Shrinking portions, ‘very beige’ servings and rising costs leave schools and families bewildered
Parents and teachers have shared their own frustration with substandard school meals after a headteacher in Southampton complained about his school’s contract caterers, asking: “How difficult is it to bake a potato?”
Several parents and school staff who got in touch with the Guardian blamed the outsourcing of school catering for what they saw as declining provision. One headteacher in south-west England, who asked not to be named, remembers what lunchtime was like before budget constraints forced her to make the school’s cook redundant: “Children at playtime would go out and smell what was cooking for lunch and get excited. We felt it was making a difference to children’s diets”.
