Rising food prices mean beef is being dropped from some schools menus, with staples like potatoes also becoming more expensive, caterers have told BBC News.
Some restaurateurs have switched to cheaper imported meat and changed the range of fruit and vegetables.
Laca, the school catering association for England and Wales, said the quality of the meals was under threat.
In England the government has just increased funding for free school meals for the youngest children.
Until recently, Laira Green Primary School in Plymouth served local Cornish beef for their roast dinners every Thursday, but has now switched to ham as a cheaper alternative.
Chicken is less common on the menu, being replaced with cheaper turkey instead.
The school is one of nearly 70 in the city served by the same catering company changing menu due to price increases.
Principal Bernadette Kennedy said she was pleased the school still managed to offer a “healthy roast meal”, but added: “Some kids stopped eating roasts and when we asked them why, they said that.” they really liked the roast beef and yorkshire pudding.
“That’s sad, because with the roast meat comes a lot of vegetables that you might not otherwise try.”
The roast evening with a zucchini croquette as a vegetarian option is popular with the children.
Dylan in the 5th grade had cleared his plate of roast and said he liked the potatoes best.
He said: “I like the taste of the food and the vegetables. It fills the stomach and gives energy.”
More than half the children at the school are entitled to free school meals, and teachers say it can be the only meal of the day for some.
Even the potatoes have become more expensive as their caterer’s Cornish supplier faces rising costs for fertilizer and fuel.
Laca asked its members about costs and bottlenecks, more than 160 companies gave information.
Together they are responsible for feeding more than a million students.
More than 60 of them said they had either switched from British meat to meat from abroad or were about to do so.
Staples such as pasta, oil, frozen vegetables and fish have been hit hardest in this major snapshot of the impact of rising food prices on school lunches.
Caterers reported cost increases of between 20% and 30% for many products, with prices often fluctuating weekly.
Laca said a catering company has reported that the cost of 10kg of prepared potatoes has increased from £10.46 to £15.50 and boxes of 24 eggs from £9.79 to £13.39.
The cost of ground beef, which is used to make lasagna or burgers, has risen 11% overnight in recent days, it said.
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Laca national vice chairman Brad Pearce said the long-term effects of Covid, the war in Ukraine and rising fuel costs were all having an impact on what its members could put on school plates.
Many caterers have also struggled to recruit staff for school kitchens.
“The costs ahead make it impossible for us to move on unless some very tough decisions are made,” Pearce said.
These included switching to more processed foods or buying meat from abroad, he added.
“It’s something we don’t want, but in order to keep the food on the plate, we need to explore all options.”
Laca members provide 80% of the school catering service in England and Wales.
Assist FM, the organization representing Scottish caterers, says its members are voicing similar concerns.
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The rising costs play a role as the budget is limited by parents’ willingness to pay and government funding.
In England, all pupils in public schools from Reception to Year 2 are entitled to free school meals throughout the school year.
The Government is paying an additional £18m a year for these universal free school meals for toddlers at a daily rate which is now £2.41 for each child, after a 7p increase from April this year.
For children in England from grades 3 and up, only those from the very lowest income families are entitled to a free meal at school, and the daily rate for this is currently around £2.47.
Child poverty activists and school caterers say costs are rising faster than funding at a time when a hot school meal has become more important for many families.
The number of children in England receiving free school meals has risen to 1.9 million this year, 160,000 more than in January 2021.
In Wales, rising food costs could impact the funds needed for ambitious plans to offer free school meals to every child in primary school from 2024.
In its response to the Independent Feeding Strategy in England, the government has failed to respond to a call for a free hot meal at school for all children from families receiving universal credit.
There are voluntary meal standards designed to meet school meals, and caterers say they’re still making it, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult, even though they’re allowed to substitute food.
In response to the concerns, the government said it had “expanded access to free school meals more than anyone else [government] in the last few decades”.
“We will continue to review eligibility and work across Government to tackle rising costs, building on over £37billion announced to help those most vulnerable.”
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