Jamies School Dinners

Sarahsaver

exactly, because supposing you get free school dinners, nothing is given to you for the 13 weeks of the year when the kids arent in school, and they always seem to eat twice as much in the holidays!
Dont be fooled by the argument that the free school meals make sure poor kids have a 'proper' diet. Its in the government's interest to have a social underclass.
I have an idea which i am going to put to my kids school that I would like to set up a school kitchen in the school, employing local people and buying from local businesses, and able to provide meals for local people too if they want. I had this idea ages ago before the Jamie Oliver publicity. I think what he's done is great but I hope it isn't a 'flash in the pan' LOL

mrsmab59

Bogof_Babe wrote:

37p would buy a decent bowlful of vegetable soup (thus the vegetarians are covered too) and a crusty roll, and probably pay for an apple or banana too. The soup could be varied e.g. lentil, mushroom, cauliflower, celery etc.

At my son's school they have a 'hunger lunch' once a term which consists of a bowl of soup (usually vegetable or tomato) and a bread roll...all the money that is saved from not providing a full 2 course meal is then sent to whichever charity the school are supporting that year.
Mind you the kids don't go hungry because it looks like most of them take snacks to top up with on the day of the 'hunger lunch'!

Bogof_Babe

Sorry but I'm gobsmacked. Where is the "hunger" in that?

Magentasue

I suppose school dinners have become less important. When I went to school,we had a cooked meal at night but lots of my friends had their cooked meal at school and a sandwiches and cake type tea at home. I don't know anyone who has their cooked meal at lunchtime now.

My kids have mostly had packed lunches, we did try school meals and they were good in primary school where they had a cook who cooked but bad in secondary school where it was chips every day. I noticed that in the primary school last year a menu was up that offered desserts like Jammie Dodger biscuits!

I would love my kids to be offered some nice bread, proper cheese, salad and fruit with some homemade soup and stuff like that. They would be quite happy with a picnic style meal and there would be more for your money if it wasn't all cooked.

mrsmab59

Bogof_Babe wrote:

Sorry but I'm gobsmacked. Where is the "hunger" in that?

I think the original idea was to help the kids understand that not every child in the world gets a meal, cooked or otherwise, during the day. But of course our 'spoilt' kids can't be allowed to go hungry! However, on the plus side it's a great way to raise money for kids in the third world who really know what it's like to go hungry.

filigree_2

I don't see why contractors have to make a profit at all. School dinners used to be run by the local councils for no profit, why not go back to that system?

Mind you, I'm not convinced by the argument that school dinners were so much better in the old days when there were allegedly minimum nutritional standards etc. I know it's a standing joke that school dinners taste like pig swill, but I do remember very clearly some quite revolting muck being dished up.

I remember salad days. We knew it was a salad day because there would be bottles of vinegar on the table, each with its colony of a dozen dead flies. Vinegar costs tuppence a gallon, what kind of lazy !!!!!! keeps offering dirty vinegar to small children? The so-called salad consisted of tinned peas, tinned beetroot, tinned diced carrot and tinned potato salad sprinkled with a smidgeon of cress. In honour of the event we'd get cold mash instead of lukewarm mash. Given a straight choice I would rather feed my child Twizzlers and chips!

If this campaign successfully brings back "real" cooking in school kitchens, I bet it will be more like the catfood casserole and rancid tinned peas of old than yummy Jamie Oliver fare.

swampytiggaa

Sarahsaver wrote:

I have an idea which i am going to put to my kids school that I would like to set up a school kitchen in the school, employing local people and buying from local businesses, and able to provide meals for local people too if they want. I had this idea ages ago before the Jamie Oliver publicity. I think what he's done is great but I hope it isn't a 'flash in the pan' LOL

again - i saw in the paper about a couple of mums who did this for their children's school - first of all the amount of children staying for lunch increased and the next thing was that other local schools asked the mums to start catering for them....... they turned it into quite a thriving concern by all accounts

altho - i seem to think that it is primary schools who seem more open to ideas like this - haven't read of any high schools who are prepared to hand their kitchens over [unless JO comes knocking ]

Caterina

I agree about primary children not needing a lot of food at lunchtime (much better for them to have lots of little snacks etc - and their tea is much earlier too) but when you talk about big hungry active teenagers, they eat like horses and a bowl of soup and a roll would not even tickle their sides! Even though they have a hot meal as school lunch they still come home and cook themselves pasta and sauce or cheese toasties at 4 pm, then have another meal with us in the evening!

When mine were of primary age (in fact, while in secondary school pre-Jamie too) I used to give them packed lunches, but they wanted so much of the stuff in the last couple of years that it cost me almost the same as giving them £1 for a hot meal.

It really depends what schools give them, if it is reconstituted meat sausages and smily faces it is not worth it, but the good food they are getting now is!

As adults we certainly do not need a full cooked meal at lunchtime, though!

Caterina

Sarahsaver

If i have a cooked meal at lunchtime i feel sleepy and drowsy, I know having taught teenagers that they are either hyper or sluggish after lunch depending on what they ate. One kid puked over my classroom because he had simply pigged out on cakes and fizzy drink. Where there is a canteen system kids shouldnt be allowed to choose exactly what they want (or THINK) they want. This lad wouldn't have lost his food in such a dramatic way if he had a sandwich and a cake instead of cake cake and more cake. Salads tended to be eaten by ever early p.e. teachers, and kids who wanted a healthy option regularly got pipped to the post by greedy staff.(they got the baked spuds, fish, salads etc...)

Bogof_Babe

filigree wrote:

I don't see why contractors have to make a profit at all. School dinners used to be run by the local councils for no profit, why not go back to that system?

The snag with that idea is that the cost would go back into the Council Tax system, which as we all agree is already creaking under the strain, with education being a large part of the spending.

As it is, Jamie now seems to have fixed it that there is extra call on central Government funds, with the huge increase in allocations to school catering announced today. One more cost for the taxpayer to pick up! I don't begrudge the kids a decent meal obviously, but there is a little niggle in the back of my mind thinking the parents should be doing the paying, not the general public.

Sorry if you mums thing this is an ungenerous attitude. I'm having a grumpy day (didn't sleep well) .