school lunch rip off

seven-day-weekend

I understand your horror at the waste, I too was appalled by it when I was a dinner lady in the late 80s. But apparently they have to throw any leftovers asway, not give it away, because of 'health and safety'.

The lunchboxes too, as i said above, many of the kids didn't eat what was in their lunch box and threw it away and bought something else like pizza and chips or go to the chippy (this was a secondary school) - I bet their parents thought they were all eating their packed lunches. They would come into the dining hall, get their lunch out, throw it away and then go into the dinner queue.

As for the contents of the lunch boxes, I don't see as that is the school's business .

bride_on_a_budget

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

As for the contents of the lunch boxes, I don't see as that is the school's business .

i know what you saying, but i couldnt believe how much rubbish these kids have in their lunchboxes and most didnt eat the sanwiches, just ate the suagry.sweet stuff and through the rest away.
from after half term they will have to take all their rubbish home so parents can see what they eat!

astonsmummy

Mojisola wrote: »

This wouldn't be enough for the 10 year old boys I know!

10 year old! Thats not even enough for my 4.5 year old son, and he's as skinny as a rake! :eek:

leiela

sorry to sort of hijack the thread but i was wondering how you guys combat the idea of your kids throwing away half thier lunch.

I've decided im not at all happy with the quality or the cost of the lunch's at my kid's school and have decided after half term to move them to packed lunch's but i have this terrible fear they will bin any sandwiches and salad and eat whats left.

Now as much as i have no intention of filling thier box's full of rubbish i figure if i put something like, sandwich, fruit and a slice of HM cake they might just eat the cake .. ekk ... which is not exactly what i had planned... i want to move them to packed lunchs SO they get a proper dinner, not so they throw it in the bin.

Krystaltips

Leiela, my daughter always brings her leftovers home... Even the empty sandwich bags (Or if I make her sandwich, her crusts... Daddy cuts them off ) You could ask that they just put all rubbish and leftovers back in the lunch box so you can monitor things... To be honest though, if you put only healthy stuff in then even if they don't eat all of it, what they do eat will be healthy... And if they're hungry they'll eat it...

louise540056

minimacka wrote: »

My ds is now at senior school and takes £2 ish a day for his meals is say ish because the school has implimented a finger print system where you put money into his account and each day his lunch is deducted from his account using his finger print to recognise him. I dont like this system because to me it doesnt make the children account for the money they have i used to give him £2 a day and he had to add up what his meal cost but now he just gets what he wants. They school put a cap on how much they can spend each day but i thinks its an astonishing £4 a day :eek: .
Anyway getting back to Junior school, my ds is a fussy little thing and also doesnt like bread or pastry and as the school meals were/are awfull he used to take a packed lunch. I used to give him a selection of chicken nuggets with little pot of sauce, cheese strings, plain crusty roll, little sausages, crisps, chopped up fruit, biscuits etc. He did get very fed up of eating that by the end of year 6 but at least he was full for the rest of the day until he had our home cooked meal. So what im trying to say (in a very long winded way) is that fussy eaters can have packed lunches. There is also somewhere a very good list of packed lunch selections, from home made biscuits to tray bakes etc which will work out a lot cheaper in the long run.

MM

Your son's school hasn't got the initials S.H has it? The school I teach at does the dinner system exactly the same way!!

Kaz2904

My childrens school doesn't let them throw anything in the bin. Everything comes home which was a bit grim when they first started and didn't remember to put the apple cores in the bags!

Aspiring

bride_on_a_budget wrote: »

well, as i already had my crb checks done for being a helper at sons school i started today as a mealtime assistant.

- - - - --

i dont know if i want to go back and help after half term

bride

Wow, they really must have been desperate for help; less than 24hrs after applying, you are there helping already; it would be such a great shame if you offered your help one day, helped the next day and then - - - - - didn't go back. By the speed they took you up on your offer, it does sound like you would be letting the school down badly leaving after one day if they are that strapped for helpers.

How did your son get on with his first day of packed lunches? Do you think it helped his decision on what to eat, or hindered, you being there are a helper?

Aspiring

Krystaltips wrote: »

Leiela, my daughter always brings her leftovers home... Even the empty sandwich bags (Or if I make her sandwich, her crusts... Daddy cuts them off ) You could ask that they just put all rubbish and leftovers back in the lunch box so you can monitor things... To be honest though, if you put only healthy stuff in then even if they don't eat all of it, what they do eat will be healthy... And if they're hungry they'll eat it...

Or, as other children have done, they'll swap bits of their lunch with other children in the playground

Money_maker

I had a stint in the kitchens of a local primary school. I was impressed that all the meals were cooked from scratch, even the bread was baked by the cook daily and heaven forbid - squash was only served at Christmas.

I thought the meal quality was very good and much better to offer milk or water only. The class teachers would take the numbers of children requiring a meal and pass this to cook so she knew how many to cater for.

Having said that, the meal sizes were a little on the small side but then I cant understand why parents think the school should be responsible for giving their child the main meal of the day - surely they cook a main meal in the evenings?

Some of the little ones would have lunch boxes packed to the gunnells with all sorts of fancy healthy foods that would just get picked at then left. Personally I feel that if your child wont eat your lovingly prepared healthy lunch then perhaps you could swallow your pride and put in a sandwich or something else you know your child will eat?

Can understand why parents cant/dont understand what their child will eat - perhaps having a chat about it might help? How on earth can a parent not know this?