School Meals v Packed Lunch

emmaBZ

Well my ds 9 hates school dinners and will only take 2 yogurts a small cake and a packet of crisp... hes now decided he no longer likes crisp or cakes and only wants 2 yogurts 4 lunch..... so i told him he has tohave dinners then... he let it slip the other day he has been missing lunch altogether.....

thriftlady_2

Home popped popcorn is a fab alternative to crisps. You can add parmesan, pizza seasonings or a spot of sugar for flavour.

Check out the packed lunch threads listed here for more ideas
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=161168

Rachie_B

emmaBZ wrote:

Well my ds 9 hates school dinners and will only take 2 yogurts a small cake and a packet of crisp... hes now decided he no longer likes crisp or cakes and only wants 2 yogurts 4 lunch..... so i told him he has tohave dinners then... he let it slip the other day he has been missing lunch altogether.....

:eek: he is 9 ? then the dinner ladies should or do in my sons school ,monitor what they eat / not and anything left is sent home

if they would repeatedly refuse to eat their lunch then a letter would go home to the parent etc

the_other_mce

My two dd 's (9&6) like cooked chicken left over from tea the night before, dry cereals in a bag, homemade cheese scones or biscuits/straws (cheaper, easier and much nicer than shopbought ones - see old style board for recipes). I also give them homemade biscuits (choc chunk!!). They are not too keen on fruit in their packed lunch \(eat loads at home though!!:rolleyes: ) but love tinned fruit such as pineapple chunks or sliced peaches which I put in a little pot for them. Also cold cooked sausages (with a bit of ketchup in a pot) or a bit of cold tuna pasta seems to be popular at the mo. If I'm [STRIKE]lazy[/STRIKE] busy I also like to put in rice cakes (like snack a jacks). Hope this helps!!!
Its a bit of a nightmare trying to provide healthy lunches that your kids will eat I think - especially as schools seem to be monitoring them at times. My DD2's class are all listing what they had to eat each day this week. I am gutted because last night we had sweetcorn, chicken and pasta and she only wrote down pasta because she couldn't spell the other two!!!

jellyhead

at age 9 they probably have a lot more freedom and aren't watched so closely. in year 5 we had a period of a week or 2 when my boy wasn't eating anything. it started with just the sandwich, then the whole lot because he would rather be out playing. i got really angry when he missed out the drink and he was in serious trouble with us but the dinner ladies didn't notice a thing.

we switched from the sandwich to a few plain crackers and he ate those. he will also eat a frube but he can't have them every day because he's lactose intolerant and can't tolerate much. fresh fruit is all he really wants.
he's clumsy and a very slow eater so we've compromised and he can eat just fruit and crackers if that's all he wants for lunch as long as he always finishes his drink during the day, then at home he can eat properly. some of the kids take rice salad etc. in their lunch boxes but because it's tricky and time consuming to eat he saves that for after school.

for the OP, forgot to say what about cherry tomatoes?

MonkeySaving?

Hi,
I was having a discussion with my girlfriend the other night with regards the pro's and cons of school dinners vs packed lunches. Her daughter had previously been taking a packed lunch to school (normally consisting of a sandwich with salad, a small bag of banana pieces and nuts and a piece of fruit). Early last year we decided to switch her onto school dinners as the menus looked excellent (she was 5 at the time and is therefore at Juniors), however we're wondering whether to switch back to packed lunches.
At the moment school dinners cost approx £38 a month which equates to about £1.50 a day however I can't help feeling that a switch back to packed lunch is going to cost more than this per month (factoring in wastage and longetivity of foodstuffs etc)

In terms of pros and cons we came up with the following

School Dinners

Pros
Cheap..ish
Good selection on offer
Convenience
Healthy menus
Hot meal at dinner in most cases
Child doesn't feel "left out"

Cons
Don't "actually" know what your child is eating i.e they may provide "Macaroni cheese with a selection of vegetables" but is the child just eating the macaroni!

Packed Lunch

Pros
Know exactly what your child is eating

Cons
Providing a variety of choices during a school week
Inconvenience (in terms of preparation)
Food wastage (stuff being brought home or not eaten)
Cost??

Anyone have any thoughts?

Justie

you don't know what the child is eating with packed lunches either - they can swap with other kids or just put food straight in the bin - if you're happy with the general menu at the school then it seems like an easier option all round. If you ask the child 'what did you have for lunch today' then you can get an idea of what they're actually eating and can always mention to the school if you have worries that she's not eating all the veg etc.

newcook

I think it depends on where you buy your fruit and veg and sandwich filling from - I make sandwiches for me and OH for work (not the same thing I know!) rather than going to the chippy/cafe/shop for pot noodle etc as it works out cheaper. I make my own bread, I buy fruit and veg from greengrocers/market, get cheese/tinned tuna from iceland and bags of 12 packs of crisps from poundland. when we have a roast on sunday I will use what is left of the meat or if there is a lot of everything we will take a mini roast dinner and warm it in the microwave at work - it works out roughly about £1 per day for us both depending on the time of the year for the cost of fruit and veg. in the winter we take homemade soup which costs literally pennies depending on what soup is made or leftovers from tea the night before. summer is great for a huge salad and a crusty roll mmm!

School dinners in winter is good as you know your child is getting a hot meal but I would say to take sandwiches in spring/summer/autumn

arthur_dent_2

Could she not go for packed on some days and hot on others my little girl has hot on three days and pack up on two days. She would like to go hot all the time but I find it easier and more cost managable this way as I usually don't have to buy in any extra for the packed as it is only two days and I already have the stuff bought in for other meals.

MonkeySaving?

arthur_dent wrote:

Could she not go for packed on some days and hot on others my little girl has hot on three days and pack up on two days. She would like to go hot all the time but I find it easier and more cost managable this way as I usually don't have to buy in any extra for the packed as it is only two days and I already have the stuff bought in for other meals.

Not a bad plan, i guess i'll have to call the school up to see if it's possible. On the other notes i know i used to bin sandwiches I didn't like when I was a youngster and this is the one reason that i'm wary about bringing her back onto packed lunches (she's quite a fussy eater)