school lunch rip off

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

I agree that you are being ripped off. I tried school dinners for a week for my 2 and even went in at lunchtime to see for myself, they were disgusting. My dog wouldn't eat it. Now they have packed lunches which are healthier and cost nowt really.

I would plan ahead with your weekly shop and do packups, its cheaper and better for them. Good luck

lolababy

My dd has free school meals and she seems to like them. We get a menu with three choices per day. On the other hand my ds says the food is expensive at school so I have to give him extra money.
Whats worrying is those children who rely on the dinner at school to be the only full meal of the day. Some may be going home to a bag of chips if lucky.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

bride_on_a_budget wrote: »

i just spoke to one of the meal time assistants and she said they kids who are packed lunch are not allowed to take anything hot in for lunch in flasks ect due to health and safety!

bride

Just as I suspected, another ploy to penalise packed lunch kids. Does this H&S policy mean that they are serving cold food then?

Its about time they took kids food really seriously and I don't mean use the subject as a means to dictate to parents, but put things in place like a fridge for them to store their lunchboxes (now THAT'S what I call real health and safety measures) not leave them next to some hot radiator all day etc.. Clean eating areas properly supervised and checks made on kids table manners (my kids are disgusted that some of their mates can't use a knife and fork!)

I am sick, sick, sick of people telling me and my kids what to eat. I can feed 4 of us on a £250 monthly budget and that includes 3 meals a day. I cook everything from scratch and grow my own when I can. We are all relatively healthy specimens and within the normal BMI range.

Another bug bear is food tech/domestic science (whatever they call it now) what a waste of food and money!

My mantra is...'if the government spent less time telling us to eat 5 pieces of fruit and managed the economy better we wouldn't be in this mess now'

One more point, can you imagine this happening in countries such as Greece or Italy? Imagine how your typical European housewife would react if her kids were fed the rubbish that is served up in schools? Or how she would react if government policy was forced onto her family? Its unbelievable and yet another example of nanny state Britain.

Rant over.

Krystaltips

DD just came home with a flyer in her lunch box inviting me to a 'healthy lunch box' workshop... Do they not think 2 portions of fruit, 1 portion of vegetable, a ham sandwich and a yoghurt with a bottle of water is healthy then? Maybe I should of stuck with the cake and custard school dinners...

ukjoel

I remember when I was a kid (about 6 or 7)I refused lunches - this must have been about 25 years ago and we wernt allowed packed lunches then so option was school meals or no school meals. We wernt allowed out of school to by anything.

I remember it causing huge issues - School doctor, even a psychologist (think they presumed it was dyslexia) followed by social services etc.
They all got the same answer from me - Food is awful so why do I want to eat it.

Eventually they called in school cook who looked me up and down and then said she agreed with me and should wouldnt touch the stuff if she was me either.

I think schools and councils are desperate to save money and this is one way they can do it. Even back in my day they used to run out of stuff half way through and they used to rotate classes so that you got your first choice at least a couple of days a week.

They have a budget of about 50p a kid and lets face it - how many adults eat there!!

Tell your kid to take a picture of his meal each day on a cameraphone or give him a cheap camera. Then send the picture to the school and local paper.
That should get a reaction.....................

J

tattoed_bum

My sons school is also the same they are not allowed any thing in a flask,
my biggest bug bear with his school is that they only give the kids 15 minutes to eat there lunch,
i know this may sound reasonable but i hate the fact that they are bolting there food down ,my son often comes home with bits left in his box saying that he didnt have enough time to finish his food,
he normally has a little tub with some chopped fruit ,
eg kiwi,satsuma or apple another small tub with some chopped cucumber,cherry tomatoes ,
a tortilla wrap or a sandwich
they also arent allowed any treats in there box which i think is a little unfair as at dinners they have desert
i put a twinks hob nob in his box today and they sent it back home with a note saying biscuits were not allowed

horseykitty

I was shocked to work out how much my kids school dinners were costing me - it was over £1500 a year a couple of years ago. I vowed that they'd go onto packed lunches, but I got lazy and they went back onto school dinners. It is only when I went on maternity leave and we've had to cut down that they have gone onto packed lunches and stayed on them since about May. They say you live up to your means but I am determined that they will stay on them now that I am back at work part time.

bride_on_a_budget

i have just signed up as a meal time assistant at my sons school so i can see exactly what he is offered and what he gets.

i'm glad i started this thread as i now know i'm not the only one being ripped off

bride

tiamai_d

bride_on_a_budget wrote: »

i have just signed up as a meal time assistant at my sons school so i can see exactly what he is offered and what he gets.

i'm glad i started this thread as i now know i'm not the only one being ripped off

bride

wow that's a great idea! you will have to report back

Atalanta

tattoed_bum wrote: »

they also arent allowed any treats in there box which i think is a little unfair as at dinners they have desert
i put a twinks hob nob in his box today and they sent it back home with a note saying biscuits were not allowed

That's outrageous! My son's school doesn't allow chocolate bars or sweets, but that is all. I often give him a home made cake or biscuit and I bet they are healthier and made with better quality ingredients than whatever they dish up for pudding for the school dinners. Mind you my friend who is an infant school teacher says some kids bring a packed lunch which just consists of a bag of crisps and a chocolate biscuit - but that doesn't mean everyone should be banned from bringing biscuits.
Also can't believe the schools mentioned which don't allow flasks - how hot is the food going to be by the time the kids eat it anyway? It's not like they're pouring freshly boiled tea or coffee is it?