My Daughter's Elementary School Lunches

I pack my son's lunch. Problem solved.


Idk, I'm just not really a fan of school lunches. I don't know how the food's made, how long it's been sitting there, what kind of cheap grade crap they use to make it to save money...plus, it's expensive! Way cheaper to buy groceries and pack my son's lunch. He helps me pick out the things at the grocery store that he'd like in his lunch, and he helps me pack it the night before when I pack my own lunch (I almost always take my lunch/snacks to work too). My mom always packed my lunch growing up, letting me get school lunch once a week (like if they had something I really liked---I usually picked pizza day lol), and in high school our cafeteria had 3 different lunch lines and I usually opted for the one with a salad bar and baked potatoes, or I'd bring something from home. At that point lunch was up to me, I could either use my lunch money allowance for that, or take something from home and save the money.

I feel like they should follow some sort of nutritional standard in school cafeterias for sure, but ultimately I think it's the parents' responsibility to make sure our children are eating properly and learning about nutrition. Leading by example is the best way!

My only disagreement at the moment are the drink options, my child dislike plain milk so strawberry or chocolate milk is a way for me to ensure she does drink it. And is milk the only option or are they allowed any juices?

My only disagreement at the moment are the drink options, my child dislike plain milk so strawberry or chocolate milk is a way for me to ensure she does drink it. And is milk the only option or are they allowed any juices?

It clearly says "flavored or unflavored milk".

I guess I'm the only one that thinks this is awful. Kids don't need more carbs to get through their day, protein and fat are not evil. Serving flavored milk (which is loaded with sugar) but only if it's fat free is a double whammy. The sugar burns off quickly and removing the fat that helps keep you satiated means the kids will starving 30 minutes after they eat. Additionally, forcing them to take a fruit or vegetable that they aren't going to eat isn't the answer. All that does is cost the school more in wasted food.

I send my child with lunch almost every day because the lunches that are being served are so processed and full of junk that they're not worth the time it takes to eat them. Every time the government steps in and "improves" school lunch requirements, lunch quality goes down. Because my child has ADHD and we don't medicate him, I know that food is a huge part of helping control his behavior. I'm not willing to let the school decide what he eats. I bought him a thermos and I send him with leftovers, along with a container of whole milk almost every day. His lunches have high protein, some carbs and a fruit that he will eat. The only day he eats school lunch is pepperoni pizza day and I still send whole milk with him.

This is just my opinion, my perspective and how I deal with my child.

I don't disagree. The standards are very imperfect, and the implementation of the standards is problematic.

On the other hand, I remember going to school as a lower-income child when we pretty much had to use the subsidized school lunches or my parents could not put food on the table at supper from our family income, and the Government Cheese and Government Milk only went so far.

One example I particularly remember from elementary school was "french onion soup". Lukewarm water, with a few slices of raw onion on it, covered in a slice of Wonder white bread, then sprayed with a quick spritz of Cheez Wiz. That was Thursday. Every.. single.. Thursday... from 1st grade to 6th grade. Came with a helping of unrecognizable green stuff we were told was string beans, but they had been mashed into a paste and could have just as easily been peas or broccoli or something that had gone horribly bad - it was literally impossible to tell.

But, hey, it was eat that and be hungry or not eat it and be really hungry. There was little fat and no protein to be had, but it was the best the school could do on their budget for the subsidized kids. My plate was clean every single day, though I doubt I got much in the way of actual nutrition from it.

Imperfect standards are better than no standards at all.

I debated saying something about the subsidized lunches, but decided not to since I wasn't sure it was relevant to the original question. Having said that, I agree that where kids are concerned, some food is better than none. We didn't have school lunches where I grew up, it was a small community and the school just didn't have the option of providing a "hot lunch". I know there were kids that were going hungry, or eating minimally, so I am glad those same kids today would at least be getting a minimum standard meal to help them get through the day.

I will also say that while it's good to have standards, the amount of bureaucracy involved in school lunches is ridiculous. The book(s) of rules are about a foot thick. It's extremely difficult for the schools to both meet the standards and stay within their limited budget. Added to that we see that most schools no longer have the ability to cook on site, everything is packaged and just reheated at lunch time. Contracts with food corporations are at least a year out so nothing can get changed immediately even if everyone was on board.

There are things that could be done to improve the situation, I recently read the book "Lunch Wars" and it was full of viable ideas for making lunches healthier and better received by the kids. It also laid out exactly the difficulties in getting things changed in the current system. There's no quick fix but more regulation is rarely the answer.

My mother has worked at a school cafeteria for 30 years. She has always preached to the children to eat the healthy things on the plate. But in the past that could consist of buttery corn or a pumpkin cake. I mean, there hasn't been much accountablility with what has been served to our children over the years. But I can tell you, if you do not like the menu, disagree with the government, or have a child with a special dietary need. Then do not buy or let your child eat in the cafeteria! Simple.
My mother works at a low income school and they have implimented many of these new changes. These are kids that get food baskets delivered to their homes for christmas. I know because I volunteer to deliver. To them, these school breakfasts and lunches is a main source of nutrition for them. So to see that many of them will eat whatever is on the plate is good, so why not offer a better choice. For the children that are tossing the veggie or fruit, the parents should step up and talk to the children of the improtance of healthy eating. I do with my kids.
My daughters school has begun many of these changes. I am borderline diabetic, nutrition is important to me and have talked with my children about what we put into our bodies since they could understand. They eat the healthy things on their plates at home and school. My daughter is in 3rd grade as well and thinks it is cool to eat from the salad bar. They also have a lady who comes and teaches all the children in the school about fruits and veggies and how to eat and cook them. They all get to help prep and sample. So if the government is getting too involved in schools in your opinion, sack lunch it. But IMO, I think it couldn't come soon enough. Wish they had thought of that when I was a kid in school and maybe I wouldn't have had a weight problem growing up!

In my daughter's first day of school package (she's in 3rd grade), we received a newsletter from Food and Nutrition Services (FNS). They've apparently developed monthly Energy Zone articles to go in the monthly parent newsletters.

Anyway, this part is interesting. They've changed the lunches to meet new federal nutrition standards based on the latest nutrition science by the Institute of Medicine and Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

These changes include:

Reduced calories based on the grad of the students
Reduced protein portions for grades K-5
Increased fruits and vegetables
A new requirement that students MUST select one serving of vegetable or fruit with lunch
Limited number of servings of whole grains - rich breads and cereals.
Choice of only fat-free flavored or unflavored milk or 1% low-fat unflavored milk.
Focus on reduced saturated fats and sodium and zero trans fats.

I think this is a good thing, but I was wondering what you guys thought. Part of me doesn't like the government making these decisions, but I recognize that too many parents don't teach their children to eat properly.

On the menu today at her school:

Taco meal and cheese sauce o ncorn tortilla rounds
Taco meat, cheese sauce, baked potato/fruit roll
Hummus Bitable
PB&J

Steamed Green beans
cauliflower w/sugar snap peas
tossed salad w/ chilled pears w/cherry garnish
fresh apple slices

Southwestern spicy chicken salad w/black beans and corn, corn tortilla rounds
Chef salad w/cheese, green peas, corn tortilla rounds

I'm not sure how I feel. I mean...what if a kid needs more protein? Or less? What if he needs the fat from whole milk? What if he just throws away the veggie?

the school lunch program is a government program. It exists for a variety of reasons but one of the big ones is so that students who are low income can recieve food while at school. Because of this, they have guidelines that they want the food to meet, and if your children are partaking (whether you pay for the lunches, pay a reduced price, or get it free) you're playing by the government's rules, because it's their program. If you don't think the lunches are healthy enough, pack your own. If they need more protein, pack it. If they need special dietary changes, talk to the school which may be able to accomodate it.

If he throws away the veggie, hopefully that's that. I understand why they make the rules about kids having to grab a veggie, but I don't think schools should be "enforcing" the actual consumption of the food. When I was a kid I was forced to eat lunches at school when I didn't want them and it really messed up my relationship with food.

aside form the lack of whole milk, it seems ok. most(that i know) kids will pick the fruit and at least eat some of it

that is why my kids take their lunch! The schools serve canned, bagged, or packaged premade stuff. Not waisting good money on that junk.

^^this

All these people upset about government control. If the government took away control and schools only served what made them money everyone would be up in arms over the fat kids with diabetes. No one is ever happy.

That's more or less the current situation.

--P

Three things:

1. My mother for extra money once when she wasn't working full time signed up to sub at schools and they put her as a monitor at elementary cafeterias. Those schools required children to select a fruit or veg with their lunches and about 90% of those fruits and veggies ended up in the trash. You can make them take it, but you can't make them eat it.

2. I think there will be a lot of kids not eating lunch at all unless they bring it from home. It's nice they're trying, but kids are still kids.

3. When we were young and in school and there was no childhood obesity epidemic, we had a wider variety of choices, including pizza, chocolate milk, cheeseburgers and French fries. Not to mention we could get Little Debbie snacks and ice cream, unlimited. And fruit juice that was probably only about 10% actual fruit juice. The obesity issue is not because of what's on school lunch menus.