School Lunch - Can We Talk About Improving Nutrition for Kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the school food during the Michelle Obama push, was that it was bland, blanched and nasty.

The only lesson it gave to food was that "healthy" food was disgusting.

Plus the portions were so small and not appropriate for growing kids. Even at the high school grades, the portions were akin to what one would feed a picky 3 year old or a dieting middle aged mom.

That "healthy" lunch program was so poorly executed, it was laughable. I am saying this as a parent who had kids in a total of 7 different school in 4 different states hitting both coasts, the south and the midwest.

I honestly felt like the schools were trying to sabotage Michelle‘s program. There’s a lot of healthy food out there that isn’t bland and disgusting. The district chose to make bad choices in order to get rid of the program.
My children are not super healthy eaters. But they will eat carrots with hummus. Particularly when that is what they were given to eat and not a sugar filled muffin. Of course they’d rather have them muffin.

[Anonymous]

"We are in mcps. The menu makes it sound better than it actually is. One day it said yogurt with blueberries and when I went in at lunchtime it was Trix sugary blueberry “ flavored” yogurt. Our school also provides free breakfast to everyone.... Cinnabuns once a week..... how is that much sugar a good way to start a school day. It’s craziness. "

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the school food during the Michelle Obama push, was that it was bland, blanched and nasty.

The only lesson it gave to food was that "healthy" food was disgusting.

Plus the portions were so small and not appropriate for growing kids. Even at the high school grades, the portions were akin to what one would feed a picky 3 year old or a dieting middle aged mom.

That "healthy" lunch program was so poorly executed, it was laughable. I am saying this as a parent who had kids in a total of 7 different school in 4 different states hitting both coasts, the south and the midwest.

I honestly felt like the schools were trying to sabotage Michelle‘s program. There’s a lot of healthy food out there that isn’t bland and disgusting. The district chose to make bad choices in order to get rid of the program.
My children are not super healthy eaters. But they will eat carrots with hummus. Particularly when that is what they were given to eat and not a sugar filled muffin. Of course they’d rather have them muffin.

You are wrong.

Liberal California had the worst "healthy" school lunches.

Conservative Texas did the best job of all, perhaps because they were not afraid of spices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rice and beans, with cheese and the occasional salad vegetable would be better than the garbage they feed these kids at school.

No kid will eat that every day. I would not eat that every day. Yuck. It sounds gross and boring.

Yeah they will. Call it chipotle. Boom.

No, because the people here won't want a tortilla in it cuz those are unhealthy carbs. And corn? Way too sweet. The sugar, you know! And all those spices... The point being that the people who want improved nutrition also want bland, boring and tasteless. If school lunch could be stewed prunes and rice? They would be on that in a minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rice and beans, with cheese and the occasional salad vegetable would be better than the garbage they feed these kids at school.

No kid will eat that every day. I would not eat that every day. Yuck. It sounds gross and boring.

Yeah they will. Call it chipotle. Boom.

No, because the people here won't want a tortilla in it cuz those are unhealthy carbs. And corn? Way too sweet. The sugar, you know! And all those spices... The point being that the people who want improved nutrition also want bland, boring and tasteless. If school lunch could be stewed prunes and rice? They would be on that in a minute.

Where are you getting this idea from? I eat healthy food but I hate bland dishes. There are multiple people in the thread saying that healthy food like vegetables should NOT be bland and tasteless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my favorite meals is black beans, brown rice, cheese, fresh spinach, and fresh tomatoes. Maybe some green onion if I'm feeling fancy. Nuke until warm and spinach is melted. I go weeks on end eating that for lunch every day.

But I take the point that everyone has different food preferences.

I have a child who would eat that every day as well. Minus the spinach, sub in romaine and he would be Over the moon. This has been my go too meal for years. He considers it a huge treat meal. I add a pinch of taco seasoning to the beans and add in a side of peas.

[Anonymous]

They don’t even make the unhealthy food tasty. I mean, why can’t the cheeseburger, nuggets, pizza, tacos, etc. taste good? I would have no problem with my child eating high quality seasoned beef, with cheese lettuce and tomato on a corn tortilla. But they aren’t even GOOD tacos! And don’t get me started on the Mac and cheese. How hard is it to make good mac and cheese?

And the lunch ladies don’t COOK anything like when we were kids. It’s ALL just freezer/oven/serve. Nothing is “cooked.”

As for veggies, I’ll be honest, my kids aren’t going to eat them voluntarily without me telling them to. They should just have a rotation of the more popular items: baby carrots, sliced cucumber, sliced peppers, cooked peas or green beans. It doesn’t need to be exotic.

[Anonymous]

My 1st grader loves the school lunch. She wanted to buy everyday during K last year. We've walked to the school twice during the lunch break to pick up school lunch and she loves the familiarity of it. It's a good break. It's cafeteria food and she likes it.

[Anonymous]

To improve school meals, you need to:
- put an actual cooking kitchen in the school, not a reheating room;
- a chef/cook in charge of it. Stokes did this well;
- make the school system pay for the meals;
- start young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jamie oliver had a show on tv about 10-15 years ago trying to reform the food in one west Virginia school district as a pilot program. It was wildly unsuccessful. He had done the same thing with more success in Britain. He’s from a very working class background and it was a passion project for him.

I remember that show. I was hopeful. I do think that school lunches add to the obesity problem in the US. Although I also understand the issue of waste. No easy solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To improve school meals, you need to:
- put an actual cooking kitchen in the school, not a reheating room;
- a chef/cook in charge of it. Stokes did this well;
- make the school system pay for the meals;
- start young.

+1

[Anonymous]

Schools have to educate our children. There’s a cafeteria to serve some kind of food, if you choose to go that route. If you “have” to get government-supplied free lunch for your child, you too get what the cafeteria is serving.

The bottom line is, the school is serving food and if that’s what your kid is getting, whether because of your preference or your income, that’s what they’re getting.

If you want to be choosier, send your kid with lunch from home. You had kids; feeding them what you want them to eat is on you. Otherwise, you get what you get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools have to educate our children. There’s a cafeteria to serve some kind of food, if you choose to go that route. If you “have” to get government-supplied free lunch for your child, you too get what the cafeteria is serving.

The bottom line is, the school is serving food and if that’s what your kid is getting, whether because of your preference or your income, that’s what they’re getting.

If you want to be choosier, send your kid with lunch from home. You had kids; feeding them what you want them to eat is on you. Otherwise, you get what you get.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious. We don't buy the school lunch. But families who can't afford that option deserve good food, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools have to educate our children. There’s a cafeteria to serve some kind of food, if you choose to go that route. If you “have” to get government-supplied free lunch for your child, you too get what the cafeteria is serving.

The bottom line is, the school is serving food and if that’s what your kid is getting, whether because of your preference or your income, that’s what they’re getting.

If you want to be choosier, send your kid with lunch from home. You had kids; feeding them what you want them to eat is on you. Otherwise, you get what you get.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious. We don't buy the school lunch. But families who can't afford that option deserve good food, too.

They deserve food. They cannot specify what kind of food. If they want to specify, they must provide it themselves.

I come from a home where both my parents grew up poor and they did what they had to (and did without luxuries) to ensure we ate nutritiously. But they sure as heck didn’t feel they were entitled to dictate what someone else served.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jamie oliver had a show on tv about 10-15 years ago trying to reform the food in one west Virginia school district as a pilot program. It was wildly unsuccessful. He had done the same thing with more success in Britain. He’s from a very working class background and it was a passion project for him.

I remember that show. I was hopeful. I do think that school lunches add to the obesity problem in the US. Although I also understand the issue of waste. No easy solution.

The school lunches are too small of portions and get thrown out too much to have anythijg to do with the obesity problem in this country.

That is a complete falsehood being pushed by people who don't have a clue