What has happened to kids school lunches?

[BrianL]

They aren't a troll......

Yeah, Dodger just has a unique way of looking at things. She's cool.

 

[RangerPooh]

I have also never figured out why schools added breakfast to the lunch menu and what I see is why kids need to eat breakfast at school when they already have breakfast before they go to school at home?

You are aware that there are families living in poverty where for some kids what's served at school is all they might eat.

I've taught at schools where over 75% of the students qualified for free and reduced meals due to income. Breakfast and lunch was served to all students to ensure they ate. A student who has not eaten struggles in class to stay awake, to focus. I saved any leftover breakfast items and kept them for those who I knew would go home to nothing at night, so that they had a snack to hold them over. I also bagged up cereal into snack size portions for an end of the day snack that I distributed to everyone who wanted one.

There were also two years when public schools across the country received free meals for all students regardless of income due to Covid. While we do not qualify for free or reduced meals my kids appreciated it as they usually do not buy lunch but bring it from home. It also helped for those days when they forgot their lunches and I could not get it to them due to work.

Regardless of meals being served, the quality varies by school. Some offer choice others do not. I'd rather a school provide meals for youth than for them to go hungry.

 

[starlite_]

OP has to be the first person ever in history to diss on pizza and boast for having soup.

 

[QueenIsabella]

When we loved to North Carolina, my kids looked at the middle school lunch menu on the wall, while we were touring it. They both said, "Nope" and never bought a school lunch. Ever. They don't even have lunch accounts. It's possible that DS17 spends his own money occasionally at the HS--they have more a la carte choices. But he was on a weird schedule this past year--due to dual enrollment, he was either going in late (after having a big breakfast) or leaving early (and having a big lunch), so I didn't pay much attention. He's clearly not starving.

The local elementary school had cold breakfast, and they also had a station where you could drop off what you didn't want (an apple, say), for someone else to take. I went in one day a week to tutor math--one of my "regulars" would always have like 5 yogurts and a couple muffins and a banana, basically clearing out the leftover station. Lord only knows what that kid had to eat at home--could have been fine and he was just hungry and growing, but he could put away food like nobody's business!

 

[Mysterian]

I don't know what's going on here. But I just want to use this chance to say something:

Back in school, the cafeteria burritos were fantastic. For years I couldn't place what it was until I found some blog with similar sentiments. Turns out, these were deep fried. I remember the shell being crispy, with some blackened spots. So tasty! Something about the way the shell was seasoned too.

The blog also mentioned that these were sold at Dairy Queen for awhile too.

PS- Crinkle cut French fries were a school cafeteria staple. I went to different schools over the years, and the fries were always the same, and always so-so. But you were happy to have fries! They were never cooked to be crispy either, always sort of soggy.

 

[Aladora]

You are aware that there are families living in poverty where for some kids what's served at school is all they might eat.

I've taught at schools where over 75% of the students qualified for free and reduced meals due to income. Breakfast and lunch was served to all students to ensure they ate. A student who has not eaten struggles in class to stay awake, to focus. I saved any leftover breakfast items and kept them for those who I knew would go home to nothing at night, so that they had a snack to hold them over. I also bagged up cereal into snack size portions for an end of the day snack that I distributed to everyone who wanted one.

There were also two years when public schools across the country received free meals for all students regardless of income due to Covid. While we do not qualify for free or reduced meals my kids appreciated it as they usually do not buy lunch but bring it from home. It also helped for those days when they forgot their lunches and I could not get it to them due to work.

Regardless of meals being served, the quality varies by school. Some offer choice others do not. I'd rather a school provide meals for youth than for them to go hungry.

When my son was in grade 1 I was talking to the EA who was assigned to his class. His teacher that year was relatively young and her previous school had been in a well off area of Vancouver so moving to a small not-so-well funded school in Victoria was a bit of a change. The EA let me know that the teacher was shocked that there were some children in her classroom who were not able to bring enough food for the day.

At that point in our lives we were not super well off but I made the decision to help in any way that I could. So, for the next 8 years I would go to Costco every few months and buy boxes of snacks for his classroom. It was not a huge expense, maybe $300 each year but it was something I could do to help. I remember one teacher who put everything into a box labeled "If you want it, take it" and every student was welcome to grab a snack whenever they wanted.


This was the card that his grade 5 class made me, it still makes me smile even 7 years later. Every time I look at it, I find something funny like the fact that Evan wrote "help" incorrectly which I just noticed today!

But this post is not to brag about helping, but to say that from the outside you can never tell what is going on at home. If I had not spoken to the EA that day, I would not have found out that there were kids who were struggling.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

My school lunches in the 80s and 90s were great. Spaghetti and yeast rolls, Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, Shepherds Pie , Beef fingers and Mac and cheese, and much of it cooked from scratch. I always made sure to be super nice to the lunch ladies so that I got a little extra occasionally. My high school also had choices. A Salad bar, a baked potato bar, milkshakes, a hot meal line, and a fast food type of line.

I am amazed at how bad what they are served now and how few calories they get. My son takes a few protein bars with him daily to add calories. If he has an afterschool sports practice, there is no way what he is served is enough for a teenage boy. My son sent me a pic a while back of his plate. 2 oz of chicken strips, 5 baby carrots, a small apple, with water to drink. This is simply not enough food for a teenage boy.

 

[wvjules]

One word describes what happened to school lunches -- Michelle. Mrs. Obama's efforts to make school lunches more healthful have caused children to not eat. School lunches in our district contain no seasoning, no fat, no sugar, and very little meat. The only dressing they get is fat-free ranch. I see kids take one bite of the entree and throw the meal away. I know that obesity is an issue with children, but a little fat or sugar is not going to hurt a child whose only food is what they get at school. Dinner for many of the kids where I volunteer is ramen.

Pretty sure OP was not a little girl when Michelle Obama was First Lady.

 

[KPeterso]

I was never a fan of school lunches. I would look at the menu daily and end up bringing my lunch about 95% of the time. I did buy milk every day though (chocolate every day even though I was supposed to only get chocolate on Fridays --- my mom said she did know and it was ok). The few things I liked were the one type of pizza, chicken nuggets, and very occasionally sloppy joes. Our lunch ladies made the food each day with usually 1-2 parent volunteers each day. I did like Fridays when we could buy ice cream - it was a nice treat.

 

[disneyseniors]

One word describes what happened to school lunches -- Michelle. Mrs. Obama's efforts to make school lunches more healthful have caused children to not eat. School lunches in our district contain no seasoning, no fat, no sugar, and very little meat. The only dressing they get is fat-free ranch. I see kids take one bite of the entree and throw the meal away. I know that obesity is an issue with children, but a little fat or sugar is not going to hurt a child whose only food is what they get at school. Dinner for many of the kids where I volunteer is ramen.

At my granddaughters grade school, some of that was happening. They had a person at the end of the line for checkout that made sure that everyone had a certain amount of veggies and other stuff on their plate, no matter that most of it was thrown away when they could get away with it. You HAD to get salad and eat it. My granddaughter was very upset one day when the "lady" made her go back and get more salad. She said she didn't have enough, and then she checked her plate to make sure. That did not go well with my daughter!!! My granddaughter wasn't picky and would eat plenty with variety, but this forcing salad and veggies only turned her off on them.

When I was in grade school, many years ago, our small town school didn't have lunches, so we packed them. I can still, to this day, remember the smell of warm milk, Yuck!!!

Our grandkids high school is unbelievable in what they serve for lunch. The have a separate line for salads only, a separate line for soups, a separate line for pizza , and separate line for sandwiches or hamburgers, and separate line for what is being offered for the day. They have a McDonalds in the huge cafeteria! They also have their own bank there so they can access it. I have never heard of such a thing. The school is huge. There are a lot of kids who are poverty level and there is a free lunch and breakfast program which continues during summer.

I know this is long, but my high school had school cooks that everyone knew. The food was made from scratch and delicious. Their mac and cheese was great and I always went back for seconds. Everyone loved the school pizza which was probably part of a bun with cheese and sauce on it, but for some reason, it was delicious. We never were offered anything else and we all loved the home cooked food. Things are certainly different now.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

My kids all refuse to eat the school lunches. Even my little ones. They hate them. Kind of annoying for me because I never get a break from making lunches (and I’m a pushover and still make my high schoolers lunch too). When I was in high school we had a little cart in the cafeteria thst sold Taco Bell tacos, one that sold McDonald’s fries, and one that sold smoothies in addition to the regular lines. When other chains were complaining that they couldn’t sell there because there was no more space the school just made them all leave.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I teach at a school that is about 85% free lunch. Our kids need that school breakfast because there really isn't a whole lot of food at home.

The food at our school is okay, but it's not cooked fresh at the school. I work in a large district (about 150 schools). The food is all cooked in huge commercial kitchens in the wee hours of the morning and then brought in warming trays to the school each day where it is heated and served.

 

[brockash]

I have also never figured out why schools added breakfast to the lunch menu and what I see is why kids need to eat breakfast at school when they already have breakfast before they go to school at home? When my mom was a little girl one of her aunts worked in the cafeteria at her school and she always gave my mom a good lunch and she always gave my mom extra dessert with her lunch and Mom loved it. But when I was a kid I ate school lunches occasionally if they had something I actually liked and my school lunches were food like hamburgers and chicken tenders and spaghetti but it wasn't until they added foods like pizza pockets and egg rolls and other foods that I stopped buying school lunches and the cold packs were usually fruit and the occasional brownie but even cold packs were not worthy of eating too. But when my mother would sometimes bring me ramen noodles in my thermos my teacher would share it with me and everyone would envy me if I brought soup in my school lunch

You do realize that there are tons of kids who do not have enough food at home? Many kids do not in fact have breakfast at home, which is why schools offer breakfast.

 

[mjkacmom]

My kids all refuse to eat the school lunches. Even my little ones. They hate them. Kind of annoying for me because I never get a break from making lunches (and I’m a pushover and still make my high schoolers lunch too). When I was in high school we had a little cart in the cafeteria thst sold Taco Bell tacos, one that sold McDonald’s fries, and one that sold smoothies in addition to the regular lines. When other chains were complaining that they couldn’t sell there because there was no more space the school just made them all leave.

I cut my kids off in elementary when one of my youngest mentioned her twin brother threw out his fruit every day, and I was a SAHM to 5. By high school they made breakfast too.

 

[CGB]

I am always complimenting our lunch ladies because I know that their food is the only hot food some of our students get. We hover around the 60% poverty level, so I've seen kids run straight to the cafeteria for breakfast as they arrive in the mornings (and it's a jr/sr high!). Yes, there's not as much fat/fried items, but our small school has been creative. The kids are excited about most choices (although they do complain about fish on Fridays throughout the spring months.) Our nurse even worked with the cafe manager to work on providing more fresh fruit options.

My own kids went to a different, much larger district. The high school cafeteria was mind-blowing with the multiple lines and choices. To encourage them to take their lunch from home in high school, I offered their "lunch money" as an allowance. If they wanted school lunch, they could buy it. If they chose to take their lunch from home, they could keep the money. The frugal habits stuck; they still take their lunch to their jobs today.

 

[leahgoogle]

One word describes what happened to school lunches -- Michelle. Mrs. Obama's efforts to make school lunches more healthful have caused children to not eat. School lunches in our district contain no seasoning, no fat, no sugar, and very little meat. The only dressing they get is fat-free ranch. I see kids take one bite of the entree and throw the meal away. I know that obesity is an issue with children, but a little fat or sugar is not going to hurt a child whose only food is what they get at school. Dinner for many of the kids where I volunteer is ramen.

This is exactly it! Our school went from making some things from scratch to getting pre-packaged, processed, preserved crap as the main meal under Obama's Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act. My kids won't eat lunch at school because it upsets their stomachs. I'm actually happy about that because I can provide a more nutritious lunch for them. The only positive from the program is that its provides fresh fruits and veggies. The rest of it is trash.

 

[wvjules]

This is exactly it! Our school went from making some things from scratch to getting pre-packaged, processed, preserved crap as the main meal under Obama's Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act. My kids won't eat lunch at school because it upsets their stomachs. I'm actually happy about that because I can provide a more nutritious lunch for them. The only positive from the program is that its provides fresh fruits and veggies. The rest of it is trash.

Did the Healthy Hunger-free kids act mandate that schools buy pre-packaged, processed, preserved crap? Or is that just what your district did instead of trying to make healthy meals from scratch?

 

[PollyannaMom]

I mostly bought school lunch (back in the 70s and 80s) and had several favorites, but by the time DS got to school, it was awful! I mostly packed his lunches.

I agree that M.O.'s pet project to make school lunches healthier backfired. I don't know what kind of resources she thought all these schools had, but I highly doubt the new meals were what she imagined. - What I actually saw as a substitute teacher was irrational policies a lot of waste.

 

[Pink Partridge]

One word describes what happened to school lunches -- Michelle. Mrs. Obama's efforts to make school lunches more healthful have caused children to not eat. School lunches in our district contain no seasoning, no fat, no sugar, and very little meat. The only dressing they get is fat-free ranch.

The meager, tasteless meals started well before Mrs. Obama.

In order to save money, schools fired their actual cooking lunch ladies and moved onto vendors. Yes, there are still "lunch ladies", but most of them don't cook. They take food that was prepared at a facility, delivered by truck, and just serve it.

I would love to see schools move back to food made on the premises. But money talks. They would never pay people to be there in the early hours cooking, then serving, then cleaning. That would be 8 hours for sure. Then they would have to pay a living wage and benefits.

 

[georgina]

I always took my lunch to school, except for the 2 years at one school where I walked home for lunch and back. My kids went to school in the 1990's and 2000's and they always took their lunches. I have never known school lunches to be appetizing.

It is sad some people don't know that there is real poverty in this country, both in rural areas and cities.