School dinners

blue_monkey_2

Not sure if its practical or viable but maybe you can make suggestions to your schools for lunches:

Our kids pick a band or have their hand stamped when they go in and do the register each morning, the band corresponds to the meal for that day (red - meat option, green - veggie option, yellow - filled roll) but it means cook does meals for the number of kids that are there so everyone gets their choice and there is no waste.

We have the same as jellyhead, a 3 week meal plan and a menu is sent home so the kids can see what they will be getting.

I guess if it is not working then it is best to give them an extra meal but my kids seem to get TOO much and I've been called my daughter 'said she feels poorly' when in fact she had just eaten too much!!

We live near the school - I wish they could have a parents sitting too as there are lots of lovely smells wafting out of the school at lunchtime.

blue_monkey_2

Oh, and Fridays are 'Fun Friday' which means they get one day break from the 'healthy food' and it is the only day that the cooks are allowed to 'fry', it is the only day that they serve chips, pizza, sausage, etc... which I have no problem with as we so the same once a week at home. As long as everything is in moderation we should have no issue with kids getting fat on one 'bad' meal a week.

The also have a roast on Wednesdays and pupils can choose to have meals on Weds or Fri or on both days.

Becles

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

I've just gone the other way - taken my 2 off school dinners and put them on pack lunches. Cost wasn't an issue for us, as Durham is one of the trial counties for free school meals. However, my children were coming out of school starving each day - so I still had to do a big tea. In fact, my youngest was often crying when he came out of school because he was so hungry - despite the dinner nannies telling me that he had eaten everything he was given. The portion sizes were too small - I mean, he shouldn't be that hungry just 3 hours after eating, should he?

My middle one is in Year 6 and we live in Durham and I've found the same. He said portions are tiny and it's more like a snack than a meal. I normally cook from scratch for the rest of us each evening and he still eats a normal sized portion of whatever we are having and he hasn't put any weight on. I'm keeping him on the lunches though as it's free and there are only two girls on packed lunches and he wants to sit with his mates and not the girls!

The frustrating thing is when he was on packed lunches, we had the "lunchbox police" who checked over the contents of their lunchbox and kicked up a fuss at the odd chocolate biscuit I'd put in as a treat. Now he's on school lunches, he seems to have unhealthy desserts most days such as sponge puddings or cakes. They never seem to have much fruit on the menu.

Curlywurli

The school I work in at the moment is changing the way it does the school dinners. We frequently run out of food and children are left with little or no choice. After Easter the children will choose what they want from the menu in the morning then wear a coloured wrist band. The cook will know how much of the food to cook and then there shouldn't be a problem.
I agree about portion sizes being too small- early years have the same size portion as year six and children are hungrier at certain times- if they've been swimming and missed a snack at break time. I'm already stressing about my little girl going to school in September because you're not allowed to give them a drink and you have to pay 10p for water. She will not drink water at all- no matter how often I try and I'm sure that she'll go thirsty. She loves milk and pure fruit juice but they're only allowed water.

jellyhead

Curlywurli wrote: »

I'm already stressing about my little girl going to school in September because you're not allowed to give them a drink and you have to pay 10p for water. She will not drink water at all- no matter how often I try and I'm sure that she'll go thirsty. She loves milk and pure fruit juice but they're only allowed water.

I thought all reception children got milk? I may be wrong, but I thought it was a government thing, same as the 3 year olds in nursery. My son is in reception and he has the choice of milk or water (they charge you for water? that's awful!) all day. They can only have one carton of milk in a day (they put their name on the sticky board, and it's a large carton, a third of a pint I think) but they can get water whenever they like.

My son drinks water, and I think it's a shame he can't give his milk to his best friend who doesn't like plain water. She has a large drink of squash in her lunch box, so she's got enough for a drink as soon as she comes out at hometime. It still doesn't seem like much in a day, especially in the summer. Her mum is hoping she'll get over her dislike of water by then.