What has happened to kids school lunches?

[tvguy]

Interesting because lent does not mean Catholics must eat fish. Only that they should not eat meat. We eat lots of Mac and cheese, pizza, eggs, veggies….you get the idea.

And since 1965 after Vatican II, the restriction on eating meat on Friday's went away, but many Catholics still follow the guideline. My DIL was born 20 years after Vatican II and for a time she was observing meatless Fridays.

 

[tvguy]

I am always really interested in reading / seeing information about school lunches and your cafeteria. So different from here in Australia - we have school “canteens” but we do not provide free food. Children can order their lunches early in the morning that the canteen helpers then prepare and have ready when the lunch bell rings. Most times there is one paid staff that does all actual Food ordering etc but usually there is a student family member (or a number depending on how big the school is) comes in and mans the canteen for the day.

At our primary school (kinder to year 6) our canteen was usually one or two parents arriving at 9am (school starts at 8.50am) - the lunch orders are collected in each class and brought down for us to start preparing. These are bundled back into the crates at 11am for lunch. Our kids all sit outside in the fresh air under a shelter - they have to remain seated for the first 15mins then are free to play etc. canteen is then open for purchases of crisps, popcorn, ice blocks etc. When the lunch bell finishes the break at 12pm we close up and clean for the day as well as prepare the cash for banking. As our primary school was tiny (180 kids) teachers knew if someone was without food. We always cooked extra in case someone forgot their lunch order / was going without. I always threw in extra money at the end of the day to cover any of my kids’ purchases plus an amount for those less fortunate. Speaking to other canteen helpers they all tended to do the same as we knew all the families very well.

For our high school (years 7-10) the canteen remains open for afternoon recess which is 30mins at 1.30. Our daughter’s senior school (years 11-12) they have the same as well as a student operated cafe that opens from 7am as part of food technology courses.

It’s all so very different from what I read here and see online to the US.

That likely would not work here as many schools no longer have cooking capability at individual schools. The food is prepared at a central kitchen and trucked to the schools hot and ready to serve.

 

[HopperFan]

Lunches in the 60s & 70s when I was in school were awful. Especially awful when the truck rolled in with government surplus food. Peanut butter cookies, PB cake, PB pie, PB balls ... Fruit until it was too soft to safely feed us. Cheese sandwich, cheese cubes, mac & cheese, ham & cheese .... For the majority of schools I don't imagine it has gotten much better.

DS#1 went to a "center" school which was in a district with a high number of students who qualified for free breakfast and lunch. He paid. He ate both meals there (bus picked him up at 6:30 am) and I would visit as often as I could as the food was excellent. Dietician made the lunch money provide excellent meals, ALL FROM SCRATCH. Some could have been from a restaurant.

My other kids were in schools that did not have dieticians or cafeterias interested in creating tasteful and healthy meals. They met the minimum requirements. By high school DD decided to pack her lunch. DS made friends with a cafeteria lady so she always gave him extra of the better food.

All of our schools have large commercial kitchens, but breakfast is not provided at all schools, just those in areas with a need. Our district has larger schools with a total students close to 100,000.

Our district continued to provide food to families all through COVID closure delivered by our school buses to bus stops.

Our district provides FREE SUMMER breakfast and lunch at some schools/community sites to ALL children 1-18, up to 21 if in special ed department. Both are provided to schools for Summer School students. This is June 5 - July 7, so that only leaves one month gap before school starts.

Well, the free lunches are a profit center for the Sacramento City Unified School district. Like $1 million a year in profit in a district with 40,000 students. Somehow they have found a way to produce the lunches that meet the requirements for less than the federal reimbursement.
It is such a profitable operation that they offer free lunch during the summer. That program started this past Monday.
And when I was working we used to get pleas from them to do stories on the free lunches because only about half the kids were signing up for them.
It's not going away since they make money on it. And for the past year, breakfast and lunch are now free for every student in California, with no need to sign up or show proof of income. I believe Maine also offers every student a free school lunch.
https://edsource.org/2021/free-school-meals-here-to-stay-in-california/658564
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/cauniversalmeals.asp

Breakfast and Lunch should just be included in the budget, no matter the district. Successful students are ones who are not hungry. And in some districts it might be their only meals.

Schools are saving volumes (pun) of money since most no longer use textbooks, or at least have a single set in the classroom while the kids access them online. Yes they all have netbooks that they buy at likely less than a single textbook would cost and they get turned back in. Digital learning cuts cost of hard products in the classroom, like there is no longer a room full of copiers running full time. No toner, no paper ...

 

[kymom99]

And since 1965 after Vatican II, the restriction on eating meat on Friday's went away, but many Catholics still follow the guideline. My DIL was born 20 years after Vatican II and for a time she was observing meatless Fridays.

You are still supposed to abstain from meat on Fridays during lent. It used to be every Friday of the year, but that was changed.

 

[tvguy]

Schools are saving volumes (pun) of money since most no longer use textbooks, or at least have a single set in the classroom while the kids access them online. Yes they all have netbooks that they buy at likely less than a single textbook would cost and they get turned back in. Digital learned is cut cost of hard products in the classroom, like there is no longer a room full of copiers running full time. No toner, no paper ...

Not sure how much if anything they are saving online books since the school pays a license fee for each student using that book. That fee may be half what the text book costs, but there is still a fee.

 

[kymom99]

Not sure how much if anything they are saving online books since the school pays a license fee for each student using that book. That fee may be half what the text book costs, but there is still a fee.

Very true. And computer program licenses are very expensive. Believe me, teachers still make a lot of copies.

 

[barkley]

Interesting because lent does not mean Catholics must eat fish. Only that they should not eat meat. We eat lots of Mac and cheese, pizza, eggs, veggies….you get the idea.

oh i get it and allot of the practicing catholic kids that attended with me did as well-and many of them hated fish (esp. the nasty fish sticks which is what was served). the district apparantly just defaulted to fish b/c they knew what equated to a 'complete lunch' with it vs. taking the time to figure out on a meatless basis.

 

[hrhdhd]

Not sure how much if anything they are saving online books since the school pays a license fee for each student using that book. That fee may be half what the text book costs, but there is still a fee.

There are enough OER (Open Educational Resources [read: free]) that no one should be buying books, especially in K-12. I use OER in my community college classes.

 

[notatallmagic]

Some kids do not have food at home, so the only meals they are eating are at school. This is why many poor/rural areas (in the US) offer free breakfast. It's also why there are programs for getting meals to kids at home during school breaks (and some places even send home food for the weekend)-- because otherwise the kids may not eat.

Our District has had free lunches for grades K-12 ever since i can remember (my kids are now 17 and 20). The District is 70% below poverty level; and also has free meal handouts all summer with traffic in lines around the block. The quality of the food (even though it's free) isn't what I'd like my kids to eat - lots of processed foods and tons of sugar. The breakfasts are the worst - my kid could never sit still through a school day after eating that crap. I know that the District does what it can, but tons of fresh fruit and vegies end up in the garbage every day. Not sure what the solution is.

 

[HopperFan]

Not sure how much if anything they are saving online books since the school pays a license fee for each student using that book. That fee may be half what the text book costs, but there is still a fee.

I did not state it would be free, but that it would cut costs. Most reports are the fees are 30-80% the cost of a paper book. That is a substantial amount. There is also plenty of digital content that free online. So much. The districts also can provides access to multiple content sites.

Our districts textbook costs (hard/digital) have gone down substantially since 2019. I imagine COVID impacted the fast forward to all digital. From 2022 to 2023 costs dropped 64%. A savings of almost $4,000,000. That money could be put to much better use.

DS teaches US History and Economics. While there is textbook material online it is more important that he follow the standards and curriculum. He only uses the info in textbook as supplemental material. In Economics this year he actually has classroom sets of several small economics "books" that he ordered and got for free from Federal Reserve. One day a truck rolled up with cases of material for his classroom. FREE.

This is just one way for schools to cut expenses so they can be utilized in other ways. Every school district or even schools should have access to grant writers so they can apply for all kinds of items.

 

[ttintagel]

What are these "cold packs" and "hot packs" people are referring to?

I went to a bunch of different schools with very different lunch programs, which was also the case in the schools I've worked with. The only consistent experience I had with school lunch was my high school, and that was great. It was a small, rural school in a majority-Catholic town, so lunch on Friday was either battered fish or grilled cheese and tomato soup. If you ordered the reheated leftovers on Monday, you got double portions. That was very welcome for a hungry teenager!

 

[leebee]

It's not going away since they make money on it. And for the past year, breakfast and lunch are now free for every student in California, with no need to sign up or show proof of income. I believe Maine also offers every student a free school lunch.
https://edsource.org/2021/free-school-meals-here-to-stay-in-california/658564
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/cauniversalmeals.asp

Why yes, we do provide free lunch here in Maine- and breakfast, too. I am happy to have my tax dollars spent this way instead of buying another war machine of some sort.

 

[dcassetta]

Our district provides FREE SUMMER breakfast and lunch at some schools/community sites to ALL children 1-18, up to 21 if in special ed department. Both are provided to schools for Summer School students. This is June 5 - July 7, so that only leaves one month gap before school starts.

The USDA funds meals for children through each state. I am surprised that they are only available for a month in your district. The funding is supposed to cover from the last day of school until the first day of school.

 

[ttintagel]

I worked with several schools that had a larger than average percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches, that transitioned to a "free lunch for everybody" model. They saved enough in administrative costs that they were spending the same or even a little less after the transition.

 

[mousefan73]

OP are you a troll? Odd comments... IMO... 1. poor school lunch so mom gets Burger King?? 2. Why now breakfast?? 3. Portion sizes too smalll ( we all know kids eat too much) 4. fruit / brownie cold packs are odd?

@DodgerGirl my apologizes for calling you a Troll, I guess we all have different lunch room experiences. Me personally I would have loved fruit/brownie lunch packs... I believe in HS I ate a Little Debbie Nutty Bar for lunch everyday and fries.. NO wonder I am fat today...

I think it's sad when parents ( based on some commment on Michelle Obama) are criticial when kids are introduced to healthier eating habits.. Maybe we should force our kids to eat more salads/veggies iso crap at lunch. Mac and Cheese Homemade or box is CRAP from nutrional view. and we wonder why childhood obesity is an epidemic.. I wish back then somebody would have forced me to eat salad iso a Nutty Bar

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I remember school lunches from "back in the day elementary school", and that stuff was terrible. The terrible smells of sloppy joe day or spaghetti day still are burned into my nose. I remember my parents thought I was going to starve to death because I just would not eat. I started bringing my lunch because that was the only way I would eat during the day.

Which this brings me to my next thought. I still cannot figure out why I was not allowed to sit with the other kids at lunch because I brought my lunch back in elementary school. I had to sit at a table by myself, several tables away. I was kind of a trend setter because eventually others started bringing their lunches too. We were still required to sit a separate table away from our classmates who were eating what the cafeteria was serving. I think back to those days and I am still baffled by some of the things our teachers said and did.

 

[DeeBee3]

how much is the lunch price for this type of school program?

$3 each lunch. They include the main meal, a fruit, vegetable, and milk. Like whole pieces of fruit, yogurts, baby carrots, cucumbers, etc)
Water bottles and extra milk is for sale also. (separate charge)

 

[DeeBee3]

All your school funding/lunch funding is set federally and through your state so we will have different experiences. One of our primary schools is a "Title I" school so they have free breakfast each day and offer free lunch only to those who qualify. There are definitely a lot of kids who use the breakfast service and that is ok. It's the best use of tax money I can think of compared to some of the random stuff we pay for.

The quality also depends on the vendor who provides the food. Aramark or some other big name. It all seems gross to me (as an adult) but I know plenty of kids who eat it!

I remember those days of sloppy joes or the hot dog, etc. Real nutritious!

 

[BrianL]

The situation with the free lunch program in most majority Title 1 districts is that it actually is more cost-effective to just give the program to every child instead of investing in staff time to do all the paperwork for individual sign-ups.

I went to an impoverished public school in the 1970's; we did have fresh lunches, and as it was South Louisiana, the food was quite tasty, but I'm sure that very little of it would pass today's Federal "healthy lunch" standards. It was cheap, filling food; the same stuff that Cajuns had been surviving on since they fled Canada. You always knew it was Monday when the school smelled of red beans & rice.

The lunch ladies tended to get locally creative with the ingredients they could get on a tight budget; our Friday staple was fish, all right, but most commonly a dish that very few people outside rural South Louisiana have ever encountered: Gar Sauce Piquant over rice. (Most fishermen will tell you that Gar is inedible; I'm living proof that it can be eaten, but even stewed in house-made tomato sauce it's not what I'd call tasty.)

I just looked, and this is a sample lunch menu from my old high school for a day last April; it's still made in-house, and the only thing that seems to have changed is that they have substituted salad for a larger amount of the main course. When I was there the measure was more like a 1/2 cup of beans/ham and a cup of rice, but we never got any kind of green salad.

Red Beans & Ham-2 oz.
Steamed Rice-1/2 cup
Romaine Salad w/ Ranch- 1 1/8 cup
Carrots Sticks 1/2 cup
Diced Pears- 1/2 cup
Cornbread Square-2 oz.
Milk Choice-8 oz.

Man, sound's like your school could've subsidized the meals by operating as a Cajun restaurant on the weekends!

 

[ttintagel]

$3 each lunch. They include the main meal, a fruit, vegetable, and milk. Like whole pieces of fruit, yogurts, baby carrots, cucumbers, etc)
Water bottles and extra milk is for sale also. (separate charge)

Wow, costs have sure gone up! When I started elementary school, school lunch was 45 cents and when I graduated from high school it was one dollar.