how are the lunches?

[Anonymous]

just looking for opinions about the food that is served in dcps. i guess it probably varies from school to school, but....in general--do you pack your child's lunch or do they buy it? thanks.

[Anonymous]

The lunches and the breakfasts are AWFUL. I packed DD's lunch every day. Typical lunches are greasy and high in refined starches. One particularly offensive breakfast is pancake and sausage on a stick - also known as corn dog with syrup

[Anonymous]

And for another viewpoint, we found the meals at our DDs school (DCPS) to be very healthful and good. And they were waaay more nutritionally well-rounded than anything that could come from my kitchen.... Plus, my kids loved them and ate them - the school lunches got my picky eaters to try -and like- many new foods.

[Anonymous]

A new lunch service premiered across DCPS last year that was an improvement. A few meals were actually popular with students, and most at least looked and smelled more like food.

That said, I pack a lunch for my own child so I can control the nutritional content according to my standards. After all, the new contractors have made an improvement in the basic... edibility, but they're not aiming for upper-middle class nutritional ideas.

[Anonymous]

Any parent who really cares about thier child eating "nutritional" , "high-quality" meal should pack thier own minimally processes nutritional lunches to include fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, whole grains, nuts, seeds, etc... I have observed awful menus offerd in the schools. I agree with the poster who describes the food as high fat, low quality. high refined foods. As a new parent in the public school system, I am not only shocked that they serve this crap; but even more disenchanted that parents allow thier children lin up like feeding time at the zoo to eat this slop. All for the sack of convenience. On the other extreme are parents who pack the same type of low quality "eats" ( such as the popular Lunchables, chips and snack cakes), I cannot even call this food. Pitiful..... And we wonder why there is an epidemic of child hood obesity, diabetes, asthma, hyper activity and learning disorders.

[Anonymous]

A new lunch service premiered across DCPS last year that was an improvement. A few meals were actually popular with students, and most at least looked and smelled more like food.

Chartwell's food did not look any more healthful to me than previous vendors. I cannot disagree with you more. Pizza, french fries, hotdogs and tater tots seem to be on the menu every week.

There are some healthy food options at the more, ahem, "premier" DC Public Schools, so if your child is attending one of these, there may actually be some good school lunch food served.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A new lunch service premiered across DCPS last year that was an improvement. A few meals were actually popular with students, and most at least looked and smelled more like food.

Chartwell's food did not look any more healthful to me than previous vendors. I cannot disagree with you more. Pizza, french fries, hotdogs and tater tots seem to be on the menu every week.

There are some healthy food options at the more, ahem, "premier" DC Public Schools, so if your child is attending one of these, there may actually be some good school lunch food served.

I'm the PP you're quoting. I didn't suggest at all that the food was healthful, though I did compare it to previous years' meals made in-house by DCPS. Under the old regime, a child once asked me to identify the kind of meat in a greasy, foul-smelling, faded gray patty. I studied it for some time but honestly just couldn't tell if it was intended to be a hamburger, a chicken patty, or something else. So yes, they're still serving "pizza, french fries, hot dogs and tater tots," but I think parents can have a little more confidence that the ingredients are less likely to be spoiled and more likely to be of basic food grade. These are minimal standards, but you also have to consider that DCPS is really in the business of delivering a basic social service to kids with limited options. I know DCPS placed the priority on keeping the price low in selecting a new vendor. They also had to consider that students across the city unfortunately have different eating habits from our more meticulously nourished kids.

Which schools have other alternatives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any parent who really cares about thier child eating "nutritional" , "high-quality" meal should pack thier own minimally processes nutritional lunches to include fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy oils, whole grains, nuts, seeds, etc... I have observed awful menus offerd in the schools. I agree with the poster who describes the food as high fat, low quality. high refined foods. As a new parent in the public school system, I am not only shocked that they serve this crap; but even more disenchanted that parents allow thier children lin up like feeding time at the zoo to eat this slop. All for the sack of convenience. On the other extreme are parents who pack the same type of low quality "eats" ( such as the popular Lunchables, chips and snack cakes), I cannot even call this food. Pitiful..... And we wonder why there is an epidemic of child hood obesity, diabetes, asthma, hyper activity and learning disorders.

Parents are judging other parents based on the lunches now? It's possible that some parents can't afford to pack a lunch everyday.

[Anonymous]

I think we should spend more of our energy trying to change/improve the quality of the food that schools serve rather than to judge other parents... what about the kids in DCPS where this is their healthiest (and perhaps) only two meals a day? Not only do our kids deserve better (because we can afford Whole Foods), but these kids do as well!

[Anonymous]

There are efforts underway. Our school is part of the "Get Fresh" program this year, which involves cooking and serving fresh fruits & veggies, and we will also have a garden plot.

[Anonymous]

What is the "Get Fresh" initiative?

[Anonymous]

The food is pretty bad. "Riblet" sandwich?? I don't even want to know what that is. Anyway, we pack a lunch most days; sometimes I'll let my son have pizza, and once in a while the pasta, which he likes.

[Anonymous]

The food is horrible. My DD would refuse to eat and go hungry before eating that shlop. She came home after wanting to try the pizza and said it was the worst ever. I packed a lunch, after school snack, and 2 bottled waters everyday for the entire school year. The water fountains were filthy and I never saw anyone ever clean them. Furthermore, I would love to know when the last time the water filtration was checked in any DCPS.

[Anonymous]

anyone have experience with chartwell's "fresh" program? apparently it provides fresher food, but it is only available to schools that have adequate kitchen facilities. just wondering how people are finding that program.

[Anonymous]

Chartwells provides the slop to the Title I schools - can't imagine that their "fresh" selections are any better than that.