School Lunch at Private Schools

[Anonymous]

Finally, I think, a band of parents at our school has made enough noise about the poor quality of the lunch that is served to our kids every day, to get the attention of the administration. We have their tepid permission to begin exploring new options for next year.

I would love to hear from parents/ schools who have made strides in this area, as I am so sick of the excuses that "it can't be done" for this reason and that.

Can you give a quick overview of what is served as a "hot lunch" at your school? Are there any types of vegetables and if so, how are they prepared? Is there anything beyond that endless cycle of chicken nuggets, pizza, hotdogs for a main dish? Does anyone have a salad bar, and if so, how popular is it with the kids? Most important, I think, are there any school caterers out there that actually pay attention to the flavor and taste of what the kids are eating, and try to give them healthful foods that really do taste good to them?

I'm at a bit of a loss on where to start with all of this, but don't want to miss this opportunity with our school, as just this little bit was a long time coming!

[Anonymous]

One of our private schools has no lunch. The other is a boarding school so serves 3 meals a day. They offer several choices at each meal and have a salad bar with good fresh options. They also cater to international students so have rice at every meal. Most of the kids seem to have sandwiches or salads for lunch and a hot meal for dinner. Some have cereal (always out). The hot lunches vary but usually include a main meat and vegetable. Sometimes pasta. They seem to have a reasonable amount of whole grain options (pasta, breads, etc.), vegetarian options, and some organic options. I am not sure if the food service is outsourced.

I think I remember that Maret uses Ridgewells or one of the high end caterers?

[Anonymous]

If you want a look at very good menus, go to the sidwell.edu page. Click the word "parents". On the right side are the lower school and middle/upper school menus. No recipes, but it gives an idea of what gets served each day. Lots of veggies and whole grains, not much junk food.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell serves very healthy lunches with minimum of fuss from the students. There has been a backlash about meatless Mondays with high school kids countering with their own grill and burgers.

[Anonymous]

Try to hire food service of Sidwell or NCS--healthy and good food

[Anonymous]

I don't know about ncs, but sidwell's success is due the head of food service, not the supplier.

[Anonymous]

NP, here. Thanks for the tip. The Sidwell menu looks great. I think I'll print it out for some ideas to use at home. Do they use a catering/lunch service that you could recommend--or do they have an in-house chef?

Anonymous wrote:If you want a look at very good menus, go to the sidwell.edu page. Click the word "parents". On the right side are the lower school and middle/upper school menus. No recipes, but it gives an idea of what gets served each day. Lots of veggies and whole grains, not much junk food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP, here. Thanks for the tip. The Sidwell menu looks great. I think I'll print it out for some ideas to use at home. Do they use a catering/lunch service that you could recommend--or do they have an in-house chef?

Anonymous wrote:If you want a look at very good menus, go to the sidwell.edu page. Click the word "parents". On the right side are the lower school and middle/upper school menus. No recipes, but it gives an idea of what gets served each day. Lots of veggies and whole grains, not much junk food.

It's cooked in house.

[Anonymous]

I think the company is called Meriweather-Godsey.

[Anonymous]

The key is rebecca cunningham - executive chef. She is amazing.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thanks all, this is very helpful information. I checked out both the Sidwell menu (lower school) and the Meriweather Godsey web sites and all I can say is... wow. I cannot believe any other school in the area goes this far to provide healthy AND tasty, interesting meals for kids. This is a far cry from what is currently served at our school.

I would love more details on this if anyone is in the know and can share. One poster mentioned a top notch school food service director; I'm certain that plays a key role. (I'm not even sure we have a food service director; just goes to show that it's all a question of priorities, and dollars of course.) Someone else said that the lunches are prepared in-house; is that true, even with a caterer? If so, they would have to have a kitchen facility that exceeds what most schools in the area -- public or private -- have on site.

Of course I wonder about the cost factor of this. Can anyone share what Sidwell students pay for their lunch, or is it included in tuition as it is at some places?

Of all the schools I'm familiar with and am starting to look at in this review process, this is by far the best that I've come across. Emulating this may be out of our ability at the present time, but something to work towards; it's nice to know that it can be done. I'd appreciate any other stories/ recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell's lunch is included in the tuition. As for meatless Mondays, there is now a meat club at the US and they do grill on those days. Some kids eat the school lunch, some eat the grilled food and some kids go off campus for lunch.

[Anonymous]

Wow, hard to believe that some kids can't handle on meatless lunch a week.

[Anonymous]

Meatless monday's is somewhat political reaction to the political correctness of meatless mondays.

[Anonymous]

It's a pretty mainstream public health initiative.