Please can you come and tell me about your children's hot school dinners?

[zog]

Our school is looking to introduce hot school meals and I'd be really interested to hear anyone's experience of the meals in their school e.g.:

if they're run by a catering company - who are they and what do you think of the meals?

if they're done independently, how difficult was it to set up?

how do the children pay for their meals? Do they have to sign up for specific days or is it flexible?

Thanks in advance

Catering company provide them. They hand out termly menus for the parents to look at. £9.25 per week. You have to pay for the whole half term you can't do odd days.

Thanks - do you know what the company's called? Are you happy with the meals?

Might be Harrison Catering (my two have packed lunches so not sure. Haven't heard anyone complaining and they do use fresh ingredients and cook it at the school.

Thanks for that, I'll google them.

Anyone else?

County Council run and cooked on site. Three week rolling menu changes twice a year. £1.70 per day we pay by the half term. You can't opt in and out at whim only at each term\half term. Not bad quality -sounds reasonable stuff anyway.

Cooked on site, I think it is something to do with the council and the workers are generally SN.

4 week rolling menu - really nice stuff, had some on parents evening.

£8.60 or summat a week - have to pay by Weds morning the week before if you want it.

Ours are supplied by scolarest[SP]they seem to have found a happy medium between healthy eating and what the children like. £1.80 a day paid weekly in advance,only problem is they never seem to bring enough of the more popular items, so the children at the end of the dinner line often have no choice.

DS's school use Harrison.

DS has just asked to go back to school dinners after a term and a half of packed lunch. He enjoys them, there are 3 choices a day, a 3 week rolling menu, you can only opt in for a half term at a time, no odd days.

Don't know how much it costs - £40 for this half term, 25th Feb - 4th April minus 2 bank hol days.

They do seem responsive - complaints via the school council that a favourite - Jamaican lamb Pie - had become too spicy has resulted in a return to the old recipe!

They will tailor the menu to the preferences of the school, and deliver some things ready cooked and some prepared and ready to cook, I think.

Yesterday the choice was:
mexican lamb wrap
fish in batter with lemon
Baked potato with beans and cheese

Lemon sponge and custard or yog

Today the choice was
Chinese Chicken
Tuna Melt
Veg Curry

with rice or something else

Strawberry jelly with apricots or yog.

They always have salad, fresh fruit and yog as a pudding choice.

They don't use processed meat except sausages.

Cooked on site, by dinner ladies employed by school.

Not sure if it's a rolling menu, but the same meals do pop up pretty frequently.

Two choices of main course, and choice of veg/salads. Always a fruit option and a 'proper pudding' option.

Ds likes tham a lot.

You can choose have them for example two days a week if you like. Payable in advance weekly, half termly, termly.

£1.80 per day.

Thanks, this is all really useful stuff. Harrison sound interesting from their website. Blu or KBear, do you know how they deal with the children each day i.e. how do they know who's having a hot meal and who isn't?

£1.15/day, paid for an a daily basis. totally flexible. Choice of hot and cold. Majority prepared off site - school doesn't have its onw kitchens.

Council runs a Healthy Eating policy, so chips only once a week.

Wow £1.15, that's incredible value! Whereabouts are you PB?

3 week rolling menu

freshly prepared by the school cook

£1.75 per day.

DS can decide on the day if he likes the options or not. If not then he has sandwiches.

Today was chicken wrap, couscous with veg rice, sponge pud and custard

3 types of salad
sandwiches
and 2 veg per lunch

Good value if your child is a good eater.

"Blu or KBear, do you know how they deal with the children each day i.e. how do they know who's having a hot meal and who isn't? "

Just asked DD - the teacher has a note in her register each week of the names of the hot dinner children.

cooked on site, council food initiative, healthy menu
The children choose at the beginning of each week which meals they want and can choose from meat, veggie or jacket potato options. They really love school meals.

Council food, 4 weekly rolling menu, we pay half termly as DS1 has a school meal every day, however you can decide on the monday as to which days your child wants a school dinner. They also promote Friday as the "day to try a school dinner"

There are always 2 main meals, a vegetarian dish, also salads and sandwiches provided daily. Fresh fruit as well as puddings. Loads of different veg too.

Ds loves his school meals and they sit the children with packed lunches in with the children having school dinners so that they packed lunch kids can see the school dinners, I think they are also hoping for a bit of peer pressure!!

oh and it's £1.50 per day for reception year. This is Leeds City Council.

Ours are cooked at the school from scratch with locally sourced food.

It is £1.85 a day and children can have any combination of days. I send in money every half term or few weeks depending on how much it is.

Cooked in school kitchen. Price of lunches included in a voluntary contribution at start of year. Fresh fruit, raisins, bread, honey, cheese on all tables at all times and then a rolling maincourse menu homemade pizza, pasta, a potato thing, a rice thing, something else (can't remember) and it's all gorgeous organic and vegetarian food and my son will EAT NONE OF IT he comes home saying he had 3 raisins and a bit of bread for lunch.

Oh these are so helpful. It's amazing how much the price differs. Still at £1.15!

Wish our council would provide them - it would be so much easier

£1.40 a day, cooked in school kitchen by school cook and her helper...

really nice, 4-week menu - things like spag bol, followed by fresh fruit, tuna pasta then apple crumble, chicken korma etc tec - treat day on Fridays (school-made fishfingers and oven chips and peas etc, with ice cream)

dd LOVES them.

DD is a private prep and school dinners are compulsory, included in the school fees.

Meals are home cooked on the premises and there is a three week menu. There are no alternatives to choose from, bar those signed up as vegetarian. Dessert is the selected dessert or fruit.

Ds was a really fussy eater, and never ate his packed lunch. So I thought I'd try school dinners - success! He loves them, and always tells me in great detail what he has had that day. They look decent enough, £1.80 a day, and the children can choose which days they want a dinner a week in advance.

I simply don't understand why so many parents sneer at school dinners, and then provide a lunchbox filled with Dairylea Lunchables/Cheese Strings/Pepperami etc which must end up costing far more than £1.80.

Zog - we're in Glasgow. And what's more, we're not evenpaying the £1.15 at the moment as there is a trial going on funded by the Scottish Exeecutive where, since Ocotber, P1-P3 kids get free lunches. We go back to paying in April.

That's incredible! Some places have such forward thinking councils and others such as ours...

A long shot but does anyone have any experience, either as a teacher/governor or parent of a school setting up their own hot meals service?

DD is same as Hulababy above. They have a choice of main meal or veg option. They also have a choice of asking for a Ploughmans. However they can only do it once a week so it is a bit like playing your joker and DD (5 tomorrow!) has to use this option carefully!