„Von Ernährungsberatern ruiniert“ und „verschwitzte“ Verpackungen: Ihre Meinung zu Hot School Meals
https://www.thejournal.ie/hot-school-meals-4-6926523-Jan2026/
Von SpottedAlpaca
„Von Ernährungsberatern ruiniert“ und „verschwitzte“ Verpackungen: Ihre Meinung zu Hot School Meals
https://www.thejournal.ie/hot-school-meals-4-6926523-Jan2026/
Von SpottedAlpaca
27 Kommentare
It’s not physically possible to have a food scheme that keeps 682,000 children happy 5 days a week.
I think it’s reasonable enough to adjust the scheme to improve it but there can be no doubt it’s a great idea and we should keep running it.
It might need a few adjustments but I’m sure it can be a fantastic initiative in the long run.
Absolute whinge fest about a pretty great idea that sounds like it’s been reasonably well implemented
When I heard ‘menu fatigue’ it made me fear for the future of this country
We should be trying to adopt the Japanese way of doing things as much as possible. Their kids help grow, prepare, cook and clean up their meals. Its been found to be far healthier + teaches them essential life skills. Another ingredients are purchased off local farmers and the like.
Yes there’s tonnes of cultural & practical barriers, but lets do as much as we reasonably can to emulate this proven way of having healthier & happier kids who are better prepared for adulthood.
It’s a great concept, and it’s not perfect in its current state.
There are many issues surrounding it-
– The amount of money spent on it when schools are underfunded in other areas is hard to understand.
– The red tape around procurement is unnecessary and takes a huge amount of time. I’m all for financial accountability but it’s at a crazy level.
– The media frenzy last spring about the nutritional value of meals was unwarranted, parents always had the choice of what meal their child would eat. Some were healthier than others but removing chicken rolls etc was unnecessary we all grew up with lunches that weren’t ideal nutritionally. They have replaced tiny pieces of garlic bread that accompanied lasagne with mixed veg. The mixed veg is never eaten.
– When they are served fresh out of the oven they are great, I’ve eaten several that have been leftover and would happily eat again. If they are kept warm in a warm box or not served as soon as possible they do become sweaty with condensation.
– It’s never going to happen that all children are happy with them but overall it’s a great concept.
I was glad to see someone in that article point out the othering of kids who really need these meals when those that don’t need them drop out of the program. Decades ago I used to help out at lunch in school where the nuns doled out cooked packet soup and smash to kids who would otherwise have gone hungry. Whatever people say about the meals on offer now they’re a hell of a lot better than watered down soup and reconstituted mashed potato.
From my end. Going well. My two are benefiting from the meals. Are they perfect no. Are they good. Yes.
It was such a good idea but seeing it in practice it is hard not to despair at the waste. Most of the kids in my children’s classes have now opted out, the company still gets paid though. It is like airplane food and is driven around for hours before being eaten so has condensation and everything g is mushy. On days out our provider has a cold option that the kids seem to love, a sandwich, muffin and a piece of fruit. That would seem a better option than uneaten hot food but undermines the core concept. Had cooks and kitchen facilities been provided to schools this could have been fab, but of soup or pasta and homemade tomato sauce or whatever would be cheap and fab. With our provider anyway this is money literally being thrown in the bin but the idea is so laudable it is hard to see anyone calling stop (until we run out of corporation tax money)
I find a lot of the moms that insist they replace sugar with beet juice, and put kale in chocolate cake have eating disorder / wellness induced food, avoidance issues. The bummer is when they make the food super healthy the kids stop eating it. They sneak in junk food. I’d rather my child eat a hamburger then replace with junk food or develop eating issues.
My kids school have never once gotten a hot meal. They’ve been promised and promised, given loads of start dates but nothing yet so I can’t even comment on the quality of the food
I don’t understand why it has to be hot. A sandwich, fruit and yogurt/crackers/etc would be far more likely to be eaten by my children than chicken curry. And they could easily bring home what isn’t eaten.
What prop need to realise is there are genuinely loads of kids who wouldn’t get a hot meal if school didn’t provide it. Through poverty, neglect or just ignorance of healthy eating.
As a teacher I see the sheer waste – a lot of kids don’t eat them, some have opted out, left over food goes home each day. The sweat from the boxes is just disgusting and the smell in the classroom is rotten.
Yes – it is great in the sense that certain children are getting a hot meal that they may not otherwise see.
That’s the only pro. For the cost of it this money could go into funding so much for under resourced schools country wide, get more educational psychologists, proper yard equipment, the list is endless.
From the article „Representatives from various school bodies outlined the challenges with the scheme, saying the quality and a weariness around the menu were reasons some families choose to opt out of the scheme. Overall, they felt it was a positive and impactful new school policy, but that the execution was so flawed so far.“
To repeat,
## Overall, they felt it was a positive and impactful new school policy.
The way everyone seems to be framing this as some unmitigated disaster or proof it cannot be done is really quite shocking. It literally just started at scale, and can definitely be improved, using rounds of feedback such as the one being reported on.
Last year they brought in a bunch of samples to our school for the teachers to try. I had one of the chicken and mashed potatoes meals, and it was quite nice for a microwave meal. The problem is logistics, cause we would have to convert a room somewhere into a sorta-kitchen where they can heat up all these meals and finding the space for that would have been really hard. Then transport it to the classes and deal with all the waste it would create. Still doable but a bit of a pain.
Anyway, I haven’t heard anything about it since.
My kids‘ school get hot dinners through The Lunch Bag. The menu is decent, I have tried a few bits and they have been pretty good. Their menu has things like cottage pie, gammon and veg, chicken curry, chicken goujons, chickpea cuŕry and veg pizza with a corn on the cob. The menu rotates so you can’t order the same thing every day. Friday often has a one off thing like sausage on a roll, something you may not be able to get on other days. There are halal versions of the meat options and plain pasta and rice too. The app is really clear in terms of nutritional info for each meal. I think it is a great scheme. My son has tried things he wouldn’t usually go for and if I know he isn’t going to love his meal on a day, I will send in an extra snack. It is so unfortunate that it hasn’t been streamlined in a way to ensure it’s efficacy.
I don’t understand this obsession with it needing to be hot food.
Most of us as adults don’t have a hot breakfast, hot lunch and hot dinner. Yes, of course, something needs to be done to address child poverty but when there were sandwiches and rolls available on the scheme, teachers could discreetly put a leftover sandwich or roll into a child’s bag (as one teacher told me she did). I know myself I wouldn’t eat a curry at lunchtime and come home and eat a spaghetti Bolognese. It needs much, much more input from parents and a decent choice between hot and cold IMHO.
Some of the suppliers – looking at you Carambola – serve absolute muck that make Ryanair in flight meals look like good food. It got a lot worse after the mess with that dietician based menus as they just fucked peas or sweetcorn into things that should not have them.
The one our school runs is pretty decent has a good few options and both boys eat it, my eldest would be a picky eater but even he’s tried food he wouldn’t dream of at home overall positive with us tbh.
Wrecked by dietitians? The problem is they started this whole thing without them… they only got ONE for the entire scheme at the end of 2025
My kids eat the food and Im glad to have it. Yes the choice is quite limited, but my kids would eat the same thing every day if they were let. Some parents would want far heathlier options but a lot of kids, including mine, would not eat what those parents would consider appropriate.
Its a tough one, but the government actually achieve so little in my opinion – Im happy to chalk this one down as a win
The main problem is the tendering process doesn’t include proper quality control and performance metrics to make sure value is gotten and also a quality service.
The first provider was fantastic, the taste and variety was great. They pulled out though. The next provider was disgusting at best.
Our third provides meh food. Would prefer to get food vouchers that we can use towards the meals or for ingredients to cook ourselves
My son can’t stand them currently, he liked the lunches when they were introduced to his school as he had a lot of options to choose from each week but all that is gone now and the school lunches come home with him most days uneaten.
We find it easier to pack a lunch for him everyday.
Im back making lunches – pizza soggy, chicken not nice and potatoes very under done. I wish we could go back to buying the bamboo and rolls from The lunch bag. Id buy them.
Im delighted it is there for people who need it. Its a great idea but theres a lot of food waste that goes with it
My kids have no overall problem with it. Do they eat all of it? No. Do they sometimes come home? Yes. But overall it’s good. Needs some tweaking though
I’m working in a school that serves hot meals, about half the students take them. Any left overs are up for grabs for staff or students who are still hungry so there’s not much waste by the end of the day. It’s not Michelin star food, but it’s perfectly fine! Great scheme all round tbh!