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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

School Dinners???

51 replies

wolfnipplechips · 19/05/2009 08:48

Ok so just a quick one, my dd starts primary in September and her meals are included so can anyone tell me what they do about dinners at home surely they don't have 2 dinners a day(MIL says she should).

I would be thinking more soup and sandwich am i right. I have no doubt she would eat to dinners if allowed.

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Hulababy · 19/05/2009 19:52

bigchris - the OP says that her school includes school dinners. I am assuming it is a fee paying school, similar to DDs.

Although we have to work round DD's after activities in an evening, wherever possible we do try and sit and eat together in an evening, once DD is home from work. So, it makes more sense to feed DD the same as us.

CherryChoc · 19/05/2009 20:09

Wolfnipplechips when I was at primary school (1990s) we were not left to it - the dinner ladies would encourage us to finish our plates. I remember one instance when they made me force down some disgusting "mashed potato" even though it was making me retch That was Y6 though so they probably just thought I was being stubborn.

HappyMummyOfOne · 19/05/2009 20:10

bigchris - why does having a hot meal at night defeat the object of having a school lunch?

I never went with the option of DS having school lunches so as not to cook a hot meal at night. School portions are not large and neither are they expensive. To provide a healthy sandwich/cold meal, fruit, salad and fruit juice would cost me the same as dinners if not more.

bigchris · 19/05/2009 20:11

yes I went to a day private school
hot dinner at 12pm, sandwich at 4pm home at 7pm, usually had soup and a roll

bigchris · 19/05/2009 20:13

Happymummyofone, in my eyes it defeats the object because I have always had one hot meal a day
breakfast, sandwich or salad or omeltte or beans on toast etc for lunch, proper dinner
so for me to pay £1.90 for a school dinner and then cook another dinner defeats the object
Just like I don't get why some people who pay for nursery from 8am to 6pm also give breakfast before the child goes and supper when they come home
In my mind I've paid for all the child's meals in that time
Otherwise I'd be bankrupt

Madmentalbint · 19/05/2009 20:14

Mine don't often have a school dinner, but when they do they still have a cooked evening meal. The portions at school aren't huge - not for my DC's anyway. I do have friends whose children have school meals every day and sandwiches for tea. I don't think that would be enough for most though.

bigchris · 19/05/2009 20:15

can I just add I'm not meanign to offend anyone, I am generally amazed i'm in the minority on this. I assumed everyone ate breakfast , lunch and dinner

Hulababy · 19/05/2009 20:16

But the OP may not have the packed lunch option (we don't).

there is nothing wrong with just having a sandwich int he evening, but equally nothing wrong with them eating a hot meal either.

bigchris · 19/05/2009 20:17

crumbs I am in the minority here
my ds has school diners so when he comes home he gets sarnies etc at 5pm
if i was going to make him another dinner I wouldnt bother paying for a hot meal and would send him in with a packed lunch

Hulababy · 19/05/2009 20:20

I do eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. As does DD. Just sometimes more than one of those happen to be hot. Infact sometimes we have been known to have all three hot.

Original poster

wolfnipplechips · 19/05/2009 20:21

The school is a prep hence meals are included, if she was going to a state i would probably have opted for packed lunches as thats what i'm familiar with.

Getorf We don't eat together anyway except on the weekend dh doesn't get home until 20.30 and our dc are fast asleep by then, i prefer to wait until he comes in so as we can chat over dinner. Ds is only a toddler so needs quite a bit of supervising anyway so i always sit down with them. We do have weekend family dinners and eat out regularly so they have very nice table manners.

I'm pleased some others have agreed with me about a light meal but it would mean i could spend more time with her after school if i give her something light.

OP posts:

ByTheSea · 19/05/2009 20:21

Mine all have school dinners and I make healthy cooked dinners every evening. As we eat at 7.30 (so we can eat as a family when DH gets home), they also have a substantial snack between 3 and 4 (often a sandwich), as they come home starving and frequently snack on fruit or veg before dinner as well. None of my children are remotely overweight.

bigchris · 19/05/2009 20:27

yes maybe I'll need to rethink when they're teens and eating burger and chips in the school canteen and going to bed after me and dh have our meal!

HappyMummyOfOne · 19/05/2009 20:31

I do hot meals every night too, school lunches are not huge portions and I didnt think a sandwich was enough for an evening meal. We only have sandwiches for maybe saturday lunch or if on on hols.

Hulababy · 19/05/2009 20:31

Also bear in mind that primary school lunches are generally quite small portions IME. Not much bigger once at secondary.

Also, if it is a cafeteria type affair then children are not always made to make a sensible choice, esp at secondary level. So, they may not actually be eating a proper or full meal at all, if not monitored.

duckyfuzz · 19/05/2009 20:33

my DTs are starving when they get in at 3.30 having had a school dinner, they have a snack (toast, fruit usually) then a proper meal a coupld of hours later, which they eat happily. If they had a packed lunch I dread to think how hungry they'd be

Original poster

wolfnipplechips · 19/05/2009 20:38

The thing is i don't remember being hungry when i got home from school and all i used to have was a sandwich an apple and a packet of crisps.I'll have to ask my mum. DH had 2 probably 3 dinners but he was mahoosive at school

OP posts:

GetOrfMoiLand · 19/05/2009 20:38

dd always has had school dinners and has always been hungry enough for a proper dinner in the evening as well. I think she would have been horrified to have been given a sandwich whilst me and DP ate our hot dinner! Doesn't really encourage family eating, does it? Mind you, we have always eaten our dinner lateish, around 7 - 8pm (when she was in early years it was pushed back to about 6.30ish).

It's a long time from lunch until dinner and with their levels of activity, children do get hungry. DD is certainly not overweight! She is 13 now and has just started to take in packed lunches (which she makes herself), however this is to do with the fact she hates queuing in the dinner line at school when she could be outside, I think when the cold weather comes again she will probably have school dinners again.

Sidge · 19/05/2009 20:56

My DD3 is 2 yrs 8 mths and has at least 4 meals a day!

Breakfast, hot lunch at nursery, tea at nursery then another hot dinner with the rest of us at home. As well as morning and afternoon snack time at nursery and sometimes a snack between me bringing her home at about 1630 and dinner at 1715-1730. I don't know where she puts it really.

Mind you she is like the Duracell bunny, she doesn't stop all day

Mutt · 19/05/2009 21:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Lilyloo · 19/05/2009 21:08

My ds has an option of a jacket potato and salad or omelette as well as a bigger meal at school. So not necessarily having a large meal every day.
Even when he does he eats constantly when he gets in and has a cooked meal with us in the evening.

Sidge · 19/05/2009 21:13

Forgot to say DD2 has packed lunches instead of hot dinner - at a tenner a week I can feed us all lunch, not just her.

Litchick · 19/05/2009 21:25

And don't forget that a hot meal need not be expensive, nor time consuming. There's nothing wrong with pasta, a jacket spud or a stew. All very welcoming in January.
I find that when tea is a packed tea ( due to activities) the kids eat a lot more crap, but there's a limit to how many biscuits they can hoover down after a huge plate of spaghetti.

cory · 21/05/2009 08:42

Mine still have a cooked meal in the evening when they have school dinners. Doesn't seem odd to me since I grew up in Sweden where two hot meals a day is the norm. And Swedish children aren't exactly known for being unhealthy. Personally, I think two proper meals- of the meat and two veg variety- is far healthier for you than snacks.

cory · 21/05/2009 08:43

would add that ime a cheap healthy hot dinner doesn't come any more expensive than sandwiches. Boiled spuds don't cost a lot.

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