Malnutrition in England

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yes, it should be universal.

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

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.

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".

If people want to know about food and nutrition it is only too easy to find out, In fact I do not know how they can miss them, The news pages and the internet, tv and radio is bursting with people telling people how to eat well. You do not need to buy the van Tulliken book on UPFs or anything published by Michael Mosely. It is free, online, on the radio, in the papers daily.

The fact is that many people do not know and do not care what they eat or whether it is good bad or indifferent to them. In fact they rather pride themselves in ignoring all the sensible advice.

I really don’t think it’s a lack of education on the subject either.

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.

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.

Of course people need protein and good fats, veg, fruit, all of nutrition. However labels exist and provide the needed information.

I stated carbs because I was answering to "cheap and filling."

I agree to you on school dinners. A must for many reasons.

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.

Jaxjacky

Someone down to their last five pounds to feed a family won’t be looking at labels for nutritional values norah. Rather something cheap and filling that costs little to prepare.

You may be correct, some may not read labels. Why not?

However logic tells me cheapest, most filling foods are carbs - rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, oats, barley - pricing and nutrition are on products. Easily see at a glance the nutrition and ingredients.

Someone down to their last five pounds to feed a family won’t be looking at labels for nutritional values norah. Rather something cheap and filling that costs little to prepare.

Caleo

Most people don't know enough about food values, to ensure they eat well enough, especially when they are hit by poverty.

As so often, education is part of the answer.

You must be correct - though I know not why.

We learned all about foods and nutrition in school, starting at about age 11 (if I recall the year correctly). Apart from labels listing everything imaginable and being able to add, what else is needed?

Quote: "Nutrition labels must display the amount of energy (calories and kilojoules) and the amount of fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, proteins and salt (all expressed in grams) present in 100g (or 100 ml) of the food. Jan 4, 2023"

Most people don't know enough about food values, to ensure they eat well enough, especially when they are hit by poverty.

As so often, education is part of the answer.

To be fair to mabon1. We are now on page 9, reading that far back is a council of virtue I rarely meet.

However, when you are going to post an intemperate post, it is best to check your facts.

Just another rude comment best ignored, perhaps ? MOnica always contributes well and even though I sometimes disagree, she makes good points.

mabon1

Malnutrition is very different from starvation, get your facts right.

Who is that addressed to, mabon1?

M0nica covered the difference between malnutrition and starvation on page one of this thread, and others have backed her up.

I'm not sure of your point, really.

Malnutrition is very different from starvation, get your facts right.

nanna8

The prices now are horrific here. We don’t have a mortgage, thank goodness, but if you are young and have a young family it would be almost impossible to eat really good food.
$4.50 per kg potatoes, $5 or $ 6 a cabbage, $30 a kg for lamb chops. As for fish, forget it, you can pay $100 per kg but for 2 little ,really little, salmon steaks you are up for around $12 and that is on a good day at Aldi. Think twice before you think of emigrating !

Who's making the profits? Certainly the farmers are at the mercy of the supermarkets and the price paid to the farmer and the prices charged by supermarkets vary widely.
The minimum wage is much higher in Australia, too, so that affects the costs of production.

The prices now are horrific here. We don’t have a mortgage, thank goodness, but if you are young and have a young family it would be almost impossible to eat really good food.
$4.50 per kg potatoes, $5 or $ 6 a cabbage, $30 a kg for lamb chops. As for fish, forget it, you can pay $100 per kg but for 2 little ,really little, salmon steaks you are up for around $12 and that is on a good day at Aldi. Think twice before you think of emigrating !

MibsXX if you manage to get to a Lidl there are usually boxes of fruit and vegetables which they place on the shelves just beyond the tills.
A big box of perfectly good but just in-date fresh, healthy produce is £1.50.

Do you have a slow cooker? I'm going to use mine today rather than the oven and hob.

Please Mibs look around for a foodbank near to you. I can only speak for mine, but I'm pretty confident that you'll receive a warm welcome along with bags of food. Many of our clients have experiences like yours. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?