How many of you pay for school dinners?

[Popsicle82646]

DS started Key stage 2 in September, and as you are aware free school meals are no longer available for them once they get into KS2.
Our school dinners are £2.44 a day which includes a pudding, they can choose a hot meal or sandwich bar/salad bar jacket potato option also.
Since DS has started I've paid for his lunches so far working out at £12.20 a week, which I don't think is bad at all and well worth the money.

I'm aware if you didn't have the spare money then parents would just do a packed lunch, but I'm grateful and lucky to have a household income where we are able to spend this on school dinners weekly.

It just got me thinking I wonder how many people actually pay for school dinners for their DC once they are no longer free?

Do the majority now do packed lunches?

I don't mean the post to come across rude or judgmental at all, I am aware every one's circumstances are different and £12.20 a week may not be worthwhile or do able for some households.

I don’t and higher income household that is very comfortable,

I can make a more decent pack up for £12 a week and know what they are eating, especially if they are picking a sandwich everyday!

I went on a school trip and the quality was shocking!

My DC also started KS2 this year, I'm just paying for school dinner because frankly we have enough to do without making packed lunches every day as well. DC is a fussy eater but does actually try new things at school, and is used to school dinners having had them throughout KS1, so we decided to continue. It's £2.45/day so £12.25/week.

There are low income families who continue to be eligible for FSM in KS2, btw.

I pay for school dinners. It’s £2.70 a day.

Exactly this. We are high earners and I object to the cost of school dinners (£2.55) for absolute rubbish.

DD has one school lunch a week because she enjoys having one with her friends but I can make a far more balanced and nutritious packed lunch 4 days a week for the same cost (or less) as paying for school lunches

My DD is still in KS1 so gets free meals but I send in a packed lunch. I think the quality of the meals at her school is very poor, and we can afford (and have the time) to send in a better lunch for her.

When DD1 was in Yr3 I did.
I stopped when both in KS2... it added up with two!

£0. We get them free up until year 6 currently in all London areas.

We live in wales and all school dinners are free, regardless of age or income etc. I assumed it was a uk wide policy!

My dd has just gone into Key Stage 2 and is now on packed lunches at her request but I’ve got some money in her parent pay account for if she changes her mind. With my eldest who’s just gone up to comp we tended to do hot dinners in autumn/winter and pack up in the spring/summer terms. You have to give a weeks notice to change at our school so they can’t just have it on a Friday or one day a week, once you’re on one it’s a weeks notice either way as they order the food in for the week depending on how many have hot dinners.

Working in a school, I see the amount that kids get for that money and I can tell you now, its not worth it! The portions are small and most of it gets wasted. Packed lunches are better as they're more likely to be eaten. School dinners don't taste that great either 😬

That’s not remotely what the comment you’re replying to said at all. Why be so inflammatory?

The OP literally said it wasn’t a bad price and she thought it was “well worth the money”. At what part does she make herself look hard done by?

Like a PP I pay for it because I cannot be bothered to do a packed lunch every day. After I’ve negotiated the banned items and DC whims and fusses it wouldn’t be especially nutritious or interesting. Also then my KS1 DC would want one too. Maybe when they’re both in KS2.

Dinners are £2:30 and both children say they’re OK and quantities are fine. Improved in both aspects with a new supplier this year apparently.

In primary, both DS took packed lunch from day one reception to the last day of Yr6. This was nothing to do with the cost but everything to do with how picky they both were.
In secondary school, they both stay for school lunches, we put £70 on each DS account every month, and sometimes have to top up more if they have waffles or a bacon sandwich at morning break. They both take a water bottle, though. I refuse to pay for bottled water.
It certainly wouldn't cost £140 to make up packed lunches, but they really like the meals at secondary, and they seem to be really good quality, so we pay it.

Ours are compulsory, no packed lunches allowed. £3.20 a day which seems expensive compared to others on this thread. DS likes them though and they seem to get decent sized portions.

I don’t, because the quality of our school dinners is shocking. I’d far rather pay than have the faff of making packed lunches every morning, but I’m not willing for them to eat that shite. Even my KS1 child takes a packed lunch.

It’s free for all of primary for is. Either way I think £12 is good value. You’re paying around that for a weeks pack lunches with enough variety and dinners save a job!
If DD gets to a point when she requests packed lunch then I suppose I’ll have to start but most of the kids have dinners.

That’s not what she said.

The meals at my kids school are amazing I'll definitely pay if she wants them at that stage. Then she can have a samdwhich or a toast meal for dinner

Nope. DS been on FSM since year 1 in wales. All primary children now have FSM which is good.

Re read the OP.

Yes they're P3 and P4 pupils. They have been getting free school meals since starting school. Also in nursery too with their 30 hours per week preschool years.

Are your reading comprehension skills very poor?

YY, I think it must be tricky if you have one child in KS2 and the other in KS1. In that scenario I would definitely do school dinners for both at least until the youngest is in KS2. I'd be annoyed if I had a child in KS1 wanting packed lunches like their older sibling, when they could get school dinners for free.

We get free school meals anyway, but I think packed lunches would come to the same amount of money or more, but involve a lot of extra shopping and time I don't have.