounts of salt/vitamins etc.

www2.sch.im/sandbox/groups/schoolmeals1/wiki/5ebe4/attachments/6235a/Demi%20Meal%20Centre%20Salad%20Bar%20Summer%202012.pdf?sessionID=ea5c9ed80cf4d32543a81bab336bcc1ef470dbe3

Our school menu

I think they are pretty good and healthy. Kids love them too.

DD's always sounds decent, and she SAYS she eats it ... www.edwardsandward.co.uk/pdfs/EW_Gloucester_Menu.pdf

Unlike some I've seen, most of the time it's not possible to get weird, over-carby combinations, and there are no smilies or similar. Chips on Friday, which oddly enough is when the teachers have school dinners ... still at least it indicates they're decent chips ...