Hampshire County Council’s Catering Service (HC3S) does most of the catering in the county’s schools and has recently launched a new menu for the 447 primary and special schools and a new menu for the 29 secondary schools  – and they’re both available for anyone to look at on the Council website.

So if your children have school lunches you might like to know that today, Friday 30 April, in primary schools in Hedge End and across the country, children will be sitting down to a ‘Meat Option’ of baked fish fingers and tomato ketchup, chipped potatoes or pasta, garden peas and salad.

If choosing the ‘Non-meat Option’ pupils will get a dish of sweet potato and lentil curry served with rice, garden peas and salad.

Both options have fruit crumble and custard or fresh fruit for pudding.

Meals are worked on a three-week rota for primary schools and so these choices will next be on the menu on Friday 21 May.

Roast beef, chicken pie, and sausages all feature on the menus with vegetarian options such as chickpea wellington alongside the more traditional school dinner staple of macaroni cheese.

It’s fish and chips or cauliflower and broccoli crunch in secondary schools – although these older pupils can also choose between hot snacks, deli items and basics such as baked potatoes and their menus rotate on a four-week basis.

Of course displaying the menus in this way means it’s easier to plan for meals at home – there’ll be no more cries of ‘But we had meatballs for lunch at school ‘as Mums across the county dish up meatballs for supper – but it does rather take away the excitement of anticipation for children hoping for their favourite that day.

And if you’re like the majority of parents in the country whose question ‘What did you do today at school?’ is usually met with a resounding silence, asking what was for lunch was often a good way of getting the conversation started and this option will no longer be available. Although you could just not let on that you already know.

The cost of a hot two-course school meal is £2.00 and Hampshire County Council Catering Services (HC3S) says all meals in both primary and secondary schools meet the current government nutritional standards brought in September 2008.

As well as providing the catering for schools in the county and for venues such as the Winchester Discovery Centre and Milestones Museum in Basingstoke, Hampshire County Council Catering Services also runs Cook & Eat programmes at schools for pupils and parents promoting local produce and healthy eating.

Photo from Flickr by Matti Mattila.