Kids School Lunch Heart-wrenching

originally posted by: TDDAgain
I pack lunch every morning, sometimes, depends on the meal, the evening before and put it into the fridge. Vegetables and fruit cut fresh in the morning. I work and still get that done. I don't see the use in complaining about school food, when it's cheaper and healthier to prepare at home with love. And when there's something good on the menu and tells me the day before, she can still have it, so prepared lunch isn't thrown away or unused. Balance.

The only upside I see is that the kids have something warm for lunch but when the food is bad quality, why even bother about lunch from cafeteria.. My viewpoint might be a bit different, because we do not have lunch in all schools or kindergarten, it's not a common thing here.

Yep, same as here, duck.

We don't have the "school lunch" thing. We have cafeterias, that charge you through the nose, but you have to pay yourself.

a reply to: MykeNukem
From own experience and what I heard from other parents, it's mostly on order basis because we don't have cafeterias in most elementary schools or kindergarten. You can skip days but it depends on the place, because of organizing and they won't let the children decide on a day by day basis, obviously.

Except they see a kid has no lunch at all, then I think it's fair when they order one. That should never happen though. Talking about kindergarten, where the kids are too young often to decide.

a reply to: JAGStorm

At least the kid did what he had to do to pay for his lunch, instead of trying to rob someone. You should be proud of him. He won't be afraid of work when he turns 18 like most kids are these days. They all want everything handed to them, and not have to ever work for anything. Hell, I'm proud of that boy for getting out and working.

originally posted by: frogs453
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.

Do you think we should kill the kids who can't afford lunches since the pro-life people didn't support those kids being killed before birth?

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.

And throw in, on top of that, the fact that you have to pay to wear jeans on Fridays... It's all a money grab for little to no real education.

The hamster wheel is a hungry beast; it’s cogs, by human lives, are greased.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Can’t kids take their own lunch from home to school?

originally posted by: misskat1
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 went to a small town elementary and high school in the 80's and 90's and lunch never seemed to disappoint. The chocolate milk was room temp sometimes and I wouldn't drink it, but other than that, everything else was pretty spot on. It wasn't my mom's cooking, but it was still good. I recall, in '84, pulling two quarters out of the zipper pocket of my Roos in Kindergarten when we turned our lunch money in each morning, and by the time I graduated in '97, we were only paying $1.

a reply to: LSU2018

Whaddayamean you have to pay to wear jeans?

originally posted by: ancientlight
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.

Yep. Just feed them cooked ground beef, no carbs, best food in the world for growing kids.

originally posted by: MykeNukem
a reply to: TDDAgain
We don't have the "school lunch" thing. We have cafeterias, that charge you through the nose, but you have to pay yourself.

I wouldn't let my kids eat any of the swill the school might want to serve, whether it was free or not.

If my kids do get into the one Charter school I've got them on the waiting list for (they follow the full Hillsdale College curriculum), I'll send them to school with their own lunch.

originally posted by: PorkChop96
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.

That isn't the schools fault. I am a head cook at a school. Schools are held to such strict standards. Serving size, calorie count, sodium count etc. And it irks me to no end about that exact situation. A senior high schooler playing heavy duty sports such as football and basketball gets the EXACT same serving size/amount as a 4th grader who may be tiny and/or inactive.

The states keep their talons tight on the balls of the school. If the school is caught undermining serving sizes in any way, they get their commodities cut (food received at a discount and distributed by the government monthly) and finances nixed. It's that serious.

HOWEVER, one way around that if the student can afford it, is to buy 'seconds'. It is usually a dollar or two more and the main entree is served over and it's easier to give more since seconds aren't counted in anything. Only the original first meal. At our school, unlimited vegetables and fruits. Today we had strawberry cups and applesauce. Walking tacos, seasoned black beans, full salad bar and all the fixings for a taco such as salsa, sour cream etc. But we have to be careful how it's served. Because calories count. And to be honest, I push the envelope all the time. I've been there going on 6 years. Fingers crossed.

I fix many hot dishes from scratch and I am a damn good cook and do my own seasoning. Most of the commodities we get are the same foods sold to restaurants and I would love to be able to purchase but can't. We buy raw beef logs 85/15%, real diced chicken with no seasonings, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. Fresh rolls or breadsticks baked daily. The broccoli for cooking comes frozen in 30# boxes and is some of the best broccoli I've ever seen, we prepare in a steamer and absolutely gorgeous. No massive amount of chopped up rough woody stems with only a bit of good stuff. TREES of broccoli, and the kids love it. A full salad bar every day with any lunch purchase, with daily fresh cut romaine lettuce, diced onions, chopped boiled eggs, diced ham, shredded cheese, pickles, pepperoni slices, cottage cheese, black olives, dressings, yada yada yada. Also a full display of fresh veggies to choose from such as fresh baby carrots, broccoli spears, cauliflower pieces, radishes, celery sticks, grape tomatoes EVERY SINGLE DAY. If students don't want the hot entree on the menu for the day, they get an alternate, usually a deli turkey or ham hogi with sliced cheese and all the other stuff that accompanies the normal meal. I order from the same companies that the local restaurants order from for the fresh items and many other things that commodities doesn't provide. All the schools around this area offer the same great foods and I check their menus often for any new ideas.

Of course, I'm rural. When I see some of the stuff posted about kids lunches online I can hardly believe it and it breaks my heart. But to be honest, most of it is processed prepackaged food and served in very large schools in large cities. I try to stay away as much as possible from these types of food for our students but believe it or not, they WANT this crap for lunch. So I do one or two meals a month with crappy processed foods to satisfy their 'crappy processed foods' tooth and everyone is happy.

I feel bad for the kids in areas who are paying good money for crap food. But like I always say on this site, do yourself and your family a favor and GET THE EFF OUT OF THE CITIES.

a reply to: JAGStorm

This nothing new. There is always heart-breaking stories about those who fall in between the layers of support. Are these kids allowed, ALLOWED, to bring their lunch to school or did Big Bad Government (under the Big Mike School Lunchunch Initiative) stop that?

originally posted by: LSU2018

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.

And throw in, on top of that, the fact that you have to pay to wear jeans on Fridays... It's all a money grab for little to no real education.

We had that at a few places I've worked.

Casual Fridays, cost a twonie, and the kitty went to a charity we all voted on.

Never had it in school though.

a reply to: TDDAgain

A Mettwurst and a Brötchen, and the kid is good to go for the entire day!

Cheers

a reply to: JAGStorm
Couldn't they make a lunch for them? That seems like the best option to me.

In most states there are free or reduced meals for schools. Part of the problem in WI is that with all of the cost for special needs, a lot of the state money for the schools are consumed by that and dip into the general fund. Free lunch for all then becomes a State money issue.
There are income requirements for free lunch and they vary per size of the family.
dpi.wi.gov... ult/files/imce/school-nutrition/doc/free-reduced-meals-parent-guardian-letter-FAQ.docx
There are also food banks that are available to people, no questions asked.

Rep Kristina Shelton is pushing hard for her Healthy School Meals for all bill, but is getting pushback. I can see why. As a WASB delegate, I and the majority of delegates voted against free meals for at the delegate assembly in January. No one is against free food for children who need it. It is just a wasteful use of resources that are desperately needed

cont. in other areas.
At the WASB day at the Capitol this past March, Administrators and School board members met with our representatives to advocate for budget increases for Public School.

Rep Shelton was on a panel discussing this and she is outraged that she did not have the support to get her bill passed and now is getting attention for it. She was also outraged that certain Republicans want to put in place a parental bill of rights. Speaking to a room full of us, she used only emotion to rile up people to not allow certain "people" to ban books or have access or control of the curriculum. Those people are the parents. With fist raised she called out, "We need to get Militant!" I see that as a serious problem. There are too many liberal activists as lawmakers in this country.

Now, as for food for kids, no one wants kids to go hungry, no one. I see this as politics and money...AGAIN...sigh