Today’s menu: cheeseburger, corn, peach fruit cup, popcorn chips, milk
I’m feeling so yellow after this meal. Can you get over how everything is the same color? And then there’s two corn-based sides…
I love popcorn. It started because of my Grandma, who was a popcorn fanatic and ate it whenever she watched a movie. I’m not referring to movie theater popcorn, but popped on the stove, drizzled with real melted butter, and consumed while enjoying an old movie in her den. Good food is all about memories and family, no?
I’m trying to figure out why the popcorn had to be made into crisps?! Popcorn is good without being further processed! The last picture is a look inside the package at this strange food. It didn’t taste like popcorn to me.
Looks like a whole-wheat bun. That's something. At least.
Nasty popcorn chips.
this lunch does not look very appetizing.
This makes me nauseous just looking at it. I was one of those kids that often ate one meal a day – the school lunch. I rarely finished it. I'm saddened by the fact that we have made no improvements in food over the last two decades since I was in elementary school.
Wow.
I just stumbled across your blog from the Yahoo! homepage and am now having flashbacks of elementary school lunch! Ha, luckily I never actually ate any of it though, but 75% of my classmates probably did. It's amazing that these lunches look EXACTLY like they did in the 90s.
UGH! I don't know how you manage to force this 'food' down. You're able to keep it down?
Just found your blog. Great, thanks for reporting. WOW. What surprises is the amount of packaging. Everything appears to be prepackaged. When I was growing up a team of lunch ladies cooked up a giant pot of slop and fed the whole school. Seems like you can save a ton of money just by making food instead of heating premade stuff.
All I have to say is that my school served a monstrosity called "Crispitos" which literally was a tortilla rolled up with sloppy joe mix in the middle and deep fried. Oh and if your not throwing up yet you will when you learn that it was BREAKFAST and it was served at least 3 times a week.
I was in a after school day-care program where they would watch kids from 6 am until school started and after school until 7pm or when the parents picked you up and "Crispitos" were always the main snack option.
I count myself among the lucky teachers. We have actual cooks, who make actual food, in our kitchen. It's still not quite the food that I would truly want my child to be eating, but at least it's real. We still have hot dogs and cheap pizza, but we also have homemade spaghetti with wheat noodles tuna casserole. The stuff that you're served (in the tiny microwave-like packages) looks awful. I feel for you and your students.
I watch my kids eat at school and other kids as well. It's kinda sad. I'm a fitness instructer and have a fitness blog at and will soon be starting a kids Health & Fitness blog soon. It disgusts me how parents and schools just toss junk food at kids… but it IS cheaper. Or is it? There are tons of ways to get more involved in your kids health and fitness with fresh produce and whole grains.
I remember in my day we ate food off of washable/re-usable trays and silverware. i cannot believe the amount of packaging and waste in every one of these pictures. I'm 25, so it hasn't been too terribly long since i was in grade school. Still, a lot has changed.
Like Lindsey, i found your blog through yahoo. i am amazed by the blog submitted by the sensei from Japan. Never did i experience a meal like that during my scholastic years. I was supposed to be one of the children that ate at school everyday, yet due to the lack of taste quality, i often went with only one meal a day… Dinner. There was never time for breakfast, so i was given money for that and Lunch. I would then get into a little trouble when i gave the money back to my mother at the end of the day. Children need to feel loved at every moment and providing them with a nutritious and thought out meal is but one aspect of that.
Thank you for taking the risks you are. Both of my parents are teachers. I know how easily this could be turned against you. Good Luck and Thank you.
Mr. C. from Texas
I just want to say, You Go Girl!!
I have told everyone at work just how horrible the school lunches are. I used to always say, why is my son coming home like he hasn't eaten anything all day? Then one day, I popped up at school to surprise him at lunch, and I was surprised! The broccoli was wading in water turning grey. Just disgusting. When I asked for a salad, the lunch technician practically laughed in my face. But I didn't let that discourage me, being that lazy single mom working 10 hours, cooking dinner, cleaning house and eating bon bons(sarcasam). So I went to school another day. This time it was a greasy grilled cheese sandwich, peas and carrots, assorted fruit(bruised bananas, and apples). I wouldn't even had come up with that combination. So I said that is enough. I have been packing his lunch every since. I have noticed remarkable changes in his behavior, weight, and all around performance. I still glance at the menu when they send it in his folder. I just noticed that for a month they have the same meal evey two weeks in the exact same order. So a whole month of NOTHING!!!
Signed,
What do I pay taxes for again?
That cheese on the burger looks so gross!
Who is actually responsible for creating the meal plans and preparing the food? Where are the foods sourced?
Are you engaging your students in the dialogue? How do they feel about what they are served?
The lack of greens is quite depressing.
Thanks for your blog – VERY interesting. I just wanted to point out that in Central Florida, school lunches are not even economical. Each lunch costs $2.15 – more if you want milk. For 3 day's worth of school lunches, I could buy an entire loaf of whole grain bread, a small jar of peanut butter, and a small jar of reduced-sugar jelly. For a whole week's worth of lunches, I could add in a bunch of banannas and 5 snack cups of yogurt.
(Oh – and my daughter drinks water with her lunch! FREEEEE!)
Keep up the good work!
I am amazed at these lunches. To me it looks like pre-packaged food they pop in a microwave. I live in Wisconsin and the hot lunch at our school is nothing like that. It wasn't when I was a kid and it is not at my grandsons school. A LOT of the food is homemade, including bread. One of my favorite meals as a kid was at Thanksgiving with real turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy. My grand son loves the nacho's (homemade) and the chicken nuggets. He also loves when they have fresh salads.They also still use real silverware. I am sorry it isn't the same all across the country.
Thank you for what your doing. As an elem. teacher in WA state, I have definitely seen some bad school lunches. With childhood obesity and diabetes on such a rise I hope that your blog helps to bring about change. I also know how classroom ratio is a huge problem. I have been fortunate so far as I have not had to deal with a more than a 29:1 ratio. If they ever ask me to teach in a 40:1 I will quit. I hope that your not one of the many of teachers that will loose their jobs this year. Maybe we should all go teach in japan 😉
thank you for doing this! I hope word gets out so change can happen! Kids deserve and need more than this so called food… 🙂
thank you for doing this! I hope word gets out so change can happen! Kids deserve and need more than this so called food… 🙂
I am a lunch Lady in Illinois, and we start cooking food around 6:30am to serve to our students at 11am. We serve roughly about 1200 students daily. Our Food looks NOTHING like the food pictures you keep posting. We have strict guidelines and recipes that the Health Department enforces.Our Pizzas are made from scratch, along with a lot of our other foods. We serve a variety of fresh fruits and Vegetables daily also. Just looking at the food on here, I wouldn't be proud to call myself a Lunch Lady.
I do not understand how different counties can have different guidelines, when it comes to the food. That type of food you are showing, doesn't require the Food Sanitary Handlers Certificate that we are required to have here.
Maybe our County has higher standards than the county you are in.
We encourage kids to take daily servings of certain things. Like a Milk, Protein and a Fruit or Vegetable or even both, and a bread item.
Wow… I wish someone would do this at my school. Luckily for me though, our food appears edible… Its all deep fried and most of it looks like the deformed dinosaur chicken nuggets I ate when I was young… I hope your effort pays off for everyone here in the US.
You are definitely brave doing this! I was lucky to have "brown bagged" it while I was in school and plan to do the same with my son once he hits elementary school age. My son is 3 and attends a daycare that has their own cook and kitchen so his food is prepared fresh every day with two snacks and a proper nutritional lunch (meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, and a starch, but only 1 starch). I work in a title I school and sometimes wonder why kids are always hungry. Not only is there not enough food on the trays for these students they are not substantial enough for them to make it the rest of the day.And its not that they won't eat the healthy food if given the choice. Before each FCAT session I gave my students a banana to eat. This way they had something in their belly that was healthy and gave their smart little brains a bit of a jump start to wake up and give them the ability to perform to the best of their ability on the exam. I wish you luck on not getting the boot and hope that something comes of the torture you are enduring.
OMG!!! I HAVE BEEN ON YOUR SITE FOR THE PAST HOUR LOOKING AT THE LUNCH PICTURES AND READING AND I STILL CAN'T GET MYSELF TO CLOSE THE BLOGG. I AM A NEW PARENT, WELL HAVE MY FIRST CHILD IN (K) I STARTED PACKING LUNCH FOR MY CHILD EVERY DAY UP UNTIL A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, I HAVE HAD LUNCH WITH MY CHILD AT SCHOOL ONCE BACK IN OCT. THE LUNCH SEEMED OK, SHE HAD A HOT DOG, SALAD, APPLE SAUCE AND MILK, SO I WAS NOT IMPRESSED BUT SHE ATE IT AND I WAS FINE. BUT I NEVER THOUGH WE WOULD DO SCHOOL LUNCH FOR THIS LONG!!! NOW LOOKING AT WHAT MY DAUGHTER COULD BE EATING FOR LUNCH EVERYDAY I COULD DROPP! I LOOK AT YOUR PICTURES FROM THE LUNCH U HAVE CONSUMED, WHY SO MANY CARBS? AND THE SUGAR HOW DO U EXPLAIN THAT? I ASKED MY DAUGHTER WHAT DID SHE HAVE FOR LUNCH TODAY AND SHE SAID…"A TORTILA REALLY SPICY WITH MEAT, CHOCOLATE MILK AND SOMETHING LINKE ORANGES MOMMY" SHE ADDED, "HEY HAVEN'T HAD SALAD FOR A WHILE THEY RAN OUT" WHAT ARE WE FEEDING OUR CHILDREN?
Hi Mrs. Q! That is awesome what you are doing for your school! Those meals look even worse than my high school cafeteria! My school is usually pretty good about serving us healthy food, but I think it could be a thousand times better! It is a private school so the food is from a different company than the public schools but it is still not as appetizing and healthy as it could be! I hope your project is sucessful and you know you have got students on your side! Good Luck(:
Wow! I found this blog through a post on Yahoo and am now eager to follow you on your journey. As a substitute teacher, i have seen the food that gets eaten and while it doesn't come in microwave packages, there are days when I just went "ugh". Thankfully, it is still a typical school lunch…the type I remember from when I was in elementary school…you know, green beans, spaghetti, corn, corndogs, ect…and the kids still love pizza day! LOL! I really want to brown bag my son's lunch when he starts kindergarten next year, but my husband is saying "why?" as he knows we would qualify for free lunch…My response is always about nutricion and health and I think we've met a compromise where our son will get school lunch just once a week on a day when something "interesting" and reasonably healthy is served…LOL!
Good luck to you and may your antacid bottle always be full! 😉
WOW! What an amazing project you are taking on. I am a teacher, and I dont think I could do it. I am going to featue this on my blog: http://www.freethingsforteachers.com
Looking at this picture what happened to them cooking it and serving on yoru try?Why is everything in its own cups and looking like it was made in a microwave? ALl that waist in teh landfills come on people. My children do go to public school and while no teh lunch is not the best in the world they do a wonderful Job. For one the food is hand dished out not put in containers and ploped on a tray. Also they have a nutrisonest on staff that acualy knows what she is doing they have averiaty of food for them to pick from and all is fairly healthy. They have a great salad bar for them to eat from if they dont want the hot lucnh. Pizza is whole wheat crust and low fat milk cheese. Noodles as well always whole wheat. I am one of those moms that no we cant aford to pack lunches we are able to get free ones for our kids therw the school and yes it is a god sent. Without that i dont knwo how i would aford to feed my boys. So while yes school lunches need alot of work across this nation I for one and thankfull taht they atleast can have a good meal at school. (even if it isnt the best)
I guess my five kids are very fortunate. They eat at school every day. I have three in elementary, one in Jr. High, and one in High School. At the elementary level, they get to choose between three choices. Nothing is individually packaged, as in your pictures. The first choice changes everyday. Ranging from salisbury steak, grilled chicken, enchiladas, turkey wraps, etc. Always with vegetables and fresh fruit. Nothing is fried. Second choice is a hamburger/cheesburger and third choice is a turkey and cheese sandwhich. I eat with my kids on a weekly basis. The food is good!! At the Jr. High and high school level, they have the same three choices, as well as a salad/fruit bar, taco bar, pizza bar, grilled chicken, chicken strips. All on a daily basis. All of this for $2.25. The longest lines are at the salad bar and taco bar!!! There are occasions my kids like to eat breakfast at the school, depending on what they are having. Breakfast will range from scrambled eggs, to breakfast burritos, to pancakes. Fresh fruit is severed with each breakfast. All of this in a public school!!!
I remember those gross school meals. My school has open campus for lunch for kids in high school so I havent ate lunch at school in 3 years. I usually go to the 711 across the street or the other couple food places near school.
I am a 2nd grade teacher and occasionally, well often, eat the school lunch. My biggest concern with our lunches has been "why do they serve corn with spaghetti?" Never have I seen lunches that look as disgusting as the ones you must be choking down.
I anything in your lunchroom ever freshly cooked?
I just discovered your blog today, thanks to Yahoo. I am shocked to see what public school kids are eating every day!
I am blessed and have been able to go to private school my whole life. I remember that my dad would pack my lunch everyday when I was younger.
My family has always been a relatively healthy family, we dont eat all organic, but Id say were a pretty healthy family.
I didnt start eating lunchroom food until I was in 6th grade.
It was horrendous! The cafeteria at my school was under construction so our food was catered every day by a local pizza company (scary!). There was not one healthy thing during lunch.
One day would be pizza, the next would be a pizza roll, the next would be chicken nuggets, and so on. There were never any vegetable either.
This continued for about 2 years.
Once the cafeteria was complete, lunch time changed completely!
The school now offers relatively healthy meals.
They offer a "menu" (as they call it at that school) dish, which usually consists of the entree, a fruit, a vegetable and a grain.
They also offer a la carte food choices.
They offer a chefs salad and a chicken sandwich.
I thoroughly enjoyed the food in the cafeteria and I know all of my friends did too.
Im glad that I was able to go to a school were they paid attention to what the students were eating. (Well, atleast they cared after the cafeteria was built. I cant say much in the two years before then!)
Keep up the good work! I love your blog now!
That school lunch looks hopeless. Its not good to do experiments like these when you pull them up from the lowest dregs of the school system.
I was also one of those kids whose only meal that day was school lunch. Luckily for me, we were a small school and we had grandmothers in the cafeteria. We ate MEALS!!!!Today though — I had the opportunity to have lunch with my kids because they both 4 & 5th grade were on Honor Roll. It was horrible, a square of pizza (old) a cup of peaches (in syrup) and strawberry milk (ugghh) – and that was it. I realized why my daughter begged me to let her bring her own lunch to school. I try to be more consistent in doing that but sometimes the money just doesn't stretch enough.
I always hated school lunches. Like the others, I also notice a whole wheat bun…it's an improvement, but let's kick the chips. lol.
I just came across your blog fro my Yahoo homepage… I'm a freshman in college, and throughout elementary, middle, and high school I qualified for free and reduced lunch. I definitely had better food options (there was always a salad bar, as meager as it may have been), but there was rarely a "healthy" choice for an entree. My younger sister, now in 6th grade, struggles with obesity (she is adopted and her biological parents were technically obese as well). The younger sister I speak of is very conscious of her weight, but she has trouble finding any healthy options in school other than the salad bar (which is ice berg lettuce, so has very little nutritional value or is very filling). So, to sum it up, I really appreciate what you are doing. Though the food you are eating is much lower quality than what we are offered, I still don't think school lunches here (Oregon) are anywhere near adequate.
Also, another concern of mine after looking through your photos, is all the packaging. Why is everything in cartons and plastic wrap?!? Not only is that scary, just nutritionally, but environmentally it is very wasteful.
I love what you're doing!! My daughter started Kindergarten this year and she wants hot lunch so bad, but i only give in once in a while. For me, it's not so much the quality, it's the price. I can make her lunch for much cheaper and more nutritious than $3.50 a pop.
I have one burning question. Why is all the food plastic wrapped. Don't the "lunch ladies" (or men, who knows) cook any of it? Is it all nuked? prepackaged? I think (?) that my daughters school is…more traditionally scooped from big pans that they've baked off. It seems like it'd be more expensive and less appetizing the way your photos are. So odd the differences in defferent parts of the country.
I too found your blog through Yahoo. Thank you for enlightening people. I shudder to think of anyone serving this trash! It not only looks dreadful but has virtually no nutritional value!
I know that it bears no resemblance to food we were served in school back in the 50s and 60s. There were 'home cooked' meals by real dinner ladies. They cooked stews, real meats (you could tell the difference!) mashed real potatoes and served them up with a variety of vegetables. There were salads, soups, cottage cheese, jello, fresh fruit, fruit salads and a choice of cartons of milk or juice. We need to stress the need for nutritious meals. Children who eat badly often under perform in school and in life. Poor diet now will be paid for in the future. Bravo for your courage.
I found your blog on the default page for Yahoo. From just looking at their three pictures in their article, the picture in the header of your blog, and today's blog picture, I noticed the school lunches at your school have tons of packaging. I teach at a public middle school with 950 seventh and eighth grade students. Our cafeteria is quite different. Instead of paper trays with plastic covers for main dishes such as cheeseburgers and sides like tator tots and corn, real plates and bowls are used. Ketchup is pumped out of the gallon containers and real metal forks and spoons are used instead of sporks. So, even though your blog is about the quality of food, I think the packaging waste could be a concern as well. Thanks for raising awareness of a variety of issues through your blog. Keep up the good work!
Yuck!!! Maybe I should start buying school lunches for lunch and then I would loose weight because I wouldn't be eating it!!! First time reading your blog, found it from the yahoo article. I taught 6th grade for two years and now I am a stay home mom. It is so sad what you are reporting but needs to be heard. Thanks.
I'd like to first start off by saying that I am a food service mgr. It looks to me that your school has satellite meals, meaning your cafeteria does not do the actual cooking. Let me assure you, not all cafeterias are like this. Many cafeterias offer hot, healthy, tasty lunches.
You mentioned that you thought cafeterias could make stir-fry, casseroles, soups, etc. How would you propose we do that? You're concerned about a 1:40 ration but you think nothing of expected 4 or 5 employees preparing stir-fry for 650-700 kids. As you can see, our ratio is a lot higher than yours. I'm guessing that you're thinking, "but I'm trying to educate." True, you are but we're trying to prepare, serve, and monitor behavior of hundreds of kids.
If you want to give food the kiss of death put the word casserole on the menu. Seriously, would you rather a kid go hungry or would you rather little Tommy eat a hot dog?
To Alissa…please do not blame school lunches on childhood obesity. Studies have shown that students actually slim down during the school year and gain over the summer. Something else to think about…40 yrs. ago school meals were more unhealthy than what they are now but obesity was lower…do you still believe it's school lunches? We need to get kids off their tush and get them outside exercising.
One last thing to ponder, you've created this blog to open our eyes to school lunches, how would you like a "lunch lady" to come in and scrutinize your work?
The food featured in your posts is considered 5 Star compared to the lunch menu in Urban schools. Good luck with your efforts, I hope the program benefits all students throughout America. It seems to me, whatever is approved, Urban American will still get the short end of the stick, When its approved your schools will get gourmet food and our students will get your featured items. Surbanites are always complaining when they don't realize how much better off they are.
Wow.. this is the epitome of disgusting school lunch. I thought my elementary school lunches were questionable, but these are so processed looking that it makes my old lunches look almost organic. Even at the junior high school I'm at now they offer a salad bar, fresh fruit, and a variety of decent entrees (although I wouldn't trust the sandwich meat!). Really, I'm shell-shocked. My stomach hurts just looking at the pictures! *Shudder* BLAH!
This is why my children refuse to buy school lunch. My 10th grader has probably only bought school lunch about 10 times in her entire school history and that was in Elementary school. Her brother only bought in Elementary school as well. They also complain that there is not enough time to get through the line and still have time to eat. I have packed lunches for them every day for as long as I can remember and this includes summer day camp. Some say I am spoiling them – I say I am feeding them as best as I can.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of all parents!!
I've questioned the poor quality food, the amounts of salt / fat / sugar in local schools. (CCPS in MD) I'm told the food meets fed reqrmts, and the food program must pay for itself. So what? My vet wouldn't want me feeding my dog the "food" the kids eat. This county is 19th out of 24 for health, obesity, life span, etc… and it starts in school, and the schools feed the kids stuff that no one should eat.
You are doing an awesome service making us aware of a disturbing situation. I applaud your writing and great photos. It makes me all the more proud to pack my daughters' lunches. At least I know it will have more than brown or yellow in it! Thank you so much!
I went to lunch with my class yesterday. Ew. So gross. I wouldn't want to eat what they were having, felt so bad for them.
Thank you for your blog.
I just came across your blog and I'm really truly thankful that you are doing something. The school lunches are HORRIBLE. It's not even that they taste bad or that they are the SAME thing everyday but they are so horrible for you. Schools wonder why obesity in children exists and this is one of the reasons, no recess and horrible bad for you, throw up against the wall food. Thank You so much! I really plan to continue to read your blog and hope that this changes something.
Welcome to what i had to eat everyday know i avoid it and wake up early to make lunch. I feel bad for you but they are not as bad as my school which has only 5 entries hot dog, chicken sandwich, Cheeseburger, random brown papery meat in bread,and salad (iceburg lettuce, and 1 tomato slice with cheese.Sides were cheesy potatoes,random vegies in juice, fries,potatoe wedges. or ice cream coke products powerade, vitamin water and cookies and chips if paid for separately. meal of day cost 3 buck and none meals of day are 5. It's good to know that someone knows what we have to eat every day.
So, I just read your entire blog after hearing about it on Yahoo. I am a 10th grade high school student and the first thing that surprised me about your photos were the packages that the food came in. I've been to a couple of different schools in my schooling years and the food we were served was never in a package. The salads and "vegetarian" meals are in plastic containers but not any of the other food. I do understand your position on school food though because sometimes I can't comprehend what it is that I am eating or even looking at. I also understand what it feels like to only rely on school food as your only meal. If that is what they are offering then I don't complain.
I would greatly appreciate if the lunches nation-wide were improved on especially considering how "processed" these foods appear to be.
I work in a school in Philadelphia and eat the school lunches simply because it keeps me from having to think about what I want to eat each day. Plus it is cheaper than what I would normally buy to prepare, and right now money is tight.
Our meals look just like that. The packaging and design are the same. In the "kitchen" there is a big steaming-type machine that the food in the little packages is put into and heated up.
It is just as yucky as it looks, especially if not heated correctly.
My biggest pet peeve is when the "fruit" portion is a frozen water ice/icee thing that is sour apple flavored. NOT FRUIT!
Sometimes the bread with the meal is wheat-ish (certainly not whole). The cookies that are made of whole wheat are just funny. They are shaped like states and have the capitals on them.
Supposedly these meals are balanced, but not so much. Healthy doesn't even enter the picture.
BTW- our kids get approx 30 minutes (which is cut down to about 15-20 after standing in line), there is no recess (all inclusive classes). And 90-95% if not all of our kids qualify for reduced price or free lunches.
We desperately need to feed our kids better!