Thousands of pupils could be served steamed school dinners under a scheme to reintroduce hot meals.

West Sussex County Council has announced it intends to make use of new cooking technology to steam-cook food for pupils.

But parents would prefer the council to rebuild the school kitchens, which have long been converted into teaching facilities.

The county council scrapped hot school dinners in 1999 to save £500,000 a year but Government guidance issued last year said education authorities should provide hot meals.

A new catering contract with school meals provider Scolarest, which currently provides a packed lunch service, would use a steam pressure system called Esteam.

Schools would be provided with fridges and microwave ovens to cook prepared food delivered by Scolarest.

Lisa Perrin, of Mile Oak Crescent in Southwick, has two children, Sam, ten, and Jodi, six, at Manor Hall first and middle schools.

She said: "I'm not convinced. It sounds a bit like microwaved meals and everyone knows what they're like.

"I would prefer proper kitchens to be brought back. If the children's food just arrives in a sealed plastic packet, they will have no concept of where their food comes from or how it is prepared."

Lorraine Overington, from Lancing, has two daughters. Jennifer, 13, is at Boundstone Community College and Georgia, six, goes to Freshbrook First School, Lancing.

She said: "Proper kitchens would be best but this sounds a lot better than the packed lunches they have at the moment. They are absolutely revolting."

Mark Dunn, the Cabinet member for children's services, said: "I don't want people to think that what we stopped producing and serving was some kind of golden age in terms of food standards.

"We didn't have the money to keep kitchens open and people need to move on from that. Now we have more money and this will improve the quality of school dinners."

The contract will be funded from council's existing school meals budget of £2.2 million together with expected Government grants of £1.7 million over three years.

The meals will be phased in at schools from January.