schoolmeals

[squirelpoo]

are we behind jamie oliver to sort the problem of dinner time eating or not?

[oldwoman]

I blame the education authorities for getting into this mess anway. We didn`t have chips when I was at school, just proper dinners. Isn`t it funny how things go full circle.

[saxy_jag]

Well they put stuff in front of us that they called 'proper meals', but I'd hardly call it food.

I was on to packed lunches at the first chance I got.

[garythecat]

Definitely, well someone needs to. My son won't have school dinners because he says the food is greasy and they forever seem to have chips and beans on the menu. I think the government need to throw some extra money into the pot for schools to be able to provide decent food. The charge is 7.75 per week and they only spend about 35p a day per child on ingredients. Appalling.

[squirelpoo]

garythecat, my daughter is exactley the same, never spends the money on the food, always goes without,

[Mrs_Pegasus]

I am a business manager of a large secondary school. People always seem to make out the meal cost Xp to make and ignore, overheads, heating, rent, electricity, staff wages etc! If you want to see dreadful value for money take a look at any supermarket cafes which charge ridiculous prices when the supplies are coming from its own store and look at the buying power!

Back to Jamie - if people wish to live in a nanny state then the govt should do more to dictate what food our children eat.

My school went totally healthy eating 18 months ago, no chips, burgers, pizzas, sweets, fizzy drinks. No re-constituted meat, all meals prepared from scratch - result - 40% drop in childrens take up and �1,000s in losses.

Instead parents give their children their dinner money and off they pop to Tesco on the way in to school for doughnuts and crisps! Dont blame education - we are all to blame.

Cashless system schools are fairing a little better because the parents pay the school and the child has a card to swipe when paying for their meal, no cash to spend on other things!

[garythecat]

Not really comparable to the supermarket cafe in my opinion. Kids need decent food to get them through the day. I still think the actual amount spent on ingredients is sadly lacking. Like I said, its about time the government increased budgets. I don't think its a matter of wanting to live in a nanny state, just to see our children being fed well cooked wholesome food. My son is 9 so no option for him to nip to Tesco and buy crap - not that he would. He takes a packed lunch - surely he isn't the only kid who prefers a nice tuna or ham sandwich, lump of cheese, raw peppers/carrotts, apple/grapes!!! I think parents have to take responsibity for making sure their children eat a balanced diet and don't turn their nose up at the 'healthy' option. Sorry to go on but this whole issue is a bit of a pet peev of mine.

[Lore]

Walking past the food hall every day observing what the children are eating at our school makes me feel ill.
Yesterday brought a fish product in bread crumbs in the shape of a foot with beans and curly fries, and a massive scoop of chocolate something - looked like angel delight just plopped onto the tray. Or you could have the 'healthy option'.... one or two finger rolls with a minimum amount of either cheese, ham or cheese & onion, a scoop of fruit salad and orange juice. (far too much bread and not enough filling)

It's time to sort it out once and for all.

[mimififi]

in my peer group of parents (30 and below i spose) I am horrified at eating habbits. Obviously, there are exceptions to every rule, but if i had a penny for each one of my friends who are horrified that I have to cook everything from scratch as my daughter and I are coeliacs, and a quid for everytime I heard "I don't know how you do that, I'm so glad my kid doesn't have any allergies, I wouldn't be able to make them anything" I would be exceedingly wealthy.

Most parents who are behind jamie Oliver share his views and eat healthily themselves. However, from what I see, a vast number of children not only despise the more healthy food options and go out and buy junky things, but they go home and witness their parents eating just the same junk. The health drive is not supported at home and you can't expect a school to introduce a lifestyle change when parents aren't supporting it at home.

I hope that the reintroduction of home ec into many schools' curriculums will help to reeducate children and make them more responsible for their bodies and their health.

[Dizzieblonde]

Our local newspaper published (God knows why...) the school dinner menus of local comprehensives and the 'healthy options' meals they were offering. Got to say, most of it I wouldn't eat myself, so I could hardly blame a child for not wanting it.

[Gef]

Excellent answer from Mrs_Pegasus.

I have a 2 course school lunch every day. There is always homemade soup (lentil & veg, Scotch broth etc) followed by a main course. Last week the main courses were:

sweet chilli chicken and rice;
macaroni cheese, roast spuds and peas;
mince, mashed spuds and mixed veg;
pork sausage hotpot, boiled puds and veg;
fish, chips and peas.

Not exactly exciting but not bad for �1.50 per day.

There are also baked potatoes, panini, sandwiches and fresh fruit available.

However, most of the children who have a school lunch still choose the burgers or pizza (chips recently stopped).

The vending machines now only sell water or fruit juices.

The problem is that the majority of children go to the local shops and buy chips, coke etc.

Jamie Oliver can't solve the problem. There is no simple answer.

[Carakeel]

I went to German and French schools mainly and to be totally honest, the food in both the German and French schools was very healthy and rather delicious! I have also been in hospital in France and Germany and there again the food was really nice, fresh and healthy. Very unlike the food served in most UK hospitals! So, why is it that most of these institutions in the UK are incapable of serving fresh healthy food? As for the schools, I do think they cannot be solely blamed, as if the parents do not do their bit in teaching their children what and how to eat, the schools stand little chance of improving things. Just hope Jamie sticks to his guns and keeps working on this!!

[cheater123]

It's all a load of cr*p these new menu's. I don't mind healthy food at all but if you tasted the food from my school it's enough to put you off healthy eating for life! Not only that, prices have gone up and to have a proper meal you would have to spend about �2.50 a day. Even the dinner ladies say it's all a rip off (you can sometimes talk them round to letting you off a bit if you havn't quite got enough but obviously they shouldn't really do this, and shouldn't have to).

They also do sausage and bacon butties at break time, so everyone has their lunch then!

As for the cashless card system which was introduced as it was supposed to be 'quicker'. People just give their give the dinner lady their money with their card each day so that they can put the money on for us. If you lose this card you then have to buy a new one for �3. Again a rip off.

And to top it all off and make all this healthy food a waste of time, there is a vending machine in school where you can buy crisps and chocolate etc.

It's all a big mess up.

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Can I just say that there are now regulations in place, if you think your childs school are ignoring these then report them. There should be no more than 2 portions of food each week that have been deep fried, no reconstituted meat etc. Get yourself clued up on the new regs and then challenge them!

I am tired of reading parents comments on school meals but not doing a thing about it. I invited 850 parents to come and sample our menus and a chance to comment. Not one single parent came to the school!!!!!!!