Banning School Packed Lunches

[funemnx]

We were on benefits for a couple years so my children had free school dinners - they would come home and say they had burger and pizza for dinner EVERY day! I would tell them that it wasn't proper dinner and they had effectively had 2 main courses but they would say there was nothing else.....

[Nicola Carlyle]

Just out of curiosity - has anyone ever heard if a child staving to death in this country? I'm just wondering because I havnt. I actually like the idea. I would hope that the price would come down as obviously they are guaranteed their numbers so don't have to allow for excessive waste etc. I do feel though that their HAS to be a huge overhaul in school diners to make this a viable idea. X

[teacakepenguin]

I know this is just an idea being bandied about, but I can't see it happening.

I've got 4 kids and recently came off income support, am missing the free school meals like mad!! The cost of packed lunches can be quite high, plus the hassle, esp if you are trying to keep them containing semi decent food.

Mine struggled with school meals sometimes, with food they didn't like, but we have 2 main choices and a packed lunch choice so normally there was something. Very occasionally I'd have to bring up a sandwich for them too as they just really didn't like the options.

It would cost me about £10 a day to have mine in school lunches, they are £2.50 for ks2 (for 2 of mine), £2.25 for ks1 (for one) and I think at least £2.50 for secondary school. It's a no brainer and they are annoyed as they miss their school lunches, but I just can't afford that, even tho it probably costs about half that for their packed lunch.

Jx

[Velleity]

Concerns me that the school serves Halal meat. I'd need assurances there were humanely-slaughtered options on the menu before I'd allow the switch.

[FussyElmo]

It would cost me £50 a week to send my 4 on school dinners. I can do healthy lunchboxes for a fraction of that.

If the dinner were prepared properly and cooked from scratch it might make a difference but it doesn't and the mixtures our primary school will serve all because the child has asked for them. Im sorry but salad with gravy

[shortstuff]

The problem I have with this scheme, if it comes in, ive always given ds the option of hot lunch or packed. He flatly refuses the hot option for 2 reasons. He often doesnt like whats on the menu, oh n he spends most of lunch queueing and doesnt get time to eat it all or play! How do they propose I sell it to him? It would suit me as I could do easier dinners but not a good option as it stands.

[bindy]

Just out of curiosity - has anyone ever heard if a child staving to death in this country? I'm just wondering because I havnt. I actually like the idea. I would hope that the price would come down as obviously they are guaranteed their numbers so don't have to allow for excessive waste etc. I do feel though that their HAS to be a huge overhaul in school diners to make this a viable idea. X

The prices may even go up, if one has no choice but to pay, they can charge what they like. The reason why there's lots of waste is probably they taste, look and smell awful. Why are you happy about the idea? Parents should have a choice. Some choose to have dinners others not, what' s the problem!! Nothing to do with healthy eating, I always have a look at the menu stuck on the class room window, nothing healthy about them at all, the odd veg normally peas, less is spent on food for school meals than on prison food.

[CLL]

At my sons primary school there is no choice of dinner. It gets delivered in and they all have the same. Monday pizza chips and beans, Tuesday hamburger chips and beans, etc. my son has heightened senses so can not eat a lot of the things as it makes him sick. I have tried him with packed lunch but they sit them in a noisy section so he can not cope with that either. His behaviour got so bad at school this week due to him not coping I am now allowed to bring him home for lunch. I did ask months ago but they said not, he is the only child that has gone home for dinners in 5 years. They refuse to make provisions for him to eat elsewhere in a quiet room so now I have to take the babies back and forwards 4 times a day. I do think that things need to be more flexible not more rigid. How can the government dictate what we eat? Especially when school dinners here are so rubbish.

[bindy]

At my sons primary school there is no choice of dinner. It gets delivered in and they all have the same. Monday pizza chips and beans, Tuesday hamburger chips and beans, etc. my son has heightened senses so can not eat a lot of the things as it makes him sick. I have tried him with packed lunch but they sit them in a noisy section so he can not cope with that either. His behaviour got so bad at school this week due to him not coping I am now allowed to bring him home for lunch. I did ask months ago but they said not, he is the only child that has gone home for dinners in 5 years. They refuse to make provisions for him to eat elsewhere in a quiet room so now I have to take the babies back and forwards 4 times a day. I do think that things need to be more flexible not more rigid. How can the government dictate what we eat? Especially when school dinners here are so rubbish.

I think its disgraceful the school do not want to help your son. What trouble is it, to find your son a quiet place for him to eat his packet lunch.

[nikki thomson]

Well my children's school don't offer school meals you have to take a packed lunch and I always put freezer packs in them, I just couldn't afford school meals it would cost me £133 a month, I'd have to go and pick them up and bring them home for lunch.
Whoever came up with this idea isn't in the real world it's just not practical. X

[Tinkerbell1979]

My main worry is that lunches sit in little boxes and bags on trolleys in hot corridors for hours and hours - and might have been out of the fridge for even more hours - and often don't contain freezer blocks

We often collect children who say 'I'll just finish my lunch sandwich now' and open their boxes .... errrrr NO!

But it's not done any harm.........

[Supernanny86]

Guess we'll have to wait and see what comes of this but In my area school dinners are not rubbish! The catering is very good and the parents got a sampler eve. There's 2 hot options everyday including a vegetarian one and packed lunch option. The packed lunch option is actually very healthy. But the point is, as usual down to cost. Don't see how they can force school dinners on kids, I know the ones on packed lunch now would just insist on feeding them at home!! Very disruptive for school and parents!!

[Koala]

It's a good job they don't look in my packed lunch - crisps, pack of biscuits, chunky kitkat and cans of coke. i'm a naughty one and I love it

[bindy]

Guess we'll have to wait and see what comes of this but In my area school dinners are not rubbish! The catering is very good and the parents got a sampler eve. There's 2 hot options everyday including a vegetarian one and packed lunch option. The packed lunch option is actually very healthy. But the point is, as usual down to cost. Don't see how they can force school dinners on kids, I know the ones on packed lunch now would just insist on feeding them at home!! Very disruptive for school and parents!!

Yes, been to one of those evenings, was not impressed. The vegetarian option is normally a baked potato , every day! My problem is, I cook with organic food, I spend a great deal of time making sure my child(and mindees) eat good quality food and school dinners no matter how they dress it up, is not good quality food. One of my mothers is a teacher at the local school, her daughter goes to the same school, she takes a packed lunch, to me that says it all! I see the menus at both local schools and I would not say they are healthy.

[charlottenash]

So nobody's thought that we may have an extra school run when parents decide they want their kids fed out of school for lunch... Can you imagine!!!

[scottishlass]

Our school would struggle to do this as they are already struggling for space in the dining hall and that is with more than half takin packed lunches.

My youngest will happily do a mixture of the two and does enjoy going school dinners but she is in the younger section of the school so gets to go in the first lot to the hall.

My eldest refuses to go now as they are left till last and has already been said spends a long time queuing to then get to the front and find there is barely anything left! Once she had a plain baked potatoe as there was no filling left that she liked (she would have eaten cheese or egg mayo but not happy to try anything else) and they also often have no puddings left and so I just leave her to have her packed lunches - not happy to pay £1.80 for 1/2 a lunch!

[shortstuff]

I encouraged DS to have a hot lunch at christmas as he enjoys a roast dinner. The cheeky little thing told the dinner lady that their potatoes arent as good as his Aunt Bessies, lol x oops x my lazy cooking habits have been broadcast lol x

the dinner lady is also his class assistant and couldnt wait to tell me at the end of the day how they all had a giggle at his sense of humour and how he told them lol x His little character shines through even when he is being negative lol x

[bunyip]

The quality issue seems very patchy. The menu at my local school looks good, though I've not actually seen the dinners. Children's reporting of it seems dependent on whether they like the items, not whether it is well made. Judging by members' posts, some schools do it very well, others very badly.

To be fair to the Gove-being, yesterday's Independent reported that he wanted to ban packed lunches and at the same time provide free lunches for children up to 11yo. Of course, this will raise the question of what happens for the 12yo+ pupils/students/inmates?

I'd be interested to see how the catering companies cope with multiple allergies, 'cultural' diets, health fads, etc. My local schools effectively takes a 'ban it' approach to every perceived food problem. Any child with an allergy is warned not to have any school meals, but to bring a packed lunch. They then circulate a list of banned lunchbox items to all parents, on the basis of known allergies present across the whole school (to avoid accidental ingestion from 'swapped' items.) That system is already lazy and unfair, and would break down completely if no lunchboxes were allowed.

And the whole thing ignores the fact that you can put a "healthy" meal in front of a child, but you can't force him/her to eat it. I had food issues throughout my childhood. A huge contributory factor was the rule of "clean one's plate" in the school canteen.

[The Juggler]

Here they have brought in 'school packed lunches' which cost the same as a cooked school lunch. My boys have tried them out today and were pleasantly surprised but I would still prefer to send a packed lunch I think.
My boys have school dinners on a Thursday and Friday as its their favourites on those days...
At my boys school too they have a chilled area where the lunches are kept until lunch

Sarah x

ours too it was in a bid to encourage more children to take school dinners when they brought the school dinner service in house rather than paying for an outsourced service. There is no way I'd pay £2.20/day for a packed lunch when I can do it so much cheaper myself.

[little chickee]

I don't see how they can enforce it. I don't think they could "force" parents to pay for a school meal.

I have one child left at primary school. He has always taken a packed lunc despite me trying to persaude him to take a school dinner.

His scholl does good meals and after losing a lot of kids to pack lunches for many of the reasons mentioned before mainly the lack of choice if last into the canteen they have rec ently changed the system.

Those taking a school meal are now asked to make their choice in the morning. Always 2 choices of main and a veggie choice. The canteen then cook the correct amount of each dish so you are guanteed to get your choice.

Seems to be working well. My son goes into Primary 6 after the holidays and i am going to try to get him to try school dinners. Especially in the winter , i think its good to have a hot meal.