Kids School Lunch Heart-wrenching

My daughter asked me last night how much I’ve paid in her school lunch account so far this year.
I told her it was close to $500. She thanked me and said she really appreciated it. It was kinda weird so I asked her about it.

She said that so many of her classmates have to pay for their own school lunches. She said one of her friend put money into his own account and he had told her he has spent over $400 this year. He works three part time jobs. Two of the jobs he works under the table because he is actually too young to be legally doing it. My heart sank. I knew about his jobs but didn’t know this was one of the reasons why. She started naming off some students that also pay their own.

I know some of them and their parents all fall into a very unique demographic… People that are working, blue collar, lower middle class but not low enough to be considered for any government benefits. These are truly the people suffering.
They get absolutely no help but their pay is probably consumed by housing/fuel/food/utilities.

I’m usually very fiscally conservative but in this one case……I wish school “free” lunches would have remained…
There is a very cold part of me that thinks parents need to provide the two most basic things for their children, food and shelter. And tough caca if they can’t….but..
The other side of me knows sometimes life punches you in the throat. I know some of these people and have seen how hard they work.
They aren’t the slackers we often hear about. These are people that work nonstop and somehow are still coming up short…unfortunately their kids have to make up the slack… Lots of tragedy too, one or both parents dead, divorces, illnesses lots of sad stories.

I also know there are a lot of families that believe teens are old enough to take on responsibility, how much… well that is up for debate isn’t it?

I know it was bad when I was in school, several years ago. Pretty sure my parents paid over 600 a year per kid (4 kids total), just for lunch. Not sure how much breakfast would have added to that.

All of the major athletic programs, football, volleyball, baseball, wrestling, track, basketball, all got new uniforms and equipment every year almost, while we had kids that didn't get food during the day because their families weren't able to afford it. If they moved that to every other year at least, if not every couple years, I'm sure they could afford to feed all of the kids in the school at least one meal a day.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Good points. And never mind the 'food' itself often served in US schools. From what I heard many eat just cookies for lunch or some mac n cheese , burger , pizza , nothing nutritious. Now , if you compare the US school lunches to maybe the French or Japanese lunches you drop dead.

Many additives in our 'food' banned in other countries are perfectly legal here (FDA, 'vaccines' etc )

I went to an all day school, meaning we had over an hour break in the afternoon.
A few kids paid for lunch, I had sandwiches and an apple.
My friend too.
Actually most kids had packed lunch.
The crap they served in the canteen tasted horrible.

Also, I made my own packed lunch. I wouldn't have worked to oay for canteen food, if I can get a whole loaf for pennies back then.
Why is that not an option?

Well North Dakota just voted no on free school lunches. They said if parents can't afford it they are negligent. But they voted yes to the taxpayers increasing their own meal budgets.

I think it should be covered too. Can't expect a hungry child to learn and to have to watch others eat while they can't.

This is why the whole "pro-life" movement bugs the heck out of me. They want to force births, but have no plans on helping out those that are forced to birth but financially unstable. They only care to push having the baby. They definitely don't care to much about "life" once it's out of the womb.

a reply to: Hecate666


If I did the math correctly, it seems to be about $3 to $4 per school lunch now. I think you can /(have your mom pack your lunch for less than half that. Sandwich, fruit. etc. I almost always brought my lunch.

originally posted by: chris_stibrany
a reply to: Hecate666


If I did the math correctly, it seems to be about $3 to $4 per school lunch now. I think you can /(have your mom

pack your lunch for less than half that. Sandwich, fruit. etc. I almost always brought my lunch.

IIRC, none of the overseas schools in the military had school cafeterias. We either brought our lunch or ate at the base cafeterias

Mixed-feeling memories of one year in which the cafeteria had been shut down and the base ran a "roach coach" (cafeteria on a bus-like vehicle) ... some seriously soggy burgers sold off of that thing

'Course, those were also the days the kids could go into a German town and buy cigarettes from vending machines Yeah, it was a different era.

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

My main school overseas was actually newly built , for K through 12, and had a cafeteria but it was only for use by the High Schoolers and German students (Germans always get special separate treatment). When we were elementary or younger it was sack lunch. Even when I was allowed to use the cafeteria in HS, I brought lunch more often than not. I will say, the DODS cafeteria food in the 90s was way better than the Stateside school food in the 90s. They made some really good hot wings. It was my first introduction to them

a reply to: ancientlight

Now , if you compare the US school lunches to maybe the French or Japanese lunches you drop dead.

Pretty much anywhere else, even poor countries have a more nutritious lunch over the US.
The lunches here are purchased from big food conglomerates that use the absolute bare bone basics, and some have even said below prison grade food.
I'm sure it depends on the size of the school and district.
My kids elementary was very small and I went to lunch with my daughter one day. I never let her have a hot lunch after that. I didn't feel the food was edible and didn't even taste "real". It was chicken tacos and the meat was pure rubber.

In high school there is a huge student body so they have a huge selection of different foods which is also fresher but still not the best quality.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Let alone the quality of the food, the portions are atrocious.

As a 6'3" 300 pound football player, I got the same serving size as a 6th grader.

a reply to: ancientlight

Ancient Rome is even impressed how far we have fallen. Falling Down.

a reply to: PorkChop96

As a 6'3" 300 pound football player, I got the same serving size as a 6th grader.

Portions are whacked for sure, that is one of the first things foreigners notice when they first visit the US, the gigantic
portion sizes of both food and drink. Bucket of Sodey Pop anyone?

a reply to: JAGStorm

I guess I should clarify what I meant. The portions were small at our school.

If the school was serving "chicken nuggets" a 6th grader would get 4, and so would I. I'm not saying I need 20 nuggets but as a junior in HS I felt it was a little lacking.

But otherwise, yes, food portions in the US are outrageous. (This coming from a 400 pound dude lol) That is part of the reason I am the way I am now, that and I love food. But that is beside the point

a reply to: JAGStorm

I went to school and ate lunch with my kids in the 90s, we threw it away, went and bought lunch, and they took sack lunches after that. If you actually knew the warm milk uncooked meals, and watered down nacho sauce they serve, you would never never let them eat there again!!!!

I called the school, they said because the few that pay for their food, are feeding all the rest. Not enough govt money to cover all the illegals that suck our system dry.

I hail from a time when the prevailing sentiment was "Of course kids' school lunch is free! ... or at least as close to it as we possibly can make it." I remember when they started "charging" twenty five cents to include fresh milk from the nearby dairy farm... Some refused... but they still got their lunches.

Now it's all a matter of "contracts." It's the price we pay for 'embracing' commerce in everything we do as a governed commmunity.

Many school lunch programs overseas include food that is made by locals, in a kitchen, en masse... from local ingredients and local labor.

Young American students now eat school lunches that were prepared in an industrial facility - mostly national chain firms - which are made with products that are 'factory' produced with who-knows-what ingredients and or quality. Ever wonder how the nutrition was affected? Look around.

Pretty much this slop in the 70s at my schools, Id eat occasionally but Mom made me a sandwich and chips most days. Which consisted of white bread a single slice of Land o Frost meat a slice of Kraft American cheese and a smear of mustard or mayo. She did sometimes put Nestle Quick powder in one of those plastic film canisters sometimes, for the crappy lukewarm milk

a reply to: putnam6

wow that exactly what we had in HS in the 90's...
and yes, ive been out of touch, but.... $600 "so far this year" for school lunch!??

originally posted by: JAGStorm
My daughter asked me last night how much I’ve paid in her school lunch account so far this year.
I told her it was close to $500. She thanked me and said she really appreciated it. It was kinda weird so I asked her about it.

She said that so many of her classmates have to pay for their own school lunches. She said one of her friend put money into his own account and he had told her he has spent over $400 this year. He works three part time jobs. Two of the jobs he works under the table because he is actually too young to be legally doing it. My heart sank. I knew about his jobs but didn’t know this was one of the reasons why. She started naming off some students that also pay their own.

I know some of them and their parents all fall into a very unique demographic… People that are working, blue collar, lower middle class but not low enough to be considered for any government benefits. These are truly the people suffering.
They get absolutely no help but their pay is probably consumed by housing/fuel/food/utilities.

I’m usually very fiscally conservative but in this one case……I wish school “free” lunches would have remained…
There is a very cold part of me that thinks parents need to provide the two most basic things for their children, food and shelter. And tough caca if they can’t….but..
The other side of me knows sometimes life punches you in the throat. I know some of these people and have seen how hard they work.
They aren’t the slackers we often hear about. These are people that work nonstop and somehow are still coming up short…unfortunately their kids have to make up the slack… Lots of tragedy too, one or both parents dead, divorces, illnesses lots of sad stories.

I also know there are a lot of families that believe teens are old enough to take on responsibility, how much… well that is up for debate isn’t it?

What happened between the 1970’s and today ?
My dad worked his ass off cutting down trees and my mom worked sometimes as a library aid. We were as far from “well off” as you could get.
Yet, school lunches / snacks were about the simplest thing in life, not exactly a heart-rending gut-wrenching horror. Costs are the same as always, adjusted to todays economy and wages.
If you can’t figure how to get your kid a damned lunch, whether make a sandwich or give em a couple bucks, there’s no hope. How do people even exist if this the tragedy du jour ?

Great opportunity to run fundraisers for low income student lunches at every school, ran by the sports teams of course

a reply to: JAGStorm

You know it is. It's all or nothing. You either try to keep doing it right or you leach. There is no in between.

That's why I hate welfare programs. They say means tested, but I do not think it means what they seem to think it means.