School Lunches

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  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
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    Not everyone can afford to pack school lunches.

    Must be very different in the US than here in Montreal... It's WAAAAAY cheaper to pack my son's lunch from home than to buy the one at school.
  • henryandrewmom
    henryandrewmom Posts: 25 Member
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    Yes this is new. There are many limitations that have been imposed nation wide on school lunches, including limiting the number of grains, protein, etc., that can be served each week. The calorie limit for students in grades 9 -12 is from 750 - 850 for lunch; the younger grades have a lower limit than that.

    I work in a school and this is a huge issue. Our students are starving! I also am coaching volleyball right now, and the kids come to practice hungry and aren't as able to put in a good practice as they have been in the past because they are not allowed as much food.

    I know that on chicken nugget day, the limits set forth for protein say that kids in grades K-8 are allowed 1.5 chicken nuggets! And students in grades 9 - 12 could have 3. CRAZY!
  • salgalruns
    salgalruns Posts: 83 Member
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    I'll share what happens at my school. I am a principal at a low income school in southern Californai and we serve 500-600 lunches a day. Paid or free, it's the same stuff. Our district has implemented a salad bar, so our students have the choice of mixed greens, fresh veggies (today it was cucumbers, jicama, broccoli, & red bell peppers) and fruit (red grapes and peaches today). They then also had orange chicken (about 1/2 cup) and brownish colored rice (about 1/2 cup). Students are offered milk - either 2%, 1% or fat free. With our 5th and 6th graders, if we have extra, we offer seconds.

    The new government plan forces schools to provide more fruits and vegetables. I have to say, that at my site, the kids who bring their lunch (smaller percentage), I have sandwiches, which are fine but almost all of them have Cheetos, Hot Cheetos, Takis (similar to hot Cheetos) or Funyans(?). Don't even get me started on the "fruit colored" drinks that they bring.

    Since the salad bar started this year, I see a rainbow of colors on plates, and the kids are eating it - they go home and rave about how much they love it. I even sat in on a conversation with 3rd and 4th graders about the best way to eat garbanzo beans yesterday. Who'd have ever thought????
  • taylorromanyk
    taylorromanyk Posts: 62
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    I hated the school lunches. I graduated in 2011, and I can remember them being awful from when I was little to the time I was a senior. They tried serving salads in high school, but they were never fresh. Tried serving subs (as an alternative to the pizza, french fries, mozzarella sticks, etc.) but all the meat was chock-full of preservatives. I mean, the lunch meat looked like rubber and smelled like it too. Some kids couldn't even notice and THAT scared me. Wish they'd realize how they're poisoning the youth.
  • taylorromanyk
    taylorromanyk Posts: 62
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    Also, even for high school, the portion sizes were always too small. Except on calzone day. I mean, we were 15, 16, 17 year old kids, we were hungry! I've written papers about the school lunch system, how good nutrition leads to better grades, yada yada yada, I just wish someone would listen.
  • runnermama81
    runnermama81 Posts: 388 Member
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    I'll share what happens at my school. I am a principal at a low income school in southern Californai and we serve 500-600 lunches a day. Paid or free, it's the same stuff. Our district has implemented a salad bar, so our students have the choice of mixed greens, fresh veggies (today it was cucumbers, jicama, broccoli, & red bell peppers) and fruit (red grapes and peaches today). They then also had orange chicken (about 1/2 cup) and brownish colored rice (about 1/2 cup). Students are offered milk - either 2%, 1% or fat free. With our 5th and 6th graders, if we have extra, we offer seconds.

    The new government plan forces schools to provide more fruits and vegetables. I have to say, that at my site, the kids who bring their lunch (smaller percentage), I have sandwiches, which are fine but almost all of them have Cheetos, Hot Cheetos, Takis (similar to hot Cheetos) or Funyans(?). Don't even get me started on the "fruit colored" drinks that they bring.

    Since the salad bar started this year, I see a rainbow of colors on plates, and the kids are eating it - they go home and rave about how much they love it. I even sat in on a conversation with 3rd and 4th graders about the best way to eat garbanzo beans yesterday. Who'd have ever thought????

    This sounds great!!! I have no problem with the food being healthy at all. Its just that most schools in my area are not serving this array of fresh salad. They get like two chicken nuggets and some iceburg lettuce and milk:(
  • spozzybear
    spozzybear Posts: 216 Member
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    I live in Australia and I have never heard of a school "serving" lunch. Schools here have a canteen where food can be bought, or you can bring your own lunch, but I haven't heard about any portion control at the canteens here, nor of any schools providing free lunches.
  • JustPeachy044
    JustPeachy044 Posts: 770 Member
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    I love some of the changes. having fruits and veggies offered every day in our school is awesome. The "cold cart" has an array of fruits and veggies most days and the children are free to take what they want, after they get their milk and entree choice. It is hard to get kindergartners and 1st graders to take what they will really eat, unfortunately, and much is thrown away. They sit and talk versus eating, then when it's time to be dismissed they know it's recess time and they just toss what is left...but we have to start somewhere.

    That said, my own children get school lunches paid for by us 10x per month. I believe packing a healthy lunch from home gives me more say in what my kids eat and saves us money in the long run. I agree with those that say if your child isn't getting enough in terms of quantity or quality, pack them a lunch.

    also, young children (K or 1st graders and younger) should go about 3 hours between 2 meals OR 2 hours between a meal and a snack. Their smaller stomachs just can't hold a large quantity in general, they digest what they have eaten within 2-3 hours and need a snack or meal by then. If they are eating early lunch, as younger children generally do in school, it could be that so much time has passed by the time they get home that they are hungry. I offer my kindergartners in school a handful of cheerios about 10:15 AM, just to stave off their hunger. We eat lunch at 11:20. They have snack at 1:00. They go home at 3:35 or to day care. By the time they get home, they are STILL famished!
  • ZombieSidwell
    ZombieSidwell Posts: 40
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    Yes the new guidlines are different this year. I work within a school and run an after school program. I think the concept over all is a good one but with that said I have noticed an increase of kids still being hunngry. Yes kids are always hungry but it seems that it has increased this year. Something I have noticed in our after school proggram. I agree that kids should be given healthier choices in school, but this can be done in a way that is more filling for the kids. This can be done in a better way. The kids who play sports after school aren't getting the energy they need and not all parents can afford to ensure this. As far as who pays for the lunches, both are true. There are kids who are on the free lunch program and those who's parents who pay for it. While it is true that you can send more money for the child or pack their lunch not all parents can affordd this. What worries me are those families in poverty and the school lunch might me the most important meal they will have all day.
  • ZombieSidwell
    ZombieSidwell Posts: 40
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    Also I forgot to point out not all schools are equal, some are serving more filing foods while others still are not. These are the schools who need help in learning how to make the new guidlines work for the benefit of the children.
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
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    Being only 24 I still vividly remember my school lunches. Back then I kept questioning things and now that I've grown up (a little) and learned about our American food system I'm livid.

    The USDA dietary guidelines are absolute crap. This is generally what the schools will follow as public school lunches are government funded and you may pay a nominal fee but it varies between school districts, taxes, private/public, etc. Any diet made of 60% carbohydrates is guaranteed to cause health issues down the road. Maybe they come home hungry, because they ate enough cheap calories but still malnourished.

    I can't speak for financial means of school lunch vs packed lunch. All I know is I wanted real food not French bread pizza and fries 3 days a week. There were studies done on portion control amongst children ages ranging 3-9 to see if they were capable of portion control: children already overweight/obese tend to serve themselves larger portion sizes AND consume more calories then those who are not. There were some racial differences in where calories came from too but I don't quite remember. It was published in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition.

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