Homework: Your school district’s menu(s)

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You have homework. I want to know what your school district is serving to students. Please post a link to your school district’s menu(s) in the comments as well as a brief review and commentary: good, bad, or ugly. Menu is plural because there might be differences within a school district (for example, the menus could be different in elementary school versus high school)

If you can’t find the menu(s), what can you find out about your school district’s nutritional guidelines on their website? Do they have a Local Wellness Policy (as mandated by the Child Nutrition Act)? Are they adhering to their own policy?

Readers email me links and menus as attachments all the time. In fact, a reader suggested this post. Let’s compare and contrast!

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242 thoughts on “Homework: Your school district’s menu(s)”

  1. My daughter is in a private pre school – here is their pre school menu. She does not eat the school lunches because we are vegetarian and she has celiac disease.

    I think the menus are pretty standard and nothing great – however salad is always included and that is something positive.

    http://www.childrensuniversity.com/downloads/lunch/current-prek.pdf

    I am also including the menu for grades K-6

    http://www.childrensuniversity.com/downloads/lunch/current-primary.pdf

  2. Must add to my PP – the price of the lunches are included in the tuition. So I assume that most kids eat the school lunches.

    There are a couple other kids in my daughter's class that choose to bring a lunch from home. I asked the parents why and they thought that the lunches were lacking nutritionally.

  7. http://bcswan.net/education/dept/dept.php?sectionid=53

    It seems to me that last year the choices were a little better. Unfortunately, the classes have about 10 minutes to eat. They can't start eating until everyone sits down at the table and then they have a 10 min 'silent time' only for eating and after that they can talk again. So whatever is eaten in 10 min is it.

  8. From Madison, Wisconsin:

    Elementary: http://foodsvcweb.madison.k12.wi.us/files/foodsvc/ELEM%20May_June_10.pdf
    Middle: http://foodsvcweb.madison.k12.wi.us/files/foodsvc/MS_Menu_May_June_2010.pdf
    High School: http://foodsvcweb.madison.k12.wi.us/files/foodsvc/HS_Menu_May_June_2010.pdf

    It pains me to see so many sugary options for breakfast (no better way to start the day than a spike in blood sugar!) and so few vegetarian options for lunch. At least in middle and high school there is a choice of salad every day, but it's usually a chef's salad with turkey or some other kind of meat. Almost all of the other options contain meat or copious amounts of cheese. I know that protein is a meal requirement, but what about chickpeas? Lentils? Tempeh or tofu? (Can you tell I'm a vegan?)

    I also don't think kids of any age need to be served any kind of sugary treats at school, except for special occasions. Children do NOT need to be eating donut holes or Po-Tarts for breakfast at school. I really kills me to think that this is what kids are being fed when they don't have any other choice at home, or even if that choice at home is worse. (I had a first grader come to school one day with a jumbo pickle and pickled hardboiled egg for breakfast…she spent most of the day in the nurse's office.)

  9. http://www.sau14.org/May%202010.pdf

    This is this month's lunch calendar for my former elementary school (a school I now work with). The lunches look pretty good! I know some afternoons when I go into the multipurpose room, I just have to ask "what was for lunch today?" because it still smells really good in there!

    Looks like Pizza Tuesdays for these kids…and I am happy to see they still have pancakes once a month…that was always my absolute favorite school lunch.

  11. http://www.wcps.k12.md.us/our_schools/nutrition_menus/menus.html

    The ironic thing is that our school superintendant was just names the "Superindendant of the Year" nationally. It was a big deal around here in Washington County, MD. Problem is that she was awarded the disctinction because she kept the costs per pupil down and marginally increased test scores. Guess where she cut the largest amount of money? The lunch program. It is scary-bad. Breaded everything. Best part of the menu is tacos because they use real chopped tomatoes. Thats the only one we let our kindergartener buy- otherwise he brown bags it everu day. Oh, and they eat lunch at 10:50 and get 10 minutes of recess a day. Remember, he is a kindergartener. Ugh.

    -Andrew Sargent
    lumberdog@yahoo.com

  13. The school district that my girls attend has a very good lunch menu in my opinion. Here is a link to the elementary and middle school menu
    http://www.clinton.k12.ia.us/menus.cfm
    Plus they are offered salad bar on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

    the high school menu is much different. They offer several choices including a main meal, ethnic meal, salad bar, deli line, pizza, hamburger, hot dog line etc. You can see that days main and ethnic choices at the bottom of the announcements. http://www.clintonhigh.com. Click on announcements and then scroll to the bottom of the page. All food is prepared on site.

    For the school district that I teach in check out this link.
    http://www.central-clinton.k12.ia.us/central_a/menus/menu_page_main.php.
    They have been trying new foods with the high school kids this year. The high school students also have a choice of a deli meat sandwich or a prepackaged salad. Both schools food looks much better than the ones you are picturing. It bothers me that everything you show is in separate packages with plastic wrap on top. Can't be fresh that way.

  14. How are most everyone's school district set up? Where I grew up in central NY, pretty much each rinky-dink community had its own school district. Where I live now (Chesterfield County, VA), the entire county is one school district. We've got some fairly poor schools and some quite afluent schools in our county. I bet it makes it more difficult to make changes in a school district that large. I wonder if those school districts that are on the "cutting edge" are in fact small, afluent school districts that have that flexibility.

  15. Elementary- http://www.irvingisd.net/foodservices/menus/2010-05-May/May%20Menu%20Elem%20Traditional%202010.pdf

    Middle- http://www.irvingisd.net/foodservices/menus/2010-05-May/May%20Secondary%202010.pdf

    Cold Salad choice: http://www.irvingisd.net/foodservices/menus/2009/Secondary%20Salad%20Choice%20Menu%202009-2010.pdf
    Snack Bar: http://www.irvingisd.net/foodservices/menus/2009/Middle%20School%20Snack%20Bar%20Menu%202009-2010.pdf

    High School- Is the same as Middle school

  17. I don't have kids but I came across the blog several months ago and have been following regularly. I actually took the time to read the lunch menus that are published in the weekend paper and thought about how not much has changed since I was in school and getting school lunches (Elementary school I think?). So for the past 15 years, it's still pretty much the same stuff that I remember. Actually, the taco pocket and fajitas I don't remember getting…

    http://www.ssusd.org/pdf/FoodService/Menu/May%2010_Menu.pdf

  19. I went to school in a small town up in northern ID.

    Elementary-The food looks about the same with a few changes. http://www.lewiston.k12.id.us/nutrition/May03lunch.html

    Middle-Looks worse than I remember. http://www.lewiston.k12.id.us/nutrition/Jenifer.html

    High School- What they fail to mention is right across the street is what the students used to call the Maggot Wagon. I realize this sounds disgusting but it had an array of soda, chips, candy, burgers and chicken chimichangas. This is where most of the student population went when not eating inside at the Hut.
    Choices Bar: http://www.lewiston.k12.id.us/nutrition/LHSChoicesMay.html
    Everything else:
    http://www.lewiston.k12.id.us/nutrition/LHSLunch.html

  20. http://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/schools/rsd_2601091718350306/menus/MAY-JUNE_ELEMENTARY_BREAKFAST_AND_LUNCH.pdf

    It's also important to note that the school offers a fresh Garden Bar at both breakfast and lunch times. It's strictly self-serve and they offer a variety of salad bar items as well as fresh seasonal fruit. As a side note, my son loves to check out your blog and see what you're eating. He says that his lunches look way better than yours and he's not sure he'd eat school lunch if it looked like yours does. He wishes you luck…

  21. In a bit of a hurry but here is a link to our school lunch menu. I am almost completely positive that it is the same for all schools except the high school has two separate lines. One line has the regular menu and the other side has an alternate such as burgers and fries or other leftovers from previous days. I've been out of school for 6 years but the menu looks pretty much the same as it did then.
    http://www.shenandoah.k12.va.us/v.php?pg=99

  23. Fairfax County, Virginia school menues and Wellness policy: http://www.fcps.edu/fs/food/food_at_school/

    I don't have a child in school yet, but it seems like they have a pretty decent menu. As a vegetarian, I see they have some okay options for that. It kinda reminds me of a scaled down version of the cafeteria in a factory I used to work in.

  25. My child is not in school yet but here are the menus for my district:

    High School:
    http://www.westernreserve.k12.oh.us/menu/hsmenu.PDF

    Middle School:
    http://www.westernreserve.k12.oh.us/menu/msmenu.pdf

    Elementary School:
    http://www.westernreserve.k12.oh.us/menu/eemenu.pdf

    Elementary school – May 7 – pb&j, soup/crackers and…..pickle chips! PICKLE CHIPS?? Really? With pb&j??
    Also I notice both the middle and high school have "Pockets" on the menu…anyone know what that is?

  30. Sodexo: https://www.sodexoeducation.com/segment_0200/district_6500/ENM/Entry1/

    Apparently, this is the group that puts together school lunches for the school district I attended: Granite School District, which covers most of Salt Lake City, Utah.

    It's a tiny bit better from when I went to school there (I remember a lot of pizzas, sloppy joes, spaghetti, fries and terrible iceberg lettuce "salads"), but largely the same. Most students who ate "hot lunch" from the cafeteria relied heavily on pizza and fries, since it seemed they were almost always available as a second choice over whatever was on the menu.

    I saw Granite's school lunch trucks rolling out to the schools one day; the trucks were emblazoned with slogans advertising how different school lunch here was now. Is it really? I have no idea.

  31. Our district's lunch menus:

    http://www.chartwellsschooldining.com/rochps/content/menus/ElementarySchool/elementary%20lunch%20may%20i.pdf

    http://www.chartwellsschooldining.com/rochps/content/menus/MiddleSchool/rms%20lunch%20may.pdf

    http://www.chartwellsschooldining.com/rochps/content/menus/HighSchool/shs%20lunch%20may.pdf

    My son is in PreK and doesn't stay late enough in the day to need lunch. The elementary school menu doesn't seem too bad compared to the local private school's menu (can't find a good link to theirs at the moment). I like that there seem to be a lot of fruits and whole grains offered, though I'd love to seen ingredients list and more detailed nutritional information. (Plus, I'm dying to know what "Blushing Apple Slices" are.) There's definitely room for improvement, but I will be willing to let my son buy lunch on select days.

    As far as the high school and middle school menus go, there seems to have been a vast improvement in the cuisine since my days there. They'd only had hot lunch, the vegetarian option (which was cheese pizza every day) and the snack bar which sold nachos, fries, ice cream, candies, etc. Looking at the current menus, it seems like they have loads of different options! If things had been that way when I was there, I might've actually bothered to eat lunch.

  39. Here is the menu in District 102 LaGrange, IL (Chicago Suburb)

    Elementary schools: Only cold sandwiches are delivered over, no hot lunches.

    http://www.dist102.k12.il.us/system/files/MAY-10-ELEM%20%28SACK%29.pdf

    Junior HIgh:
    Daily offerings; attached menu, or pizza, cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, nachos and taco meat. There are "healthy options" which is listed as "a variety of fresh salads, wraps & sandwiches plus fresh fruit and veggie". Bonus French Fries are 75 cents.

    http://www.dist102.k12.il.us/system/files/MAY-10-JR%20HI.pdf

    Apparently the "healthy option" at the Junior High is what is given to the Elementary students.

    I had NO IDEA how bad the junior high lunches are! Pizza and fries can be eaten every day? That is absurd!

  41. Here's the link for the Seattle Public School lunch menus: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/nutrition-svc/menus/elementary/e_header.html

    When you click the link you'll get a .pdf download.

    My kids pretty much refuse to buy lunch. Mostly, I think it's because they feel like they don't have enough time to eat and visit with their friends if they have to wait in line to buy lunch. I'm not sure they like the food they've had an those rare occasions when they've bought lunch. I've tried it a couple of times and I thought it was horrible.

  42. http://www.darecountyschoolsonline.com/moxie/bm~doc/mayjune2010final042710.pdf

    I rarely have a chance to get to the school at lunchtime, so I am not sure how many kids are eating the good stuff…but the good choices are usually there. A little too much processed on the entrees. But, it could be worse. My child will eat the veggies, but chooses the pb&j as an entree almost everyday. However, with reduced cost lunch (since our family is pretty poor), I cannot pack a healthy lunch for less than 40 cents a day.

  43. I am in upstate NY, Finger Lakes area. Our kids had pizza today (stuffed crust, I am not sure if its whole wheat . . . it used to be, and then they started making stuffed crust). Pizza, banana, cups of cheese (left over from yesterday's tacos), and salad.
    They can also pick a Smucker's uncrustable (ick!), a bagel or yogurt

  44. http://kleincollins.kleinisd.net/docs/3-KCHSMenu.pdf

    I graduated from this high school about four years ago, at the time most students went through the express line for egg rolls, popcorn chicken, and cookies. The most popular entrees were taco salad and pepperoni calzone, though it looks like the latter is off the menu 🙁

    They didn't post this menu online back then and I don't remember if we knew what we were going to eat everyday… though I do remember that the two favorite entrees were usually offered on Fridays.

  49. http://culver71.net/pdf/lunch/May2010.pdf

    My daughter buys lunch way more than I would like her to. But I balance the lunches she gets with healthy breakfasts, dinners, and snacks so I let it go. Her favorite lunch is cheese-filled breadsticks. Who knew that would even qualify as a lunch? Though since ketchup is considered a vegetable, anything is possible. She's told me that she doesn't much eat the vegetables, unless they are raw. She does eat vegetables at home (though I never served canned). She doesn't eat the cookies either which are served at least twice a week. I do remember in an earlier post that someone commented that cookies count as one of the servings of grains so that is why they are served in addition to any bread/bun products. I'm not sure exactly how the lunches are prepared, but I do not think they are in individual heat-n-serve containers. I will have to ask 🙂

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