There was an 's' on my thumb but it rubbed off! My photo is a wee bit dark, I've mastered the computer but not my camera!
Today's dinner was carrot and coriander soup followed by mince pasta. I did remember my mouthfuls but as the soup was so hot I burnt my mouth and had to take many little sips! The soup was brilliant. We don't have Carrot and coriander soup very often but its the first time I've tried it and I love it! The mince pasta was the same as spaghetti bolognese but with different shaped pasta and more sweetcorn than last time. I dont know why they call it mince pasta and not just spagbol!
Food-o-meter- 8/10
Mouthfuls- 64 small hot ones
Courses- starter/main
Health Rating- 5/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- still in the clear
My blog has had 42000 hits now and I hope one of them was Jamie Oliver!
VEG
I suppose they didn't call it spaghetti because spaghetti is the name for the long thin strings of pasta! This shape of pasta is called "fusilli".
ReplyDeleteWell I'm italian and I can tell you that this blob isn't fusilli or spaghetti or something pasta.....it looks like dog food.OHH poor child!!! Martha never give in!!! A hug
Deleteagree with you! I am not italian; but I am married to an italian and cook italian, so I can say this "scrambled" thing its not worth the name of "pastasciutta"!
DeletePASTA! Thank you for helping identifying the nameless dish served to my children in primary school (they did try to describe it to me, without success :-). Now I understand why they are forbidden to take cameras at school, and I will encourage them to civil disobedience. WELL DONE!
DeleteOh come one ladies, this is perfectly good pasta! :))))))
DeleteIt certainly looks better today - but no pudding? Shame.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you are up and running again with 'Dad's' camera. The photos are really great.
ReplyDeleteI worked in my sons primary school and was shocked at the state of the school dinners provided. The trays were awful and often food from the different courses were slopped over the edges and mixed (gravy on your ice-cream anybody?)
What concerned me most was that they regularly ran out of food for the last 2 or 3 children and they were given half of a microwaved 'baked potato', a dry piece of bread and on two occasions, 2 cold tinned tomatos. YUCK!
Needless to say my son has ALWAYS had packed lunches!
I was one of the few students at the end of lunch period who got the "microwaved 'baked potato'" (MBP) when I was 10 or 11. My MBP took the whole lunch time to "heat up." Turns out they gave me a "grilled cheese sandwich" that was dead cold. I wanted to hurry and get some recess so I rapidly took a bite. However, it did not taste right. I opened up the bread and saw... no cheese. Just green and blue mold covering what I imagined was cheese at one time. Worst lunch ever. Didn't eat anything else.
DeleteHowever, the rest of my school lunches were great compared to these images and posts.
Looks an awful lot better than what was in the other two pictures. And wouldn't it be lovely if Jamie did see it. Maybe start a Faecbook page and ask other children to do the same as you, that would get alot of attention :D
ReplyDeleteI never got posh stuff like carrot and coriander soup when I was at school!
ReplyDeleteGreat work Veg. Have shared. Won't with your dinners if it's all the same though.
ReplyDeleteGood work Veg. Have shared, but won't be doing the same with your dinners if it's all the same.
ReplyDeleteAre you taking these photos in secret?! Love this blog. I HATE those food trays - we have them in the Primary School I work in.
ReplyDeleteThat looks a bit better! The soup sounds positively wholesome. Perhaps they were embarrassed by your blog :)
ReplyDeleteHas no one said anything about you taking photos of your food or bringing a camera to school?
ReplyDeleteShe had permission from the school staff to do so! Says something!
DeleteWay to go, Veg. I am also a big fan of the 'Note to self' on hand. Could there be a more efficient spot to write a note to oneself? I think not!
ReplyDeleteI'm 30 now and I could swear to you that as a 5-year-old in Australia, we were served that exact mince pasta as a school dinner. Apparently it came over on the colonial ships too (and lasted for decades).
Hi well done I can see you winning this one :)
ReplyDeleteWhere do you life?
DeleteLove that you are doing this! Hope you stick it out! Looks like today was a decent day and that soup actually looks pretty darn good. By the way, you can count my hit from seeing a story written about your blog on the Huffington Post UK :)
ReplyDeleteTweeted your blog to Jamie Oliver - hope he reads it!
ReplyDeleteIn the 70's I recall great school meals, meat, potatoes and always a desert with custard. Plus almost every day there was seconds for just a few if you waited long enough!
ReplyDeleteWell done on your blog Martha, keep taking photos and writing about this topic, your voice and your opinions are important. I write about low cost nutritional food on my blog Frugal Queen, there is no need for your school to give you such poor quality food. Well done again Martha.
ReplyDeleteOh Martha,
ReplyDeleteOne of my sons went to Lochgilphead primary. We are now living in the USA and l was horrified to see the pathetic scraps on your dinner plate. I do hope Jamie Oliver gets to read this. Keep up the good work and l hope that they manage to improve the menu and the presentation for all the kids.
Well done on showing people just what school food is like in Scotland! Here in Finland it is much better. Kids actually get to take their own food and as much or little as they want, and there are salads and vegetables every day. (Three slices of cucumber or a tablespoon of corn like you get hardly counts! :D ) To drink, they get milk or water and fruit juice. If you search the internet with the words "Finnish School Food" you can compare.
ReplyDeleteYou deserve more and better food!
Jennifer, Lahti, Finland.
Good work on your blog Martha, we're reading here in Sydney Australia, thinking of you! Happy eating and can't wait to read more!!!
ReplyDeletewow..thats awful.. and where are ANY of your 5 a day!?
ReplyDeletedo you get a veggie option or salad choice?
i think id rather eat the words on my hand than that sorry looking wizened up food..
*its shameful!
keep on clicking that camera...and 'Shame' them into an improvement!
well done you
Great idea for a blog. I'm looking forward to your next post. Do they really call those things on the tray "dinners"? You're good with words and I expect you could think of a better name!
ReplyDeleteTilly Bud featured you blog and sent me over! What a brilliant idea. I think someone did a similar thing with hospital food on an extended stay...
ReplyDeleteNutrition is so important!
I am looking forward to your lunch tomorrow too :) and I'll stop complaining about making my kids lunches because if this is the alternative (we don't do school lunches in New Zealand...) then I am HAPPY to make them! And was that *real* carrot and corriander soup? It looked a bit like a packet-mix...
ReplyDelete¿Es que su cena? Yo no comer eso a mi perro, espero que usted come mejor en casa.
ReplyDeleteLove David
Keep at it girl, well done. My mum's name was Martha, lovely name.
ReplyDeleteDear Veg,
ReplyDeleteI used to go to a primary school near Lochgilphead and remember being given spaghetti pie! (tinned spaghetti in a pie). I remember my mum being truely horrified. This was about twenty years ago so I'm sad things aren't better by now.
Love the blog - hope the meals improve :)
Wow, i thought school diners tasted bad when i was a kid but at least there was enough food! Does your school run from age 4 to 11? Some schools with really young children dont realize that the older children need more food.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the blog. School dinners when I was a kid were nasty evil things like liver and burnt sausages and cabbage. But at least it was a whole plate full. Maybe someone can organize food parcels for you.
ReplyDeleteYour food!? also looks disgusting, I feel sorry for you.
Well done on your blog! The school meals are disgusting! I was thinking back to when I was at school ( many moons ago) and the standard has certainly gone down. We would always have a choice of two or three mains, choice of veg, or a salad option............ all well balanced meals. This was always followed by a choice of 2 desserts with custard. If we didn't want a full dessert, we could have custard alone. I think the difference was that in those days the meals were cooked in the school kitchen, not delivered by a catering company.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work, I'll be following your blog with great interest.!
This is a great idea to show what you are being fobbed off with. Everyone deserves proper food, not the highly processed stuff you are being given. Not only is it what I think of as "pretend" food with few fresh ingredients, it just looks so unappetising too. I would feel cheated all afternoon if this was what I had to eat at midday!
ReplyDeleteYour school dinners are not like mother makes here in Australia...
ReplyDeleteInteresting!
p.s. I wish you would get Dad to make your text black. Light grey is too difficult to encourage reading.
Hi Veg!
ReplyDeleteJust like to congratulate you for the amazing blog you have here. I hope they change the menus! I am Portuguese and I remember that in our schools and it was much better. I leave you here with a typical lunch we have there, much more nutritious. May be if they see this they will get inspired :D We always have a homemade soup (not the usual supermarket powder soup mixed with water), fruit, healthy meal (usually not fried food) and vegetables . See the picture: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PgtSOuxk5NY/SwKl_DALJjI/AAAAAAAAASg/im9OXMekrlk/s1600/DSC06456.JPG
Good luck to you!
Ana
well done Martha, you have really opened my eyes to scottish school dinners, my daughter is the same age as you and occassionally has school dinners and always complains how bad they are. wish i had listened to her after seeing your pics, safe to say no more school dinners for her. Well done for highlighting this issue again, i do hope Jamie Oliver has seen your blog x
ReplyDeletegood luck with the campaign. Now I know why my son wanted packed lunches if this is what school food is like these days.
ReplyDeleteGood work Martha!
ReplyDeleteI've got a friend and her daughter had two slices of bread instead of proper lunch. Because the school kitchen had run out of lunch supplies.
Here in Finland, school lunches are free and healhty. We don't have burgers and pizza only rarely, the school meals are filling and you can have second plate of food if you still feel hungry after one round.
Hope Jamie Oliver will notice your blog and do something about the school meals.
My son is over a year old and I am trying to feed him healthily at home, I cook every day, he has never tried french fries or chicken dippers, never gave him crisps or any other junk food! To be honest, I fell horrified then I see parents feeding their babies (yes babies, ones that are not even 1 year old...) fries or crisps...
ReplyDeleteI believe that kids will grow up and eat as we will teach them to!
And, when my son will start nursery or school I will definitely check schools lunch offers and, most likely, I will make and pack lunch for my son myself...
I cannot understand how NHS and government want kids to be healthy and fit while feeding them like that! Someone needs to do something about it and soon!
Your blog is great, do please keep it going! ;-)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your blog and informative pics and ratings on what is disgusting school dinners - you deserve better! Well done getting this into the Daily Mail - just read article and also shared on Facebook for you. I do hope that this reaches the powers that be and that vast improvements are made to your school dinners asap! Keep up the good work. Well done xxx
ReplyDeleteBravo you. a copy of Kids' Kitchen is on its way to you, if you send me an email.
ReplyDeletewww.stirrinstuff.org.
I read about you in a tweet from @MissPinks who is London - the internet is a wonderful thing. Do you tweet?
Fi
x
My eldest daughter is 9 and she couldn't believe the meals you are getting. She has school meals that also cost £2 a day. They have a lovely group of ladies who do the meals and even before JO's campaign they tried hard to make good wholesome stuff and after they were encouraged to make as much as possible from scratch. As a parent they have tasting sessions every so often and in fact allow you to go in with the teachers permission to see the kids getting the food served up if you like. The teachers all eat it so it muct be good. When they have pizza its homemade with a wholemeal crust and yummy. They have a salad/fruit bar all through summer and there is always fresh fruit on offer as an alternative/extra pudding all year around.
ReplyDeleteDaughter says there is a choice of main meals-usually one is veggie, one meat. Plus baked spuds and salad stuff this time of year or soup in winter. Plus some kind of pudding and/or fruit.
I just asked and yesterday she had a full baked spud (not a half as some schools seem to serve) with baked beans and cheese on top. Plus salad and a blob of tuna mayo on the side. Fruit salad for puds.
She says they have had ice lollies when it was hot but they were given 2 each and could still have a peice of fruit as well.
My son often went back for seconds when he was at school and TBH they school meals are great here in Lancashire.
So sorry your school can't pull their finger out.
I wonder who the contractor is who does the meals?
Well done Martha you truly are a courageous girl for highlighting the problems about school dinners. I love you're pictures, as you say you are a growing girl who needs to eat a healthy balanced lunch. As you will know the local authority put a price on each tray, it is possible to serve delicious nutritious meals to children at an affordable price. What are we doing to the children of the Lochgilphead community, not only are they having terrible lunches they also have no green space to play football or any other sports without having to pay. Well done Martha!!
ReplyDeleteWell done, Veg! I love your blog. Never be afraid to tell it how it is. I just wish I knew which part of the country you are in. You don't have to be specific.... just the county would do.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Veg! I love your blog. Never be afraid to tell it how it is. I just wish I knew which part of the country you are in. You don't have to be specific.... just the county would do.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! You're blog already reach to Portugal :) That's was a reaaly great way to show that food in schools is not always the best meal, but sometimes parents don't see that.
ReplyDeleteYou have to continue your work :) Kiss*
Really glad you are doing this, Veg. I occasionally visit primary schools as part of my freelance work and often feel very sad about what is offered to children for school dinners, especially those who do not have dads making banana cake for when they get home. (Maybe you need to eat up the bananas before they get too ripe? Then he'll have to make a different kind of cake.)
ReplyDeleteI also hate those plastic all-in-one trays, although I can understand why they seem to "make sense". They are very unpleasant.
I do hope that the publicity your blog is having leads to improvement in the school dinners for you and your schoolmates. You deserve a good result from your efforts.
ReplyDeleteHere in Canada we do not have school lunches from what you have to go through, us parents go to the grocery store and we buy our children and feed them healthy choice foods. We send our children to school with a backpack and their lunch in them. My son is in grade 4, todays lunch consists of a fruit, a nice chicken salad sandwich, a juice pack, a fruit and some cookies oh and some carrot sticks to snack on. Over all, its healthy. Once in awhile i will slurge and hand deliver him lunch from a fast food joint. The food that you are being fed does not seem that appealing to me and I wonder, why they would feed that to growing children in the first place? On the other hand, My grandfather always reminded me as a child growing up that we should be happy for what we receive. Each mouthful is a blessing because its better than nothing and that is which some children in our society receives. Nothing. There is poverty here in our country and some children do not have school lunches. Its quite sad really. Even though the food looks a bit crappy, I think you should thank God, that it is food and not air. I admire your blog though. I woke up this morning and took a read at the front page on this computer screen and there you were. My eyebrow raised with curiosity. I thank you for sharing your blog with the world. I hope Jamie Oliver sees it too, like you are wishing so much. God Bless, have a happy time growing up. Be good to people and you will get far in life. - Terri
ReplyDeleteVancouver Canada.
Very similar to your blog; "Traction Man", a journalist who was in hospital for a year until 2011, had a well publicized daily blog (secret for most of the year until the administrators put 2 and 2 together) called "Notes from a Hospital Bed" which is sadly now offline, showing how bad hospital food can be as the contract is awarded to the supplier who makes the lowest bid. A few times, seeking nourishment, when he could walk again, he found the same food provider supplying excellent food in the canteen! The ward food perversely made people feel more ill! I was also in this situation when I was only in hospital for 7 days. They even served up 9th rate cornflakes and coffee that tasted of dust!
ReplyDeleteGo Martha
ReplyDeleteLOL - love your blog, keep it up. Maybe you'll eventually shame your school into taking action (though it'll probably be against you taking your camera into lunch with you LOL) :)
ReplyDeleteThe soup looks good but not the rest...
ReplyDeleteBTW, I commented twice yesterday, once to tell you I blogged about your blog http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/while-were-on-the-subject/
but the word verification thing didn't come up, which is probably why my comments aren't there.
Well done! I'm curious how much time the school allows for you to eat your lunch?
ReplyDeleteMartha...VEG... what's sad is that it looks like meals haven't really changed in 25 years!! I even remember having plates like that myself!! And surprisingly.. I'm thinking your foo-o-meter ratings are very generous!!
ReplyDeleteLets hope someone sits up and takes notice you deserve better By the way you are a prime candidate for journalist or blogger of the year
ReplyDeletekeep it up gal!!!!!!
Aha! My class asked yesterday what would happen if you had soup; which shape in the tray would you fill? But now we know, you get a mug :-)
ReplyDeleteWe also wondered if you might start to get secret special treatment once more people find out about your blog...you should keep an eye on your friends' lunches too, see if things are consistent.
These food-shaped objects your west Scotland school serves kids looks and very likely tastes awful!
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm a 22 years old hungarian girl, I study food engineering. My lil' sister is 10 years old, and they get lunch in the school for at about 14$ (~3000forints)by the month. They always get soup(which made of vegetables, meat etc) and after that they eat a normal size meal, for example chicken with rice, or bolied vegetables, with pork... the taste of these foods are not so excellent (I ate these kind of foods before), but I think it's much more healthy, than burger or ice-cream...
ReplyDeleteWell done Martha I think what you are doing is fantastic. As a mother to 3 children whom also take school dinners in a school in Glasgow Scotland they have the same frustrations as yourself. The older of the three kids is in primary 5 and complains quite a lot about his dinners one for there no being enough on the plate and he's not a greedy boy and also because sometimes they school run out of food an also a lot of time drinks for the kids. People may say then why don't you take a packed lunch but sometimes this isn't possible for kids especially the ones who receive free school meals but for my son it is because he is separated from his friends if he has a packed lunch. I really hope that your blog helps to make changes to the menus and quality of the food in schools maybe now some councils will make proper decisions with regards to this matter and no waste the money so tiresly on things that are no where near more the our children's nutrition and health. Good luck Martha and here's hoping tomorrows meal will be a good one..........bet let's no count our chickens!!!!! Lisa x
ReplyDeleteMy kids are also in the same council area as you so recognise your meal as schools obviously following the same menu. THink what you are doing is brilliant and reckon that getting more kids to do the same might force A&B to look at what they are serving our kids. Bet you're looking forward to the Pirate's Pork tomorrow!!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you take a photo of all the food thats wasted in the scrap bin aswell by children who are not encouraged to eat fruit/veg at home-that is probably why a lot of them are hungry!!! also do you know what you plate cost is out of that £2 school meal cost-probably about 72p-can you parents provide a 2 course meal for that!! I bet not!! There are 2 sides to every story-I feel sorry for your school cook!!
ReplyDeleteThat's just an economy of scale. When you're buying sweetcorn by the ton you can save a lot of money. I guarantee I could cook a more nutritious and bigger two course meal for not a great deal more. Certainly a two course meal for less than £3.
DeleteYay! Good for you, doing this blog. I am the mother of 2 4th graders in the US, and I would be very sad if they had to eat what you are served. Actually, I pack their lunches, because what they get from our school is still not so great. Our cafeteria is a separate business from the school, and so is hard to change.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work! I'm following you everyday now.
Well done you ! Keep up the blog ! I hope you get better school dinners soon !
ReplyDeleteThis looks much more filling and tasty! The soup sounds really good! By the way, I came to your blog via The Laughing Housewife's blog.
ReplyDeletebecause they are not spag-hetti!
ReplyDeleteBrava!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.corriere.it/salute/nutrizione/12_maggio_11/martha-pranzo-scuola_99d9b048-9b4c-11e1-81bc-34fceaba092f.shtml
Meals slightly better in that larger but much more real fruit & veg needed. So glad that Jamie Oliver contacted you but get your Dad to urge him to send a few of his kitchen staff to show your canteen how to prepare a balanced meal!
ReplyDeleteJust wondering... Do you not get a choice in what to eat - surely there is a veggie choice or salad option?!
ReplyDeleteI go to a primary school in Scotland (I'm in P7 at Stockbridge) and this is certainly the case there... we get a baked potato option as well as meat and veggie and it is really good. There is also salad every day.
AnimalSaver
;-D
You're great!
ReplyDeleteBut both soup and pasta are first courses.
So you had only two first courses and one side dish: lot of carbohydrates, but where are the proteins?
I think that Mr. Jamie Oliver wouldn't serve this at his school!
When I was at primary school, the school dinners were yucky!
ReplyDeleteWell done for this blog!
¡¡Grandioso Blog!!
ReplyDeleteGracias a él, conocemos la comida de los comedores del colegio.
¡¡Saludos desde España!!
I love your blog: it's not just good "for a kid", but good period. Your pictures are clear and your writing is excellent. I'm not exactly sure why I am interested in what you have for lunch everyday, but I am interested. Regarding quality of the food: some days it looks good, others not so much. Same story everywhere. But I would still be hungry after a tiny meal like that, even if I were in the 4th grade. Keep up the good work, I expect to see you guesting on a Jamie Oliver show in 3...2...1...
ReplyDeleteVeg,
ReplyDeleteYou are pretty gosh-darn awesome. Keep up the great work - with more munchkins like you in the world, we will have a bright future to look forward to when you grow up!
Hello fellow blogger Veg! Martha, tell your dad to help you set up advertising on your page- you'll have university paid for plus a trip around the world soon!
ReplyDeleteYou are too cute! Glad I have a niece your age. We can all learn from girls like you.
ReplyDeletegreetings, Paula from Vienna, Austria
I love your writing, esp. details such as the mouthful count and the number of seconds to look up places... I'm from Soesterberg, Holland which you don't have to look up since I'm not sending in a picture.
ReplyDeleteSorry if my profile says 'not available' or something... anyway, I am Erik Smit at http://flickr.com/eti-eti
When I visited earlier today I saw the counter said 9 500 000 something. How come it now shows 6 006 648?
ReplyDeletecool blog ((: I reas about it in three magazines :D
ReplyDelete