Schools with Questionable Lunches

[Anonymous]

Which schools have the worst school lunches? Which school has lunches where the kids are utterly disgusted by the food served?

[Anonymous]

Food is prepared by third-party vendors/contractors so they are fairly uniform. The reality is that the requirements for price and ingredients results in limited options for food service providers. Breads all have to be whole grain but also low sugar and low salt. They are generally not tasty. Pasta sauce has to be low sugar and low salt and is pretty bland. Veggies are served steamed/boiled but no seasoning or butter. It’s not prison food by any means, but if you went into a work cafeteria and paid for it you’d be disappointed you spent money on it. Some schools do good salads or some sandwiches like tuna, but not the turkey that looks and tastes like ham and cheese though. I’ve also seen hummus boxes and make your own pita pizza like Lunchables.

I worked at a school where a few kids would literally only eat the fruit some days. Even fruit cups they would drink the juice and dump the fruit. These were kids who would be hungry except for the easy availability of cheap junk food. They take the tray as required but they pull out takis and other convenience store junk foods and eat those instead.

[Anonymous]

despite what the PP said, there does seem to be tremendous variation.

DC first attended breakthrough and we signed her up for hot lunch because when WE were kids, being allowed to get hot lunch was super exciting... after two weeks we found out she wasn't eating anything and the teacher pulled us aside to say that, frankly, the food was inedible.

Later she attended Stoddert, where she loved the hot lunch—until the longtime chef left, and literally a week later half the school got sick after lunch and everyone agreed the food was no good. Still better than the food at Hardy MS, reported older sibling.

[Anonymous]

Any school served by Sodexo Magic, which is most schools, has the worst food.

The quality sucks. I'm all for whole grain, low sugar, etc. That doesn't mean it has to inedible.

The tiny amount the city spends on student food is unconscionable. The kids deserve better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:despite what the PP said, there does seem to be tremendous variation.

DC first attended breakthrough and we signed her up for hot lunch because when WE were kids, being allowed to get hot lunch was super exciting... after two weeks we found out she wasn't eating anything and the teacher pulled us aside to say that, frankly, the food was inedible.

Later she attended Stoddert, where she loved the hot lunch—until the longtime chef left, and literally a week later half the school got sick after lunch and everyone agreed the food was no good. Still better than the food at Hardy MS, reported older sibling.

Three is tremendous variation? How many food providers are there in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:despite what the PP said, there does seem to be tremendous variation.

DC first attended breakthrough and we signed her up for hot lunch because when WE were kids, being allowed to get hot lunch was super exciting... after two weeks we found out she wasn't eating anything and the teacher pulled us aside to say that, frankly, the food was inedible.

Later she attended Stoddert, where she loved the hot lunch—until the longtime chef left, and literally a week later half the school got sick after lunch and everyone agreed the food was no good. Still better than the food at Hardy MS, reported older sibling.

Three is tremendous variation? How many food providers are there in DC?

I think they were all sedexo. The point is there was variation from school to school depending on who was on site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:despite what the PP said, there does seem to be tremendous variation.

DC first attended breakthrough and we signed her up for hot lunch because when WE were kids, being allowed to get hot lunch was super exciting... after two weeks we found out she wasn't eating anything and the teacher pulled us aside to say that, frankly, the food was inedible.

Later she attended Stoddert, where she loved the hot lunch—until the longtime chef left, and literally a week later half the school got sick after lunch and everyone agreed the food was no good. Still better than the food at Hardy MS, reported older sibling.

Three is tremendous variation? How many food providers are there in DC?

Four. https://dcps.dc.gov/food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:despite what the PP said, there does seem to be tremendous variation.

DC first attended breakthrough and we signed her up for hot lunch because when WE were kids, being allowed to get hot lunch was super exciting... after two weeks we found out she wasn't eating anything and the teacher pulled us aside to say that, frankly, the food was inedible.

Later she attended Stoddert, where she loved the hot lunch—until the longtime chef left, and literally a week later half the school got sick after lunch and everyone agreed the food was no good. Still better than the food at Hardy MS, reported older sibling.

Three is tremendous variation? How many food providers are there in DC?

Four. https://dcps.dc.gov/food

If you include the public charter schools and not only DCPS, there are more than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:despite what the PP said, there does seem to be tremendous variation.

DC first attended breakthrough and we signed her up for hot lunch because when WE were kids, being allowed to get hot lunch was super exciting... after two weeks we found out she wasn't eating anything and the teacher pulled us aside to say that, frankly, the food was inedible.

Later she attended Stoddert, where she loved the hot lunch—until the longtime chef left, and literally a week later half the school got sick after lunch and everyone agreed the food was no good. Still better than the food at Hardy MS, reported older sibling.

Three is tremendous variation? How many food providers are there in DC?

I think they were all sedexo. The point is there was variation from school to school depending on who was on site.

Charters have other options. We looked at ITDS last year (did not wind up going but I toured) and they had just hired a new vendor because people were unhappy with the old one, and the food actually looked decent. I can't remember the name, it was in Spanish though.

My kid is at a DCPS with Sodexo and it's terrible, but she has ARFID and would bring her lunch no matter what so oh well.

[Anonymous]

Mundo Verde has great lunches. The 8th street campus built out an amazing large commercial like kitchen and lunches are actually made there. The school is big on healthy eating too so not junk lunches.

I know many families whose kids bought lunches and wanted to change to school lunches once they saw what was being served.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any school served by Sodexo Magic, which is most schools, has the worst food.

The quality sucks. I'm all for whole grain, low sugar, etc. That doesn't mean it has to inedible.

The tiny amount the city spends on student food is unconscionable. The kids deserve better.

Yes, I can confirm they are horrible but also I am unsure if there are tiers to pricing. They also do prison food and it looks better than DCPS’s. ECE is especially notorious for incredibly bad food, as a teacher some days I am giving students snacks I purchased because they do not want the school breakfast sometimes or the lunch.

And it’s funny ‘low’ sugar and ‘whole grains’ doesn’t mean healthy. I don’t expect the kids to get former meals but sometimes they are bland and inedible.

[Anonymous]

Gourmet*

[Anonymous]

How can we see what is being served at our schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can we see what is being served at our schools?

Ask the teacher, they should be able to get you a monthly calendar. But beware, at least at the school I work at sometimes they are incorrect or it takes me a week to get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can we see what is being served at our schools?

Ask the teacher, they should be able to get you a monthly calendar. But beware, at least at the school I work at sometimes they are incorrect or it takes me a week to get it.

And the last lunch at my school often runs out of some of the choices. Lots of extra pizza days since they can