British school lunch worth thirty pounds – a disgrace

In Great Britain, children often eat lunch at school. Now that the children cannot go to school, low-income households receive a food package to prepare lunch at home. But what is actually in those packages?

The company that puts together and distributes the food packages receives thirty pounds for each package, which converts to 33 euros. Roadside Mum, a mother on Twitter, shows what is in the package she received to serve her child a tasty lunch every school day for two weeks. And… honestly, it is a sad collection of groceries. Two bananas, a tin of beans in tomato sauce, a few potatoes, half a loaf of sliced brown bread and some squeeze yogurts—that was about it. Is that enough to provide a schoolchild with lunch for ten days? And do those groceries add up to thirty pounds?

#FreeSchoolMeals bag for 10 days:

2 days jacket potato with beans
8 single cheese sandwiches

2 days carrots
3 days apples
2 days soreen
3 days frubes

Spare pasta & tomato. Will need mayo for pasta salad.

Issued instead of £30 vouchers. I could do more with £30 to be honest. pic.twitter.com/87LGUTHXEu

— Roadside Mum ? (@RoadsideMum) January 11, 2021

A few apples and half an onion

The reactions quickly followed one another on Twitter. Other parents also showed what was in their packages: a few apples, a bar, a few mysterious bags of bread and a drink—for three children. Potatoes, biscuits, half an onion and half a bell pepper (and that same tin of beans in tomato sauce again) and an apple. Where is this going wrong?

Bag full of groceries

Most reactions come from people saying what they can buy for thirty pounds at Lidl or Aldi, comparing the prices with the school’s lunch packages. On average, they estimate the lunch packages cost around 8 pounds, while for thirty pounds they can buy a bag full of healthy and tasty groceries.

Local shops

The company that makes and distributes the packages has since announced that it will investigate where things are going wrong. The Department for Education has also become involved. Twitter users have good suggestions: simply provide thirty-pound grocery vouchers, so people can buy what the children like to eat themselves—and support local shopkeepers at the same time. How about it?

Read also:

• American school lunches are ridiculously unhealthy (and just look at France!)
• An ode to spreadable cheese
• 7 things that are ridiculously cheap at the supermarket

Source: Bored Panda