Children need nourishing school dinners more than ever before, as many families struggle with the cost of living, a leading expert has warned. BBC News has been speaking to families and schools as they try to tackle the problem.
The Raza family...
*rolls eyes*
... - dad Ali, mum Simran and their eight-year-old daughter, Alishah - live in one of Bradford's back-to-back, two-up-two-down terraced houses. The heating is off upstairs to help manage rising bills and Ali tells me: "We're just managing, and not very well."
So, what do you do for a living, Ali?
Ali is a self-employed wholesaler. He mainly buys fruit and vegetables in bulk before selling them on - but there is a limit to what small local shops are prepared to pay, so as costs rise his profits decrease.
And have you considered that if this Del Boy of the Cabbages lifestyle won't support your family, you could maybe get a better paying job?
It means they can only afford to buy school lunch for Alishah once, or sometimes twice, a week. Each meal at her school, Dixons Marchbank Primary, costs £2.10.
Weekly child benefit is £21.80 per week. Where's the rest going?
As Simran prepares pasta and a salad for Alishah's evening meal, she says she wishes they could afford more frequent school lunches, as sometimes Alishah does not eat her packed lunch of cold leftovers.
She's not hungry then, is she?
