Why I’m happy to swallow the cost of school meals

Lots of interesting thoughts, thanks for flagging! Clearly, the reality is that school meals services continue to face many (and varied) financial pressures, but in our everyday work with schools and councils we’re really encouraged to see so many keeping the price of a healthy school lunch low and securing continued investment. Keeping good school food affordable for parents and tasty, hot meals on the menu pays back a big return on all sides; when children eat better, they do better.

We’re here to help any school worried about being able to keep meal prices affordable; there are lots and lots of options that you can explore. Any school wanting help can get in touch.

I enjoy my school meals, but I get £2 a day, and they cost £2.10, so I can only have it every other day; on the other days I have to have sandwiches at school, unless they have jacket potatos. And often they run out of them. 🙁 But even when I have school meals (which are really nice!) even if you only have mashed potato and beans (my firned did this once) it’s £2.10. But a full meal plus dessert with gravy for meal, custard for dessert and a slice of bread is also £2.10. Wacky pricing.

And i totally disagree that school meals should be luxury items and only if you can afford them; it’s like saying you only deserve hot food if you can afford a cooker, pans and food to cook. It should be a right, not a privelage.

I can’t afford school meals for my children ( 5 and 10 yrs old) which I find stressful to be honest. My little one loves a warm meal especially during the cold days and barely touches his packed lunches. He did eat most of his packed lunches when he first started school and performed well but then after a month started eating less and less and eventually has had lack of focus and concentration during afternoon lessons. I try to make him eat school dinner as often as i can afford it but it is so expensive that i can only manage to let him have those meals twice maybe three times a month. I stress out preparing his packed lunches because I am constantly trying to find new ways to make it interesting and yummy for him but it’s no use, it just doesn’t beat a warm prepared meal with everything. I feel bad because i know meals are the problem why he lacks concentration after lunch and i can’t afford him to eat school dinners more often. I wish school dinners were cheaper.

To Nick : I have tried that too but having a container of pasta which has been prepared several hours prior eating will never stay that warm and the pasta becomes a bit soggy. It might beat cold food but it still doesn’t beat a freshly prepared hot meal. I mostly prepare hot food and put it in their lunch bags anyway. They very rarely get cold food. My point is, someone who is earning a low income or not working at all get the meals for free when the ones who work cannot always afford them. I am not saying the low income earners should pay the entire price but more like a subsidised price. I personally think that would be fair. Someone said in here that if you can’t afford it you don’t have it, well they can’t afford it but their kids still have it and I am not only talking about school dinners. Most after school clubs are also either free or subsidised for them. My children cannot go to more than one school club or maybe two in a year because it’s too bloody expensive so they have to miss on that too. Just because you work doesn’t mean you are rich and sometimes it can get a little tricky.