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Solving the School Lunch Cooking Problem
We all know that part of the problem with school lunches is that they are often unhealthy. One reason for that is because the schools are sometimes unwilling, or unable, to cook.
I just read an interesting article in the New York Times that outlines the issues some schools are facing when trying to serve students healthier food. I was surprised to learn that many schools lack the proper equipment and that the staff lacks the proper training. According to the Times, “more than 80 percent of the nation’s districts cook fewer than half their entrees from scratch.” Why? “As many American families stopped cooking and began to rely on prepared and packaged food, so did the schools. It became cheaper to cut skilled kitchen labor, eliminate raw ingredients and stop maintaining kitchens.”
Bummer. But there is an effort being made to get healthier food into the lunchroom by cooking using fresh ingredients.
My lunches in high school consisted of a choice between a hamburger, cheeseburger, or a slab of pizza. Everything came with french fries. The fries were — I am not making this up — “enriched with vitamin C.” We all assumed that the black dots on the fries were the vitamins. Because we really didn’t want to think about what else those dots might be. The price was a dollar, which was at least a damn good deal. There was a “hot lunch” option (think salisbury steak and mashed potatoes) but I never ate it.
If I recall correctly, no one cared much about the fact that we were eating crappola on a daily basis. I’m not complaining, it was just the times we lived in. I guess it is a little bit like smoking. Eventually society figured out that it was unhealthy and an effort was made to get people to stop.
What was your school lunch like? And what are your kids eating now?
Source: New York Times
Image: Archive.org
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Best of Strollerderby October 2, 2009 | Famecrawler commented on Oct 03 09 at 11:00 amRosana commented on Sep 30 09 at 1:58 pmOMG, I am from Puerto Rico and there lunch is free in public school and can tell you that it was my favorite time of the day. Think white rice w/beans and some kind of pulled pork, spaghetti and meatballs. The were all hot lunch options along with fruit and milk. Very balanced meals. The only cold lunches we had was when there did not have water or low attendance, like the end of the semester. I could not believe some kids would not even eat there at lunch time. It was really good food.
Bec commented on Sep 30 09 at 2:21 pmHa. I’m only realizing as an adult that it is NORMAL in some places for kids to have lunch provided at school. We didn’t even have a cafeteria until I was in high school. People were expected to pack a lunch for their kids.
jeannesager commented on Sep 30 09 at 2:57 pmWe had the most deliciously disgusting cookies that were 10 cents apiece and the size of your hand. When you placed them on a napkin, it instantly turned translucent from all the grease. And we ate them by the handful.
Trey commented on Sep 30 09 at 2:59 pmWow, complaining about school food. I got an idea, it’s called “Pack your kids lunch”. Then you won’t have to deal with what they may/may not be eating. Just food for thought.
Manjari commented on Oct 01 09 at 8:42 amI taught in the Philadelphia School District, and the lunches were awful. Two slim jims and a cheese stick? The food was disgusting. The kids would have been better off eating McDonalds. But hey, these were poor kids (many of their parents wouldn’t have sent their lunch in with them), so who cares, right Trey?
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 01 09 at 9:18 amManjari, don’t food stamps buy peanut butter and bread?
Manjari commented on Oct 01 09 at 11:04 amI think the point is not whether parents SHOULD do any given thing (such as send lunch), but if they don’t, should we not be concerned with what the school feeds those children? Based on your comment I can see we wont agree on this anyway, but I think serving unhealthy garbage to school children is unacceptable.
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 01 09 at 12:31 pmSo…parents AREN’T responsible for feeding their kids? As long as they pitch a big enough fit that the school does it for them? I don’t follow.
Manjari commented on Oct 01 09 at 4:24 pmWe GET it, you’re a republican. Jeez.
There are plenty of kids who live in less than desirable situations for many, many reasons. If a school district provides lunch for its students, then it might as well provide a healthy lunch. The point is, it’s not always ABOUT the parent, it’s about the kids. Even if I agreed with you that parents are responsible for feeding their kids, how would their failure to do so be the kids’ fault? Who is being hurt when the school serves crap, the parent or the child?
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 01 09 at 4:42 pmUm, if the school district can’t afford to upgrade its kitchen and hire trained staff to cook healthier lunches, then, yes, parents who care about their kids’ health should, I suppose, feed their own kids. The USDA (which provides school lunches, btw) already pays for low-income families to get food stamps which can be used to buy healthy food for a packed lunch for a price much cheaper than the $2.00 (in my area) for school lunch. Or hey, maybe the school should focus on educating the kids and stop cooking altogether. Just a thought.
Manjari commented on Oct 01 09 at 4:56 pmIt must be nice to live in your world. You have no concept of reality. I’m done with this.
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 01 09 at 5:47 pmWill someone please clue me to how it’s unrealistic for parents to feed their own kids? I am genuinely confused. If low income parents have food stamps, and non-poor parents can already pack a decent lunch for well under $2.00, why is it so gosh darn republican of me to think that parents who want healthy food for their kids, should buy it instead of expecting the school to remodel its kitchen to provide healthy food? You are right in saying that I seriously don’t get it…this just seems like a no-brainer to me.
Manjari commented on Oct 01 09 at 9:44 pmSigh, I said I was done…. BUT,
I worked in a school once that served 4 shelters. So a lot of our students came to school from their homeless shelter and then went back there at night. Some students don’t even have parents caring for them, and are with relatives that for whatever reason were ill equipped to care for them properly. For so many kids, that one meal a day is the only real meal they get all day. Of all the things that schools incorporate into their budgets, I think healthy lunches should be included.
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 01 09 at 10:00 pmClearly that’s an exception to the rule…in most instances, though it is the parents responsibility to monitor their kids’ diets.
jenny tries too hard commented on Oct 01 09 at 10:10 pmto the point about your school Manjari…what an excellent opportunity a school or church group would have to pack lunches for the kids in the shelter…in the soup kitchen I volunteered in we made a lot of sandwiches…
snarky mama commented on Oct 01 09 at 10:23 pmI mostly pack lunch, but some days I don’t feel like it, or I ran out of bread, or the kids “really really want to get school lunch.” Clearly, on the days they do buy lunch, I should just suck it up and let them eat whatever crap the school serves, with no concern as to nutritional value.
But I do care, and I am lucky to have children at a (public) school that has “Harvest days” (each month has a specific vegetable, and about twice a month the menu is planned around said veggie) and “Local days” (everything on the menu is from Oregon) and every day there is a fresh salad bar option.
These were hard-won changes to the regular school menu, which still leaves much to be desired. If food is provided, it should be healthy.
Brett Singer commented on Oct 02 09 at 4:55 pm“If food is provided, it should be healthy.”
That sums it up nicely, in my opinion. As for sandwiches, that isn’t the same thing as a healthy hot lunch. From what I understand about the issue, it doesn’t have to cost more money and can actually be a great way to get the students involved in learning more about what they eat.
One other thing: in the high school I went to, there were a number of kids who were on a meal plan that included breakfast and lunch. That was most of what they ate. Why not have it be something healthy?
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