junk food at school?

[BabyDreamer]

Re: junk food at school?

I graduated from high school in 1992 (oh my gosh I am old) and all the food was BAD! They served the standard low-bid food for the main meal, but there was the al carte everyday. Everyday of the year they served cheeseburgers and french fries. There was a no soda rule at lunch, but you could buy one on break in the morning at "breakfast time". The schools in Kentucky are HORRIBLE! I hope to home school when we have a child, but if not...lunches will be packed. Not that every child needs to follow low-carb, but whatever happened to a simple sandwich and some soup? Who needs chocolate milk, ho-hos, french fries and cheeseburgers every meal? No one, even the "skinny" kids will suffer later in life from that kind of diet.

Deb

[Ninane]

Re: junk food at school?

In South Africa our kids don't get meals at school. They have a healthy breakfast and lunch at home. I pack them healthy stuff for breaktime.
We got a letter about a month ago, saying that the kids aren't allow to bring any "unhealthy food" to school, a whole long list of things is forbidden(including any kind of bread, even wholewheat). If any of these things are found, they would be taken away. I pack my sun Protein bars for sport days to snack on. Some idiot at school took it away, so I had to go to the school to educate the PT teacher - you'd think she would know better. I'm running out of ideas, as I would usually pack wholewheat sandwiches with cheese or lunch meat, tomato, things like that.

We are currently in a huge fight with the school body because of this. They have a tuckshop at school with everything "illegal" in it, including fries and donuts, but this is fine.???!!! Everything in the shop is sooooooooooo overpriced too! As a treat we give our son R5 every Friday, enough to buy 1 treat. This isn't taken away from him.... I just don't get that particular rule...

[not2late]

Re: junk food at school?

Here's the deal with the vending machines and US schools....

The vending machines generate MONEY for the school system. Where I live, the kids don't have to pay an activity fee for afterschool activities like football or physics club because the vending machines pay for it. It's a deal with the Devil because the vending companies (for example, Pepsi or Coca-Cola) agree to pay for the activity fees in exchange for having their machines in the school. There have been enough parent complaints that the schools only turn on these machines after school hours. Still it's pretty ironic that junk food is paying for "activities".

The deal about the food is even more sinister. The schools do have contracts with major food companies. And the get around the USDA's school food program requirements quite sneakily. Sugary breakfast cereals like Fruit Loops and CocoPuffs are offered as a part of the school breakfast program where I live. Why can they offer these sugar bombs? Because there is no guideline on sugar content. There are guidelines on fat content, protein content, fiber content, and whole grain content but nothing on sugar (at least according to what the head of school nutrition told me). Soooooo, they can put Fruit Loops on the menu because Fruit Loops are made with "whole grain" and low in fat, which makes them perfectly "legal".

As for fresh fruit and salads, my local schools do offer them. But they say the kids don't choose them too often and opt for the more junkie foods like french fries and potato chips. They offer these foods because they believe in allowing students the "freedom of choice".

[sofarsogood]

Re: junk food at school?

I live in Canada. My daughter's school has no cafeteria, but they offer lunch orders 3 days/week. This year they changed what they offer from hotdogs and chicken burgers to veggie plates and stackables (crackers, meat, cheese). The kids aren't allowed to bring things like pop, chocolate bars, chips, etc. in their lunch. Next year they aren't going to be sending the kids home with chocolate bars and cookie dough to sell either. I think it's a really good thing except sometimes they go overboard.

I sent my daughter to school with homemade oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies for a treat and they wouldn't let her eat them. I make sure my daughters eat healthy but as they are very active, slim, and healthy I think they should be able to have treats - and IMHO homemade oatmeal cookies are much better than chocolate bars.

[Chris]

Re: junk food at school?

From 1971 to 1974 I taught at a very small high school in a tiny, poor county in North Carolina -- a county with no real towns, mostly just farm land. Now, it may have not been as bad as some school systems in, say, Mississippi, Alabama, or Louisianna, but it was very poor.

Above what the federal government donated for the free lunch program, there was very little to spend on food. So, how did they handle the problem of school lunches? They purchased cheaper cuts of meat and poultry, bought whole, fresh vegetables in bulk, and made everything from scratch! I remember fresh baked, homemade breads, real mashed potatoes, crisp brocolli, hamburger steaks with gravy, wonderful stews and soups, and homemade apple or peach cobbler. I fondly remember a homemade corned beef hash that was wonderful! No candy or sodas were available anywhere within the school. Every day, lunch was something that we all looked forward to. I don't remember anyone who brought their own lunch -- ever!

During my 15 year teaching career, I taught in four school systems, but that little poor one in N.C. outshone the other three, a thousand times over, when it came to school lunches.