I received a very nice email from a “lunch lady” desiring to write a guest post. However, she wants to conduct a “Q & A” with the readers. What a great idea!
Here’s your chance to ask a real “lunch lady” anything related to school lunches. Please post your question(s) in the comments section below. I’ll gather up all the questions on Friday and send them to the her. The Q & A will appear next week.
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In a continued effort to “hide” myself and manage content, I’m going to be posting school lunches only four out of five weekdays some weeks. So today there will be no daily school lunch post. I still eat school lunch every day it’s offered to the kids, but this way I have a little more control over when I post what.
Since I'm Mrs "Q" I'm going to start with the questions. Please tell us a little bit about the size of your school, how long you have been working there, and if you have seen any changes, positive or negative, in school lunches.
maybe…what do you think of the cost of the food thats being served, is it correctly priced for what it is and how much the school paid for it?
Do you ever feel guilty serving/making lunches for students that you know are distasteful?
And — how do you respond to students who tell you something looks/tastes gross? Do you respond that way even if you agree with them?
Dear Lunch Lady:
1. What aren't there vegetarian lunch options that aren't cheese laden? My site only offers cheesy stuff.
2. Why don't school lunches reflect the diversity of cultures in our nation? Our lunches are pretty traditional: sandwiches, greasy chili and cheese, burgers.
3. In my area, soy milk or rice milk are not common drink options. Why is that when so many kids have digestive or other troubles with cows milk?
How is the food prepared?
What is the best part of your job?
Have you ever tried to instigate change in your lunchroom? How were you received and what happened?
Also, would you personally eat the lunches you serve? Do you?
Do teachers and school faculty eat the lunches at your school? What kind of comments do they say about the food?
What, if any, fresh fruits and vegetables are available to students on a daily basis?
About what percentage of your school's kids receive free or reduced priced lunch?
What is the hardest thing about your job?
What is the most rewarding thing about your job?
I am a mother of 3 children, 2 of which are in school. I pack their lunch daily, and am pretty good about giving them good healthy stuff. On occasion I let them eat at school, but not too often. I cringe at the menu sometimes! Shepards pie(really?), Cheesy chicken over rice( it looks like barf). I admit most of the food doesn't appear too bad, but I feel horrible for those children who have no other option but to eat school prepared lunches, some breakfast as well. I live in the South and obesity is an issue, this food can't possible contribute to a healthy food regime. So my question is… Is it difficult for you to serve the items you do? Does anyone who works in the kitchen ever suggest more healthy options? If so, does anyone listen? Kudos to your hard work!
How much, if any, input do you have when the menu is created?
What is your favorite thing to make/serve? What is your least favorite? (Can be any reason – best/worst tasting, most loved/hated by the kids, most/least nutritious, etc.)
Thanks!
Dear Lunch Lady-
How can you all serve what you do sometimes? I know the cafeteria workers have some control over the menu at my public school and yet they choose the least nutritious, easiest to prepare crap that is available. Why? One day last year they served a LEMON wedge and single Saltine package and milk for breakfast. WTF???
Do you personally eat the school lunch? If you could make changes to the food served in your lunchroom, what would they be?
Thanks for taking questions 🙂
What would you personally like to see being done differently than it's currently done in your school?
Thanks!
Please stop whining! You're about to be outed.
Um, ouch! 🙂 On behalf of the Lunch Lady, let's remember that she doesn't have very much control. But thanks for all your questions! I can't wait to get the answers.
What happens to the extra food at the end of the day?
I work at a public school, and know there is extra food each day. Our understanding is that it is thrown out. Is that true? We have been told that even the unopened milk is tossed.
It just seems like such a shame that there are so many hungry kids (we are 75% free and reduced) that we are wasting that much food!
Have you watched the new TV program "Food Revolution" and do you think that it is possible to change a school lunch system to eat healthy and fresh food everyday?
Can this be changed? My kids are all on the school lunch program. I feel horrible about it, but it's such a huge savings to our family for them to eat breakfast and lunch at school. We do raise most of our own food, so I try not to feel badly about it. But, I would still like to see things change.
My daughter's school out sources the lunches to a private company (Chartwells). Are your's outsourced as well or are you making meals as planned and directed by the district itself?
Why are so many processed foods served in schools? Isn't there some way to buy healthier versions for around the same price? Or do lunch ladies like yourself have no control over that?
Hi Lunch Lady! I grew up on school lunches and ate all of it. Sometimes I would just eat the starch and vegetable, but our lunch ladies were good about having a green veg every day. I knew when I was getting good food and when it wasn't as good, but my family had four kids in school, so we ate what we were given. Do you have kids? What do they like to eat?
My question is similar to Natalie's about vegetarian meals, but my question is this:
Why is it that it is near impossible, if not completely impossible for a child (or more aptly, a teenager in high school) to get a vegan meal in school.
I was publicly schooled until this current school year, meaning that I went to public school from Kindergarten through 10th grade. I am by no means a vegetarian, but the only meat that I do eat is chicken and some beef, that is it.
The only time that I could get a vegetarian OR vegan meal would be when my school would have a Subway-style salad buffet. And, let's face it, salad is not the only thing that vegetarians or vegans eat.
So, again, why is it that schools do not offer vegetarian or vegan meals to students when it seems that most (at least, in my old school) students personally choose to eat this way, to eat healthfully?
Hi lunch lady,
I was wondering how your school decides what to serve to kids each day and how many times you decide to rotate the food. Do you think that your school's cafeteria serves a wide variety of food?
I was also wondering if you had to prepare the meals in the morning or if you just warm up the pizzas and hamburger that are delivered from somewhere else.
What do you think is the most important change needed to improve school lunches?
What do you think is the most easily implemented change?
What do people outside the system "miss" when looking at school lunch?
~Sara
Hi Lunch Lady,
What is the biggest pressure you face in your job? Is your department (you, or one of your higher-ups) given a budget to manage independently, or is someone else (superintendent, etc.) making the purchasing decisions? Do you feel that you have adequate time to prepare the food that you would like to serve? Are you/is your department given a degree of creativity in terms of the menu?
It is my understanding that part of the school lunch budget goes to food, and part of it goes to pay staff, etc. Do you think food workers like yourself are getting paid a reasonable amount?
My grandmother was a lunch lady for over 30 years and she always complained or commented on how over the years she noticed how the cafeteria food went from homemade to more processed over the years. Now she had been retired for about 10 years. I know that I personally noticed this as I made my way through elementary school and middle school before I started to take my lunch every day since I refused to eat the food they served us. Now I’ve been out of high school for 4 years. Have you noticed the same thing?
Thanks!
I am wondering how many students you serve and how long it takes to prepare the meals?
I am wondering how many students you serve and how long it takes to prepare the meals?
Thank you for taking questions. Could you please let me know what type of training you received? I am curious to know if you (or those who are in charge of creating menus for your school) are encouraged to learn about child nutrition beyond the mandated school lunch guidelines.
I was also wondering if you could let us know how long the students have for lunch from start to finish and how that time breaks out — how much time do hot lunch students spend in line, how much time do they have to eat, how much time to they spend clearing up, etc?
What is the most frustrating misconception that people have about the job you do/the role you play in school lunches? I know how easy it is for people angry at the system to lash out at the only person in that system they can find (being you).
What message, if any, do you want the public, students, faculty to walk away with?
Finally, what would you change about the school lunch program if you were in a position to?
Thank you for taking the time to respond to the questions posted here.
Thanks for offering to answer questions! (I see you already have quite a few.)
School lunches continue to gain momentum, spurred on by the Let's Move campaign and shows such as Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. How do you feel about the way that school cafeterias are portrayed in the media?
Do you feel that current nutritional regulations often met by processed foods impede the ability of a school to serve fresher, healthier foods? Are we hurting ourselves when we play by only the numbers?
Thank you so much for your time!
Along with how long you've worked as a Lunch Lady, how/why did you get into the job? Also, do you have any other jobs at the school site (or work at other schools in the district)? Our lunch ladies are shared between my site (the junior high) and the high school. They are also our evening custodians.
Also, are you a member of your local school staff union? Do you even have a union? If so, how much input do they get on how the money is spent for lunches?
Does your school provide alternative choices for children who had various food allergies? More children have allergies to milk/dairy/eggs/flour these days and cant eat what most consider normal foods. Does your school at least provide an alternative for milk like soy or lactose free?
I know our school does not and being a small school the lunches are free because so many qualify and it definitely reflects that.
Thank you for taking the time to answer questions
Are there certain guideline you need to follow for a 'balanced' meal? What are those guidelines?
That's already a lot of questions (maybe some ask the same thing?) so I'll just say "thank you" for taking questions from the public. Conversation is the start of change and understanding.
Does your school district handle the entire district's food prep offsite and deliver the finished product to be reheated at your school, or does your school caf do most/all of the prep & cooking? How does this affect your role as a "lunch lady"?
How do you feel about the bad rap school lunches in general have earned?
How do you feel about the amount of food the children throw away uneaten? How much do you think gets left uneaten, not because the child is full, but rather the child didn't have enough time to eat it?
I appreciate you all of your hard work,
Julie
Do you get disrespected because of your position? Do kids even eat everything? How repetitive are the meals? Do teachers or other faculty care about the quality of the food?
Are you expected to eat the food yourself? I worked as a lunch aide and was expected to eat the lunch. I couldnt do it, it was so gross.
In my nieces' school, grades K-8, all the kids get the same amount of food. Is your school the same way? If so, what would you do, if you could, to change the amount of food the older, bigger kids get?
Do you think kids like the food you serve?
Two part question-
1. Please share your thoughts about the USDA guidelines,
2. and what "foods" (ie: chips, fries, jello or icey cups, etc.) do you feel violate the intent of those guidelines.
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In the current system, how much food actually ends up in the trash?
What would you estimate the waste factor is? (This directly translates to dollars when looking at new contracts and services)
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If you had the ability to revise the current USDA guidelines, what changes would you make? (sky's the limit- portions, ingredients, ratios, etc.)
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If you could make 10 small changes that would impact the selection, quality and preparation of the food served, what would they be? Please rank them in order from number one (top of wish list) to number ten (last).
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If you could make 5 major changes within the existing system (USDA reqiurements, budget, staffing, menu choices, time to eat, etc.) What would they be? Again, rank from top to bottom priority.
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Do the lunch ladies have any input in contacting foodservice?
If not, has anyone inquired about it?
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In your dream of dreams-
What would you do to change the the current food system?
What would you do if you were in charge of the school district?
What would you do if you were in charge of the entire system?
hi lunch lady,
by now (after answering the questions above) i'm sure you have a list of things you'd like to change. my question is, with your current roles and responsibilities, do you feel you're empowered to suggest/make those changes in your school? if not, do you know who to talk to that can make the wheel start turning?
thank you.
Sorry, I haven't been able to read all the questions so I hope I'm not repeating:
1) What percent of the food do you actually prepare, versus heating & serving?
2) Does your school have a policy about children being required to take all the food items offered in a lunch service? If not, why not? (I ask because I've seen kids take only corn chips on nacho day or only a white flour roll at our school and have never seen faculty or staff bat an eye.)
3) On the flip side, can students in your school request a second serving of vegetable or fruit, and if not, why not? (Again, my child wanted green beans with a chef's salad & was told she only paid for 1 vegetable, meanwhile every kid in front of her took the trays with zero beans! What's up with that?! Is this a national insanity or just a local one?!)
4) Can you discuss how many man hours (woman hours?) go into serving students each day? Do you feel you have adequate time, training and salary to do your jobs effectively? If not, what kind of advocacy on your behalf would you like to see from parents?
Thank you! I think lunch ladies have taken some licks lately but I think most of us know the current state of affairs is not your faults because often you're simply following state or federal mandates.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful questions. I think it may take our guest lunch lady a long time to get through these questions. I may be closing comments on this post earlier than I expected 🙂
Do you enjoy going to work every day?
I have no idea what it takes to be a lunch lady. What are the qualifications for the job?
WOW I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET STARTED…THIS IS GONNA BE SO MUCH FUN..
LUNCHLADY