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Old 05-30-2012, 10:04 PM
 
10,181 posts, read 10,231,246 times
Reputation: 9252

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Quote:
Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN View Post
The way people dislike teachers on here you might be reported for grand larceny and they hope you'll get 10 years in jail for choosing that profession. I agree with you, it's better than throwing it in the garbage.
What is the reason it's getting tossed in the garbage? Expiration dates? Brown bananas? Mealy apples? Rotten grapes?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN View Post
The way people dislike teachers on here you might be reported for grand larceny and they hope you'll get 10 years in jail for choosing that profession. I agree with you, it's better than throwing it in the garbage.
Back in the day, I worked at a very well known Central Jersey night club for two years. One of the busiest nights was Thanksgiving Eve. The place put out quite a spread (buffet style). There was so much left over, when the "free eats" ended, and the food was cleared away, at one point, a lot of employees were standing in the kitchen looking at all the food about to be dumped. Phone calls were made to shelters in surrounding towns. They wouldn't accept anything. They couldn't.

One was found, in New Brunswick (homeless mens shelter), where we were told "if you pull up in the parking lot, there might be some folks in the parking lot, who know you are bringing food to them, because they asked you to and so they can share it with their friends". So we did. A caravan of cars with trays and trays of food/fresh fruit/cheese/breads/crackers, etc., in our trunks.

You DO have to watch what you do.

You COULD find yourself in a hot mess if someone gets sick from your generosity.

At the same time, if the cartons of milk and other foodstuffs are still viable, and will be used/served...it IS stealing.

There also MIGHT be a reason it's getting tossed.
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Old 05-31-2012, 04:34 AM
 
Location: NJ
1,495 posts, read 5,038,804 times
Reputation: 957
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sawdustmaker View Post
What is the reason it's getting tossed in the garbage? Expiration dates? Brown bananas? Mealy apples? Rotten grapes?



Back in the day, I worked at a very well known Central Jersey night club for two years. One of the busiest nights was Thanksgiving Eve. The place put out quite a spread (buffet style). There was so much left over, when the "free eats" ended, and the food was cleared away, at one point, a lot of employees were standing in the kitchen looking at all the food about to be dumped. Phone calls were made to shelters in surrounding towns. They wouldn't accept anything. They couldn't.

One was found, in New Brunswick (homeless mens shelter), where we were told "if you pull up in the parking lot, there might be some folks in the parking lot, who know you are bringing food to them, because they asked you to and so they can share it with their friends". So we did. A caravan of cars with trays and trays of food/fresh fruit/cheese/breads/crackers, etc., in our trunks.

You DO have to watch what you do.

You COULD find yourself in a hot mess if someone gets sick from your generosity.

At the same time, if the cartons of milk and other foodstuffs are still viable, and will be used/served...it IS stealing.

There also MIGHT be a reason it's getting tossed.
NO there is just nowhere to store the unwanted food or milk so they tell us to just dump it. It is all perfectly fine. At least I only give it to people I know that could use the milk and other stuff. It's all same day items.

I'm in a prek classroom and there are 15 children and lunches are brought in big trays and we have to serve the children. Just last week each class received a BIG tray of blueberries and blackberries. Most of them looked at it in disgust and refused to try the few we put on each plate. Most of the children I come across don't like fruits or vegetables because they don't eat them at home. So, we had a big tray of blueberries and blackberries left over and I was not about to throw those out knowing how expensive they are.
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Old 05-31-2012, 04:54 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,293 posts, read 84,292,537 times
Reputation: 114641
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retriever View Post
MQ--I think that I am even older than you are, and I distinctly recall the incident that stemmed from the Reagan Administration's attempts to "cheap out" on Federal aid for school lunches by counting ketchup as a vegetable, thereby allowing them to delete a real vegetable from the menu.

No, it was not an issue specific to the state of NJ, and was actually a national issue, as a result of a very questionable policy decision on the part of The Gipper's administration.
I defer to your sagely wisdom, Retriever. Plus, you know how the memory goes sometimes. It was federal, then. I didn't have a child at the time so I only paid attention to it on the periphery, but it stuck with me enough that I'll still claim ketchup is a vegetable when I succumb to the temptation of a burger and fries.
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Old 05-31-2012, 07:42 AM
 
14,780 posts, read 43,582,793 times
Reputation: 14621
Quote:
Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN View Post
I guess I'm old fashioned, I have 4 children and I never once or did my wife EVER think on choosing a town to live in based on what the schools lunch was. We put a small sandwich in a bag and sent them to school. I guess in the name of political correctness I better see whats on the menu at school before I try to sell my house if i'm asked. By the way, they are all normal weight and graduated college and are doing fine.
When I was in elementary school, 1985-1992, we actually had an hour for lunch and most kids went home. Almost no one, unless you were getting a free lunch, ate in the cafeteria. I still remember it being a bit of a stigma that you were poor if you ate lunch in the cafeteria. It wasn't until middle school when we had to stay at school and eat in the cafeteria and at that point there were more options, but almost everyone still packed a lunch.

Now, kids generally have to stay at school, but most still pack. My son eats in the cafeteria maybe 4-5 times a month as a treat if they are serving something he likes. The rest of the time he brings his lunch from home. Like you and others, I really don't see the necessity of providing lunches in school to the kids. As CaptainNJ pointed out, even the poorest kids are most likely getting subsidized food anyway at home, so there isn't much of an excuse to not be able to pack a lunch or feed a kid breakfast.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnthonyB View Post
We're going to disagree it seems.

The USDA mandates are nonsensical and nothing to do with better nutritional regulations based on science. Case in point - they FORCE kids to take multiple grain servings and starches. Which means serving extra slices of bread alongside of a serving of potatoes (defined as a vegetable irrespective of nutritional value). The bread goes in the garbage and the kids get fat on mounds of refined starches but hey, the farmers made out by selling their already subsidized product. So Yay!

And yes, of course kids will pick pizza over something healthier. That's what adults are there for. Not to define pizza as healthy and tomato paste as a vegetable in order to bypass the regulations and keep kids compliant, but to act like grown ups and actually serve and mandate healthier options. Guess what, take away the garbage and hungry kids will in fact eat better options if that is the only choice there is. It's not rocket science but it does require grown ups to act like grown ups and not allow kids to bring themselves up.

Getting rid of the sporks and having usable cutlery might be helpful too.
I didn't say the USDA recommendations were great or what people should be eating, I just said that; First, the USDA is the regulatory body for this, so it is not a local decision as some believed. Second, it has been a major cause of Mrs. Obama to overhaul the school lunch menus and guidelines, I take it you still disagree with her plan as "nonsensical"? Third, I was pointing out that the debate isn't just about nutrition, it is also about cost. Like it or not, money is the root of the conversation and not just in making sure that our agri-businesses can offload their slop on our kids, but that the cost of serving healthier options is far more expensive in terms of both ingredients and preparation time.

So, how much are you willing to pay to ensure that every kid in America eats a healthy lunch? On top of that we have the excellent question of, is this something we should even be concerned about, or should we just go back to parents packing their kids lunches? There is, afterall, a bit of social engineering involved in all of this.
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Old 05-31-2012, 08:29 AM
 
Location: MMU->ABE->ATL->ASH
9,317 posts, read 20,955,366 times
Reputation: 10443
This Thread made me think What is my HS (9th) son eating. I pull'ed up the school online/cashless (well cashless for the kids). of what he eat for lunch this past school year.
Of the 143 Lunches he had.

16 were the 'Chicken' option
22 were the "Grill' (Burgers)
14 Mexian food
31 Pizza
60 Mama's Line (the daily Special) 20? different meals that are on some sort of routaion.
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Old 06-08-2012, 08:12 AM
 
87 posts, read 229,232 times
Reputation: 55
Quote:
Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN View Post
I guess I'm old fashioned, I have 4 children and I never once or did my wife EVER think on choosing a town to live in based on what the schools lunch was. We put a small sandwich in a bag and sent them to school. I guess in the name of political correctness I better see whats on the menu at school before I try to sell my house if i'm asked. By the way, they are all normal weight and graduated college and are doing fine.
haha...thanks for your perspective..i'm not really going to pick my next town based on school lunches..but i was curious and so i began checking school menus.
since i started this thread, i've grown more confident about how i'm just going to send her a nice looking lunch everyday..and that's what she'll eat. we've been looking at clifton, rutherford, hasbrouck heights..etc..and ultimately we're just trying to choose a place that can give us a bigger house for cheap, decent/good elementary schools and a not to bad commute to NYC.
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Old 06-08-2012, 08:13 AM
 
87 posts, read 229,232 times
Reputation: 55
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyonpa View Post
This Thread made me think What is my HS (9th) son eating. I pull'ed up the school online/cashless (well cashless for the kids). of what he eat for lunch this past school year.
Of the 143 Lunches he had.

16 were the 'Chicken' option
22 were the "Grill' (Burgers)
14 Mexian food
31 Pizza
60 Mama's Line (the daily Special) 20? different meals that are on some sort of routaion.
and so what is the takeaway from this info? are you happy with what he ate? will you make some changes? is he happy with the food?
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Old 06-08-2012, 08:35 AM
 
Location: MMU->ABE->ATL->ASH
9,317 posts, read 20,955,366 times
Reputation: 10443
and so what is the takeaway from this info?

Was just a observation of what a student choice is, He goes for the 'Daily Special' most of the time.

are you happy with what he ate?

More or less yes.

will you make some changes?

No, there not much I can do about what he eats, he's in High School he get to pick his lunch option, (Not like I can go to HS with him and tell him he can't eat that for lunch).

is he happy with the food?

More or less yes, He sometimes complaints the serving size is to small.
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Old 08-03-2012, 10:08 AM
 
14 posts, read 19,833 times
Reputation: 15
The menus bother me as well. Luckily I've fed my children well from a young age and the prefer better food than what's served at school. In fact they both refuse to eat it. I pack lunches for my kids.
I think it's crazy that living in the Garden State these kids don't have better options...why aren't out schools partnering up with local farmers and farm markets to get fresh fruits & veggies for kids?? My 2 (3rd & 7th grade) said they would both like to order lunch if they had a salad bar at school. They do have one in the HS in out twp but not for the Middle School or Elementary kids...I don't know why I was thinking about putting a petition together and approaching the school board at one of their meetings.
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Old 08-03-2012, 10:18 AM
 
19,067 posts, read 25,221,023 times
Reputation: 25387
Quote:
Originally Posted by exit20 View Post
The menus bother me as well. Luckily I've fed my children well from a young age and the prefer better food than what's served at school. In fact they both refuse to eat it. I pack lunches for my kids.
I think it's crazy that living in the Garden State these kids don't have better options...why aren't out schools partnering up with local farmers and farm markets to get fresh fruits & veggies for kids?? My 2 (3rd & 7th grade) said they would both like to order lunch if they had a salad bar at school. They do have one in the HS in out twp but not for the Middle School or Elementary kids...I don't know why I was thinking about putting a petition together and approaching the school board at one of their meetings.
I think that approaching the school board is a good idea, but you should first assemble some statistics that may illustrate how poor diet and obesity are linked in this country, especially with young people.

These figures are from memory, but I believe them to be accurate:

>The US military rejected 27% of those who attempted to join-up last year, due to obesity.
>1/3 of those under the age of 30 will be diagnosed with Type II Diabetes within the next few years.

Clearly, both of these stats are related to diet, as well as to levels of physical exercise.

You want to be able to present verified, up-to-date stats in order to make your presentation effective, so be sure to check the figures that I posted above.
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