My child needs a special diet so yes we pack lunch. It's a huge pain but MCPS is so big it's hard to move the bureaucracy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no way a school cafeteria could provide celiac safe options. It's too much to expect.

nobody said celiac. Even just being able to have something like a hamburger without a bun. There is literally NOTHING on the menu that can even be customized for somebody with a gluten sensitivity that isn't to the level of celiac. The only thing they have is multigrain cereal.

The online menu says they do have burgers. There’s also a lot of sides that look gluten free that you could stitch together to make a lunch.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/food-and-nutrition/menus/sy24-25/augsept/5100.25ggk_ms_menu_august_sept.pdf
Maybe not everything available at all schools?

Anonymous wrote:There is no way a school cafeteria could provide celiac safe options. It's too much to expect.

nobody said celiac. Even just being able to have something like a hamburger without a bun. There is literally NOTHING on the menu that can even be customized for somebody with a gluten sensitivity that isn't to the level of celiac. The only thing they have is multigrain cereal.

There is no way a school cafeteria could provide celiac safe options. It's too much to expect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a form to fill out to request special meals when needed

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/240-23.pdf

That is if you can predict when you need a meal. We often can’t. If my child forgets lunch or we have something at home going on (e.g., renovations or fridge failure or whatnot), my child can’t go to school and have anything

So if you can't predict (renovations or applicance breakdowns are not that common, though), then you need to count on packing. And if DC forgets too often, send some sealed GF snacks to keep in a metal canister in the locker. If DC's dietary needs are that specific that they can't do chips, salad, fruit, etc., then you will have to figure out a way to self-supply.

I wouldn't trust the school to have a GF option in stock the days my kid might need it, anyhow. Sometimes there are nacho chips, but not always available the whole lunch. What if it runs out? My kid always always brought lunch, which he threw together himself.

Call the school though - see what the staff at your school can offer when you need a lunch.

Anonymous wrote:There is a form to fill out to request special meals when needed

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/240-23.pdf

That is if you can predict when you need a meal. We often can’t. If my child forgets lunch or we have something at home going on (e.g., renovations or fridge failure or whatnot), my child can’t go to school and have anything

The food is really abysmal and I wouldn’t trust it at all anyway. Unless you need the free meals for financial reasons I would definitely just bring lunch. Your middle schooler is old enough to pick, prepare and pack their lunch with a little supervision from you. If the finances aren’t an issue, this is a way better option.

Also different point but I have a friend that runs a private school for low income families and they ended up decided to opt out of the federal food aid, although they desperately needed the money, because it was nearly impossible to come up with menus that the teens would eat that also met the federal requirements which are incredibly nit picky. They decided that given the food insecurity in their students homes and the need for them to be able to focus on their studies at school, they were better off getting food the kids would actually eat. They keep adding new requirements to the school lunch program and it’s incredibly difficult to comply with them.

Request it. They will make it. They just have to know.

Pack your lunch

Anonymous wrote:Pack a lunch.

Thanks Karla

Pack a lunch.

There is a form to fill out to request special meals when needed

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/240-23.pdf

Contact their food office. Advocate with your PTA, board members, MCCPTA.

Why does the MCPS menu basically have nothing gluten free? They don’t even have hamburgers so you can take off the bun. Everything is wheat!