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That's very dismissive, but there's a core threshold for school lunches: if it's not both more appealing to the kids and healthier than just brown-bagging PB&J and an apple every day, then the kids whose parents give a drat are going to brown bag PB&J, with occasional variations for variety, and the ones who don't are going to get whatever on the menu is palatable, even if it's unhealthy -- and if nothing is will brown bag cheap zero effort junk-food (potato chips and such).
Basically if you can't beat PB&J on both taste and health don't bother, or heck just start giving out PB&J.
In case you misunderstood, I DID feed my own kids. Made supper every night after work from scratch and had a family dinner around the table. The lunches our school offered were good, well balanced meals, made by small town mothers working part time, who took a real interest in putting out a meal that they would serve their own families.
I was happy to pay for it myself. Of course, that was 20 years ago...
I'm proud to say I'm one of those lunch ladies...a small town grandmother who takes pride in what we cook and serve those kids. With the guidelines, it's been a challenge to revamp the lunches to adapt them to the federal guidelines. For example, a popular All-American lunch at our junior/senior high school (feeding about 500 students) used to be a toasted cheese sandwich, cream of tomato soup, goldfish crackers, salad, fruit and milk. We had to replace the good cheese we used with a low fat alternative, replace the melted margarine, which we coated the bread, with a butter flavored cooking spray, prepare the tomato soup with water instead of milk, and there are no longer any crackers to go with it. The beef burgers we used to serve are now replaced with ones containing texturized soy protein. Ditto the country fried steak. The pasta is now whole wheat, and the kids do not like it as much as they used to.
We also have "Build a School Lunch". In our ala carte section, we serve chicken sandwiches, cheeseburgers, and pizza slices. The cost of one sandwich or pizza slice is $1.80. However, if the student adds fruit, salad, and milk, the price is still $1.80, the same as a school lunch. This is to encourage the students to make that sandwich a complete nutritious meal. However, some of them will still opt to just have two chicken sandwiches, and pay $3.60, It's their choice. They can't do this with free/reduced lunches, though.
We do offer a first rate salad bar, featuring fresh sliced vegetables to go with the bagged greens mix. It took a while, but the kids now seem to like it. We've adapted our school made pizza and stromboli recipes as well. They are not as good as they used to be, true, but we succeed in giving the kids a better looking (and hopefully better tasting) lunch than the examples I've seen on the internet from other schools. At least we still cook all of the food on premises...it does not come in a cardboard container wrapped in cellophane.
Last edited by Mrs. Skeffington; 04-03-2016 at 01:54 PM..
I go there for grandparents day. Ask the kids what they think of the food, I have.
I am at my daughters school almost every single day. I eat lunch with her about 3 days a week. There's a handful of school lunches I won't eat, however for the most part they're actually fairly decent where I am. Additionally they have a salad and fruit bar set up with numerous fresh fruits and veggies. It is probably one of the most popular features in the cafeteria (besides the cinnamon roll that they serve with chili).
Her school also offer two options every day. One is a "hot" meal (chicken teriyaki, taco in a bag, chicken pot pie, etc) and the other is a "cold" meal option. This would be something like a turkey and cheese wrap, ham sandwich, or soy butter and jelly sandwich.
The kids typically like most meals, and many of them utilize the fresh fruit and vegetables made available to them. Even the kindergarten kids will get carrots, salad, cucumbers, peppers, oranges and bananas. When they serve fresh strawberries it often gets cheers.
I'm proud to say I'm one of those lunch ladies...a small town grandmother who takes pride in what we cook and serve those kids. With the guidelines, it's been a challenge to revamp the lunches to adapt them to the federal guidelines. For example, a popular All-American lunch at our junior/senior high school (feeding about 500 students) used to be a toasted cheese sandwich, cream of tomato soup, goldfish crackers, salad, fruit and milk. We had to replace the good cheese we used with a low fat alternative, replace the melted margarine, which we coated the bread, with a butter flavored cooking spray, prepare the tomato soup with water instead of milk, and there are no longer any crackers to go with it. The beef burgers we used to serve are now replaced with ones containing texturized soy protein. Ditto the country fried steak. The pasta is now whole wheat, and the kids do not like it as much as they used to.
We also have "Build a School Lunch". In our ala carte section, we serve chicken sandwiches, cheeseburgers, and pizza slices. The cost of one sandwich or pizza slice is $1.80. However, if the student adds fruit, salad, and milk, the price is still $1.80, the same as a school lunch. This is to encourage the students to make that sandwich a complete nutritious meal. However, some of them will still opt to just have two chicken sandwiches, and pay $3.60, It's their choice. They can't do this with free/reduced lunches, though.
We do offer a first rate salad bar, featuring fresh sliced vegetables to go with the bagged greens mix. It took a while, but the kids now seem to like it. We've adapted our school made pizza and stromboli recipes as well. They are not as good as they used to be, true, but we succeed in giving the kids a better looking (and hopefully better tasting) lunch than the examples I've seen on the internet from other schools. At least we still cook all of the food on premises...it does not come in a cardboard container wrapped in cellophane.
This sounds very similar to what is offered here in another small town. My experience is at an elementary school so no ala carts BUT the kids here still like their lunch options and they're not nearly as terrible as some I've seen online.
The OP is being misleading. The fines apply only to schools/districts that are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program and are failing to meet its standards. If a district has a self-supporting lunch program, as mine does, it can serve whatever it wants. It boils down to who's providing the money. If a district accepts federal funds, it must play by the rules. I see nothing wrong with that.
I don't get why so many people are against making sure our nation's kids learn about and get good nutrition in school. School is were they're supposed to learn. This isn't really a new concept, people! When I was in school back during WWII the government introduced milk and apples into the schools as part of our national defense program. Why? Because it was found that too many guys couldn't be pass the medical test to be drafted into the service because of diet related rickets disease. Having children learn to eat healthy benefits everyone but it's not going to happen overnight.
Well because the garbage they are trying to force on kids IS NOT HEALTHY!! (It doesnt have the required daily things (adequate fat,sugar,salt,etc)) -- Our systems use these things daily to maintain things properly and might have problems w/o them!!
It doesnt taste good either and the schools are losing $$$$$$$ as no one wants it!!
I don't get why so many people are against making sure our nation's kids learn about and get good nutrition in school. School is were they're supposed to learn. This isn't really a new concept, people! When I was in school back during WWII the government introduced milk and apples into the schools as part of our national defense program. Why? Because it was found that too many guys couldn't be pass the medical test to be drafted into the service because of diet related rickets disease. Having children learn to eat healthy benefits everyone but it's not going to happen overnight.
I don't see anyone against education and nutrition, but nice try. I do see folks concerned about the nutrional and academic garbage being foisted on the students.
Private schools are the answer.
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