School Meals TERRIBLE, or am I being unreasonable?

[Pikachoomumma]

My DC is in Year 2 at a private school and I'm pretty unhappy with the food he is getting, but not sure if I'm being unreasonable?

He is on a special diet (though I don't feel that should be relevant) and AT HOME I try to be really careful about feeding him - breakfast will be muesli (he doesn't know sugary cereals exist) and other meals will be a variety or carbs, protein and I try to smuggle in nuts / seeds / omega oils etc Whenever I can. I generally aim for 7+ portions of fruit and veg a day.

At school, meals will be baked potato and beans, pasta and tomato sauce, pasta and sweetcorn, chips and non-meat fish substitute (every Friday is fish and chips day). Pudding at school is always apple, orange, banana or biscuits, as is snack time. When the school make packed lunches, it is always juice, crisps, banana, and jam sandwiches with no spread used.... One day a fortnight ago he had the same lunch two days in a row.

Doesn't that seem a very poor offering? I wouldn't really say he would get any of his '5 a day' in backed potato and beans or 'fish' and chips, and one at most from the pasta / sweetcorn / tomato sauce. Plus the pasta dishes are lacking in protein.

Shouldn't I also expect him to be given cooked puddings sometimes? Apple crumble, stewed fruit and custard etc?

Would it be unreasonable for me to approach the school and ask them to make changes? If so, what should I expect? Can I expect them to give him a balanced meal with at least 3 portions of fruit and veg for every meal time? Are their any laws about nutritional content for private schools?

My dcs schools vegetarian option is jacket potatoes, every single day. Your menu doesn't sound to bad.

What sort of "special" diet are you referring to? It may be that the regular meal option is more balanced, but if he's in a restricted diet then that is what he is offered. It would be very difficult for any school kitchen to cover EVERY individual dietary need in school every day.

School meals in general are quite poor. I have children in 4 schools and thought the food on offer and the nutritional content have been awful. Especially while most schools have a ban on treats in lunch boxes and yet offer sugary puddings.

Dds in in year 7. Her school has signs up saying there will issue a 'c4' (punishment) for children found with chocolate or fizzy pop. Deposited the fact that thy sell cookies, donuts, waffles etc.

I am not sure a school will changes it's menu, because one person asks. Can you speak to other parents, the more of you there is the more likely there is to be change. Or, hopefully, other parents have complained and you are adding your voice to it. Do they cook meals on site?

Beans do count as a portion of veg I believe. And I would assume that the school offers peas/beans with the fish and chips. I would imagine that the schools meal is 'balanced' according to government guidelines. However that would include children making certain choices. And personally I don't feel the meals are healthy.

Ds qualifies for fsm as he is 4, I still do him a packed lunch. Dd also has a packed lunch too. It's the only way I can ensure the kids are eating healthily.

Oh and yes, the diet he is on will effect it and what's available.

Have you seen what is available to ensure he's not just failing to select veg?

State schools have various standards they are expected to meet for nutritious lunches www.gov.uk/school-meals-healthy-eating-standards

• If you are paying, then worth asking why you are getting inferior meals once you are sure that is the case. Though they may be trying to meet parental demand, given how many MN posters complain that cooked orother puddings are offered at all and think they shouldn't be included in school food standards...

The thing is, if they provided the children at school with what you provide your child with at home, the children would be hungry and the food would get scraped in the bin.

Regardless of what is or isn't considered healthy, you have to provide them with something they will actually eat.

Baked beans do count but only as one of his portions. Fresh fruit is always available to him too so most days he should be able to get two a day at school. You could maybe ask that they make some vegetables available on non fish protein and chips day. I think that with a restricted diet, especially if he is in a small minority, then it will be hard to get them to do a wide variety of foods. You also need to consider what the other children eating a similar diet might be eating or willing to eat. For example they might not be able to add any nuts or seeds because Jonny is allergic to nuts and also a vegetarian, they can't add cheese because Sam is vegan as well as vegetarian.

I know that ideally we should be aiming for 10 portions a day but the unfortunate reality is that most people don't make even 5 a day and so the school would argue that actually one in the morning, two from their lunch and then 2 in the evening meets nutritional guidelines. I think that it is only state schools which have to meet the guidelines, however I imagine that technically they do meet them most days. It is tricky as often private schools won't let you bring packed lunches.

I think that you could consider whether there is anything that could easily and cheaply be added to the lunches (e.g. add peas with the chips) and suggest that, but no I don't think that they sound terrible and he has a varied diet at home. As long as my child has enjoyed the meal, had some of their five a day and is satisfied with the amount I am happy. I can easily add in some extra portions at home with a large bowl of fruit for breakfast, a healthy snack after school (I often give popcorn, although not one of your 5 a day it is v healthy) and a few veg for supper.

Fresh fruit is a much better pudding than cooked puddings. I'd be very happy with fresh fruit.

The food on offer at your DC's school sounds cheap and boring but not lacking in nutrients other than protein. But presumably you give him a good dinner? Why don't you up the protein content of his breakfast to include an egg/ham/cheese?

Is he vegan? Or vegan plus gluten free? Might be worth making some suggestions to the kitchen if he is on a very restricted diet.

I think that sounds pretty poor although it depends on how restricted a diet he's on. Our school meals are good and there is a varied vegetarian choice every day (only prepared for children who are vegetarian). Other special diets are catered for individually but (I think) require a Drs letter. We can provide a packed lunch if preferred.

Thank you all so much for the replies, very interesting! I wonder if maybe my expectations are too high? My DC is on a vegan diet, which is not as restricted as it sounds - there are lots of types of carbs, proteins, fruit, veg, nuts etc. Plus dairy alternatives Which can give him a balanced diet (though I do understand the school needs to have a nut free policy which I'm totally happy with). The school used to have a terrible reputation for the food, but it changed caterers and the new team invited me for a tour of the kitchens and a nice chat about what they could do, so I was initially really really impressed!

As DC is still in the pre-pep he is not allowed to make his own food choices yet, though I believe he will be from year 3 in the prep department.

@Youcantbesadholdingacupcake: omg, jacket potatoes every day! That's appalling! Poor vegetarians! I'm surprised the school is allowed to do that.

@LadyPenelope68: you could be right - he is the only vegan in a school of around 1300 pupils and staff!

@Spartans: yes, cooked on site. The staff I met on the tour of the kitchens were so lovely and proud of what they did - I don't want to offend them either! Goodness, the hypocrisy of the school you describe really shocks me! I'm surprised the parents don't kick up a fuss about it!? And that's so sad that you have to give your DS packed lunches because its healthier, especially when you should be getting fsm!!

@Notcitrus: very good advice, I'll have a read. Thanks!

@ Leavemywings: that's true! Though I'd hope eventually they'd get hungry enough to eat something healthy rather than nothing ;-)

@shouldweest: I think most of his meals are adapted from the vegetarian ones when possible, and when not possible I think they cook separately just for him! You're right about being able to top up healthier stuff at home, though this won't be possible if he does some boarding when he is older. Maybe I should count my blessings though!

@bobochic: agree that fresh fruit is good, but when other kids are getting interesting cooked puddings and he has a biscuit it seems a bit sad - I think I'd prefer him to at least get a fairly healthy cooked pudding like fruit crumble (made with minimal sugar).

@Eva 50: other special diets require a doctors letter!!! Omg, that seems very unfair? Lots of special diets usually have no medical reasons eg. Halal, kosher, vegan etc. Therefore no doctors letter. At least they can bring in a packed lunch though. Come to think of it, the public school I attended in the 1990's didn't even offer hot meals unless you wanted to walk for 15 minutes to the other site, which nobody did.... So we all had packed lunches.

Thank you everyone!

It is very expensive to cater for children (and staff) on restricted diets when the cost per person given to the caterers per meal is very small. Bulk cooking is much cheaper than having to make an individual thing for one child, especially when it sounds like it is a personal choice type diet not a restricted diet for medical reasons.

I frequently get weird food at school because my restricted diet is difficult to cater for in bulk (no carbs).

I know our caterer is only allowed to use certain suppliers too, we found it very hard to deal with gluten free things because of the restriction on suppliers.

Well some of our kids vegetarian meals are fish which I'm quite appalled at others are salad, jacket potato, mac and cheese, pizza, Quorn burger, Quorn wrap, veggie curry or stir fry both aren't favoured as they have raisins in which they find odd.

I'm vegan my eldest are vegetarian they take pack lunches now as they hated school lunch, my younger takes lunches as he has high functioning autism and out of the house is happy to be omni but he's only five.

I'm not impressed one day the youngest wouldn't eat either lunch option so they gave him two puddings a yoghurt, biscuit with icing, fruit and cake with custard. I wasn't happy all he'd had for lunch was a range of puddings but at least he'd eaten.

I think it's tricky for a school to cater for special diets. You can't really expect them to cope with more than offering a vegetarian option (which should be vegetarian - not fish).

I'm vegan, and so was dd until she was about 7 and decided to become veggie instead. While she was vegan she only had school dinners a few times a month as the rest of the time the veggie option either wasn't vegan or was something that she wouldn't eat.

If you've got a restricted diet (I know there are loads of options at home, but a school kitchen has limited ingredients) then it's easier just to send kids with a packed lunch.

Yes, I can imagine it could get expensive if you need to have 1 member of staff to deal just with special diets.... But I suppose I feel that the school fees should cover that sort of thing???

Obi wan - lol at fish for vegetarians! Terrible! You're school meal provisions don't sound the best :-( pity eldest want to take packed lunches.

Hm, I wonder if any other kids at DC's school take packed meals? Impossible for boarders of course, but then they have a kitchenette when older.

Thanks so much for the suggestions everyone! I think I've now lowered my expectations a bit, but will approach the catering dept gently.

Thanks!

I think hot puddings at winter are a must! But vegan options might be more tricky. My son has custard and apple crumble and sponge cakes, though I doubt these are vegan. They also have fresh fruit and smoothies. I think it must be very tricky with the parents at our school. Some parents dont want to have their kids to have sugar, lots of nut allergies (mine), and veggie kis and kids who want to eat meat but mums wont let them! Parents shadowing their kids at lunchtime to see what they eat. I think if your child is a vegan it would be hard to offer a hot pudding option to be honest without cooking puddings just for him! You can always ask!

I was going to say it sounded bad, but tbh I think vegan is very difficult. Yes, it is possible to cook great variety in vegan food, but since he would be the only kid in the school you are basically asking for them to dedicate a staff member to personally prepare one meal for one child. And the associated massive planning time of devising a personal menu plan.

Our meals are good for vegetarians - there is a meat option, a veggie and jackets as a third (which always has veggie topping choices). Sometimes the veggie meal might be vegan, but very rarely I would guess.

Ours are awful too. I've researched a lot. The official nutritional standards are actually very low and easy to meet. I suspect companies go for the cheapest/easiest food to make, therefor giving the companies higher profit margins. I suspect companies alsoworry about a potential low uptake of food if they serve proper healthy food. A lot of uk kids eat utter crap these days

I would approach the school. Jam sandwiches, biscuits and tomato sausage with pasta is rubbish!

If you Pm me, I will send you a link to the menu at my sons prep school. Though they do serve sugary puddings, it is a lot more interesting, and varied than what you describe. If you wanted to approach the school, it would be good ammunition. Obviously, I am not sure how they would cater for a vegan specifically.

sounds about normal to me, how much sugar is in his muesli?

As it's probably due to the cost issue of not being able to bulk cook vegan, could you perhaps send in an extra to accompany his meal? As in all fairness they probably are using what you pay already.

As for veg, I think with many types, unless it's cooked and served immediately the nutritional benefit is insignificant anyway, and with school meals practicality usually dictates kids aren't getting freshly steamed broccoli etc. So except for taste/ bulking out its a bit pointless anyway. I'd be asking for raw veg/ side salad etc on offer for him/ sent in rather than meals with veg in iyswim.

At DD's ££ Junior they have a choice of a meat/fish/veggie main each day, with a pasta or baked potato option (plus cheese/tuna etc) if that doesn't please them. There is always veg and/or salad. to accompany. Puddings are usually baked or there is fresh fruit and yoghurt. There are children at the school who are coeliac and others allergic to nuts and legumes.

A great number of the kids walk to school; they play games for several hours/week in the school day plus other clubs at the start/end of the day. They need to eat A LOT!

I think I would need a bit of guidance about how to cater for a child who would prefer not to eat meat/fish/egg/dairy/pasta/cake/ice-cream (and no nuts or pulses for the allergic kids).

I'm not judging, but I am just guessing that the cooks would rather please 90% of the kids with their given budget.

BTW, school meals are a regular gripe at our parent rep meetings (usually about portion sizes for the more active kids). I am sure any school would be delighted to be presented with a budget-friendly vegan option for week or two of lunches that had been tried and enjoyed by non-vegan playmates.

Our school does fish for the vegetarian children. This is because our 'vegetarian' children are 'vegetarian' because of their faith and their religion allows fish. Could be the case for your schools too so don't judge without knowing all the facts. We have no children on school meals who are complete vegetarians.

saltlake they are pescetarians, not vegetarians in that case.

OP I think that vegan is really, really restrictive as part of mass catering, so you definitely need to talk to the school and will probably need to give them some guidance. Cpyld thwy do good oldbatch cooking/freezing for him? Jam sandwiches are shocking! But are things like houmous allowed, ie can he have sesame at school?