A teacher at a Lancashire school revealed that parents are sending kids to school with cold burgers and chips and chicken nuggets.
Amy Mullen said that she could understand why some parents are giving their children fast-food for lunch.
She told The Sun Online: ”It’s hard being a parent.”
”I can understand why some parents have to give their children fast-food for lunch.”
”I’ve had to send my children to school with whatever I could find in the fridge some days.”
”Parents who resort to fast-food probably think it’s better to give them something rather than nothing.”
”I know I find it hard to budget every month – the money just doesn’t last.”
“By the time I’ve done the shopping and paid the bills most of it has gone.”
‘‘I think it’s like that everywhere really, not just Blackburn.”
Danielle Stewart, who is a mother of an 11-year-old boy, said: ”I get why some parents have to do it.”
”I’ve heard of people who have to give their children fast-food leftovers because they’re really struggling. If you’ve got five or six kids what do you do?”
”But some people probably need to deal with their money better.”
She added: ”Some kids just prefer fast-food for their lunch to be honest, not every kid likes healthy food and the schools can be too strict.’’
”A packed lunch to me is a sandwich, a packet of crisps, some fruit and a biscuit.
”But at my lad’s school they don’t like you giving the kids crisps.”
Mother-of-one Anne Copley, 27, said: ”I really feel for some parents.’’
”It’s heartbreaking this is happening and it’s probably all they can afford.’’
”They may not have much choice and just give their kids fast food so they have something for lunch.”
The unnamed teacher who said the children were sent for a school dinner, said: “They’ll sometimes just have half a sandwich.’’
“I’ve also had children being sent in with chicken nuggets and an expectation that the kitchen will warm them up.”
He added: “Parents sometimes send in cold items from a McDonald’s Happy Meal for the children’s lunches.
“Equally you know the children who are starving because they are the first in the snack area eating the fruit and drinking the milk.”
Roz Duerden, manager of Blackburn Food Bank, said it is hard for many families to feed themselves.
”One issue we’re aware of is schoolchildren stuffing their faces at school lunch on Friday because they’re not going to eat properly again until school lunch on Monday,” she said.
”And we always get more people turning up during school holidays.”
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