School food in elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids happily eat it.

That being said, there are a lot of kids at our MCPS school who have picked up some attitudes about it, since it's not seaweed chips from Whole Foods or low carb or whatever.

But I think it's fine and healthy enough, I have told my own children never to say anything snobby about it since some kids at their school have no choice.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, who has actually seen the lunches that MCPS provide would EVER describe it as “healthy enough”. My kids hate it, though it seems the middle school options may be slightly more palatable (or maybe more choice?) than elementary.

PP you are replying to. No, the "cheesy pull aparts" are not health food, but compare the nutrition info to a typical PB&J sandwich and it's not that bad. I deem it healthy enough for my kids. If your "healthy" lunch is a bento box with cut up fruits and veggies, then no, it doesn't compare. If your packed lunch is a sandwich, chips, granola bar, applesauce pouch and a juice box, I think the MCPS lunch comes out ahead.

No way!

This is our lunch. I’m not a bento box type. And this is always what my kids take. Maybe grapes or a clementine, etc. It’s still way better than what MCPS offers - taste-wise and the fact that there are fewer preservatives and additives.

If your kid eats a PB&J sandwich, Honest Kids Juice box, and Nature Valley granola bar, it's about 37g sugar
If your kid eats the MCPS pizza (elementary school size) and a chocolate milk, it's 37 g sugar.
Your kid may have preferences and like one over the other, or you may somehow be able to compare the amount of additives in pre-packaged processed foods from the grocery store versus prepackaged and heated food from MCPS, but I don't think either one comes out way ahead of the other.

The first meal comes out ahead all day, every day. It’s not just about comparing grams of sugar. There is more to it than that, from a nutrition point of view.

The MCPS meal is highly processed garbage, with crap cheese on the pizza.

How does it come out ahead, nutritionally? What is the advantage?

I’m not the PP but if I make PBJ it’s on WG bread with low sugar PB and lower sugar all fruit jelly. Juice box is 100% vitamin C…. Yes it’s sugar buts it’s also healthy protein, healthy fats, fiber, and vitamin C. Much better than an overly processed pizza and chocolate milk.

It maybe has less sugar if you use lower sugar options. But the MCPS pizza crust is whole grain and so is your bread. Lowfat chocolate milk and the cheese on the pizza (yes, their pizza has real cheese, just not very much) are a good source of protein like peanut butter. Both the tomato sauce and the juice box are a source of vitamin C.
The thing I don't get is the snobbery about MCPS food being "processed". Your grocery store bread has a ton of additives to keep it from getting moldy within 3 days like homemade bread would. And peanut butter, jelly, and the juice box are incredibly processed - shelf stable at room temp!

[Anonymous]

If you want your kids eating garbage go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids all think it’s disgusting — and they are t that snobby, they will all happily eat McDonald’s. The lines are also really slow so often they don’t get their food until lunch is almost over. We pack lunch.

I have a friend who works in school admin and he is a liberal but was really unhappy with the Obama changes to the school lunch program — there are so many restrictions it’s incredibly difficult to find things kids will eat. At every school, the majority of it ends up in the trash. And he has kids that come from very low income families so he knows they need that food—but they still won’t eat it. Personally, I think vegetables are great—but feeding kids industrially processed and reheated vegetables is a great way to make kids hate veggies. I feel like that’s what happened to our parents that grew up eating canned peas and boiled cabbage.

Eh, if anything the changes didn't go far enough, and should have come with funding for districts to buy higher quality items. There are very few vegetables, lunches are still mostly processed crap.

That said, DS still wants to buy lunch probably half the time. I have no idea why because it all looks gross to me. But I guess waffles and french toast will always be appealing to kids.

[Anonymous]

I'll add a different perspective. My sensory DC was a scarily picky eater in the younger years. But DC also _loved_ school (still does). Having them buy lunch opened up whole new horizons because friends encouraged them to try things that the friends liked. Seriously, DC learned to eat so many basic things (like burgers) and not to fear sauces just from eating at school. More importantly, they also learned that trying something and not liking it wasn't the end of the world.

Not everyone will have those needs or need those experiences. But it had very real benefits for us. At least now DC, who still buys lunch, intentionally has apple slices and plain milk as a side every day. The current project, to hear DC tell it, is to try to get used to celery sticks...

And yes, we cook healthy homemade food for dinner!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids happily eat it.

That being said, there are a lot of kids at our MCPS school who have picked up some attitudes about it, since it's not seaweed chips from Whole Foods or low carb or whatever.

But I think it's fine and healthy enough, I have told my own children never to say anything snobby about it since some kids at their school have no choice.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, who has actually seen the lunches that MCPS provide would EVER describe it as “healthy enough”. My kids hate it, though it seems the middle school options may be slightly more palatable (or maybe more choice?) than elementary.

PP you are replying to. No, the "cheesy pull aparts" are not health food, but compare the nutrition info to a typical PB&J sandwich and it's not that bad. I deem it healthy enough for my kids. If your "healthy" lunch is a bento box with cut up fruits and veggies, then no, it doesn't compare. If your packed lunch is a sandwich, chips, granola bar, applesauce pouch and a juice box, I think the MCPS lunch comes out ahead.

No way!

This is our lunch. I’m not a bento box type. And this is always what my kids take. Maybe grapes or a clementine, etc. It’s still way better than what MCPS offers - taste-wise and the fact that there are fewer preservatives and additives.

If your kid eats a PB&J sandwich, Honest Kids Juice box, and Nature Valley granola bar, it's about 37g sugar
If your kid eats the MCPS pizza (elementary school size) and a chocolate milk, it's 37 g sugar.
Your kid may have preferences and like one over the other, or you may somehow be able to compare the amount of additives in pre-packaged processed foods from the grocery store versus prepackaged and heated food from MCPS, but I don't think either one comes out way ahead of the other.

The first meal comes out ahead all day, every day. It’s not just about comparing grams of sugar. There is more to it than that, from a nutrition point of view.

The MCPS meal is highly processed garbage, with crap cheese on the pizza.

How does it come out ahead, nutritionally? What is the advantage?

I’m not the PP but if I make PBJ it’s on WG bread with low sugar PB and lower sugar all fruit jelly. Juice box is 100% vitamin C…. Yes it’s sugar buts it’s also healthy protein, healthy fats, fiber, and vitamin C. Much better than an overly processed pizza and chocolate milk.

It maybe has less sugar if you use lower sugar options. But the MCPS pizza crust is whole grain and so is your bread. Lowfat chocolate milk and the cheese on the pizza (yes, their pizza has real cheese, just not very much) are a good source of protein like peanut butter. Both the tomato sauce and the juice box are a source of vitamin C.
The thing I don't get is the snobbery about MCPS food being "processed". Your grocery store bread has a ton of additives to keep it from getting moldy within 3 days like homemade bread would. And peanut butter, jelly, and the juice box are incredibly processed - shelf stable at room temp!

fat from animal products are incredibly unhealthy, like the chocolate milk and cheese in the mcps lunch. Fat from nuts are considered healthy fats. I’m not a food snob, my kid eats pizza and has Doritos now and again. I just think mcps can do better, having seen the lunches in person, they are also misleading if you read the menu alone and don’t see the actual food.