School Dinner

Watching Jamies School Dinners on Channel 4 tonight got me thinking about my school dinners, and how fortunate I am that my parents taught me about healthy food from an early age - thanks mum and dad!

My memory of school dinners has always been horrible, I was really fortunate to be brought up in a family where both my parents loved to cook and encouraged me and my brother to eat fresh fruit, veg and food generally, which is probably why I found school dinners horrible.

I remember in secondary school (90's) having an argument with a dinner lady (that saw me suspended for a week) about how repulsive the food was, just because I asked if the brown thing in the bun was sh*t out fresh that morning or if it had been sitting around for a week, I became a vegetarian at the age of 12 and started taking freshly prepared lunch into school after that event.

It's amazing how easy it is to knock up a quick pasta salad.

Fortunatly, and thanks to my parents (and my wifes parents) I have been able to make sure my two children are exposed to good food, my daughter loves vegetables, she will finish off a plate of brocolli without any problem (she is 4), and we are also lucky with her school, the nursery she goes to has banned ALL junk food in lunch boxes (there was an outcry from 'some' parents.

They are only allowed fresh food, her lunch this morning was a chicken pasta salad (bit of olive oil, pasta, fresh chicken, oregano and tomato), freshly baked banana loaf, an apple and some grapes - they are only allowed water (supplied by the nursery) during the day.

Even with the over the top cost of food in Jersey (£1 for a litre of milk, £1.50 for a loaf of bread) we still manage to comfortably feed a family of four for less than £80 a week.

Channel 4: Jamies School Dinners

Digital Spy Forums - Jamie's School Dinners

Jamie Oliver