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140 CHAPTER 6 ■ Increasing School Meal Uptake in a Deprived Region in England

• Concerns over the composition of the food their children are allowed
with school meals, for example, gravy on their salad, pasta with potatoes
(too many carbohydrates).
• Cost of school meals in families with more than one child (especially in
the light of future price rises caused by increasing food costs).
• Desire for an easy life means that parents give in to what their children
want and they cannot face the daily battle over food with their children.

Children

Research with children identified the following barriers:
• Because the menu changes were enforced, many of the most popular
options (e.g., chicken nuggets and chips) are no longer served. Children
are confronted with food that is often unfamiliar, unpopular, and unlike
what they are given at home.
• School meals take longer than packed lunches to serve and eat. Children
have to queue up and then sit down for two courses. This cuts into their
playtime.
• Due to lax or nonexistent regulation of packed-lunch content, children
bring confectionary and convenience products into the dining hall.
These appealing items can seem a much more attractive offer than the
new nutritionally balanced school meals.
• If the food does not look appealing, children will not want it. Similarly, if
it is served on a tray in compartments that run over into one another, it
will not be appealing. Quite often, the way food is served and looks is a
major barrier to uptake.

Competition

The qualitative research conducted with head teachers, parents, and children
identified pack lunches as being the primary competition for the following
reasons:

• Choice. Pack lunches can cater to “fussy eaters,” allowing children to pick
and choose their own, often unhealthy, options.
• Price. Especially for families with more than one child who are managing
a tight budget, pack lunches offer a cheaper option and one they know
their children will eat (value for money).
• Fullness. Parents would much rather their children are full, even if what
they have eaten is not strictly healthy, than sign them up for school
meals, which they often claim not to have eaten.