Children under the Government’s cut-price healthy school lunches programme are set to get some new meals, when Term 3 of school kicks off. 

The School Lunch Collective carried out a series of taste testing sessions in schools across six regions, into what it said was part of the ongoing work to “refine” the menu. 

Some 73% of student reviewers provided positive ratings for the new meals, which the Ministry of Education noted in a bulletin were being analysed and built into the Term 3 menu. 

These included katsu vegetarian curry and rice, vegetarian tomato balti and rice, curry minced beef with potatoes and vegetables, teriyaki chicken meatballs with rice and vegetables, beef meatballs with “vegeful sauce” and roast potato, Mexican beef and rice, and savoury minced beef with potatoes and vegetables. 

In a statement, the collective said the insights from the taste-testing helped shape a menu that both meets nutritional standards and delivers meals that students “genuinely enjoy”. 

“A standout from this round was the vegetarian katsu - many students didn’t realise they were eating vegetables, which speaks to our commitment to creating tasty, balanced meals that appeal to young people,” the SLC said. 

In total, more than 120 students provided feedback across the schools in Taranaki, Palmerston North, Wairarapa, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, and the Bay of Plenty. 

Associate Education Minister David Seymour, who is responsible for the cut-price school lunches, said any parent knows getting children to like something is “no easy task”. 

“I’d say if you’re winning 73% of the time, then that’s what I’d call a result.” 

Seymour added that complaints to the Ministry of Education had fallen by 92% since March, whilst applauding the scheme’s ability to save the Government money. 

The associate minister said $8 million of the $130 million total savings will go to ensuring 10,000 children in early learning receiving a daily taxpayer-funded lunch. 

The programme’s delivery times, which caused the Education Ministry to reimburse schools due to lateness, now sit at 98% reliability. 

In mid-June, a Ministry of Education update said there had been more than nine million meals delivered since the start of Term 1. It also noted the collective was on-track to have two million meals “packed away and ready for distribution” by the start of Term 3. 

Seymour’s lunches rollout has not been without criticism. It was recently revealed there were 171 formal complaints to the Ministry of Education in the space of just a month, from the start of Term 1 to February 27. 

Complaints have ranged from logistical issues, exploding lunches, meals not meeting dietary or cultural standards, and quality control concerns. 

Some meals have been labelled “inedible”, with one school deciding to feed the taxpayer-funded food to a pig rather than its own students. 

Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.