Ruth Hegarty’s Post

In my experience this is an excellent scheme my daughter gets free hot meal with a wide range of options and lots of vegetables. The insert packaging is recyclable and also comes in a reuseable plastic lunch box which she brings in every day for her small break. We can see how much she eats (every day it’s empty). She loves it and so do I. All kids get fed good food. It’s one meal , she gets fruits and vegetables at home too. It’s also so rare that the squeezed middle get anything for free so it’s to be welcomed.

If only certain children receive them.then these children end up being singled out. If all kids get it then at least no child that really needs it misses out. I think the food is as nutritional as can be expected without costing an arm and a leg we have to be practical about it. Agreed if the element of waste could be cut out that would be fantastic. In reality most kids are over fed these days during and after school hours and with less physical exercise than kids got previously definitely portion sizes should be looked at .

Excellent piece Ruth. I was having this conversation today but with a slightly different twist. My niece and nephew have been receiving these hot meals, what came to light was the lack of time they are given to eat them, ten minutes then pack up! They have come home with at least half of the meal still in the box..it all goes straight into the bin. What an awful waste of money, food and all the resources put into producing that food. They did like the food, and a quick glance at the "vegan" chicken burrito nutritional label wasn't too bad in fairness, but that's the only one I saw so can't comment any further on that. Not giving time to eat also leaves the impression with the kids that the food is not important, no time to sit and chat and enjoy the act of sharing food with their friends, a wasted opportunity.Such a pity

I read this yesterday and was disappointed, but not surprised, to hear of the waste and nutritional deficiencies with the scheme. On paper, it's such a brilliant step forward for families and children that do not have the resources or the support structures to have a healthy and hot meal daily. However, it has to be delivered with children's health at the forefront, ensuring they get the right balance of nutrients for their growing bodies. I sincerely hope these are teething issues that will be ironed out or else parents will be in the position of refusing this (and wasting valuable money) and sending traditional packed lunches instead. Thank you for highlighting!

Great article Ruth, I’m hearing this all the time from parents , are we not in a situation where there is a large percentage of of the population who don’t enjoy a proper home cooked meal at all in their homes ,I’m coming from my experience in my Butcher’s shop where the Sunday roast is almost a distant memory for a lot of people, it’s sll about cheap food regardless! As regards packaging I would love to see all plastics removed csn you imagine the upheaval that would have , meat packed in paper rather than plastic , vegetables sold loose, bread sold in bakeries only !

This is a good article to highlight, and it made me wonder if anyone thought this out in the first place. Is it a publicity stunt by the government? But the positive aspect is that we can now use it to the children's advantage and improve nutrition in the state and its future generations. Some basic Ideas anyone in the industry would come up with. 1.      Use reusable stainless-steel containers & bottles like most families do already! 2.      The local economy should benefit food companies, farmers, and producers involved in the school programs. Support local!! 3.      Partner with local Nutritional & culinary professionals to improve meal quality. 4.      Involve parents and students in all efforts, and this will promote community engagement. 5.      Promote a constructive program by implementing overarching rules and strategies for Nutrition, diet categories, local economy, food waste and sustainability. 6.      Tie this also into the education of students and parents so an effective nutritional progress is devised, as in the Healthy Ireland initiative. Any other Innovative Ideas?

I know from my experience that many healthier options were provided at the beginning of this rolling out in our school. There was push back from parents and children looking for alternatives. One example being for sandwiches there was no white bread option at one point. It's been my observation that the food provided has evolved to the tastes of those who are eating it.

Completely agree with your key points here. So disappointing to see this wasted opportunity to really embed sustainable food system approaches into the school meal programme across the country in favour of large scale food provisions from a handful of suppliers. A disappointing approach to supporting the health of our children and our food environment as well as lost potential economic benefits for local food producers Martina Mullin catherine conlon Janas Harrington

It’s a missed opportunity as you say Ruth Hegarty and there are so many fantastic examples globally of how to build a model that delivers quality food and nutritional education that sets our children up for life . Japan being one country that got it right many years ago as I recall. I also think there are “ pockets “ of good things happening , so uncovering that and learning from those people delivering that service is a first step to improving what’s happening June Shannon

My children have been getting them for nearly 2 years and the quality has been increasingly bad to the point that the supplier has been given notice. Hoping the new contractor will help a huge improvement. The amount of food waste involved has been disgraceful.