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.
The majority of our stuff isn't packaged like that. Most of it is a "scoop and plop"-type deal. And I'm sad to say that, though this doesn't look the least bit appetizing, nor does anything else you have pictured in other posts, I feel like ours is worse. I'm in high school and they serve us a different fast food every day of the week. Seniors off campus go out, I don't know ANY that go home to eat. My sister attends a high school out west and they have the fast food restaurants IN the school. It's crazy. Even if they continued to serve this stuff, an easy salad bar for us more health-consious teens, though there aren't so many of us, would be much appreciated. It's sad they allow that "cheeseburger", but not regular soda, though I'm glad they took that out.
Just wanted to know that I applaud your work,and admire the stance you are taking. Bravo!
My school lunches were disgusting, but I learned to eat some of it. Otherwise, I might not have eaten anything.
One thing I am greatly concerned about is those children with alternative diets or food allergies. My family is vegan and I recently found out I am gluten-intolerant. My daughter may be as well. There are no lunches that she could eat without damaging her digestive system. I had sent my kids to school with lunch last year; however, due to unemployment, I had to let them eat free lunches at school. My daughter confessed that she barely eats any of it.
I wanted to try her on a gluten-free diet, but that would be impossible because of school lunches.
Keep up the good work. Good luck with your health.
I wish our school lunches looked even half as good as this
This is the first time I have ever seen school lunch in this packaging. School lunch was never good but at least we ate it on plates and trays.
So glad I found this from the Yahoo article! I have been asking my kids for years to do their science project on the school's cafeteria food! Compare it to test scores – they're both A students, will their scores go down? Last year we did television watching and grades. I thought for sure junk (cafeteria) food was next!
Well done on the blog! I remember John Stossle doing a segment on 20/20 about schools and money for education. He mentioned a school and the food served in their cafeteria – much better! Might be worth doing some research to add to your blog!
wow this is great!ive read ALL of your blogs and they are so interesting to see the other lunches at schools.(i think the lunches they serve at my middle school are better) i go to a middle school and the food isnt that bad. they have one meal that is more expensive but it is completely organic. its usually pretty good. im like addicted to your blog now! its great!
If you are interested in a Dietitian's perspective, let me know. This kind of thing is my life's work. I also happen to be the parent of a 2nd grader who goes to public school. I have a feeling just a "comment" will get lost in translation, but I'd be happy to post, either here or on my personal blog.
How come everything is pre-packaged, in it's only little frozen dinner tray? I'm assuming those are not made of recycled plastic… I grew up eating school lunches in the 80s (still buy my lunch out today, never bring from home), and they were not that bad, as I recall. And they were served on dishwasher-safe plates with real utensils. What happened?
While many may think these lunches are disgusting (which they are), at least there is a substantial amount of food. My school lunches are tiny compared to this one. At my high school, the fruit is first come first served and the so called "salad-bar" has some serious sanitary issues. I'd be grateful if I could find a clean apple I could eat.
I have enjoyed reading through your posts. I agree with how you feel about the poor quality of meals for children in America. It seems to be getting that way in the UK too, where I am from. As a para educator, I am so disheartened when I support children at lunchtime and see what they have to eat. The children here only get about 20 minutes or so to eat and quite frankly the options are appalling. Fried food is on the menu every single day! Most of them only nibble on the fried option and leave most of the fruit and vegetables (if they even chose it) on their tray.
I can remember my high school lunches from a few years ago. While I was there they went on a "fight obesity crusade". Among other things, they replaced chicken patties with what looked like real pieces of chicken. This "real" chicken must have taken much longer to cook than the chicken patties because there was NEVER a fully cooked piece of chicken. It was always bright pink and slimy but it was still served with a smile.
thanks for doing this. its all i can say. i know that somehow this will help kids and parents to reconsider what they are putting in their bellies.
BRAVO!!! do not stop this quest. I am doing a similar thing in my district. As a teacher and parent, I also see what these poor children are expected to consume. I can only say to continue to advocate for them. If we don't no one will!
Just discovered this blog today…you are sooo awesome for taking on this project! Looking back on my school lunch days, I often just skip lunch just because the food was gross. To this day I can't eat corn, because it reminds me of when I got sick off of school lunch canned corn! BARF!
I really hope the school lunches will be changed! Keep up the good work!!
I just found out about your blog and I believe what you're doing is amazing and extremely important. I am new to the teaching profession and through my time as a college student I took every opportunity to research this precise issue. However, I cannot say I have the bravery you have. In fact, the one day I had planned on eating school lunch (I didn’t have much left at home) I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I worry about the eating habits we are teaching our students and what these habits will mean for them as adults.
Thank you, what you are doing is very important!
I am now adding this blog to my favorites. Thanks to Yahoo! I found it and I wanted to share, as soon as I opened it, my 3 year old daughter saw the "yellow photo" and said "yuck!" it made me laugh and I wanted to let you know that my family is 100% behind you on this journey! thank you for sharing it with us.
Why is it that all this food looks like it came out of the frozen food aisle? and not the good frozen foods the crappy $.89 ones.
Wow! I am completely surprised at the pictures of the lunches you have at your schools!
I am a lunch lady. I work for a local school and we all work through the company Aramark. In our job, we are to plan a menu that somewhat follows the food pyramid, and also includes home made soups and other foods at all schools!
I can not get over the packaging your food is in!
What is that? Are they microwaved? Why do the have corn and popcorn? YIKES!
No wonder you are fed up with your schools lunch program.
I allow my own children to buy food on days I approve (for elementary school age) and everyday for the High School aged child.
In our high school, the lunchroom is more like a cafe.
The kids can choose from the bad foods like chicken nuggets, soft pretzels and ice cream, OR have good choices like a fresh made deli sandwich in a line kind of like "SUBWAY" where they choose the bread, meat and cheese and a lunch lady prepares it right there and can even send it through a warmer!! YUM! We have Buns, Bread and whole wheat bread to choose from!
We also offer fresh cut pineapple, oranges and apples everyday and sometimes we get in Kiwi and Strawberries that we dice and put into cups.
Also, we have a varity of Dannon yogurt and we offer a fresh daily salad bar!
I guess we are VERY spoiled in our school after seeing your blog!!!
I am VERY sorry that you and the children are eating this type of food.
Some children depend on the school to provide them with the ONLY healthy meal they get in a day!!
We have several students who are on our free lunch program and they also eat breakfast in our school.
We serve sausage biscuits, cereal bowls (like mini wheats and cheerios) as well as something called a "super donut" that is vitamin fortified.
These kids DESERVE better food choices!
My sister linked me to you (not sure how she found you).
I am a teacher (first grade) and I don't know where you teach, but your school lunch looks a lot better than what my kidlets get served. Some days it's seriously glop on a plate (and it's so unrecognizable I can't even tell what it is).
Our "vegetarian" plate consists of a cheese sandwich and an apple, the same thing that our kids who haven't paid their lunch account in a long time.
I'm definitely adding you to my favorites!
Wow, this looks like the lunches served to my students at school! I teach in a large urban setting, and the food is prepackaged at a food center for our district, and it is seemingly unhealthy. My students don't care for many of the lunches, and then it just gets wasted anyway. We need funding to go back to the old days when lunch was prepared for you at school. I applaud your project because after eight years in my school, I believe I've only eaten school lunch TWICE!
I just found your blog thanks to yahoos front page and I will be following your blog for sure!! I pack my daughters lunch daily and she will eat at the school every once in a great while if its something she likes. She used to like chicken teriyaki and rice but she said the chicken has gotten very fatty now. She also told me that there pizza comes from Pizza Hut and we all know how greasy the dough is on Pizza Hut pizzas. They get hot dogs or chili dogs from Wienerschnitzel….how is fast food healthy for our children? I can't wait to see what comes about with this blog that is becoming worldwide now….yay!! I truly hope you don't loose your job, we really need our teachers since our kids are our future.
I am glad my kids school lunch doesn't look like that
I remember our yellow/orange meal in elementary school. Cheese pizza that was super greasy. 2 peach slices, a scoop of overcooked corn and a tiny glass of orange juice, probably only 1/4 cup. Mmmm…sounds good huh.
I saw this blog on the Yahoo! homepage, and I've got to say as a high school student that I'm happy that someone has taken an interest in what we eat (and a huge "how can you put up with that" as well…)
In my school, after 8th grade we are allowed to go out for lunch, and honestly I haven't touched a lunch tray in three years. I think that most of us high schoolers don't go to the caf anymore for lunch as well…
For us, there is no vegetarian option (aside from a really cheap Chef Salad with somewhat stale lettuce), and the food I find completely awful anyways!
Because of my school lunches (which were, as you said, tasteless and bland) I lost all interest in eating hamburgers, cheeseburgers, AND homemade pizzas (heck, I can't even stomach them now). I usually brought my lunch to school after 3rd grade because I was so fed up with it all.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for speaking out about this.
You have fresh fruit almost every day! Rockton Grade School in Rockton, Illinois has never had a pice of fresh fruit on the menu since the school year started.
I have never, ever left a comment on a blog in my life, but Mrs. Q, you rock HARD. I salute you. We all salute you. I come from a long line of educators, including my husband who is fighting the good fight in public elementary school in the Northeast. You are an inspiration, please continue this important work.
One must take the time to be in awe that these poor children are the future and this is what is being provided for them? We have become a nation of processed food and microwaves.
Mrs. Q,
I am a current high school student in Oregon. I have to say that what your being served looks a lot like what I eat everyday. We're lucky at my school in that we get a lot more choices but most of the food is still as nutrition missing as anything else. I wanted to thank you for sticking your neck out for those of us still stuck eating the stuff they call food everyday and for our health, it's nice to know that not all the adults that run the schools are to busy fighting over money to care what they feed us.
So thank you.
Rowen
Is that supposed to be a cheeseburger?! I mean, honestly, I don't know and that scares me. Not even kidding here.
I'm at a Secondary School (7th-12th)and we have pretzels and fresh baked cookies. Pretty sweet deal right?
Well, I packed my lunch one day, but I got a pretzel anyways, cause I loved the new freedom we had here, having booths and new tables, able to walk around and get in a snack line, unlike my previous school.
Besides, I'd been eating pretzels for a while now, and they were pretty good. Sometimes you got a hard one, but that was a rare occurance. Well, they cost about $0.50, and to a student thats a boatload. I can buy 2 pencils with that, or a packet of erasers. That's a gold mine to some people, expecially with the pressure of AP classes.
Anyway, I got this pretzel and sat back down at my table. The lunch lines closed.
I'm laughing with my friends, and I'm about to bite the pretzel when I see something out of the corner of my eye and examine it closer.
There was a light purple, bumpy something on my pretzel. I showed my friends, and none of them could identify it as mold, or sauce or anything.
Needless to say I didn't eat it! But I was so mad that I had wasted $0.50!!
My friend took a picture of it with her phone, and we all huddled around to hide it. It felt wrong, having to hide the evidence.
Everyday I have to buy, I look at the revolving pretzels closely, and I can see faint traces of the purple crap.
Our school lunches are good,at least, chewable, but I know what good school lunches are. I previously went to a nice private school, and they had wonderful lunch ladies who actually cared about what we were eating. (It only had 300 students, the secondary school has 3,000)The lunch ladies at the secondary school are awful! My friends dropped one of my dimes, and the lunch lady just walked and picked it up!
I wasn't about to ask her for it, but, like, seriously?! My friend from my previous school found a spider in her mashed potatoes. A friend who sits at my table takes 5 napkins and DRIES her pizza. Is this getting ridiculous or what?
This is something that seriously needs to be fixed. I am getting just the slightest bit sick of gagging on my lunch, at 10 in the morning because we start so darn early.
I am truly stunned looking at these photos. Is everything frozen and microwaved? I worked in a school and albeit everything was canned and warmed, the students still had recognizable vegetables that they put on a tray that had to be washed. I don't even comprehend what I'm seeing here because it looks like everything is individually heated up. I miss the few years at the Catholic elementary school where I went. They did have really good cooks.
Hey Mrs. Q,
How about describing the "kitchen" at your school- I'm guessing homemade meals from scratch are not an option. I really bet the foodservice staff at your school district doesn't wake up each day and decide to serve crap to the kids. How about being a champion for the folks who do so much with so little?
My mother is a teacher in the rural South (sorry, don't want to give too much info and get her fired) and she told me something interesting last time I called. Apparently, the "cafeteria manager" person at her school gets a several thousand dollar salary bonus if she makes money on school lunch. So, if the school takes in $X per year from the students/government (most of the kids get government-sponsored free lunch because it's an extremely poor area), and at the end of the year she's under that amount, she gets more money. The quality of the lunches, the amount of food, etc. is appalling at this school. She buys the least amount of the cheapest food so she gets her money.
I just came across your blog. WOW! You are brave! But then, I guess my son is brave for eating the school lunches. I remember eating school lunches when I was school. I remember from the time I started school to the time I graduated how they changed. I remember there were meals that I didn't choose to eat. They luckily had a second option for those who didn't like the meal. Usually it was a cold sandwich or salad. I would go for the salad. Now it is just a cold sandwich. My son has informed me that the meals, though not individually packaged as yours are, are much the same in look. He did feel a bit jealous that you and your students get pretzels. He doesn't. While I'm sure many kids who are eating the school lunches have very likely gained weight from the lack of nutritional valued food, my son hasn't gained much. He is though, ADHD so he burns all those extra calories off the moment he steps out the door to the playground. He has had many stomach aches though. Something he has eaten. I try very hard to make the healthiest of meals at home. My life is so busy and chaotic to make lunches for him to bring to school.
Thank you so much for sacrificing your mealtime and your stomach to the betterment of our children's health.
Also, I hope you are able to keep your job. It is a tough for teachers out there. The people who shape our future generations should be paid a lot more then what they do. Each of you are so important to us, the parents, and our children. Without you, our country wouldn't have the successful people we do. We need teachers! My son is in a looping class. Has that same teacher for two years with the same students. His teacher was informed a couple weeks ago that she will not be returning next year. This upsetted my son and me. She worked so well with him. Enjoyed his enthusiasm and creative imaginative mind. She has been the one teacher to push him to do his best. Not just accept what he gives her for work. I will miss her next year. As will her students.
Congratulations, excellent blog. We need to know what our kids eat at school, and actually there are changes that needs to be done!
Honestly, this food mostly looks good. I LOVED public school food when I was in school. Picky eater you!
Do you have any idea about the regulations that the lunch program follows? If you did, you would know that "popcorn drizzled with butter" does not comply. Trying to find healthy options that kids will actually eat is a lot more difficult than it seems. How about offering a solution rather than a bashing?
I was so excited to find your blog thanks to yahoo home page. I am currently writing a paper for one of my grad school classes on school nutrition. I have been tracking what my students are eating since the beginning of the semester. My students are mostly on free and reduced meals, and the food they are served is not only unhealthy, the portion sizes are outrageous! I teach preschool and the students get the same sized meals as the high school students, resulting in a large amount of food being thrown away after they are done. It's been enlightening to see the nutritional value of what they are served…no wonder american kids are becoming obese. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
First let me applaud you for doing this. So many of us in the teaching field are on edge with jobs and I pray that your will be secure during this. After looking at your pics I have to say our lunches look much more appetizing that yalls…I have never seen a school serve prepackages meals like that. I agree 100% with you. I taught PE and Health for elementary my first two years of teaching. We talked a lot about having a rainbow of colors on you plate and getting good exercise every day. The kids daily would bring it to my attention that lunch never had the right food groups or a rainbow of colors. Most days is a plate full of carbs…mash potatoes, pizza,bread,pasta. No wonder our kids just want to sleep and be irritable after lunch. To top it off…if the kids don't like what is being served..they can have the wonderful alternative…goldfish and a yogurt?? How does that pass the state health guidelines. (I understand it's cheap…but these lunches are killing these kids) Diabetes is rising at an alarming rate here is Texas, and the lunches are not helping! I just found it very sad that the students were truly trying to practice what they were learning in class…but being in a low income district…mamma, daddy or grandma were not worried about packing a healthy lunch. I do have to say TX for the past 5 years of so has worked hard to take a step in the right direction…all milk and cheese has to be low fat…nothing can be fried…wheat pasta and breads…no candy or coke machines. Keep up the great work. (Don't even get me started with taking recess away to allow more time for teaching.)
Victoria TX
Hi, Mrs. Q I just wanna say thanks because I'm a student and I've been waiting for an adult to spread the word! I started my own blog like yours and I'm totally inspired! I go to school in New Orleans and I cant wait to start posting things just like you!! Thanks sooooo much!! I hope you read mine!!
I just learned about your blog right now and I for one applaud for what you are doing. Too many parents are unaware of what their children eat. Being a teenager about to graduate from high school I look back at the food I've eaten through out the years and there at times good lunches, but rarely. The high school I attend serve the exact same thing every single day: pizza, spicy chicken, nachos, fries, and options of apples, oranges, bananas, or fruit cups. I have seen this same food for the past four years that I have been at that school. And I must say it is so tiring eating the same thing. At my school juniors and seniors are permitted to leave the school for their lunch period and eat somewhere near by. Unfortunately most of those students do not even have the money to buy food, they just go out simply because they can not stand the food or even the smell. On that note I hope that this will open peoples eyes and make a change for the better.
I have to agree that the food does not look appetizing, but I also have to say that when I was in school, our cafeteria food did not look like this at all. I was actually one of the kids who ate the cafeteria food for breakfast and lunch, and loved it. My favorite; the chocolate cake and the dinner rolls, yum yum. At least we had "real food" back in the 80's.
Unfortunately, this food looks better and more nutritional than the food I had when I was in high school (3 years ago). One thing i've learned is that you have to give kids healthy food, whether they "want" it or not. Of course they will want pizza over chicken salad. If you can make it more "kid appealing," that's great, but the food must first and foremost be healthy and nutritional. (Cafeteria food hardly looks appealing in the first place.) Don't give them another choice. Nine times out of ten, a kid will like the food if they try it! (And not only that, but it's perfectly allowable to have a pizza day or have chips as a side once in a while…just not all the time!)
Look at farms within 100 miles of your school. A lot of cafeteria food can be bought fresh (and maybe even organic) from local farmers at the same cost as pre-made nutritionally poor meals.
It's St. Patrick's Day… Where's the GREEN???
this reminds me of an airplane dinner. that is extremely sad. i think the kids like the fruit cups, their sugary and i think they are awesome (im a junior high student, we never get these :()
Thank you for starting this blog. I always thought it was only my schools that have had bad lunches. I am a freshman in high school and I recognize most of these lunches.
In elementary I brought lunches mostly, but after a while it became too expensive so I ate school lunches. Things haven't changed in those 3-4 years. Even now my school tries to trick us into eating pizza by getting some name brand. They do let us choose what to eat. The same foods are out everyday.
Personally I never ate the microwaved veggies when I was younger. I eat raw vegetables and having them heated up has never tasted good to me.
Good idea!! Bet i'll tell you, what you are eating looks better then what i ate when i was in school. I graduated high school in 2005. I went my jr. year without eating even one school lunch and dropped 40 lbs. i was 185 and went down to 142 in a school years time. no extra fitness, and i even worked at burger king!!
Mrs. Q,
What a 'blah' looking lunch! As a person who developed many severe food allergies/intolerances later in my school career (high school) I never had to deal with allergens in a school lunch. While I understand that many kids with food allergies pack their lunches, what do the students with food allergies that are on free or reduced lunch plans do about school lunches?
~Elena
The lunches at many public and private schools are completely backwards from what they government says are healthy meals. I did in home child care for years and we had nutrition workshops on how to make healthy, appealing meals for kids at a low cost. Why aren't these programs in place for the schools? Corn offers little, if any nutrition in its whole state. AND it is not a vegetable, it is a grain- no veggies for you today. Sorry!There is no way that meal would satisfy 1/3 of the daily requirements for the nutrition kids need! Not to mention it looks high in sugar, salt and fat! While the bun "looks" whole wheat- it doesn't mean it is whole wheat. While it can be challanging to feed 500+ kids in a relatively short period of time there are many heathy foods that require little prep and appeal to kids. When I was in school we had "bars"- always salad bar, a variety of fresh veggies, fruit salad whole fruit and low calorie dressings; an ethnic food bar that changed day to day- Italian, Asian, and Mexican. We also a baked potato bar on occasion or an option of pizza, burgers or chicken tenders (not the nugget things) as a main dish with salad bar. Kids were able to chose the veggies they like and therefore would eat and sample something new from time to time. These meals were low cost, easy to prep, tasty and healthy. And my schools were way over the 500 kid mark. My kids eat at home- I teach them myself- IF I ever had to send my kids to school I would be packing their lunches too!! I've bought the occasional frozen meal for my kids and strongly object to them- they'd rather have a cheese crisp and a piece of fruit when I'm in a hurry! I bet you can hardly wait for summer break! Thanks for suffering though this experiment- I'm curious how eating all this has impacted your health: blood pressure and cholesterol. HMM? Can't be good….
3-17-10 ya as one commentor said or many may have said even just the pictures make you want to be sick. I do highly commend you for doing this, I think Oprah should hear about this! But I do value your integrity and your love for the kids and I 100% something gets changed in this venture of yours. congrats on the yahoo home page, thats how I found your story !