Monthly Archives: January 2010

On being a chicken

If you lined up all the teachers and staff in my school in a search for who might possibly write a blog like this, I would be one of the last chosen.

In my professional life, I don’t make waves. I avoid conflict. I’m a “yes” man. I do what I’m told, but I love my job so it’s not hard.

In my personal life, I’m more opinionated and although I’m a deeply private person, I tell my friends and family exactly how I feel.

Few coworkers have crossed over into the actual “real life friend” category. So it’s very easy for me to compartmentalize.

Before this project happened.

Now I’m feeling majorly exposed. I could absolutely lose my job over this. In just the first ten days of school lunches I’ve gotten a bigger response than I expected. It makes me nervous.

Most teachers do feel the same way that I do about the lunches served in the building. So that’s reassuring. We’ve all discussed the lunches and how bad they are in passing. Then we go back to teaching. No one has done much.

I’m not a hero, but I am a whistleblower. But instead of calling a “tip line,” I’ve shouted it to thousands of people. Oops.

Health concerns and less crap

Call me crazy, but I’m not worried about my health. The other meals I eat during the average day are healthy. I have the money to make good meals for my family that are from fresh and frozen ingredients, many organic. So I actually think it’s funny that people are concerned about me. Thank you, I’m doing fine (and it’s only day 10).

Also I really don’t have lofty goals for my cash-strapped district’s limited resources. I simply want school administration to be more reflective about what they are serving the children they don’t want to fall “behind” (NCLB inside joke). I mean, would it hurt the district’s meal planners to offer the occasional yogurt to the kids?

I want less pre-fab food and higher quality options. Less crap, you know?

Day 9: Pizza

Today’s menu: Pepperoni pizza, milk, baby carrots, multi-grain apple mini-crisps, fruit cup.
Our first repeat meal! I strongly dislike the pizza so for me this one was a rough. I got excited by the “mini-crisps” because I thought they might be dehydrated apple slices, but unfortunately they were rice cake-like disks.
I liked the baby carrots, but I asked one of my students if he ate them and he told me, “No.”
The fruit cup was partially frozen. I did attempt to eat it.
NOTE: The second picture is a decent shot of the mini rice cakes. Also you can see the pizza in the background. It’s got a glassy film on top, which is called cheese. The cheese has separated into two layers, the “saran*wrap” layer and then the under layer. Yum.

Three singles

School lunch costs me $3.00 per day. I don’t carry cash.

The cash part of this “experiment” has been pretty challenging. I do carry bills, but they are usually twenties and disappear quickly. Open your wallet. Do you have three singles? Would you be able to acquire single dollar bills for every lunch this week? It’s been oddly difficult for me.

The lunch ladies don’t make change. I have shown up with a $5 and they give me a look like I think they are some kind of shiny ATM. Grudgingly they find the money, but I often have to wait for it.

So since starting this project, I have had to be creative with my money. I’ve borrowed money from my husband (indefinite loan). I’ve stopped at businesses and bought random things just for the change.

One day I stopped at Star*bucks before work and bought a drink. I never do this by the way. I asked the barista, “Can I have change in dollars?” He asked me, “You need it for the tolls?” I stammered with a smile, “Yeah, basically.” I’m sure he knew I was lying, but I didn’t want to get stuck in a long discussion not to mention my concern about my anonymity (there might be other teachers waiting for their cappuccinos).

I mean, what do people need singles for? The only thing I can think of is going to a strip club. Mr. Barista was left wondering what I was up to. I certainly look like an exhausted working mother — not the kind of gal gearing up to go to Chip*n*Dale’s.

Day 8: tex-mex

 

Today’s menu: “Tex-Mex”: Taco-style meat with a little cheese on top over white rice, refried beans, tortilla chips, a pear, and milk.

Points for creativity (it’s not a hot dog!). I ate all of it and I felt sorta full. The taco meat over rice was ok. Looking at the color of the beans I expected black beans, but my spoon stirred up a pinto bean color. Hmm. I LOVE beans normally. These were on the tasteless side (Do you see a pattern?).

In sum, this was my favorite lunch so far.

Why now?

If you are wondering why I’m doing this project now, well, that’s a good question….

Why didn’t I start at the beginning of the school year?

I was breastfeeding my baby through the fall and I wanted to eat healthy.

Why now?

They say “having a baby changes everything.” They aren’t lying. Every parent and teacher wants their kids to eat the best food. Now that my baby is eating real food, I work hard everyday to make sure it is the best food possible. I think every child no matter how much money their family has deserves to eat quality food at school.

Day 7: Hamburger

Today’s menu: Hamburger, wheat buns, tator tots, fruit jello, chocolate milk.

I ate everything. The patty was how do you say nothing like any hamburger I have ever eaten. Mystery meat in every sense. I also really wanted more than just six tator tots. The fruit cup was NOT FROZEN, so I ate it. I also drank the chocolate milk, which was ok.

I normally don’t drink milk at lunch. So now that I’ve added a lunchtime milk, I’ve noticed some interesting changes. I’m getting a little lactose-intolerant in my old age.

This lunch was better than other lunches in that there was more protein and I wasn’t as desperately hungry after school like I have been in the past. But overall it still isn’t enough for the kids who eat this one meal at school and that’s it for the whole day. There is significant poverty at my school and some of the kids are very thin (and others are very, very chunky). No matter what size you are you should be able to eat healthy at school.