Saw on GMTV this morning that at last junk food in school dinners in finally going to be a thing of the past and the vending machines will be going too. Unfortunately it won't be until next year.

What I can't understand is in Scotland we have had no junk food ie chips, turkey twizzlers on the menu for quite sometime about 3 years at least, why has it taken so long for England to do the same?

The thing is it doesn't stop kids eating junk food at home but at least it is a step in the right direction.

That's a terrible idea! :kid: - From a kid's point of view anyway!

Unfortunately it won't be until next year.
This is the annoying part. It should happen immediately in my eyes.

I agree that people including children often eat unwisely but I don't like the blanket term 'junk food' which to me smacks of food snobbery. It dismisses out of hand things that although you wouldn't want to eat them all the time, are nevertheless OK for you in moderation. I include in that burgers sausages and chips. I's variety that makes eating interesting.

I agree with you SF, a blanket ban is going to make kids walk out of school and straight to the nearest junk food shop and gorge themselves.


I think they should have burger and chips once or twice a week, but cooked healthily (it can be done). Pizza can also be made with less fat and salt, in fact just slowly cut down on sugars, salts and fats, it is so easy to do, and they can have their fave foods.

And what they save on the above not being added they can spend on Omega Oils and 'hide' that in the foods! :naughty:

The trouble is, it will need a lot of training/re-training because you would be surprised how few catering assistants can actually cook, as opposed to just preparing and serving food.

There is then the fact that inevitably prices will have to go up if all fresh produce is to be used.

Many schools used to have plots to grow their own fruit and veg, and gardening was part of recreational studies. That could so easily be brought back in and would give a double whammy for the kids - a healthy ourdoor pursuit and eating their own self-grown veggies. Other plus being that the costing drops after the initial outlay.

I do know most Independant schools do this to keep costs down, and I was wiping soil from a 3 years olds face yesterday who happily told me she had been digging up carrots for her dinner! Said they were the best she had ever eaten too! :thumbsup:

The trouble is, it will need a lot of training/re-training because you would be surprised how few catering assistants can actually cook, as opposed to just preparing and serving food.

There is then the fact that inevitably prices will have to go up if all fresh produce is to be used.

Well Jamie's Dinners proved that to be exactly the case! So, these ladies do need proper training and do need salaries to make it worth their while. The politicans could start walking or cycling to work and stop paying ridiculous amounts on private taxi cars and limos to pay for it!

I think Eternity has hit the nail of the head, yes you can still have food such as sausages, burgers that have not been processed but are home-made. As I say in Scotland we don't have chips and have not had them for at least 3 or 4 years on the school dinner menu. I agree that you could still have chips once a week but at the moment it is happening every day which is wrong. I mean the pizza's the kids were having when the filming of Jamie's Dinners was appalling. These things can be done healthily and can look much more appealing to the kids. As far as food snobs go, I would probably put my name as one of them and be proud of it!

It's not the politicians who pay their wages, though Bella. It's the catering companies they work for.

Mmm, then the Government has got to give some sort of funding to these catering companies in order for them to pay dinner ladies more.

My daughter's school used to get their meals shipped in and then they were re-heated. Over the summer holidays though the kitchens got a re-vamp and now all the meals are freshly cooked on the premises. Their aim is to have every child in the school on school dinners (they also provide healthy packed-lunches if you don't want a hot meal). Some of the mums were invited to have their lunch at our school and they were very impressed not only with the meal but with the professionalism from the dinner ladies. They came across as being quite proud at what they were producing and when I drop Katie off at school in the morning there is some yummy smells coming from the kitchen!

Even Kenny Dalglish gave the lunches a big thumbsup!

It is some parents that need a good kick up the backside though, on GMTV they showed the contents of one kid's lunchbox - 5 packets of crisps and a chocolate bar! To me that is negligence - how long does it take to prepare a ham roll or a tuna sandwich?

One of the major things the studies found when providing food that was not processed was the behaviour of the children improved greatly, they were less irratable and paid attention more.

My youngest is still at primary school and has school dinners. We made a conscious decision to do this because he was a fussy eater and if we gave in to him and gave him a packed lunch it would be more expensive for one thing, and he would probably never eat a proper meal! We never really had a problem with the school dinners, but I suspect that's because we knew how limited his tastes were. Obviously other (more pro-active) parents were not at all satisfied and the school changed caterers. My husband works for the new company and we now know exactly what's on offer at school and my son no longer has the excuse of "not remembering" what he had for lunch. They do provide as many fresh ingredients as possible and there has been an increase in the number of school dinners taken since his company took over the contract. However, the majority of the staff are mums who work during school hours. They are not qualified "cooks". If they were, they would command much higher wages.

My eldest son is in his second year of secondary school and he has packed lunches. We started off giving him money to buy himself lunch in the canteen, but by the time he had waited for the older kids to push in front, he just about had time to buy a sandwich before the bell went! He now has a packed lunch every day, including a mid-day snack.

Saw on GMTV this morning that at last junk food in school dinners in finally going to be a thing of the past and the vending machines will be going too. Unfortunately it won't be until next year.

What I can't understand is in Scotland we have had no junk food ie chips, turkey twizzlers on the menu for quite sometime about 3 years at least, why has it taken so long for England to do the same?

The thing is it doesn't stop kids eating junk food at home but at least it is a step in the right direction.


It's great news WOOT! :w00t: my daughter has dinners in school , it's definately a step in the right direction. there are more and more obese children nowadays and all that rubbish is not healthy for them.

Well Jamie's Dinners proved that to be exactly the case! So, these ladies do need proper training and do need salaries to make it worth their while. The politicans could start walking or cycling to work and stop paying ridiculous amounts on private taxi cars and limos to pay for it!

I think Eternity has hit the nail of the head, yes you can still have food such as sausages, burgers that have not been processed but are home-made. As I say in Scotland we don't have chips and have not had them for at least 3 or 4 years on the school dinner menu. I agree that you could still have chips once a week but at the moment it is happening every day which is wrong. I mean the pizza's the kids were having when the filming of Jamie's Dinners was appalling. These things can be done healthily and can look much more appealing to the kids. As far as food snobs go, I would probably put my name as one of them and be proud of it!

Bella you certainly are a sparkly Dubliner.

I like your healthy money saving idea but unfortunately I can't see any politician taking it up.

But you and Eternity have hit the nail on the head moderation in all things is most definitely the key. Variety is the spice of life.

But on the subject of school dinners, Junk food obviously came into being when contracted out catering services began being used to cut back on educational budgets. During my school days I remeber being given several options each day from which to make a choice. But food today we label junk only appeared as a choice once or twice a week at the most alongside other more healthy options.

Three types of starter, Fruit juice, Soup, Bread roll

three choices of main meal;- meat pie with chips/bolied potatos/mash + 1 veg and drowned in gravy, ham salad, baked potato & beans + grilled tomato or serving of mushrooms.

and three choices in puddings. Piece of fruit, stodgy pud & custard, coffee and shortbread.

Junk food appeared in the mid 1980's and earlier in some districts keen to take on thatcherite competitive catering.

I think jamie and company have got it right .Don't you?

Maureen
Northern angel