Horrified!

[leasmom]

This is the worst school menu I have ever seen. My daughter's old school only had 1 junk food day. The rest was a healthy menu. I mean, we're talking Elementary school kids eating salads, baked chicken, etc.

This new menu of her new school for Sept is chock full of garbage, but believe me this menu is only repeated over and over for the school year. I am shocked and alarmed that they would offer such JUNK FOOD nearly everyday for these kids. I thought schools were becoming more healthier?


Sept.

Pretzel with cheese sauce
nachos
burritoes
donuts-(for breakfast)
chicken nuggets
pizza
soft taco
Oh, and finally, baked chicken w/mashed potatoes-(which only constitutes two days out of the month)-the rest is nachos and pretzels!

I sent an email to the school telling them how disgusted I am! My daughter takes medicine and is overweight because of it, fortunately she is very active as well...I wouldn't let her eat more than one of these things in a week,but it'll be offered daily at her new school!

This is ridiculous!

[Abear]

I haven't been able to get a copy of the school menu for our schools yet.

Today is the first day of school. Usually the menu is in the weekly paper (yes our parish paper only comes out once a week!! ) on Wednesdays. But it wasn't there yesterday.

Although, in the past, our school's menu has been bit better than what you posted. But it still isn't what I think it should be.

Therefore, my two DS take their lunch quite a bit!! It is the only recourse.

I think the schools are thinking that there are so many children that only get what they eat at school so it is better to put something in front of them that they will actually eat than something they will walk away from hungry. In a way, I have to agree......but there has to be e better solution. Though I don't claim to know what it is!

[leasmom]

I agree. I think that's exactly what they're thinking, but my dd's old school didn't have much waste but had much better and healthier choices. They may at first have alot of kids throwing away their lunches, but not for long if they changed their menu. I got a message back from the school board, she said they were going to be having an nutritional advisory council. I told her please send me info.

I think I may get more use out of her lunchbox than I thought...I've been thinking about the menus all night. I told dd, at least twice a week she'll take her lunch. That way, she doesn't feel left-out and she can still eat on pretzel day, but will still have her own foods.

[ajrsmom]

Although this is an older thread, these problems still exist in our schools. I'm shocked at some of the junk my kids' schools still serve. This thread was started 8 years ago so it's horrible that we are still discussing this today!!

Are you satisfied with what your schools are serving to your children? Do you pay attention to what they are eating every day when they buy school lunches?

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I"ve been fortunate that our schools provide healthy meals. However, if I do not feed the kids at home, they charge nearly $3 for breakfast and/or lunch. That would be nearl7 $6 daily if they ate both meals at school. So, I feed them at home for breakfast and make their lunch. This way, I know they are getting nutrition and I am not spending an arm and a leg.

With homemade meals, they are not only being offered good food, but you can be creative at the same time and provide a little tlc. Sometimes I make 7 grain bread sandwiches, with cream cheese, ham, and something sweet, like jelly sandwiches. I add fruit, juice, and other healthy items that I know my kids will eat. I stopped depending on my school a long time ago for nutrition.

[Sammi1961]

Our school system does not offer healthy lunches either. Often on the menu is chicken nuggets, chicken patties, meatball subs, pizza, tacos (all fast food fare) The portions are small as well. They do offer a salad for those who don't like what is on the main menu but that is about the only healthy choice. (and how often can you eat a salad without getting sick of it and how many children would actually pick a salad) My children have always taken lunch from home so I knew they were eating healthy and were also getting enough to eat. My ds2 is now in high school and the lunches are just not big enough for a high school boy so he would have to buy two lunches which would be very expensive. I wish our schools would revamp their lunch menues to make the meals healthier and offer more variety

[cau]

The actual lunch is not too bad but they offer pizza, burgers &fries also. So guess what most kids pick. I think the junk needs to be taken out altogether. We don’t buy junk food here at home but I have no say in what she eats at school if I let her buy. So we send lunch most days

[jokir]

I don't know anything about your school district but I can tell you about the one I worked in for ten years and was a cafeteria manager for seven. The pretzels are whole wheat, the cheese sauce is reduced fat (in elementary), the burritos are reduced fat tortilla with the filling being bean and beef. The grated cheese is also reduced fat. The pizza crust is whole wheat, the meat and cheese reduced fat, chicken patties and nuggets are baked, not fried with the breading being whole wheat. That's all I remember that you were questioning. I will say that my district is really trying to make good changes. The fries are also baked, not fried. the bread and buns are whole wheat too. The students fussed about it all initially, big time, as did the teachers. I hope by now there have been good changes in your district kitchens too. Contact your nutrition services department directly and see what they have to say. Parents can have a big impact if enough of you call.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I think it is good, for a school, that is in the education business, to teach good lessons and valuable lessons. In general, corn dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets, and so on, are not good choices in life. We have health and obesity issues nationwide in our country. I was just looking at this month's school lunch menu and this is just a sample: corn dogs, weiner roll-ups, pizza, popcorn chix, and stew with grilled cheese sandwich.

My question is how are we, the parents supposed to know these choices are healthy? How are we supposed to know that our school is serving non fried, whole wheat foods? I do not know how corn dogs can be made without frying them. I have been to the school and the pizza I saw did not look whole wheat. Also, when reduced fat is used, that usually means trans fat, doesn't it? If that is the case, then the reduced fat is worse on the heart than the cholesterol.

It is a lot of work, especially if you work, but I prefer making the children's lunches. This way, I can use real cheese, which is high in calcium, lean meat, and 7 grain bread in their sandwiches. I can provide 100% juice or fruit/vegetable juice mix, and other nutritious stuff at a cheaper price than the school offers for the corn dog meal.

[ajrsmom]

Originally Posted by Sammi1961

Our school system does not offer healthy lunches either. Often on the menu is chicken nuggets, chicken patties, meatball subs, pizza, tacos (all fast food fare) The portions are small as well. They do offer a salad for those who don't like what is on the main menu but that is about the only healthy choice. (and how often can you eat a salad without getting sick of it and how many children would actually pick a salad) My children have always taken lunch from home so I knew they were eating healthy and were also getting enough to eat. My ds2 is now in high school and the lunches are just not big enough for a high school boy so he would have to buy two lunches which would be very expensive. I wish our schools would revamp their lunch menues to make the meals healthier and offer more variety

We are fortunate that my kids love chef salads and often choose them over the other main choices for lunch. My son is in middle school and constantly complains that their school lunches are too small to fill him up. My kids take their lunches from home most of the time but once in a while they do eat at school.

It sounds bad but sometimes it's just so much easier to write a check for the week than to make lunches. UGH! I don't do it much because the choices are so bad and are rotated month to month with the same foods. Like you said, how many salads can one eat?

At one point my kids were begging to buy lunches but now after doing it for a little bit, they both are planning on going back to home lunches next week.