Lunches at public schools

[Anonymous]

FCPS cafeterias don't have the equipment or staff to actually make the food--all they can do is warm up and keep warm. So given that, the food they are serving is probably the healthiest they can given price constraints.

[Anonymous]

I wish the school lunches (and breakfast, where they serve breakfast) were better. Unfortunately, they aren't.

We let the kids choose to buy some days and send lunch the rest. Not a big deal, IMO.

The majority of people can't afford private school. That's not even an option.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't really matter for us what the school lunches are. Lunchtime at FCPS is too short for children to stand in line, get lunch, eat, and socialize so even if they were healthier and tastier, DC probably wouldn't buy more often. We do lunch from home 3 times a week and it works out well. Some privates don't even have school lunch, so I consider myself lucky to have some sort of food offering if we don't have time to make lunch for school.

[Anonymous]

Three reasons the lunches in most public schools are bad:

1) free and reduced lunches mean limited money to make higher quality meal choices.

2) food is usually prepared off site in mass kitchens, then rewarmed at the school.

3) there's not enough time to stand in line and eat it anyway because lunch periods are short and lines are long.

It is what it is. I wish the choices were better, but what can you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sooooo tired of packing food every morning. I have one Kindergartener and 1 Middle schooler. They are in FCPS. I am really happy with the school system, but lunch options are awful here. Have you been at your child's cafeteria? Have you tasted anything there?
My best friend lives in Boston, and her children attend a public school there. They have really nice lunches!
Look at Newtown Public Schools lunch menu, for example: http://newtown.schooldesk.net/Departments/SchoolNutrition/SchoolLunchMenus/tabid/7006/Default.aspx. Au Bon Pain soups every day?

There is no such place as Newtown Mass. - there is a Newton, Mass, which is one of the wealthiest and best school systems in the country (better-rated than MCPS and FCPS). It is far smaller than the county-based system here and therefore has more flexibility (and money too), I imagine, to be able to e.g. create acceptable school lunch options.

Yet another reason town-based school systems are superior to county-based ones.