Today’s menu: chicken nuggets, fruit cup, carrots, bread, milk
I’m not a connoisseur, but these look awfully like what one would get at Mc*Donald’s. My husband so graciously informed me about the 38 ingredients of chicken mc*nuggets (little known fact: he worked at a Mc*Donald’s in college). Luckily he told me all that stuff many hours after I had eaten them. They look so innocent in the photo, no?
I enjoyed the carrots and was happy to have them since usually I see the chicken nuggets paired with tater tots.
NOTE: I’m still eating school lunch every day it’s offered to students, but I am shuffling the posts around in the month of March to hide my spring break week.
Just saw you on ABC7 Chicago's news. I'm so glad that you are doing this. Please keep up the terrific work.
The sad and funny (weird, not laughing) thing is that these kids eat no differently at home. I watch my neighbor's kids after school and all they want is packaged, processed, frozen/microwaved/boiled foods. No fruits/veggies, ever. We feel bad for these school kids but it's 'what kids like'. Thanks to advertising, parents think the above IS balanced. Remember the 'bowl of cereal, milk, fruit, toast and juice' of the cereal commercials in the '70's and '80's? All tan, except the OJ. Today, replaced with Sunny D, that horrifying HFCS dyed drink that Martina McBride is pushing. I think it's beyond the scope of school to change what kids see as dinner at home. They will not eat what they don't know!
I have found all school food from public high school through college to be absolutely disgusting. This goes way back some 37 years ago; looks like some things never change. In high school I always packed a sandwich or ate at local fast food stands and in college I lived on cottage cheese, fruit,eggs; things that are hard to screw up. It's no wonder that kids opt for sweets and junk food; they haven't been introduced to good, high quality, and nutritious meals that also taste good.
Is not the real problem that parents have abrogated their responsibilities in preparing their children for school, including proper diet and engaging in the learning activities?
It would seem that yet another government "solution" which tries to replace personal responsibility is causing this problem.
This is in reply to Jennifer M's comment:
-My parents were at fault for not teaching me healthier eating habits…not just my school…thanks for bringing this up. Good nutrition shouldn't be left on the shoulders of your school district, it's your job to teach good nutrition and good eating habits at home, as well. Now, don't think of this as my telling you how to raise your child, but if you're going to put it out there, expect criticism…but I hope you consider this constructive.
-Totally agree that there are beverages worse than soda, but there are juices out there that are sugar free/no sugar added, NOT from concentrate, etc, but when purchasing processed foods and beverages, it's going to be impossible to find something with low sugar. Even if you were to squeeze the juice yourself, fruit has natural sugar and sometimes more than you think it would.
-I agree with needing more PE as well but PE only fixes part of the problem. Some of our healthiest people run, work out, lift weights, but they are still having heart attacks, contracting heart disease, etc. I eat healthy but I'm still 70 lbs over weight and honestly, I just don't get a chance to get out and exercise because of my desk job. I am prime example of how you have to do both. Thank goodness I am w/in a few miles of a gym and as soon as I get a membership, this weight will come right off.
You almost can't but it doesn't hurt to avoid eating things you can't pronounce.
You can feed your child healthy food with out giving them PB&J and it doesn't require your child to have a "refined pallet". I loved apples and other fruits as a child and I don't think it would be too far fetched to just slice some fruit in place of that jelly…substitute sweet potato fries instead of processed frozen fries…heck, even cut up potatoes would be better!
Apples, bananas, even pears would be better than fruit flavored jelly with corn syrup. grilled/fried Rice balls brushed with a sweet teriyaki sauce mixture or even a garden burger patty cut into fun shapes. It tastes good and it's healthy.
There is a blog called http://www.lunchinabox.net where a woman speaks of the types of bento lunches she makes for her 5 year old and not only are they healthy but they are fun. She and many other mothers have absolutely no problem feeding their kids healthy foods…but I also assume she's not offering crappy foods as a choice, she's packing the lunch and the kid eats it.
With the internet being a source for infinite knowledge, there is no reason why people can't find what works for them and believe me, your child may not realize it but making it to age 60 with out high blood pressure or high cholesterol should be reward enough and establishing healthy eating habits will pay off by granting your child a longer and happier life as an adult.
Thanks for reading and I wish you luck.
Crys
Most of you are pretty funny. You have no clue the government red tape school food service programs have to deal with. Let's do simple math. 5 lunches a week at school/21 meals total overall. Childhood obesity. OF COURSE SCHOOL lunches are the problem!! Can't be what they are fed at home. It is expected for a meal that costs $3 to produce is only reimbursed $2.68 by the govt. Wake up people and educate yourselves before you get all worked up about something. I'm pretty doubtful that most of the people complaining will be willing to pay the $5/day for the meal you are screaming for. Oh yeah, forgot, we have such a wealthy population nationwide that won't be a problem. Let's start an "anonymous" undercover blog about the education in this country and the fact that it is going downhill fast.
Watch Food, Inc and you can then blame the right people for the over processed food EVERYONE is eating! that would be the good old government again. You all need to focus your ire on the food manufacturers.
I honestly don't like the currenct cafeteria food. I wish that they'd change the menu to more organic and healthy foods. I have also watched the movie Food, Inc. and I agree with what the previous person said 100%!
The Word is current. Sorry for the Typo! Enjoy your weekend!
That. is. not. chicken. I swear. I never eat the meat at my school. The hot dogs BOUNCE, and i can't decipher what is in them. I tend to gag…. a lot.