Malnutrition in England

Oreo

Callistemon21

Children need protein and good fats as well as carbohydrates.

Free school dinners are essential, the cost would be offset by improvements in concentration at school and general health and wellbeing.

Good school dinner yeah, sad but true that some schools still go down the pizza slice or turkey twizzler route. Even when they give healthy meals some kids at 11 onwards go out and buy chips, I’ve seen them in the chippy at lunchtime.

Yes, sadly.
Half a baguette and a drink is apparently "a school dinner".

The system we had (if you have chips you have to have fruit for pudding) was as good an idea as any, I think. Nobody was forced to eat things like liver or gristly mince but you couldn't just have fatty food with no balance.

I think all schoolchildren from 4-18 should get a free meal, so nobody is singled out and everyone gets fed.

I think all schoolchildren from 4-18 should get a free meal, so nobody is singled out and everyone gets fed
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In all parts of the UK, not the devolved hotchpotch it is at present.

Yes, it should be universal.

What I have observed from my grandchildren's experience of school meals is that the more school meals that are provided free across the board, the worse the nutritional value has become.

But if the funding were organised so that there was £X per child on the roll, instead of whatever hotchpotch there is now, with some children paying and others getting free meals, whilst yet others bring in lunch boxes or go to the shops, it could work better. There could be menus of nutritious but cheap basics (eg lentil or vegetable soup and baked potatoes) cooked on the premises or in a central location, and not twizzlers or smiley faces bought in from factories. If schools could buy things like pulses in bulk they could produce quality meals very cheaply - particularly if canteen managers had to be qualified nutritionists. It's buying in processed food to heat up that reduces the nutritional value and puts up prices.

Doodledog I think all schoolchildren from 4-18 should get a free meal, so nobody is singled out and everyone gets fed.

Of course all schoolchildren should be provided a decent meal. I'm not sure how that could be worked out, but nutritious lunches would certainly be a start on malnutrition and hunger.

I think it could be worked out quite easily if the admin for deciding who should pay and who should get it free were scrapped, and every child automatically enrolled in the system. No tickets or cards would be needed - just a limited choice of food each day (with something suitable for all religions or preferences) and opting out by exception only, with no alternative offered.

That sounds eminently sensible, Doodledog. Probably far too sensible for the powers-that-be to adopt, however. Here in Scotland, all pupils in P1-P5 get free school meals and there are plans to extend that to P6 and P7 too. I have to say that at my GS's school, the meals do seem reasonably decent and healthy. There's always a choice of hot meal or they can have sandwiches instead (special requirements are also catered for) and because they finish at lunchtime on a Friday, they get a packed lunch to bring home, which includes sandwiches, yogurt, milk, fruit and/or veg (such as a wee salad pack) and usually a little cake type thing too.

Doodledog

I think it could be worked out quite easily if the admin for deciding who should pay and who should get it free were scrapped, and every child automatically enrolled in the system. No tickets or cards would be needed - just a limited choice of food each day (with something suitable for all religions or preferences) and opting out by exception only, with no alternative offered.

Brilliant! I vote for your plan. You implement.

And no mothers at the school gates with burgers and chips as has happened in the past!

It won’t be universal when we have different parties in power in the four nations, because education is devolved. In Wales we have a commitment for all primary school pupils to receive Universal Free Primary School meals by 2024.

Just an aside. I was watching BBC Welsh news the other day where mothers were complaining o f the loss of school meals over the holidays. Every child in the film had a mobile phone. Need I say more

You can have a nutritious baguette and drink though. You don't have to have a hot meal for things to be nutritious. It just has to be balanced with carbs, protein and vegetables. A wholegrain baguette with meat and mediterranean roasted veg would be delicious and balanced especially with a milky drink or smoothie.
Personally, I don't think it is the education department's responsibility to feed all children but I do think we could have a better academic day if all the children had proper lunchtimes like we did where packed lunches weren't the norm and food was prepared on site instead of turning up on a heated trolley looking horrible. Our teachers ate with us in most schools I went to and I still salivate over the shepherd's pies and all the lovely food we ate.
We had 5 children and very little income for quite a few years after disability hit me and my husband was my main carer. Our children took healthy packed lunches to school; we bought the ingredients from KwikSave and they had wonderful homemade dinners at home which were mainly cooked from scratch using frozen meat from Iceland which was cheap. It is a parent's responsibility and duty to provide for their children and although it is tough during austerity years, there are ways to make things go further without a child suffering from malnutrition. If the State is going to provide, it should be done properly.

I would question the nutritional value of any filled baguette. Very heavy on carbs before buttering and adding filling,

Germanshepherdsmum

I would question the nutritional value of any filled baguette. Very heavy on carbs before buttering and adding filling,

But better than an empty stomach all afternoon.

Doodledog

Germanshepherdsmum

I would question the nutritional value of any filled baguette. Very heavy on carbs before buttering and adding filling,

But better than an empty stomach all afternoon.

Or chips and a coke.

Amazingly the French seem to manage to be healthy with baguettes and I never butter mine! T|he filling does not have to include carbs.

Germanshepherdsmum

I would question the nutritional value of any filled baguette. Very heavy on carbs before buttering and adding filling,

Yes, GSM

You can have a nutritious baguette and drink though
icanhandthemback
I think a better meal could be provided for the price and a packed lunch from home would contain a much more balanced meal for the price.

The idea of providing universal school dinners would be to ensure that all children have at least one well-balanced, nutritious meal a day.
Baguettes are lunch or tea, not dinner.

Amazingly the French seem to manage to be healthy with baguettes
School meals in France used to be proper dinners, I'm not sure if they still are.

Baguettes are lunch or tea, not dinner.

Who made that rule up? If it is balanced with the right filling and the accompanying ingredients, exactly what makes it less suitable? Dinners do not have to be hot or traditional. They have to be balanced and filling. One of my children's favourite meals was ploughman's style meal with lots of bits of salad, vegetable sticks and fruit. It was a perfectly adequate meal and filling. It had all the components of a balanced, healthy meal. Isn't that what we should be aiming for?

Surely most importantly, they have to be something that’s nutritious that children will actually want to eat. It’s not going to be the sort of meals we had at school - although the chocolate sponge pudding with strawberry custard was delicious.

Germanshepherdsmum

I would question the nutritional value of any filled baguette. Very heavy on carbs before buttering and adding filling,

Hmm.

Children are in constant motion. I think they need healthy carbs, as most of us do, easy energy. And I think most children can eat more carbs than adults before perhaps gaining weight.

Baguettes are healthy - flour, yeast, salt, water, 1t sugar. Add a healthy filling and you're looking at what we feed GC for lunch.

Peanut butter, meat slices, cheese, hummous, chicken/ cubed avocado tomato filling, Tempeh, Tofu, courgette/cucumber - an endless list.

I'm happy to hear why I'm wrong!

One of my children's favourite meals was ploughman's style meal with lots of bits of salad, vegetable sticks and fruit. It was a perfectly adequate meal and filling.

Yes, it sounds nutritious, but that is not what is offered for £3.50.

Norah Humans can actually survive without any carbs at all and can use fat and protein for energy. Admittedly, carbs are an efficient form of energy (particularly for the brain), but most people eat too many carbs, as they are the cheapest form of energy. Bread is not intrinsically healthy, particularly the salt and sugar. It's about balance. I haven't eaten bread for years.

Casdon

Surely most importantly, they have to be something that’s nutritious that children will actually want to eat. It’s not going to be the sort of meals we had at school - although the chocolate sponge pudding with strawberry custard was delicious.

Chocolate tart! 😁