What do you think of your child's school lunch program?

[happygirl]

Ours is excellent. The kids get a choice of two meals. One is a main meal. The other is salad or sandwhich or soup

 

[nmmom95]

Ours is gross! They actually sent home a letter defending the pink chicken. The portions are small and the kitchen decides how much lunch each child should get based on grade, even though they pay the same price. For example, a kindergarten student may get significantly smaller servings that an 7the grader, even though they pay the same price. I've had younger children tell me more than once that they were still hungry.

 

[mum4jenn]

It seems to me that a lot of school lunch menus are very bread heavy. I wonder if it's because bread is relatively inexpensive?

It depends on what lunch plan they follow and what grade they serve. Here our grades Pre-K-5 are required to have 8 bread servings per week and Middle and High have to serve 10. I know that sonds like a lot but a hamburger bun counts a 2 servings of bread. Pizza (which is only served once a month here) also counts as 2 bread servings. If a school is part of the National School Lunch Program they have strict guidelines they have to follow.
Our schools have many items made from scratch and also convenience foods (because THAT is what the kids are used to eating). My school does not even have a fryer so everything that is not made from scratch is cooked in a special oven called a Combi Oven which has the capibility of roasting, steaming, baking, etc.

 

[tonilea]

Outs is pretty awful in both DS and my estimation..... right down to the infamous "chicken rings". DS won't even eat the pizza!

He will buy lunch less than once per week. He does like their hamburgers, though he has to bring a piece of cheese to top it. lol

 

[mum4jenn]

Ours is gross! They actually sent home a letter defending the pink chicken. The portions are small and the kitchen decides how much lunch each child should get based on grade, even though they pay the same price. For example, a kindergarten student may get significantly smaller servings that an 7the grader, even though they pay the same price. I've had younger children tell me more than once that they were still hungry.

There are actually food companies that add things to the meats to help keep them moist and not dry out after being cooked. Unfortunately this usually ends up with a pink color inside. Kitchen staff (at least at my school ) work very hard to make sure food safety rules are followed and would never serve any food that was not properly cooked. My school had an incident like this with salisbury steak a few years ago and no matter how long the meat was cooked, it still had that pink color. I had one stuoid teacher that told her student "Do not eat that..You will get sick" Of course she said it loud enough for about 50 students to hear and then all of a sudden ALL of them were at the nurse saying they had food poisoning. NO ONE had food poisoning... it was just the thought placed into their heads by that teacher.
Meat is required to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 and we cooked it to 190 and it still had that pink color. I even tried cooking some patties for 4 hours and even though they were black on the outside they were still pink on the inside!!!
After that happened we never ordered that type of patty ever again!!

And it is NOT the kitchen that decides how much food the children get according to their age...it is the GOVERNMENT that tells the lunch programs how much to serve. For example: For LUNCH: Protein is 2 ounces, fruits and veggies are 3/4 cup( this can be 1/2 cup of one thing and a 1/4 cup of something else or 3 different servings of 1/4 cup portions. Older kids are required to be served larger portions because they are normally bigger. A 10th grader is going to need more food than a PreK kid.

 

[HelenePA]

I pack their lunch most days. Unless its a hotdog, pizza or nuggets they dont eat it there.. I can't say I blame them. Tomorrow is fish nuggets. Eeeeewww. Our breakfast program is a little better. Funnel cake day (yes for breakfast) is very popular!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Ours is very disapointing. My kids almost never buy. Maybe 3 times a year for DD10 and once or less for DD8. DD15 would buy everyday but she doesn't have a lunch period. The food at the high school she sais is very good including a salad bar.

For example, I don't know how calling fried cheese sticks a main course. (I mean, they are a tasty treat but not a main dish.) They have apples and bananas for fresh fruit, which is fine but other then that it is all canned fruit in syrup. Each day they have a hot lunch, a burger, a PB&J or a bagel and yogurt. Our old school had salads (with some tuna, chicken or egg salad) and my kids would beg to buy, but this school doesn't. I am not by any means a health nut, but do try to keep treats, treats and meals, meals and I think our school does a poor job of that. I personally would like to see some healthier options. Course, my kids would want to buy more and I prefer to pack. It saves moeny, I can pack what they like and see what they ate.

 

[dislaney]

Ours isn't very good. They do have quite a few different choices which is about the only positive thing I can say about it. Mine bring lunch and occasionally go out to eat.

 

[pat fan]

Our chicken looks like chicken! We serve breast, thighs, legs & wings that are baked with seasonings on them, no breading.

Most of our pasta is whole grain and our breads are all home-made.

We have had chicken nuggets once this year, patties once and have patties coming up next month. I don't think 3 times in a year for a chicken "product" is too bad.

I do sympathize with those of you who get the pre-packaged heated up meals, but I also really hate when all school lunches get a bad rap because of some of them. We try really hard to serve our kids good food. I served both my kids through elementary school and now serve my niece and nephew, so making sure all the kids are fed well is personal with me, besides trying to be a good professional.

 

[PatsGirl]

DD goes to a charter school and lunch is delivered by a different restaurant each day for 3.25 (including a juice box or milk). She "buys" on Mondays (Papa Ginos pizza and salad, which she doesn't eat btw) and Wednesdays (chicken nuggets and ff by a local Mex restaurant). She certainly doesn't get enough to eat either day because she is picky!! I much prefer packing her lunch which costs me about the same each day. If she ate the salad she'd be good on Mondays bu the Wed meal is tiny for a tween. I also like knowing what she eats is healthy. Her preference for nuggets and burgers and fried food could become a problem

 

[robinb]

The meals in our school district are made in a central location and shipped to each school. My DD rarely eats school lunch because she is a vegetarian and 80% of the lunches feature meat. There are NO choices in Elementary school. Just one thing, take it or leave it. I feel kinda sorry for the free/reduced lunch kids.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

As parents, we are happy with the school's offerings. Our kids are not, though. This is what happens when Mommy is a great cook.

Our boys pack a lunch every day...

 

[PattnFmly]

Our school lunch menus are ok, they do mix it up with healthy stuff as well as burgers and corn dogs. But our food is made in a central kitchen and then reheated at our school, and DS#1 says sometimes its still frozen and sometimes its too well done to chew through. So he mostly brings lunch from home. DS#2 won't even try the school lunch. He brings PBJ every day and has for 3 years now. Once in a great while I can get him to bring a turkey sandwich but those are few and far between! We just pack lunch, it's easier!

 

[minkydog]

I work in a school and I refuse to eat the school lunches. Most of the items come individually wrapped and heated in large microwaves and convection ovens. You've never experienced eggs until you have to take them out of the plastic. 100% of our student body is on free lunch AND breakfast so their parents are very grateful. But most breakfasts are carb heavy--bluberry muffin, pancake on a stick, french toast sticks, pizza sticks, cheese bread and cereal. Sometimes they have fruit, most of the time no fruit. Lunch is almost as bad, although they do occasionallyl include a small spinach salad, sweet potatoes, corn, or beans. Fruit is usually frozen or canned. the Entrees are warmed over in teh ovens--chicken patty, hot dog, mini cheeseburgers in a baggie(think truck stop food.) There is no salad bar and no provision for vegetarians, other than to just not eat the meat, which means they get NO protein. It's institution food, meant to fill you up.

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

Interesting thread. At the school I previously taught at, they had hamburgers and cheeseburgers on probably 95% of the days...plus other choices.

At my new school (new district), some things are horrible and some are pretty good. The bad thing is all of the extra bad stuff the kids can purchase...chips, fruit snacks, ice cream, gatorade, brownies, cinnamon buns, cookies, etc. are available EVERY DAY! I see some little muchkins going through the line...and their meal is awful! I love sweets and I'm not a stickler for super healthy food, but a kindergartener eating a slice of pizza, peaches in syrup, chocolate milk, a brownie, a gatorade, and a cinnamon bun? Something is wrong there to me!

On the flip side, my new school always has 2 "healthy" options, one without meat. One of the more popular options is fresh strawberries, a cinnamon muffin, yogurt, and cheese. We also have some decent fresh fruit, usually apples, bananas, plums, nectarines, pears, or oranges. We had NO fresh fruit at my old school...and we were only 10 miles from the Tropicana factory! Send us some dang oranges!

 

[mumto3girls]

Ours are terrible. I think that the lunches are the equivalent of fast food. Pizza, peanut butter and jelly, and a chef salad are daily options in addition to two options that change daily. The options that change are basically things like: corn dog, hot dog, hamburger, chicken pattie, chicken nuggets, stuffed crust pizza, mexican pizza, tacos, walking tacos, nachos grande, la glazed cinnamon rolls with ham rolls, pancakes/french toast sticks with ham or sausage, Italian dunkers (I believe these are cheesy bread sticks with marinara sauce). Sides range from french fries/tator tots to applesauce and green beans and fruit. Most of the fruit is canned (in syrup), but occasionally you will see a banana or orange wedges.

I think they are way too carb heavy and too much sugar and fat. My daughter would love to buy every day, but I told her only once a week unless she is willing to get the chef salad the other four days. Occasionally she will ask to buy an extra day and get the salad, but typically I pack 4 days a week.

The one thing that they do that I like is the holiday meals. They do a turkey dinner with all the trimmings before Christmas and Thanksgiving and do celebrate some other things as well. I think at the beginning of this month they had a green eggs and ham day in honor of Dr. Seuss. I think that's great and probably one of the healthiest meals on the menu all month.

I realize that they are trying to keep cost down, but I would be happy to pay more for a better lunch. We do have some kids on reduced lunch/free lunch, but I think it is less than 10% so I don't think that is the issue. We pay $1.80 per child at the elementary level--it may be more for the older kids, I'm not sure. They do have a certain pizza lunch that is special for some reason and costs $2.20. If they had fresh fruit, fresh veg and whole wheat breads/pastas along with lean sources of protein, I'd be willing to let her buy most days if not all.

And for the record, I'm not against pizza and burgers and all the kid friendly foods. My kids like them--and I do too sometimes, but not everyday. And if they are going to have pizza, they can make it healthier with a whole wheat crust and low fat cheese and not pair it with peaches in syrup, tator tots and chocolate milk.

 

[PixieDust32]

The lunch at my kids school is terrible, lots of fried and greasy food, they take lunch from home.

 

[powellrj]

I copied and pasted one of our days, its pretty typical. I wish they would offer salad bar, bread bowl or fruit bowl as an option.

Chicken Tenders/Dip/Bread Stick Choice: Hot Dog/Cheese

(choose 2) Au Gratin Potatoes, Green Garden Salad, Rosy Applesauce

 

[TB'sWidow]

It depends on what lunch plan they follow and what grade they serve. Here our grades Pre-K-5 are required to have 8 bread servings per week and Middle and High have to serve 10. I know that sonds like a lot but a hamburger bun counts a 2 servings of bread. Pizza (which is only served once a month here) also counts as 2 bread servings. If a school is part of the National School Lunch Program they have strict guidelines they have to follow.
Our schools have many items made from scratch and also convenience foods (because THAT is what the kids are used to eating). My school does not even have a fryer so everything that is not made from scratch is cooked in a special oven called a Combi Oven which has the capibility of roasting, steaming, baking, etc.

Yep I'm a lunch lady and we have strict county guidelines. Also hot dog's are turkey franks, pizza is whole wheat with low fat cheese etc. Mary

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

when folks are saying from scratch--are you talking literally?

B/c if a box or a can was involved--that isn't scratch. There is more to scratch than avoiding the use of a microwave.

Just peeked at the county menu for our schools--it looks very similar to what we had in school. It's typical cafeteria fare.

I did notice ont he menu that they label the items as a Go food, a Slow food (sometimes) and a whoa food (occasional). Both slow and whoa indicate higher fat/sugar and might be processed.

This week's menu--Out of 10 lunch choices (2 different ones daily)--8 were SLOW foods...and only 2 options--the chicken parm sandwich and the pizza were go foods. (the desserts are all listed as SLOW foods as well. Go figure!)

Out of 56 meal options for the month, only 7 were considered "GO" foods. Of that--it included a corn dog.

Not a very healthy lunch menu at all if they serve mostly sometimes foods all of the time.

While I can appreciate that the lunch is offered as a service. I'm a bit perplexed at how they cannot be held accountable to a better standard that isn't contradictory to the lessons being taught in school.

In reading their nutrition guidelines, they are heavily focused on the calorie/fat/sugar content and they have posted this message which indicates why the pizza is a "go" food:

"We have made some major changes to our program including new menu choices, offering an oat roll, oat cinnamon roll, white wheat hamburger and hot dog buns, whole grain pizza, whole grain corn dogs, and whole grain fruit turnovers"

I'd eat the food as a kid and my kids would likely enjoy it--but it really doesn't seem that much different from when I was a kid.