Our canteen is a disaster!

[ameliaanne]

Not sure if this comes under 'education' but we have a year old school canteen and it needs help! The facilities are great but the food isn't. Only one choice of hot meal but loads of puds etc. Problem is that this is a British school in France and so the chefs are not familiar with catering for British kids! We don't want turkey twizzlers - just all round good food that the kids will eat! Anyone got kids who eat at a good school canteen that could post some ideas on what makes it work?! (Salad/pasta bars?) Can't change supplier at the moment and if we did we'd be up against the same cultural problems - they just need pointing in the right direction!
Thank you!!

[Bramshott]

DD's school does a kind of "rota" menu:

Tuesdays is always pizza
Wednesdays is always a roast of some kind
Fridays is always fish & chips

So Mon and Thurs are the only ones that change substantially, and they seem to be things like burgers, sausage casserole, curry etc. There is always a vegetarian choice each day.

[MsDav]

Latchmere School website has a lunch menu on their website under information if that helps

[ameliaanne]

Yes - I think some kind of rolling menu would work - concentrating on the food the children would eat and are familiar is. Am all for healthy eating (and the french on the whole have got it right) but my DD's are struggling with lentils and the veg that is always pureed! Forgot to add that this is a school for age 3 up to 18.

[jicky]

The dinner lady cook books have quantities for school kitchens and families. Maybe you could 'discover' your copy and lend it to the kitchen?

Jacket potatoes and fillings might be a simple alternative to the main meal - have these most days at dc school.

[ageing5yearseachyear]

my dd2 has jacket spuds with fillings on every day. they have a choice of 2 other main meals, one of which is veggie. they also have a salad bar with baguettes so they can make their own. Hot meals range from sausages and mash to pizza/pasta with the odd roast chucked in. All is organic.

Every day, dd2 tells me lunch was dreadful!

[ameliaanne]

Thanks for all suggestions! Everyday the children come home telling me how terrible lunch was but today was 'yummy' so maybe we are on an up?!!