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Post by phoebe on Oct 2, 2013 8:28:32 GMT
Anyone else getting properly *issed off with this malarkey? I am so fer up pf trying to organise it in a way which works for my kids! Why can schools still sell carppy drinks and cookies in place of a proper dinner? Why don't they get that some children cannot cope with 150 options, work out their money andmake a healthy choice in the face of temptation? I have had to wait 4 weeks to find out the menus offered in the dining hall, but now they cannot tell me which days various choices are on offer??? On top of this, they cannot get FSM sorted, so DD has to announce to the world every day that she is having FSM! It seems ridiculous to me that there are so many unhealthy choices when we have had so much time and money invested in looking at impact of carp food on learning! I am worn out already and we have not made it to half term! Heaven knows how you are coping if your kids have major food issues - DD is an excellent eater. She finds the choices in canteen style secondaty lunches just overwhelming though. Nightmare! Is it just me?x
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2013 9:18:11 GMT
Nope, it's not just you. My DD's infant and junior school was brilliant, very hot on healthy eating, only had chips on the menu once a week on fridays, had a salad bar etc, but secondary school is a different matter altogether, chips every day if you want them, donoughts, fizzy drinks, large cookies, whatever carp they fancy is there for them, and parents can't influence what they chose at all. Mine only have school dinners once a week as a treat, as I can't afford it every day, so I don't really mind if they chose a doughnut for desert, but some kids are eating one every day at breaktime and that's just not good for them, which is why I don't think school should sell things like this in he first place. You can have a treat at home when your parents buy them for you. No wonder obesity is on the increase when schools sell junk.
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Post by phoebe on Oct 2, 2013 13:09:21 GMT
Well I have been doing quite a bit of research and all state schools are banned from selling junk / crisps/fizzy drinks. The "good practise" states that they should only be able to buy cookies or doughnuts as part of a meal deal Thing is, academies, free schools etc are not under the same pressure to comply. I am going to start rattling the cage on this one as I think it's just plain profiteering at the expense of childrens wellbeing. They should not be offered all these silly choices, they would cut costs straight away if they stuck to a couple of "proper" meal choices and couple of sandwiches! x
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Post by kstar on Oct 2, 2013 20:15:39 GMT
We're an academy. The quality of our meals isn't brilliant but they do try - it's just difficult to do on such a budget.
However, we always have one hot meal of the day on offer (today was beef stew with roast potatoes and veg. Yummy). Pasta with a choice of three sauces. One hot sandwich choice - something like a chicken fajita or a chicken breast burger. Plus sandwiches and pre-packed salad cartons. Then we have fresh fruit, jelly, yogurts or cakes made on site for pudding - which can only be bought with a main meal, maximum of one per person. The only drinks on offer are water (jugs of tap water or bottles of plain or flavored), fresh apple or orange juice and semi-skimmed milk.
Breakfast club and break time, they do toast, crumpets, tea cakes, sometimes bacon sandwiches and again fresh fruit, yogurts etc.
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Post by phoebe on Oct 2, 2013 20:41:47 GMT
It's utter carp that they can't do the meals on the budget, TBH. It is a disgrace that this government allows LAs to value children so little as to set aside just £1.65 per day to feed them. It's common knowledge though that buying in pre-packed vegetables and frozen ingredients costs loads more than fresh ingredients. If you bring in proper chefs, and good commis chefs you get good food much more cheaply. Trouble is they pay carp wages, have hardly any trained staff, then wonder why they can't knock out a decent meal. What is truly laughable is that the schools use white bread, white pasta, frozen potato products with dodgy coatings etc! I am sure the kids would cope much better with less choices and higher quality meals. Making three pasta sauces is a nonsense! When you look at the nutritional standards and then you look at what an average child eats you notice a huge gap! Their school meal is largely made up of low quality, high GI starches and low grade protein. What they need is much more veg and much less stodge. And seasonal veg is the cheapest thing anyone can buy. The RAF and Army field kitchens can turn out brilliant high quality food in a tent every day! It's a joke that school meals are so diabolical.
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Post by kstar on Oct 2, 2013 22:53:44 GMT
I know for a fact the vast majority if our kids just wouldn't eat if they had veg forced on them. Most of them live on Pot Noodles so they don't have to leave the Xbox for long enough to eat with the family. We have kids who have a Mars Bar and Lucozade for breakfast, then we wonder why we can't get them to sit still all morning.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2013 4:56:37 GMT
I think there is a whole generation of parents out there who simply do not know how to cook and think putting a pre-packed meal in the microwave for 7 minutes constitutes cooking!
I wonder how many kids are eating these types of meals everyday, either that or nuggets and chips with nothing green in sight.
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Post by kstar on Oct 3, 2013 6:07:10 GMT
I know loads of parents in our mostly middle class school do... And often when you ask the question parents can't even tell you when they last ate together as a family, which I find really sad!
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Post by sooz on Oct 3, 2013 9:00:41 GMT
Can dd take in a healthy packed lunch every day?
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Post by phoebe on Oct 3, 2013 20:51:53 GMT
Nope, she is up at six, has breakfast at twenty past. She needs a hot meal before she gets home at night. It's a nonsense that they can't provide a decent balanced meal. Kstar, the fact the kids at school are shocked by veg makes it doubly important to let them try! IF they don't develop their palate now then they may never have the opportunity. In reality, if the veg was put on their plate automatically, more of them would try it.If there was no stodge available they wouldn't choose to go hungry, for the most part. They don't have to eat everything, the focus should be on trying it. The fact that there's usually only one sloppy veg choice doesn't make the odds good! Some of the combinations I have seen on school dinners over the years would make my dog retch!
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Post by littlemisscheerful on Oct 3, 2013 21:25:48 GMT
Trouble is, do you remember when Jamie O tried to do change school meals - mums were turning up at lunchtime with McD, seems that most people don't care. Could she take pasta or veg soup, - would it stay hot til lunchtime. Actually, you probably don't have time in the morning. Very boring pack lunches here - mine wouldn't eat school lunches.
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Post by janpan on Oct 3, 2013 21:55:36 GMT
We have this - my kids at an Academy, reasonably healthy lunches but still lots of options for cheesy toasties and sausage rolls for breaktime snacks and cakes at lunchtime. It is a constant battle if she has school meals - she has loads of food issues and will eat cake and cheese all day if possible. So most days she has a packed lunch, and it is pretty healthy. But schools hate them having packed lunch and say they are totally UNhealthy.
I am a teacher, and the school meals in my state school are not brilliantly healthy. No chips but lots of stodge and few decent veg.
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Post by phoebe on Oct 3, 2013 23:49:18 GMT
janpan, I have worked in a fair few schools in my 20 years teaching. In all of them I have been shocked at some of the food served. It's as if diabetes and obesity are totally unknown and nobody recognises how food affects mood / alertness! How come if there are so many award winning healthy schools, they are still serving this slurry? If we truly want to make a difference to childrens life chances, surely we can start with the obvious things!x
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Post by pluto on Oct 4, 2013 8:53:59 GMT
I pressume we are lucky than, free school meals every day and not a chip inside, never. They have a salled bar where the children can choose and one option warm meal (plus a veggie option). The desert is the choice of several brown crackers with butter (this is cultural). There is no option to buy anything either so that is good. I tell my children to eat as much as you can, because than they eat less the rest of the day, that is a money saver .
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Post by phoebe on Oct 4, 2013 12:38:14 GMT
Pluto, that sounds great! DD has FSM but it's so tricky because of working out the prices of all the items individually! She has some days just bought a drink and a biscuit then had not enough for any proper food! It's further complicated because they have 2 short breaks instead of one long lunch break, so there are 2 chances to eat rubbish! She isn't a silly girl, just cannot work out money or make choices! Poor little thing - I am having to threaten her every morning that if she buys rubbish I will ground her! It's very hard for her.
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