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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Reception - packed lunch or school lunch?

62 replies

Lozario · 28/05/2013 12:48

Hello, PFB is off to primary school in Sept and I've just received a form asking if he's going to have a packed or school lunch. They need to know by Monday for some reason, although I could probably change it if I change my mind though.

What did your kids go for in reception and why? I guess school lunch is minimal effort on my part, but might be more interesting for DS, however with lunches I'd have a better idea of what he'd eaten and it would be cheaper... What would you recommend?

TIA

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DontCallMeBaby · 28/05/2013 21:35

Yes, we were specifically advised if we ever wanted DC to have school dinners we should make sure they at least tried them in Yr R, so they'd be looked after and taught what to do!

DD is fussy, won't eat that many of the dinners, but fortunately we can opt in day to day so I get some time off making packed lunches. I'm afraid I don't really care whether she eats it or not, as long as she doesn't actually pass out through hunger - she's almost always getting another hot meal after school.

Good stuff with packed lunches - fabric and PVC sandwich wraps are environmentally friendly and easier for little fingers, plus make a little plate for their lunch. I used to pre-open tube yogurts and put a clip on them. I stopped putting juice cartons in when I realised DD couldn't drink a whole one, and was putting it open, back in the lunchbox, messy!

freetrait · 28/05/2013 21:43

We are lucky, ours can have them in nursery and then they get lots of help, have a teacher sat with them etc. DD will be an old hand by Sept when she starts YR . Actually, DS joined school dinners in Y1 and absolutely no problems. For him it seemed the right time. What's cute is that sometimes they can sit together and often see each other at lunchtime.

NiceTabard · 28/05/2013 21:54

With our school there was some thing (i forget what) where we went in and were "welcome to stay" for lunch. Hmmm. i think maybe it was settling in , in sept? So I had a go at a lunch then and it was decent school dinners. I was happy with what got dished up that day.

Considerations:

What the school dishes up. This varies enormously. So that's what you need to check out. Do you know any other parents at the school to ask. can you ask them ( we can have a monthly menu if we ask). Will you be in for lunch while settling in etc. You say it is a big school - they will be old hands at this - just ring them up and ask them

For the family - packed lunches are more work obviously, and not hot. So depends on family set-up which might be more suitable

Ours are paid 1/2 term in advance. there is no problem with switching, so it's not like what you decide now is set in stone! Children in DDs class have switched and no-one has been perturbed.

racmun · 28/05/2013 22:03

My memory of school dinners is that they are rank and I will never subject my ds to them.

I would far rather give him a home made packed lunch of healthy stuff I know that he will eat and I can vary it day by day.

You can make sure he gets fresh fruit and as another poster said peel it all in readiness.

My recollection of fruit from school was a warm bruised golden delicious apple which I would take one bite of and dump it in the bin.

NiceTabard · 28/05/2013 22:30

You ought to go and look at them before you decide, surely?
you might be in a jamie oliver/michelin chef area or something.

teafor1 · 29/05/2013 07:37

My reception son does packed lunches. It's cheaper and I know what he is eating. He has a history of pickiness (though that is improving dramatically lately) and I want to know that he is filling his stomach properly for the afternoon. I can't imagine his mood on pickup if he didn't eat at lunch! He is hungry and tired as it is!

For his packed lunch I do a sandwich and fruit with a bottle of water. I peel/cut up the fruit and put a cut at the top of a banana so he can peel it easily.

daftdame · 29/05/2013 18:23

I like packed lunches.

Everything can be easy to eat. I didn't want anyone to advise mine re. knife and fork usage, servings, eating up etc.

You know what they have eaten, can pack food they like and your evening meal will not have to fit in with what they have served at school (no two lots of fish fingers etc).

FionaJT · 29/05/2013 20:41

My dd is now Yr 3 and has had school lunches since Reception. I work 3 days a week, so she was used to being served a hot lunch at nursery and eating what she was given, it seemed sensible to stick to that rountine. The lunches at her school are pretty good and she loves looking at the menu and choosing every day. I know I would get stuck in a rut with packed lunches (as the ones I take to work aren't very inspiring!) and I would get subjected to an endless round of moaning about the cool things friends have and why couldn't she have them too. As others have mentioned, the only problems have come when a best friend is having packed lunches and therefore they can't sit together.

Fairylea · 29/05/2013 20:45

As a parent of a 10 year old who has always had packed lunch I can tell you I WISH I had started her on school dinners from the beginning. Making packed lunch is one of my most hated jobs. It's like I've done everything else and then I have to make sandwiches or think about what else to get.... sounds miserable of me but I just hate it. She won't consider swapping now though, she's solidly in with the packed lunch crew etc.

Ds will definitely definitely be having school dinners.

He is 1 year old though so time yet !

olibeansmummy · 29/05/2013 20:50

Ds starts school in Sept too and wants to have school dinner, so I'm going to let him try them for a bit and then decide.

Notcontent · 29/05/2013 21:42

I think it depends on the school.

In my borough the school lunches are free, but they are not nice or healthy so my dd has always taken a packed lunch, which I know is healthy and not full of sugar and salt. A packed lunch does not need to include crisps, etc.

AlienAttack · 29/05/2013 21:52

Agree it depends on the school. My DD is in Yr1 and has had school lunches from reception. The food is all cooked onsite, there are three choices of main meal each day and the menu (for a 3 week period) is published in advance. From what my DD says, (and this may not be 100% reliable!) only about three or four children out of each class of 30have packed lunch. I love it that she eats a hot meal, usually more nutritious than any packed lunch I could prepare for her, and she is encouraged t try new things by her friends. And it has been a godsend as a working, single parent not to have to do a packed lunch every day. But I am sure I would think differently if the school lunches were not of such a high quality.

Dancergirl · 29/05/2013 23:38

If you can afford them, def school dinners!

Especially for fussy eaters, good in the long term. Packed lunches they'll eat the same things week in week out, school dinners are good for getting them to try new things in front of their peers.

I'll go against the grain here but I don't really want to know (that much!) what they're eating at lunchtime, it's one meal I don't have to worry about. Mine eat a good breakfast and good dinner, sometimes they eat their school lunch, sometimes they don't...

ThisIsMummyPig · 29/05/2013 23:47

We went for packed lunches because:

DD1 struggles with a knife and fork, so she would find eating food in public difficult and slow

There are three choices every day, and we weren't convinced she would be brave enough to ask for what she wanted

We had sample menus. Often it was meaty chile, veggie chile and baked potatos. She doesn't do spice, and she doesn't do baked potatos so on those days she wouldn't eat much

I know exactly what she eats in a packed lunch. It is healthy and filling. I do pitta in tin foil, a tub of salad, cheese and ham, a tub of cut peeled fruit, and a biscuit (or two if they're little like custard creams)

I would actually prefer her to have school dinners, as making pack ups is endlessly boring, but she is happy.

For info from her class of 26, 22 have packed lunches (even some who I am sure could get FSMs)

Dancergirl · 29/05/2013 23:55

mummypig they really help the little ones with choosing their food and cutting up. My year 1 dd tells me she often has her food cut up!

Flyingtree · 30/05/2013 02:05

But ... how can you tell exactly the amount of school dinner they have eaten that day?

HorryIsUpduffed · 30/05/2013 07:58

FlyingTree you don't, unless they get the highly controversial "I ate all my lunch" sticker

The school dinners children at our school are encouraged to eat up, whereas packed lunches are left to it.

Does it matter, though? At four and older they can tell you if it was inedible or incredible.

MadeOfStarDust · 30/05/2013 08:55

Sometimes they tell big old fibs though - when I worked as a mid-day supervisor parents would say how wonderful it was having hot food, but their little ones were the ones eating 3 lumps of meat a slice of cucumber and saying - "I don't like it" and dumping it in the slops bin....

and not all schools have the staffing levels to cut up their food.... 30min for eating (2 sittings in an hour due to hall size) - 2 mid days indoor between 180 kids.... 60 of them aged 4/5 - does not compute......

lynniep · 30/05/2013 10:09

oh -the other thing is - DS1 really doesn't like school dinners -because he has to queue for them!
This is quite a long process and means he misses out a lot on playtime. It doesn't happen of course with packed lunches because they sit down to eat immediately. Its highly important to a small person that they get as much playtime as possible!

Again, the way lunchtime is done depends on the school, so this is another reason to check out actual lunchtime before you commit.

At ours they ask parents to provide 'easy opening' food - for obvious reasons. (they also say no chocolate or high sugar foods - hypocritical buggers - fudge pie providers !)
I have found that DS1 eats more/all of his packed lunch when its packed in a cute way - sort of pseudo-bento style. A few separate pots of stuff/sandwiches with crusts off/things cut up small and into nice shapes/ you know what I mean. It seems more hassle but its not really and it means he eats up the stuff kids may often reject like the carrot sticks etc. And a wipe/napkin in the box is handy too!

Original poster

Lozario · 30/05/2013 15:39

Yes I do like the thought of knowing what he's eaten but I could also see him ditching the contents and me thinking he'd eaten it all! TBH though he's not going to waste away (he's a stocky little lad!) so if he doesn't eat that much at school he can have a snack on the way home and then a good dinner.

OP posts:

Dancergirl · 30/05/2013 15:54

Just out of interest with the knowing what they're eating brigade, what do you do with that knowledge? Suppose they didn't eat much of it? Change what you give them? Give them a snack after school?

freetrait · 30/05/2013 15:58

Yes, I'm all for encouraging independence, trying things you think you might not like, and even eating things you don't like that much if you are hungry .

Sometimes DS comes home and eats loads and I know he hasn't eaten much lunch, but this is fairly rare. DD seems to eat well all the time, or as well as she eats lunch at home (variable )

JustOneMoreBite · 30/05/2013 16:04

DD1 is absolutely adamant that she's having packed lunches when she starts in September. I think the Hello Kitty lunchbox she owns and desperately wants to use might be the main factor.

I'm hoping that at some point the lure of sponge pudding and custard might sway her. Don't really fancy the prospect of the coming decade of late-night ham sandwich making. Sigh.

MadeOfStarDust · 30/05/2013 16:12

Wraps are the way to go - they can do their own in the morning - take one wrap -put line of roast chicken/a sausage split lenghthwise/whatever meat/tinned fish is hanging about in the fridge,add a lettuce leaf, cucumber sticks, wrap it up, done.... no crusts, no butter, no faffing....
(alternatives that go down well - roast chicken is asked for most, followed by sausage, pate, cheese spread, jam, choc spread - whack it on and wrap it up.....)

or night before make extra - eg. pasta in sauce - put some by in a pot... done...

Don't become a sandwich martyr!

spanieleyes · 30/05/2013 16:45

We have tables of eight with two year 5/6 children on each to help the littlies with their school dinners, they cut up food, encourage them to eat ( it's amazing how much more a young one will eat if one of the Year 6's asks them to!) pour out the water etc. Our meals are the healthy ( Gold Standard Food for Life provider, organic, locally sourced etc) variety and the majority of our reception children have hot dinners

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