School Lunches ---

upskehana

Hello:

I'm in the process of gathering information to determine the viability of providing hot school lunches. These will be hot, healthy and nutritious. I'm hoping to provide these at a price-point of c. €2.50. Items will include macaroni & cheese, pasta carbonara, risotta, etc.

I'd appreciate some responses to determine the level of interest.

Many Thanks

cynder

carabolla kids already do that for €10.00 a week.

byhookorbycrook

Where do the children eat?What about children in the class with allergies?How long do they have to eat?

Orion

Are you a teacher or are you looking into this as a business idea?

cbyrd

Will it be in the school or to bring with them? I don't understand the concept of where the kids will get the the food? is it just for one particular school that you're aiming for?
While pasta dishes are filling they sound very high fat with mac and cheese and carbonara type dishes... what age group are you aiming at? Primary or secondary?
€12.50 per week sounds a bit high per child. . that's €25 for my school lunch budget. brown bread yogurts fruit and hams wouldn't come to €25. I have more control over what they eat if i pack it myself, as the school has a policy of not allowing the kids to dump lunchbox contents at school to cut down on waste.
so i know what they've eaten.
Just my 2c worth

cynder

cbyrd wrote: »

Will it be in the school or to bring with them? I don't understand the concept of where the kids will get the the food? is it just for one particular school that you're aiming for?
While pasta dishes are filling they sound very high fat with mac and cheese and carbonara type dishes... what age group are you aiming at? Primary or secondary?
€12.50 per week sounds a bit high per child. . that's €25 for my school lunch budget. brown bread yogurts fruit and hams wouldn't come to €25. I have more control over what they eat if i pack it myself, as the school has a policy of not allowing the kids to dump lunchbox contents at school to cut down on waste.
so i know what they've eaten.
Just my 2c worth

good point,

I used to chuck my lunch over the into the field on my way home from school, i never ate a school lunch ireland (only ate my taytoes and a bar). uk did school dinners and i loved them.

There are few schools in ireland who do soup for the kids, not sure how much it costs though.

upskehana

Thanks for the responses.

I'm proposing to prepare in a central kitchen and delivered to the schools in "meals-on-wheels" type transport box(es). I'm in discussion with the HSE regarding the relevant specs on this and am satisfied that these can be met.

The lunches can then be taken by each child and eaten in the appropriate area (normal lunch area as designated by each school).

The kitchen will be nut and shell-fish free. Gluten-free flour will be used.

ash23

I think it's a good idea but would be more in favour of hot snack type meals as opposed to dinner type meals as most kids will get their dinner at home or in after school care and it wouldn't be great for them to eat two dinners a day.
Something like soups, warm sanwiches, warm salads, baked potatoes etc.....

Perhaps two options, warm lunches and warm dinners would be an option.

How Strange

ash23 not every child gets a hot meal at home or at least not a nutritious freshly prepared one. I'd imagine a hot meal at lunch would be healthier than a sandwich or a wrap type thing which contain empty carbs (tortilla, sliced pan bread)and alot of saturated fats, salt etc from the fillings (processed ham, chicken and mayo or coleslaw).

ash23

How Strange wrote: »

ash23 not every child gets a hot meal at home or at least not a nutritious freshly prepared one. I'd imagine a hot meal at lunch would be healthier than a sandwich or a wrap type thing which contain empty carbs (tortilla, sliced pan bread)and alot of saturated fats, salt etc from the fillings (processed ham, chicken and mayo or coleslaw).

Thats why I said to offer a choice of a meal or a lunch. For me I wouldn't be interested in my child having dinner at school as I like to eat dinner with her in the evenings. So much as I'd like her to have a warm lunch, the idea of her eating a lasagne or pasta meal at lunch and then coming home to another meal with me in the evening, doesn't appeal. That wouldn't be good for her.

Obviously healthy options would be better - warm chicken and salad etc., veg soup, brown bread/wraps/baps, low fat dressings, baked potatoes with low fat fillings like tuna and natural yougurt.
A warm chicken salad wholewheat wrap with extra low fat mayo wouldn't be any worse than macaroni cheese for eg.

Warm lunches don't have to mean a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

thesimpsons

this has often been discussed at 2 schools where I've been involved as member of BOM and the consistent outcome is that the schools generally don't have a storage area for the lunchs - either cold or hot stuff. we did use one crowd one year, but every day there'd be food thrown out cos kids who had ordered stuff were out sick, kids would look at it and turn up their noses at it, others wouldn't touch it, it was too cold/hot, delivered late, etc. Unfortunately so many irish schools don't have lunchrooms or canteens. my kids in primary always had to eat their lunches in classrooms and anyone who brought in something "smelly" had to endure the taunts of others in the class when the room smelt for the afternoon. I know you should have kids well able to stand up for htemselves, but kids by nature don't like being slagged off or made an example of.

on a parents side, I wouldn't order lunches like this as I know what my kids will eat and and it wouldn't cost me 2.50 a day to give them their lunch - wrap, vegs, yoghurt or cheese, fruit and drink of water.

Babyblessed

upskehana wrote: »

Hello:

I'm in the process of gathering information to determine the viability of providing hot school lunches. These will be hot, healthy and nutritious. I'm hoping to provide these at a price-point of c. €2.50. Items will include macaroni & cheese, pasta carbonara, risotta, etc.

I'd appreciate some responses to determine the level of interest.

Many Thanks

I couldnt afford €2.50 a day! Way too much in our budget. If you look in the 'Food Budget' thread, you will see I regularly make meals for 4/5 for under €7. Pasta dishes are exceptionally cheap to make.

byhookorbycrook

upskehana wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

The lunches can then be taken by each child and eaten in the appropriate area (normal lunch area as designated by each school).

Lunch area in primary is the classroom. The DES does not allow extra time for eating,so a child with a dinner as you describe would probably miss 15/20 minutes of play time

allydylan

grindelwald wrote: »

good point,

I used to chuck my lunch over the into the field on my way home from school, i never ate a school lunch ireland (only ate my taytoes and a bar). uk did school dinners and i loved them.

There are few schools in ireland who do soup for the kids, not sure how much it costs though.

great posts

Babyblessed

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Lunch area in primary is the classroom. The DES does not allow extra time for eating,so a child with a dinner as you describe would probably miss 15/20 minutes of play time

My son often comes home from school with much of his lunch intact as they arent given enough time to eat.... All well and good but then I get complaints his behaviour deteriorates in the afternoon.... prob because his blood sugar has dropped, I have warned the teacher but they dont/cant give more time :rolleyes:

upskehana

Good Morning!

I appreciate all your feedback. Many Thanks!

From my own "on the ground" research I have encountered some of the reasons why parents have reservations about this - lack of time, cleanup, monitoring what is eaten, etc.

There is a price associated with the convenience of providing the lunch directly to the school. Some parents are willing to pay for this but I understand that it may be prohibitive for others.

Best Regards

upinthesky

love the idea id pay but 10 a week for a child would be max what if you had 3 children 30 bit expensive

they would have to lengthen the lunch time!!

wild_cat

upskehana wrote: »

Hello:

I'm in the process of gathering information to determine the viability of providing hot school lunches. These will be hot, healthy and nutritious. I'm hoping to provide these at a price-point of c. €2.50. Items will include macaroni & cheese, pasta carbonara, risotta, etc.

I'd appreciate some responses to determine the level of interest.

Many Thanks

How Strange wrote: »

I'd imagine a hot meal at lunch would be healthier than a sandwich or a wrap type thing which contain empty carbs (tortilla, sliced pan bread)and alot of saturated fats, salt etc from the fillings (processed ham, chicken and mayo or coleslaw).

The dishes above are some of the most empty carb foods you can get.

Take the macaroni and cheese - White pasta, white flour (for the sauce) plus if dishes are being made in bulk its more than likely for 2.50 the cheese is going to be highly processed as well.

Unless its being made with brown pasta and spelt flour the child is better off with their much cheaper white sandwich.....

Carbonara - White pasta again, rashers/ham (full of nitrate), RAW egg.... Paramsan isn't pasteurised either.

Risotto - White rice, generic stock etc. etc.

There's very little difference in nutritional content between those sliced pans and carb laden pasta dishes the only difference is that one is hot and the other is cold.

yungwan

wild_cat wrote: »

The dishes above are some of the most empty carb foods you can get.

Take the macaroni and cheese - White pasta, white flour (for the sauce) plus if dishes are being made in bulk its more than likely for 2.50 the cheese is going to be highly processed as well.

Unless its being made with brown pasta and spelt flour the child is better off with their much cheaper white sandwich.....

Carbonara - White pasta again, rashers/ham (full of nitrate), RAW egg.... Paramsan isn't pasteurised either.

Risotto - White rice, generic stock etc. etc.

There's very little difference in nutritional content between those sliced pans and carb laden pasta dishes the only difference is that one is hot and the other is cold.

I'm afraid I agree. I would prefer to know exactly what my son is eating and the above options just do not sound healthy to me. I prefer to give my son his brown roll/sandwich and fruit myself and I can also monitor how much he has eaten from his leftovers.

My son is diabetic and it is important he actually eats - imo alot of that food would go uneaten as children wont eat healthy food if they are given the choice i.e the chicken salad wrap suggestion above. MOST children wouldn't touch salad if they were paid! (Fair pay to you if your kids do eat it!)

I don't mean to criticize your plan OP as it is a good one in theory, I just don't see it taking off in Ireland tbh.

Tayla

I have to agree with the last 2 posters that those dishes don't seem very healthy to me.

I would love to have school dinners for my children and would happily pay up to €20 a week for them to have them but I wouldn't want them to have carb heavy dinners like that.

Excess carbohydrates diets are causing obesity and diabetes in children and it would not be good for them to have dinners like that in schools and then go home for their dinner with their family. My son has cereal in the morning, he has plenty of carbs for dinner and also at supper time, I do not think it would be healthy for him to get an extra meal that was so heavy in carbs.


I also do not ever use oil to cook my families food, I prefer instead to use butter, coconut oil or to just grill and i'd be damned if I go to all that effort at home to keep trans fats out of their diets only for all them to get food cooked in that in school.

If a school were to have proper dinners with potato, meat and veg then it would be fab but it wouldn't happen or if it did then they would use the cheapest meat possible.

I would be in favour of things like a small bowl of pasta with a bigger portion of bolognese sauce to go with it.

Baked potatoes would be good.

Casseroles.

Omelettes.

Chicken and salad wraps.

Pastry-less quiches.

Unfortunately though I think a lot of children are fussy eaters and I think if parents were paying for a service then they want to make sure that their kids are actually eating it so at the end of the day those parents would win out and then my kid would end up in school eating chicken nuggets , sausage rolls and chips.