School menu ridiculousness

Maggie_Pie1

If this is what our government says is healthy and acceptable for kids to eat, we're doomed.

I wouldn't blame the government completely. Anytime Michelle Obama's program is mentioned, you get so many parents that cry about how governement is taking the choice away from parents and we're headed to a nanny state, etc. There is a lot of opposition towards schools getting rid of junk food, for some reason.

Then the other problem is, of course, as already mentioned, money. It might be cheaper and within the schools budget to feed kids the junk then the healthy options.

I think the government should provide only healthy options ,and if parents want to make the choice to give their kids junk, then they have to buy it for them and give it to them. If it costs us more in taxes, then so be it. We'll get that money back tenfold in years when our kids aren't suffering with healthy problems

coopersmom2006

Yep. My son in in elementary school and I can also verify that the foods are crap. He brings his lunch!

arl1286

I started packing my lunch about two weeks into kindergarten and kept it up until I graduated. One year in the dining hall in college and I'm back to bringing my lunch with me to campus.

MzManiak

It's no wonder we're raising generations of obese children, considering what they're getting in public school.

Yes, it's the school's fault. :huh:
Never mind that the parents don't teach kids healthy choices, healthy eating habits, or how to listen to their body's natural hunger & full cues. Never mind that the parents allow their kids to sit and play xbox for 5 hours a day... Nope... we are all obese because we eat one crappy meal per day.

SaberEsPoder

Schools have to feed a lot of children for pennies because they get no budget. It's more economical to bring in prepared foods and heat them than to buy everything fresh and pay the cooks more for all the extra time they need to make it.

I brought my own lunch to school every day because the cafeteria food was TERRIBLE. If nothing else, save your kid's tastebuds and send a sandwich.

As a teacher, I can tell you that this is pretty standard across the board. This poster makes a GREAT point about schools not getting high budgets, and their last consideration would be food. Careful with school lunches...even if they SAY they have fruits and vegetables available, I've gone up there and often it is either over- or severely under-ripe to the point of being inedible. The "fresh" vegetables are canned and taste horrible, but salt has been banned from our caf so you can't even make it somewhat palatable. Even the salads are prepackaged wilted iceberg lettuce with huge ranch packets. School nutrition got rewritten about 5 or 10 years ago so now KETCHUP and pizza sauce counts as a fruit/vegetable serving. It's nuts.

Maybe you could do what my dad did for us...he made us pack our own lunches, but we got to have hot lunch once per week. We would look at the schedule and pick which day we wanted, and he would only give us only enough money for lunch with a milk. I thought he was being stingy with money, but am just now realizing he was probably trying to steer us away from the crappy food options. It is nearly impossible to eat healthily in school cafeterias unfortunately. I think your decision to bring food is better in the long run. Best of luck

ngressman

Apparently they aren't following the new program. Our school just announced that greek yogurt (4 ounces ) will be an entree, served with 1/2 cup fruit and milk. How is that going to fill a kid up? Can't there be an in between. Don't want my kids eating junk, but they still need calories and something of substance.

deannakittygirl

Unfortunately the reason for this is mostly budget. the majority of todays children also eat meals similar to this at home so even if the schools gave them healthy options it would go to waste! Its sad. They still should have fresh fruit yogurts and salad options made available.

FerretBuellerr

I'm at war with my husband over feeding our little girl. I don't want her to be so sheltered from "junk food" that she binges on it in secret or when she's away from us when she gets older, but I don't see how it's necessary. He, his mother and his brother constantly try to feed her sweets and desserts and potato chips. It makes me incredibly upset when I see him giving her drinks of soda. She's ONE for goodness sakes...let her teeth grow IN before you start trying to rot them out!

I feel the same for my future children - do I not let them ever have sweets and risk them binging too much on them later in life like I have? My boyfriend/future father to my children has a HUGE sweet tooth (he makes is own caramel every few weeks and slathers it all over toast :laugh: ) so I fear we will get into the same argument, but he's very supportive of my weight loss and is in good shape himself (ex-military man).

That being said, one is BY FAR WAYYYYYYY TOO YOUNG to be having stuff like that constantly! Don't quote me on it, but I think it's actually detrimental to her health to have foods like that introduced and made a frequent part of their diet that young :frown: Perhaps a serious talk with your husband about it is in order - childhood obesity is far too common, and what he and his family are doing may turn into a problem a few years from now.

I hope all goes well in your situation and the war ends soon!

LemonLizard

Sounds really similar to what the cafeterias I grew up with served. We often had mini pancakes, cheese sticks/mozzarella, everyday there was pizza, churros, and that was just in elementary school. We could always get chips and junk food, and gummi's and such.

In middle school we had an ice cream bar, where we could pick from maybe 10 different ice cream treats. Also had that in high school, but at least in high school we had sandwiches and soups that we could choose from. College cafeteria last year had some good things, but the delicious tasting bad things always win over for those like me without the willpower.

Kids are often picky eaters though, so I would imagine many schools will serve them what they know that they'll eat, despite it not being the healthiest option. Simplest thing would be to pack their lunch, or have them learn to pack their lunch though that also entails a trust system, knowing that they may or may not pick healthy things to pack their lunch with.

Even if they do pack it healthy, or had healthy options in the cafeteria, there's no guarantee they'll eat what they're served. I remember throwing out apples and different fruits as a kid, couldn't stand the taste.

nomeejerome

meadowsmummy

Im surprised there are still school that allow Peanut Butter. Not that i am defending the menu- i think its disgusting but to me is seems to be geared towards things that children would like to eat so that the children will comply and wont cause problems at meal time

doorki

Schools have to feed a lot of children for pennies because they get no budget. It's more economical to bring in prepared foods and heat them than to buy everything fresh and pay the cooks more for all the extra time they need to make it.

I brought my own lunch to school every day because the cafeteria food was TERRIBLE. If nothing else, save your kid's tastebuds and send a sandwich.

Add to it that this is Texas, where the education spending is near the bottom in the nation.

http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2013/02/texas-now-49th-in-spending-on-public-schools.html/


If you have the means, then send your kid with food. I would also register a complaint about the quality of food or try to get the school budget increased.

geebusuk

So far, the best 'healthy' food that I see is plenty of exercise, so it matters less what you eat.

I've seen NOTHING to show that a healthy individual eating processed foods is unhealthy.

As far as the choices go; could it also be that this is based on what the majority of kids expect?

c_tap77

My parents NEVER kept soda in our home when we were growing up. When we ate meals at home our choices were milk (we always had to have a glass with dinner); juice, or water. Juice has a lot of sugar too, but at least there was more nutritional value in it than soda.

When we went out to dinner or to the movies we were allowed to have whatever we wanted. But we didn't do those things very often so it was a special treat.

I never felt like I was missing out, and even though I my friends tease me a little bit now when I've never had things like cotton candy or pixie sticks, I look back on some of the healthy dishes my parents fed my sister and I growing up and even crave them now as an adult.

Don't let other people make you feel like you're doing your child a disservice by feeding her healthy things and trying to limit the sugar and the crummy processed foods. You sound like a great mommy and you shouldn't feel guilty because you want what's best for your little one

WendyTerry420

I think that suggesting that food is "junk" is the ridiculous part.

TheGymGypsy

When I was in school, my mom couldn't afford to pack a lunch for me and I am a vegetarian so eating was close to impossible. There are days i would go hungry and others when I would eat 3-4 slices of pizza just because I could actually eat something for a change.

KatieTee83

I'm at war with my husband over feeding our little girl. I don't want her to be so sheltered from "junk food" that she binges on it in secret or when she's away from us when she gets older, but I don't see how it's necessary. He, his mother and his brother constantly try to feed her sweets and desserts and potato chips. It makes me incredibly upset when I see him giving her drinks of soda. She's ONE for goodness sakes...let her teeth grow IN before you start trying to rot them out!

I'm with you. Um, it's one thing to let a 5 year old have little snacks here and there. It's effing bonkers to give a baby soda. Are they nuts? Like seriously, that goes beyond the argument of whether to let a kid have junk food -- that's just plain crazy.

RobynLB83

Meh. Active kids can eat loads of crap is be perfectly healthy. My mom fed me healthy food growing up, and I ended up chubby but always hungry with an eating disorder by 12 and a pattern of disordered eating that persisted into adulthood. My nieces and nephews grew up on McDonalds and pizza but they have six packs, do P90X for funsies, and set the a breakneck pace if we run together.

bcattoes

It's no wonder we're raising generations of obese children, considering what they're getting in public school.

Yes, it's the school's fault. :huh:
Never mind that the parents don't teach kids healthy choices, healthy eating habits, or how to listen to their body's natural hunger & full cues. Never mind that the parents allow their kids to sit and play xbox for 5 hours a day... Nope... we are all obese because we eat one crappy meal per day.

For some children school's provide 2 meals a day. And for those living below the poverty level, sending homemade lunches when the school will provide them for free is just not a luxury they can afford.

I don't know if the OP's school is public or private, but when tax dollars are spent on public school lunches we ought to at least be outraged when it's spent on junk food lacking in nutrtition.

kmbweber2014

I'm at war with my husband over feeding our little girl. I don't want her to be so sheltered from "junk food" that she binges on it in secret or when she's away from us when she gets older

Let her have the school food for a couple days a week and you send her with lunch on the other days. Make her go play outside instead of tv/video games 24-7. Problem solved!

My son and I go over the lunch menu at the begining of every month. He picks an item each week that he wants and I make him lunch the rest of the time. My son is known for picking carrots over cookies, he doesn't like chocolate and loves most healthy dishes I cook. It's all about balance.