If your kids eat lunch at school, you may want to check out THIS blog. An anonymous teacher decided to eat the school lunch for a year and take pics of it. At first I was moderately grossed out and amused until I found out how little time they have to eat and what they actually eat. It made me sad. You might want to pack your little one's lunch after reading there.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
What are they feeding your kid?
If your kids eat lunch at school, you may want to check out THIS blog. An anonymous teacher decided to eat the school lunch for a year and take pics of it. At first I was moderately grossed out and amused until I found out how little time they have to eat and what they actually eat. It made me sad. You might want to pack your little one's lunch after reading there.
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33 comments:
I can remember going for different school functions that involved lunch and wondering how in the hell anyone could eat that slop. I think the younger kids just blaze through lunch in order to get outside for recess. Once they get older, it gets a little harder to stomach. My daughter packs her lunch every day and has for years.
I liked her blog. It was very informative. I remember my mother telling me story's that when she use to go to school. They had home cooked meals. Real lunch ladies who cooked for them.
One of my friends who is a teacher in CA. She and her students have a organic garden in the school. They usually eat some things from the garden. Also they don't allow any kind of sweets in the building. ( Japan schools are alot like this to. NO JUNK FOOD ALLOWED)
After reading her site. No wonder we have children that have diabetes, obesity, and blood pressure problems with children.
They need more time to eat and better food. Its not the military.
school lunches are a joke....school breakfasts are just as bad....around here they feed kids 'super donuts' that allegedly are fortified with vitamins...uh.....really? a glazed donut? what does that teach kids? gives them the idea that all donuts are part of a nutritious breakfast....
My mother worked in the cafeteria! She would bring home leftovers, and we would have them the next night for dinner (never the same day that it was served at school). Rarely did she bring home the extra desserts. With 5 kids, this helped out the food budget immensely. BUT, they weren't suppose to bring it home. If she didn't, they had to throw it out, which made all the mother lunch ladies very upset. She also tells me they made everything from scratch! I worked in the schools for a while, the kids get 20 minutes to eat, and they all rush out to recess. They would rather skip lunch, than miss recess. I saw SO many full lunches being thrown out by the kids, milks unopened, because they didn't want to miss recess.
Growing up, we had lunch ladies that came in and cooked everything. It was good, too. I actually have a recipe that my mom got from them for kind of a mountain bar type thing that they served. Those were the days. I had not realized there was a problem later, until I read that the Reagan administration considered ketchup a full serving of vegetable. That was my first clue.
As part of our commitment to parochial school, I worked in the cafeteria, and I was not impressed with the entrees. They were not very good (we were linked to the local public schools for food), although there was always a salad bar and fresh fruit. At my son's high school, they have been working toward healthier alternatives, much to my son's despair. I'm glad to see it, but have been very saddened by the idea of what must be served to the public school kids. When we interviewed the registrar at our local high school (prior to freshman year) I was appalled that they have around 1200 kids per lunch period (25 minutes) and have such a small area to serve them. Even using the outdoor "commons" there really isn't enough space to contain them, much less enough resources to serve them. Where does all the tax money go? I think that it is being siphoned off somewhere, and everyone suffers for it. If not immediately, then in years to come when health problems develop. It's just not right.
It was very interesting to go to her guest bloggers site of the teacher who teaches in Japan. Those lunches looked delicious. It seems they value food much more there than we do here. It's also obvious they actually care about what they feed the children.
What's really sad is that where my mom teaches, most of the kids' parents can't even afford to pack lunches for their own kids.
I have to admit, our lunches are not that bad. They are offered a choice of a hot meal--like gumbo,jambalaya, pastalaya, red beans and brown rice with sausage, meat pie,ect.--or a burger type lunch. They have the best home made bread--low in salt. And very few sweets. The breakfast is a choice of hot meal or cereal.They have 25 min. before school for breakfast and a 30 min. lunch. There is one propblem, if you eat the hot meal every day, you will gain weight. For most of our kids, its the only hot meal they get and sometimes, the only meal. Do they appreciate this, no they don't. The school and the state has been feeding them for so long, they think they deserve it. 90% of the school is on free lunch and free everything else.
I had a parent that called for a meeting. His complaint was that I was not doing enough activities with the science class. I explained to him that any supplies for experiments and activities came out of my pocket. My foe, the principal, looked at me like I had 3 eyes and all of a sudden she offered me a small amount of money for supplies. I showed them a typical supply list. It had everything from pvc pipe to fish to liver, yes liver. I refuse to cut apart any animal---so that is definitely out. I told the bitch I was not a science teacher when she told me I would have to teach it. I made sure the parent knew it was not what I signed on for--that was social studies. There's a big difference. A good science teacher is hard to find!
Well, I ranted off the subject again! Sorry!
Hi Jane :)
oh that's awful you still have the lil principal
pushing you around. I'm shaking my head
at this woman she sounds like she is on a
power trip. Can you try to ignore her ? Why
is she so ornery ? Is she like this with all of
the faculty staff ? Can you report her behaviour
to the school board and request an investigation?
I hope this will be sorted out soon for u Jane :)
Keep your spirits up. I wish you peace. Btw
did you get the last few pix I sent u via email.
Keep in touch ttys. Kiki. :)
We had lunch room Ladies as well.
They were great cooks and the food was good...that was back in the mid-sixties. Wonder what the school serves now all these years
later. Interesting thread, as they all are. Gets me thinking.
Last time I ate school cafeteria food was in 2003 while working at an Elementary school. The food was as disgusting as I remembered it being while I went to school in the 1990's. From the blog, looks like the only thing that has changed is the packaging. As a kid, I went home ill after lunch quite a few times.
I work in a school cafeteria in the state of PA. What we give for lunch is for the most part governed by the state as to the fat content, and portion sizes. I agree, not all of it is great, but on the other hand it's not all that bad either. Most schools are reimbursed by the state for full lunches sold, so they give the kids what they like so they will eat. And why do they eat the pizza, and hoagies and things they really shouldn't? Because that is what they are fed at home. So many mom's are working and don't have time to cook or don't care to cook that fast food and junk has become the norm. Don't blame the cafeterias for everything....it starts at home. Give them food that is good for them, then they won't turn their little noses up at the more nutritional food we ARE offering them.
That was a very interesting read. I don't think most schools here do offer free lunches. In fact, parents must send a lunch with their kids most of the time. I think free lunches are a great idea but they could certainly work towards making them healthier, more appealing and cut down on that waste. Can you imagine the amount of garbage those pre-packed lunches generate? I was also shocked to learn about recess being cut and the incredibly short lunch periods these kids get. My son has always had outdoor time and a decent lunch period for which I am feeling quite thankful.
When I was teaching I ate the school lunch every other day and believe me it was gross. All fried foods or veggies that are dry and too salty. By the time you get your food and sit down you have about 5 minutes to eat. This was at a better school too. After a while I started to bring my own food, but even then by the time you use the microwave, you do not have that much time either.
The goverment can say all they want about trying to stop people from getting obese, but the truth is the goverment loves fat people because that is where the money is. High blood pressure meds, diabetes shots, more doctor appts, etc. Why fix a problem when there is no money to make off of it.
Kiki...I got the pictures and found them very interesting. I do remember Justin Wilson when he was a litle bit younger, but not that young.
And yes, my little boss still has the reds for me. It seems a lot of shorter people--Hitler, Napoleon, my boss--try to compensate for their height. If I hear the story of how she graduated 3rd in her class one more time, I'm going to throttle the little bitch and go to jail. Then I would lose my job and I need to work. And jobs are really hard to come by around here. (And I live about 5 min. from my school.) I want to tell her that you can be extremely smart but have no PEOPLE skills. What it boils down to is I made her job hard for her when I took time off to be with Michael. She couldn't find a certified teacher to take my place. She had to end up making my lesson plans and giving them to a retired ELA teacher. And then parents started calling her and she needed someone to blame and still is. And get this, she actually told me that she left her father's death bed to go to school and teach her classes because she didn't want to disappoint her students. Her father died will she was working. I told her that I loved my husband and no matter what, I was going to be there when he died. I wonder if she thought that would impress me. It just concreted the fact that she is cold hearted. I'm not worried about loosing my job, but I am afraid that I might have to go to a new school just to get away from her. I don't like the idea of that.
Sorry! I didn't mean to go on about this! The weather is good and if I can get rid of those damned taxes, I can go out and play. I bought a small, cheap, electric tiller and I want to see if it works. My son uses a friend's bigger tiller to break up the ground. I'm going to use this to try to hold the weeds down. My back won't allow me to get down there and pull the weeds.
Since I am totally off the subject,has anyone ever heard of people having severe muscle cramps n all parts of your body and not only at night but also during the day? If you know anything about this, please let me know!
Again,sorry for the long rant!!!!
FUCK NAPOLEON COMPLEXES!
Long gone are the days we walked home for lunch that mom had waiting while we watched Bozo circus.
When and why did things get so complicated?
yeah, in grade school we had almost an hour for lunch and kids could go home....i lived 6 blocks away and some days did that....
eating at school we weren't hurried and we had 20 - 25 minutes to eat and couldn't go outside until eating time was over....
jr. high you couldn't go home but there was still almost an hour, same with high school--though you could leave during lunch....
all this rush rush isn't good for adults and sure in the hell ain't good for kids!
FUCK RUSHING!!
This is what French preschoolers are eating for about $2.00 a day ( http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100746963 )
cauliflower au gratin, roast lamb etc etc. Seems like we should be able to provide our kids with good food!
Thank you Miss Tia!!!
I agree that food education should start at home but, the reality is, it does not always. So I do believe that the school system must have a role in educating our children in aspects of intellectual and physical health. I read Mrs. Q.'s website and was quite shocked (other than seeing what children are being fed day in day out -- frozen fruit cups, saturated fat burgers, over processed meats, no dietary nutrients, etc...) that recess has been done with in many public schools. We cannot possibly complain about child obesity when we offer one hour a week of physical exercise combined with unhealthy foods. Most of her students were on free or reduced lunch fare - we all know what that means = most of these children will only have to eat what they get a school.
As teachers, parents, educators, I am sorry, but we should do better. Those in charge of figuring out a "cheap lunch menu" should get off their asses and spend a few days eating the crap they approved. They might be surprised to find that one cannot sustain energy and mental alertness on that diet.
I pack my son's lunch every single day. On rare occasions, we buy him "hot lunch" when it is pizza day. I make my daughter's lunch every day too (I do not have an option for her). My son ends up having under 10 minutes to eat because his class is always late and they then have to wolf down their lunches before moving on to the next class or recess. We have complained and are trying to get the children to have an adequate time to eat, socialize and digest their foods.
Both my children have the luxury of eating a balance diet with time to chew and digest when home.
This whole thing fucking pisses me off. Sorry for the rant.
Jane she sounds like she is socially inept.
I feel for you. Lo Siento :) mi amica. Wild
horses could not drag you away from the
bedside of your dh Micheal s last days.
WTF is wrong with her thinking process?!
Who the hell cares about her accolades ?!
She has no tact , compassion , people skills
& lacks dicernment. Report her to the school
board and see how she likes it when they remove
her tenure. In Ontario she would lose her status
quo and her superannuation would be cut in
half at best just based on the factors of your
greivance alone. If there were more incidents
of notable remarks / or situations of strife in
the work place she can lose her entire SA pension.
I'm sorry you have to deal with this on an ongoing
if not daily basis. Before you retire make sure
u let her know and tell her so. Idk if it will do any
good for her and it may go completely over her
head ( pun intended ;) but she needs to be called
out & exposed by putting her on notice that
you will not go quietly ! Her awareness of your
existance will be noted and it doesnot matter what
you say to her b4 u go but the fact that you had
the gasp..., audacity to tell her so will leave a
lasting impression on her. It will prove your mettle
to her at last she make take a lesson out of it too.
That being said lesson is that in the end all
the awards and accolades, money, titles , aren't
what its all about. People may not remember what
you even said or did but the will damn well be able to
instantly recall how you made them feel ! Human
memories are fascinating impressions to behold upon.
That lasting impression good or bad is unerasable
to the human psyche, a phenom of it's own. -Kiki :)
miss tia super donuts ? Really ? Laced with
vitamins? WTF?! For breakfast ?!?? :/ Kiki
Enrique hope you had a good meeting today &
were able to get some answers & a timeline. Kiki :)
Thank you DD for sharing that blog with us! It is a SIN how we feed children in this country. I truly am starting to believe that our attitude toward food here is really the root of our problems. We have no respect for it--we treat farm animals abhorantly, we are wasteful, we treat the people who work on farms like slaves, and we cover it all in chemicals. It's wrong. Food should be one of the most important things in a person's life, not just an afterthought or a cheap way to entertain yourself. It's shameful.
Maybe if we weren't spending billions on wars in other countries and propping up other societies, we could take care of our own. But that would be the right thing to do in a perfect world and I know that's never going to happen.
Hi kiki,
Meeting got pushed back because of that storm some people could not make it in, so I'll find out more next week.
I think we should have green houses in schools that operate using solar/wind/mechanical generators to push led grow lights, water retainment for drinking and watering, and let them eat part of their meals from what they grow at school. Part of the curriculum is learning about the technology and how to operate it. Leave the global warming hysteria to eco-profiteers, teach the science of thermodynamics .
Jarhead
Jane, don't let it get you down. Maybe the Peter Principle will prevail and your little principal will get a promotion.
We still have lunch ladies that come in and cook thank God after seeing those lunches. Yuck!
Jarhead...we don't have time for that. We're too busy "teaching the test". In other words, they tell us what's going to be on the test (national LEAP)and we plan our lessons around that. If you ask a principal or school board member about it, they will deny it to their dying day. But that's what it boils down to. As for the garden, our kids would not "work" for food. They have a card for that. And some of them would end up distroying it--cuz they be GANGSTA's and that's how they role!
I told you before they have no pride in a sense of accomplishment. No pride in themselves. No respect! And if you ask 50% of them why they don't listen or study for a test---they don't care! 15% of every class level is waiting to be 16 so their moms can sign the paperwork so they don't have to go to school anymore. All they are doing is biding time. They will go home, collect a check from the gov't. and stay that way until they are killed or die.
Sorry to be a downer. I just tell it like I see it.
I hear you Bayou. That sucks. The family unit broke and kids don't get reared; they just grow in size.
Are you in southern LA?, Do you grow and cook anything? I like pickled okra and etouffee whenever I can get good stuff down there, and some good cornbread too, and andouille sausage.
Ava's Mommy,
Military chow is pretty good in most places, especially in the Air Force chow halls!, and Navy submarines. Excellent food and professional crews.
Jarhead
I do plant things, but in the last 3 or 4 years, I didn't have the time to devote to it. I like home grown tomatoes. If I have to buy tomatoes, I will buy Romas. They don't get grainy. Last year I planted about 6 different kinds. The best one was a hybred from LSU. One plant gave me almost 30 tomatoes. The plant lived a long time and produced steadily the whole time.The last 4 or 5 were puny, but that was to be expected. I hope I can find some this year. I haven't seen any yet!
Yea, I'm in south La. A little south and east of N.O. We have good food but there are so many people here that just don't want to improve themselves. It can be very draining. It's hard to believe that in 2010 we still have people who are functionally illiterate.
Bayou,
I want to look at land in Houma and New Iberia. I'll definitely go looking later this Summer.
Interested in the crab and other aquaculture sites for seaweed and marsh farming. My brother has talked my ear off about it for a while, and I always enjoy visiting LA. Fishing is good, food is great, people are nice; no down side.
Have a good day Bayou Jane.
Enrique
Once in between jobs I filled in as a lunch lady at my kids high school, on call. LOL! I know , super embarrassment right? No, my kids are not like that. But once, I had forgotten to make the extra pan of cheese for the broccoli. One of the other girls hurried & said she'd make it, all this time the line is waiting. Here's all she did. Hot scalding water to a bucket load of orange powder, mix t'gthr. Voil'a! Hot cheese for the broccoli. It took her about a minute. I was supposed to have it done, but I goofed. I will never forget that. I also told my kids to NEVER eat the mayo at school. That stuff goes out there at 10:45 and stays till 12:30!! And it's hot in there! Plus, everyone breathing & sneezing & nobody washes their hands at school & using the same pumps. My son would usually use it anyway, got a stomach ache everytime. The kids fav was the nacho line & pizza. The pizza slices were a square foot, I swear! They made breakfast pizza too. It has sausage gravy blobbed on it with egg & hash browns . The kids waited in line every morning for that! The cookies & rolls were all home made & yummy. This was back in 1998. I heard they hardly make anything from scratch now. It's all frozen convenience foods. :(
rox
How's come back when I was a kid in the 60's, we drank real Kool-Aid made with a cup of sugar to a gallon of water and nobody was fat? Thats all we drank too! I had no fat friends. Life expectancy will be going down if the kids in this country don't get up off their asses and go out & play & run. All kids are kinda chubs now, not all, but most & esp girls and non-athletic boys. People are lazy. I mean, you don't even have to do your own vacuuming, let the Ruumba do it! Just stay there on your ass while it works. I swear, lazy should be a crime.
rox
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