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.

Ds3 is in Y3 and his dinners are free (we're in Wales, I believe it's free for up to Y6 now).

Older dc in secondary/college we pay for - about £3-£4 a day each.

Our school dinners are £3.50 a day and the food is not actually prepared onsite, just warmed up. Thankfully we can mix and match and do packed lunches as well some days but we are edging towards more packed lunches because my kids are coming home hungry and always moaning about the small portion sizes and poor food quality with school meals.

Hi. Afaik part of the tomato base all blended up with cheese on top

I'm not a lentil fan and thought yuk sound rank - but just said to mini blondes it was cheese pizza

Omg @rzb when I picked her up she raved about it and said best pizza ever tasted. She gets it once every 3w on a Monday and always says yummy when I say it's pizza day 😂😂

In London, meals are free in KS2 for now. We have a meal menu from school that cycles every 3 weeks. DC tells me what they like and what they don't. Generally there is a consensus amongst the kids if a particular meal is horrible. So it's packed lunch on that day.

£3.20 here, but the food is really good. Lots of kids complain that their parents don't make things as well as the school cook. He's brilliant at giving taster portions if kids aren't sure, or remembering what is each child's favourite. His roasts are yummy, and not at all dry.

Happy to pay it, although there's probably a request for a packed lunch about once a week. Also usually had a packed lunch for school trips, although we can order a school one, which are really nice - homemade cheese straws and shortbread!

@Blondeshavemorefun Thankyou. The next time I make a make a batch of pizza sauce it'll have some hidden lentils. My kids will knowingly eat lentils, but I figure it's never bad to get some extra protein and fibre into kids. Well done to your school's caterers!

I had visions of the lentils being whole on the top of cheese but it's def not like that

So blended sneaky lentils into the sauce

@Popsicle82646 , in London all school meals are free for state primary aged dc, it's paid for by the Mayor.

I pay £175 a term for school meals for son in ks2 and other son at secondary school spends about £2.50 a day.
The primary school meals are good and I would rather they had hot food rather than me having to make sandwiches every day. I also like to support the school financially in some way although not sure how much of a profit they make on the meals.

@Completelyjo I hadn't heard of this so I was questioning it. Given my council is bankrupt I very much doubt it will introduce it but yes, I could make the regional major aware as he will no doubt have a budget. No need to be aggressive in your response and thank you to the other poster who was helpful in theirs.

I'm in London so school dinners are free in KS2. Otherwise I probably wouldn't pay as DD won't eat most of them and usually just has a jacket potato. Now DS in KS3 can manage to spend £5 a day on food (this may include snacks) and says they're pretty decent however still comes home starving so not sure about the portion sizes (he's a tiny 12 year old not a strapping teen).

Most schools do it through an external provider and don’t make any profit on them.

I work in a small school. Our cook is so fab that lots of staff also pay to eat school dinners. I have worked in schools that don't have such a susperstar in the kitchen and wouldn't go near what they make.

I don't pay. The school meals are far worse quality than i can provide in a packed lunch. Limited choices of fruit/salad/veg, horrendously processed sausages. Nothing is cooked fresh from scratch and when eldest was in ks1 the portions weren't enough.

What does everyone put in their children's packed lunch? I need ideas for nutrition and variety.

I threaten my 10 year old with school dinners if he doesn’t eat his packed lunch! They do sound pretty awful and they are £3.44 here!!

Mine had school dinners. My time isn't cost free, I'm self employed, it's straightforward to put a monetary value of my labour, I can earn far more using that mental and physical time to work. That and I fecking hate food shopping.

Mine left primary before the free school lunches were rolled out (Wales) and I was glad! They were bad in primary except for curry day, secondary is dire, all they seem to have is variations of chicken burgers or mozzarella sticks. DC4 asked for the salad one day and the dinner lady thought he was being cheeky!
I hate making packed lunches and they cost me way more than the school lunch would but they can’t eat the school food every day.
I wish they’d make them better, I’d happily pay more for decent food. My nephews French school lunches are exquisite.

our school cook their own lunches and are really good quality meals and both the kids love them.
it’s fairly cheap too as it’s in-house £2.50 per day or £10 for 5 days in the week. They’re varied and nutritious and have helped the kids explore different options.
£2 a day for 2 courses, home made bread and butter and fruit isn’t bad and so we pay it and as others have said - one less job to do in the mornings

My two are at secondary school but we've always let them choose, they can decide on the day if they want school lunch or a packed lunch. But they have to queue for it so often prefer to take it in.

Ours are £3.40 in KS2 and we give ds the choice (he knows the menus as he had the free meals throughout ks1). I cab provide a healthy packed lunch for that price very easily.

My son has packed lunches due to his limited diet.

He has a ham sandwich, crisps, fruit etc pretty much every day so it only takes a few minutes to throw together.

Two lots of fruit, for example, an apple and grapes or a satsuma/tangerine and strawberries. Carrot and/or cucumber, ham sandwiches on seeded bread. Packet of crisps and a very small treat, usually one small chocolate. Sometimes I might cut up some olives too or some cheese.

I'd also be interested in what others do? I see some really fancy ones online that look amazing, but I tend to go for speed - what can easily be chopped up, thrown in tupperware and the lunchbox and easy to eat (not too messy).

I'm the exact opposite from the poster that said it's packed lunch unless it's a special occasion. I do school dinners, unless it's a special occasion, such as celebration assembly, school trip etc, I do a packed lunch on those days. It would definitely cost me more if I was doing packed lunch every day.

I've found this thread really interesting. I didn't know that London primary school children and primary children in Wales got free school meals until year 6.. lucky them! I also didn't realise that the cost was school dependent! I thought it was the same price everywhere. Ours seems to be on the high side £3.25 per meal. However, it's two courses - main meal and dessert and the quality is really good.