The government is rolling out hot meals to all schools.

It’s music to the ears of all mammies.

Yes daddies cook too, but generally in my house, I’m the ‘Meals on Wheels’.

I was high fiving my kids when I heard the news that school dinners were greenlit.

The School Meals Programme is targeted at disadvantaged schools, with scrumptious dinners provided from 2024.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said the plan is for all school kids to get one meal a day by 2030.

Read more: Siobhan O'Connor: 'Why do we feel the need to go around hairless and freeze our faces?'

But the initiative needs to be in all schools, otherwise less fortunate kids will feel stigmatised.

My kids aren’t in a DEIS school.

I would welcome it if the Minister moved faster to apply free meals for all kids.

Coming up with new recipes on a daily basis for the kids is a ball of stress.

It’s impossible to ban healthy snacks, so it’s hard to get them to eat their full dinner.

We all know kids are supposed to be hungry when they eat.

Children are hungry at midday, which will be the exact time a school dinner will be plated up.

My grocery bill is extortionate.

I end up throwing out their scraps after I eat as much as I can.

It's soul destroying.

The set meal is a win win for a nation gripped in an obesity epidemic too.

If kids eat one nutritious meal a day, it kickstarts a healthy mindset.

Siobhan O'Connor
Siobhan O'Connor

It’s better for kids and adults to eat their main hot meal in the afternoon, so it can digest.

A good breakfast should start the day.

Even though I’m a personal trainer and a nutrition fanatic it’s not always easy to get our kids on board to eat healthily.

I force my kids to eat porridge in the morning.

Upcycling the simple oats by encouraging the girls to do blueberry faces helps.

No matter how many articles I read on jazzing up lunch boxes, filling them with good stuff is a nightmare.

Why?

Kids as young as six are already comparing their food.

Hit primary school and lunch becomes a case of ‘keeping up with the Joneses.”

My little girl who’s six will not eat the gut healthy yoghurt I give her because they aren’t the cute pots with the smiley face her mate gets.

The comparing ethos is already starting.

I’ll never forget my own mam giving me egg and onion sambos.

I’m scarred for life.

I was five and still remember being called smelly.

A set school lunch will make all kids equal in the eating stakes.

No more battle of the lunch boxes and energy levels will be sustained throughout the day.

This new measure is a breath of fresh air for run ragged parents contending with back breaking bills and kids who won’t finish their home cooked dinner!

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