School Lunches

[Jaybee211]

Hi,
I'm not sure if I'm the only one worrying about this but since my kids have started high school, their diets are terrible!
I try and keep mainly healthy options in the house but pretty much every day at school they are eating cakes/cookies, breaded chicken strips, hotdogs etc. The school does some hot options but there isn't much choice so if it's not something they like that day (e.g curry), then they end up eating junk instead. Also anything popular like roast dinners go really quickly so if you're not one of the first in line, you're left with the stuff no-one else wants.

I cant believe that schools are able to legally sell such unhealthy food to kids! Just wondering what your experiences are and if any schools are doing things better than ours?

They won't take packed lunches BTW, already tried that one with them!

Thanks 😊

Yes, I worry a lot about the school food culture at secondary.

The food options are all awful, all ultra-processed and beige. Nothing fresh or healthy is available at all.

I googled school food standards, and it seems they also apply to secondary level - I just don’t understand how it is possible to get away with providing such awful food.

At my DS’s school, there is nowhere for the children to sit down to eat. They are expected to stand around or perch on the edge of the stage in the hall, or on the ground in their grimy concrete playground. And they just get 20mins lunch break.

It’s the absolute opposite of creating a healthy food culture. I know a worrying number of kids who are just not eating at all during the school day.

I am already concerned at primary school age. My child has just started in Y2, and although we are still eligible for free school meals, we have opted for packed lunch to avoid the daily excessive processed rubbish on offer!

I agree it should be illegal to serve this type of food in school. Sets up poor habits and this all contributes to the NHS struggling to cope in the long run :( plus good nutrition = better concentration and better outcomes for pupils...

I thought this too. It goes from healthy ish school lunches at primary,no nut products and regular lunch box checks to the headmaster at secondary saying they can bring pretty much anything in,Inc chocolate. Things like pizza etc for lunch.

I guess I'm grateful my daughter is getting fed. Some at a different school have had no lunch for 3 days as the fingerprint system isn't working 😞

I make mine a packed lunch for this very reason. The canteen offered a free meal on the first day, she had a slice of pizza and a pot of pasta and a fizzy drink. No thanks!

Have any of you managed to get the quality of the food improved? I can’t even work out who has responsibility for food and eating facilities at my DS’s school.

My DS lost loads of weight in his first term at Secondary - the whole system was absolutely shocking.

Yes. Ds1 started off in secondary with school dinners as that's what he had at primary school. A few weeks in we switched him to packed lunch because although there was a good mixture of healthy food and rubbish, he was choosing the rubbish all the time.

It's so shocking isn't it. My ds spent the first two years eating nothing but breaded spicy chicken strips as there was either nothing he liked or the queue was that long that there was nothing else left anyway! My dd has been there 3 days so far and had breaded chicken every day! The junk food manufacturers must be making a fortune.

DS has just got in from school and has had nothing to eat since breakfast as there was nothing left in the canteen. Whatever happened to Jamie Oliver and his turkey twizzler campaign!?

DD went back to packed lunch after a term in secondary school.

TBH, I am less concerned about the quality, we do decent meals at home but more the time spend in queues and the lack of food available when she was in the furtherest away building. She had 40 minutes lunch break and didn't want to spend 2/3 of it queueing.

Just tell them that they are having healthy packed lunches from now on 🤷🏼‍♀️ you are the adult and get to make the decisions.