Jolene Cox: Hot school meals are a great idea — but we can do it better

The idea behind the hot school lunch scheme is solid — to give primary school children across Ireland a free, nutritious hot meal every day, but if it’s gloopy or 'tastes like wet dog' (the children’s words), it is destined for the bin, and its nutritional value is irrelevant. 

The Hot School Meals programme was rolled out in May 2024. File picture

"Did you eat your lunch today at school?" If you're anything like me it's the first question you'll ask your kids as they come in the door after school this week. Hearing from parents nationwide, with the roll-out of the hot school lunch scheme, the answer is increasingly no.

The idea behind the initiative is solid — to give primary school children across Ireland a free, nutritious hot meal every day.

As a children’s cookbook author and family food writer, every August I put the call out to my online audience to see if they would like some back-to-school lunchbox ideas. With nine out of 10 schools now availing of hot lunches I initially thought there would be tumbleweed. But I was wrong — my inbox was flooded this August, like every other year.

My daughter Lily Mae, who is 12, and I have been cooking together since she was old enough to sit up in a feeding chair, so she knows her way around the kitchen. When she first started telling me that the school lunches were bland, I asked her to explain. 

“The pasta isn’t seasoned,” she said. I couldn't help but smile to myself, picturing her as a miniature Gordon Ramsay, sitting in her tiny school chair, and I didn't take her complaints seriously. Unseasoned pasta is hardly a national emergency until she told me she genuinely couldn’t eat it and eventually, we gave up and went back to filling her food flask ourselves.

This brings me back to my inbox. It isn't parents simply having a moan — we were all rooting for the scheme to work. Just think of the relief of not having to make school lunches every morning. But that initial excitement slowly dwindled as children began coming home hungry.

One parent described her child’s experience to me. The individually packaged lunches arrive warm inside a large black polystyrene box. When the lid of the box is removed the inside is wet with condensation, which then drips down onto the children's cardboard container of food. What stood out the most, she said, was the smell: “It didn’t smell like food; it was just a really strong, unpleasant smell.”

Of course, some kids may feel lucky even to get a hot meal, but across all demographics contacting me at least, it's clear the lunches are not being eaten. Some parents did highlight the positives, like children getting to sit down and enjoying a hot meal together. To me this is immeasurable, chatting while they eat, tasting something new and maybe even swapping a little with a friend.

We should treat school meals like plane food, argues Jolene Cox, they need to be robust enough to handle transport and storage while warm until we have kitchens in schools. 

But overall, far too much of the food is being scraped into the bin.

As the majority of schools use an outside provider it's very easy to point the finger and tell them to do better.

The real issue is that the meals are cooked off-site, sealed in individual containers, transported and then served. This is never going to taste the same as a freshly cooked dinner.

If this is the system the scheme is committed to using for now, we need to look at these meals the same way as airline food: it's prepared off-site, transported and kept warm before being served.

As we work for improvements, focus on food that is designed to travel and reheat well. For example, if left in boxes with steam, pasta will soften, breaded chicken will lose its crunch and vegetables can quickly lose their flavour. 

We need dishes robust enough to keep their quality while they are getting transported to school like stews, curries, chilli, casseroles and soups.

Children are our biggest food critics and rightly so. Long gone are the days when they were expected to be seen and not heard, and they simply won’t eat food they don’t enjoy. A meal may be nutritionally balanced on paper, but if it’s gloopy or “tastes like wet dog” (the children’s words), it is destined for the bin, and its nutritional value is irrelevant. 

How can we do better?

The School Meals Programme has a budget of €286 million for 2026, with approximately 550,000 children across 3,200 primary schools eligible for a hot meal. Some of that investment would be better spent putting kitchens into our primary schools and then working off a small rotating menu. 

Simple is sometimes best, think freshly boiled pasta served with a simple sauce of tinned tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil — that would be one tasty nutritious meal ticked off in the week.

The dream would be rotating groups of children that could help with age-appropriate preparation. That way, we would tick two boxes: children would receive a nutritious hot meal while also getting hands-on experience with fresh ingredients. The smell of home cooking, the opportunity to work side by side with their friends and having a say in the food they eat could give children a real sense of wellbeing and belonging.

With ambition, this scheme has the potential to be something revolutionary.

Jolene Cox: 'Teaching a child to cook is not just about the food, it gives them a sense of accomplishment, that they can do it, and if they have input in a school meal there is more chance of them eating it.'

The Hot School Meals Scheme is one of the best initiatives to come out of this country in years. It is a fantastic investment in our children’s health. This isn’t about tearing it down, it's about how can we do better. 

Invest in school kitchens and cooks, with hands-on culinary education. By giving every child a nutritious hot meal each day, we are supporting their long-term health and could potentially ease pressure on our health service in years to come.

Teaching a child to cook is not just about the food, it gives them a sense of accomplishment, that they can do it, and if they have input in a school meal there is more chance of them eating it. 

We are giving them an understanding of fresh ingredients, a sense of pride in what they eat and a skill for life that they can pass on to the next generation. What a legacy this would be!

For now, focus on serving food that can survive the journey to school and arrive at the desk tasty. Then we can start investing in primary school kitchens, using fresh ingredients and raising the next generation of cooks.

• Jolene Cox is a bestselling cookbook author, family food writer and member of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild. She is passionate about helping families build confidence in the kitchen. See jolenecox.ie