£2.70 thats how much we have to pay gone up 60p a day !

whats the going rate round the country ?

and are lunches subsidized by the government ?

My kid has a packed lunch. Its much more economical.

Crisps, white bread and a Mars bar. (Healthy stuff really)

Around £2 each for both my kids at primary and middle school.

€6.20 for soup, main course and desert.

In Belgium, not subsidised at all.

£2.25

£1.55 primary school in Bradford.

Just send them with a packed lunch. Much cheaper and you can be sure what they eat.

and are lunches subsidized by the government ?

Well the free ones certainly are.

£2-70 for a two course meal does sound pretty cheap so I’d expect that this price is susidised.

Lunch provision at schools comes directly out of their budget with the only subsidies being for children from low income households & those under state supervision. Cost & quality vary greatly & there are a number of outside factors that can influence them- not least the number of kids that take their own in- but to put it into a local perspective, my son’s last school changed to outside contractors who reduced the cost, widened the menu & (according to the kids) improved the food. For some odd reason these outside firms are regulated but in-house catering isn’t.

One quite unfortunate issue is parents who send their children to school with no lunch nor any money. The school is compelled to ensure all pupils are fed so end up subsidising these children which impacts on everyone else – there were 9 such kids (out of 300 potentials) last year & whilst it was ‘only’ £1.95 that was for every kid, every school day. Their options are to either sue the family for the money or report them to Social Services – generally speaking, neither course of action was taken. In some other schools in the area, this number was considerably higher.

They have packed lunches most days but we had a text last night to say that they have gone up to £1.80

On the days that my kids are not eating homegrown, organic, GM free vegan healthy packed lunches made with love and care and put in a hand stitched hessian bag in the shape of a cuddle, we pay £1.90 for a Primary School packed lunch. The food is good.

One quite unfortunate issue is parents who send their children to school with no lunch nor any money.

Nothing like setting your kids up for a good start in life….

Nothing like setting your kids up for a good start in life….

Exactly. The occasional oversight is one thing but these were deliberate acts & a couple of the mums were quite open and proud of the fact.

£1.75 primary in Edinburgh.

1.90 a day for a cooked lunch for me, I think it’s good value.

£2.70 in North Leicestershire. Primary.

The cost has just gone up and the quality has seriously dropped off. I have had many a discussion with the local authority about this.

Pasta with chips anyone? Or how about yesterdays lunch: jacket potato with chips, cheese and beans. Grrr.

Whenever we can, we send them with a packed lunch but as I work away during the week and MrsG is managing the home/kids/part-time job, it’s not always possible.

It’s very worrying how many children have the best meal of their day as a cooked meal at school. Some even the only meal that day 🙁

Pasta with chips anyone? Or how about yesterdays lunch: jacket potato with chips, cheese and beans

mmmmmmmmmmmm nom nom nom

On the days that my kids are not eating homegrown, organic, GM free vegan healthy packed lunches made with love and care and put in a hand stitched hessian bag in the shape of a cuddle

I resemble that remark

NO idea as the meals are not vegan

£2/day in Hexham
I think the menu is pretty good, but he claims to have forgotten what he ate pretty much every day….

£2.25 up 5p from last year. That’s in Bristol

I don’t remember the exact details of all that angsty middle class guff that Jamie Oliver was slobbering on about… it was a few years back, after all, he’s moved on to criticising poor people nowadays… but I seem to remember the upshot of it being that its your parental duty to drop one of these off for your little darlings at lunchtime….

Approximately £2 per day in Morpeth.

ir_bandito our son is exactly the same cant remember what he has had or what he has done all day

£2.10 seems to be the norm in Doncaster

Nothing like setting your kids up for a good start in life….
Exactly. The occasional oversight is one thing but these were deliberate acts & a couple of the mums were quite open and proud of the fact.

This – just send them in empty handed and stop whinging. At my wifes school, parents have been heard in the playground boasting about how much ‘free’ lunches they’ve got away with.

Not only lunches but school trips and even trips to France where they’ve signed the kid up then refused to pay.

There’s very little the school can practically do other than put teh cost up for those with a conscience unfortunately.

Little zap started High school yesterday, they have a swipe card system and canteen with loads of options, canteen is open morning, break and lunch. The school recommends £2.50 a day. Trouble is he eats like a hobbit and is as skinny as hell. Yesterday he spent £5.00, I think he bought two lunches, one at break and one at dinner, today sent with more money to load the card and snacks and drinks, hopefully the novelty will wear off soon or he will be on packed lunches, before we take out a second mortgage to feed him.

One quite unfortunate issue is parents who send their children to school with no lunch nor any money. The school is compelled to ensure all pupils are fed so end up subsidising these children which impacts on everyone else – there were 9 such kids (out of 300 potentials) last year & whilst it was ‘only’ £1.95 that was for every kid, every school day. Their options are to either sue the family for the money or report them to Social Services – generally speaking, neither course of action was taken. In some other schools in the area, this number was considerably higher.

Out of interest, why aren’t Social Services involved in the cases where the children are deliberately sent with no food or money for food?

rocketman – Member

Pasta with chips anyone? Or how about yesterdays lunch: jacket potato with chips, cheese and beans

mmmmmmmmmmmm nom nom nom

Reminds me of a bit from Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom

‘Baked potato, stuffed with potato, with chips -and mash- with a fried egg on top’

Keep trying and failing to get the mrs to do us that for tea, don’t know what I pay her for.

£2.26 here and def not subsidised (private school) – so if you’re paying more either the food is brilliant or the school makes a profit from it.

Baked potato, stuffed with potato, with chips -and mash- with a fried egg on top

Awesomez!

Maybe a few sausages & bacon as well

Just tell your kid to extract his dinner from other kids.

Just tell your kid to extract his dinner from other kids.

??? 🙂

I am a Governor at my childs school.

We charge £2 per day but the service costs about £2.70.

We are a small school so others may get good economies of scale.

We keep the rates low as we really need bums on seats

Out of interest, why aren’t Social Services involved in the cases where the children are deliberately sent with no food or money for food?

My understanding is that because the schools have to feed the kids it is so far down the list at social services that nothing ever gets done. At best, it ends up in an order to the parents to resolve the situation then goes into a lengthy (years) appeal process which includes claims for free school meal entitlement etc.

If it goes through full process then there is the possibility that the child becomes statements which means they’ll end up getting it for free anyway, or so I was told.

£2.65/day here I think.

However we send him in with a packed lunch. Thus we can ensure he gets plenty of salt, refined sugar and other crap we fill him with to ensure he’s an obesity statistic.*

*So they seem to think. We’ve had a couple of reproachful notes left that he had too much food / something unhealthy etc. He’s 5 and walks/scoots/cycles 2 miles a day, will only drink water or milk, doesn’t like sweets and would rather ride his bike than play computer games. Yet because he’s a big kid (as in built like a brick privvy, not fat) we got told he shouldn’t really have a chocolate biscuit in his lunch. Error of ways was pointed out.

When I started school in 1975 it was 75P a week!!!

£2 per day. At my eldest daughter’s school they offer a discount for paying for a weeks worth – bringing it down from £10 to £8 a week. Great for those able to afford it.

Kids seem happy with lunches mostly. They sued to have packed lunches but requested school meals…

The kids pay £1.95 and I think it costs me nearly £3 of I want a lunch. Usually a couple of choices a day and pretty good food. I tend towards a can of cheap supermarket soup as the microwave is free to use, it’s quick and only about 50p…

it’s about £2.40ish but my kids don’t partake, we offer them the choice but, they are segregated when eating and most of there friends take a packed lunch, the food is ok in quality according to the kids but the portions are very small and so they are still hungry, and lastly the menu combinations can be odd so finding a day when they would eat the whole meal is tricky.

£2 a day Liverpool