About 6 months or so, I somehow got linked to a blog about school lunch. Check it out here. Mrs. Q is a teacher who decided to eat school lunch every day for a year and blog about it to raise awareness about school lunch (and breakfasts- those are scarier).
It has been really interesting and eye-opening. As a parent Kindergartner, I never thought about school lunch. This blog has been eye opening for me about how unhealthy (and unappetizing) school lunch can be and it has made me think about the lessons about food it is teaching our kids.
Those who know me (and like to mock me) know that I like to feed my kids healthy food. Yep- I'm the mom who brought steamed broccoli for my 18mo. old to a pizza birthday party (she didn't know the difference!). Because I like to cook and we're kind of foodies, my kids are exposed to lots of different kinds of food and they aren't picky eaters (thank goodness!).
However, I know that there are a lot of families who aren't like us and perhaps school lunch is the only time kids see a meal that includes all food groups. It is especially interesting when you consider that the kids who get subsidized lunch and who eat more often are more likely to fall in that group. We have a shot at teaching kids that healthy food can be good and a lot of times we miss the mark.
Through Mrs. Q and her blog I've learned that lots of schools are outsourcing lunch prep to companies who provide "heat and eat" options. In many districts the days of lunch ladies baking those yummy peanut butter bars with the chocolate frosting are long gone. And who can blame the cash-strapped school districts? It is hard to come up with food that meats federal requirements at 2.50 or less a pop. By outsourcing, they don't have to pay a specialized group of employees to make food from scratch and they still provide a lunch.
The problem is that many times the outsourced food is pretty much like eating cheap TV dinners- not appetizing and who knows what kind of nutritional value. Plus it makes me stressed when I think about the amount of waste all those little individual packages generates! What happened to plastic reusable trays?
If you have kids in school (or not, like me) it is worth checking out this blog. My only beef with it is that it has skewed to preachy a bit in the last couple of months. Sometimes I feel in reading some of the comments and guest posts that anything less than fresh organic fruits and veggies and home made gluten-free organic bread made by angels is child abuse or something. But it still will make you think about the food school kids eat.
Plus if you are a real school lunch nerd like me you'll want to check out this blog too. It is all about school lunch in other countries. Interesting to see what other kids eat (and how they eat it too, some countries have "family style" serving at a table with a teacher supervising)
So readers with kids (or who have been school kids)- do me a favor and ask your kids what school lunch is like at their school because they think I'm wierd when I ask them detailed questions about it! (Sam at least thought I was this AM when I drove him to school!).
No really ask them and comment here- Do they remember what they ate? Did it include the fruit/veggies? Do they have options like a sandwich or "salad bar" line? How much time do they have to eat (Mrs. Q's kids only get 20 min. and they often run out of time after waiting in line for their food). Is the food served on disposable trays/plates/containers or old school plastic trays? What is your opinion/thoughts on school lunch?
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3 comments:
I am lucky enough to be able to have lunch with Donny and Bree at school at least once a week. They have the same trays we had when we were kids. There is a fruit and veggie bar every day. There are fresh apples and bananas, but I am pretty sure they are not organic. I am okay with that. I am not sure if I am a supporter of organic produce(I have not studied enough about it). Their school lunch seems to be pretty healthy, but there are definately days I would NOT eat what they were having. This comment is getting to be too long so I'll stop here.
The school I worked at last year used the same reusable trays I grew up with, but often they had disposable cups they would dish food into in addition to using the trays. They had fruits and veggies everyday as well as a chef salad option. This school had some healthy options for lunch everyday, but kids would frequently not get them or threw them away untouched.
I see school lunch every day and all the components are on the tray...the kids usually don't eat them! Desert first. Our school is unusual...they make their own bread, hamburger buns etc.and sweet rolls...yummy.
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