Today’s menu: salibury steak, bread, butter, corn, peach fruit cup
There you go. That’s what I ate. I don’t know what else to say aside from that was no steak. But I’ve never been a steak or a beef person. (I love bread and butter though)
I moderate comments on blog posts older than 3-4 days. A few weeks ago one commenter wrote that I was a “vegetarian hippie” (I guess that’s an insult?). I don’t normally delete comments, even the negative ones, but I might have deleted that one. Obviously I’m not vegetarian — hello! — I’m eating these very beef-heavy meals! But the commenter might know me better than I thought… I think I’m done with beef after this project is over. One step closer to vegetarian!
I do believe that Salisbury "Steak" is made from chopped meat… so it's not so much supposed to be "steak"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_steak
I think Salisbury Steak is the original "mystery meat", but, I must admit that as a kid I dearly loved the tv dinner version that my grandma made me for a treat when I spent the night at her house.
I use top round steak that's been perforated with a 45 blade jaccard to make salisbury steak, chicken-fried steak, schnitzel, etc. You can use chopped meat but it doesn't cook as well.
I admit that the flavor of Salisbury Steak is something that just makes me drool with anticipation . . . especially those super cheap, super full of sodium, freezer Salisbury Steaks. Guilty pleasure I guess.
You think your lunch is bad??? I rather eat those Pb&j sandwiches and cheese pizza you hate so much than the food they serve us at my school. All the schools around here, they serve the same thing. We don't even have choices. It's 'grab a tray & move on' sorta thing. I would like to take pictures of my lunch and show you..May I be apart of your guest blog? I am a sophomore student in high school.
here's my email: hamster_oo@Hotmail.com
Vegetarian Hippie?? LOLOL! When we vacation to the USA we usually are a bit stunned by the amount of meat in everything. We don't consider ourselves vegetarians but we do eat vegetarian food at least twice a week.
After Easter, I would love to guest blog about the lunch at the high school I'm at, if you want. We're very lucky to have some of the best hot lunch in the district.
I so admire your ability to eat that. I'm a vegetarian but if I wasn't, that might be just the push I need to become one!
Ewwww on the plastic wrap over everything. I have been reading awhile but this is my first comment. I remember the meals that were served at an inner-city school I subbed at during grad school and this is better than what they got (can you imagine?). But ew!
You can do this! There's only a couple of months left. It must be tough for someone who cares as much about the children as you do. I live in WA state and we're very lucky to have a nice lunch variety for the kids. Obviously not all children are that lucky and thank you for bringing this fact to people's attention. Try to ignore the "haters." Let them judge and be petty, but don't let them derail you! 🙂
I'm sorry that is just awful looking. It upsets me so that some children have no other choice than to either eat it or go hungry. Our country has got to do a better job with school lunch and you have done a great thing by bringing attention to this.
I worked for a latch key program in child care and we had whole seminars about healthy snacks. I am German and seriously besides the fact that I found cooking often seems to be opening ready mix packages and adding water and heating… I found that maybe what is considered in childcare and schools as "healthy" is not necessarily anywhere close to healthy. i believe we should work on changing our childrens views on what tastes good and what doesn't by making them try single ingredients. my dad's also a chef an i have learned how to tell a taste of a final product by reading and remembering the taste of ingredients and mixing this to the final taste. a good balance of "sin" and healthy will give our kids all they need. question: why does pizza in the u.s. almost 80 % have meat as a topping? how about spinage and feta, fresh tomato and basil and mozarella (also italian colors) even sunny side up egg or asparagus, etc. are great toppings. nothing wrong in skipping a day of meat. eat what grows during that specific season to eat fresh, take time to prepare from scratch which can also prevent obesity issues and remember they only could afford so much meat in the olden days, not a daily necessity, carbs can be skipped… look at your plate and check what you know about what vitamin is contained in which food and what you are in need of. and stay hydrated. here's a great snack: carrots with a honey-oil-mustard dip (from scratch)
Hmmm…well, at least it has faux grill marks to make it look salisbury steak-ish. I had one at my son's school, sans grill marks..yours is fancier;-) **silver lining, silver lining, silver lining**
i love bread and butter too! what a treat. just kidding. about the "treat" part. not the i love it too part. because i do love bread and butter. a lot. maybe too much.
was your butter real or some margarine substitute thing? i'm also curious to know if the peaches (and every other diced, packaged fruit you've been eating at school) are packed in corn syrup water or actual juice. furthermore, the color palette of your lunches is a total buzzkill. are the students ever served red grapes or blueberries? i mean, ones that aren't corn syrupified into an icee or something.
At least the peaches don't look to be frozen.
Don't blame the corn syrup. It can't help that it is too useful of a sweetener that everybody uses it because it is cheap and effective at making things taste sweet. Nothing inherently wrong with it other than the fact it is in so many fast/easy food type things.
Looks like a tv dinner from the 1980's. Or 70's, I wasn't alive then so I wouldn't know. I'm glad my school lunches never came with plastic wrap over them!
You had school on Good Friday? I thought everyone had today off! So not only were you in school, but you had to eat salisbury 'steak'..ugh
I wanted to share what my son takes for lunch most days. It takes about 15 minutes to put his lunch together in the morning and I have been packing his lunch for five years now. The primary reason I started was because he was always starving when I picked him up from school and after volunteering Fridays for a couple of weeks, I knew we had to do something different.
On Friday he had a PB&J on organic, omega-3, multigrain bread (has flax and sunflower seeds baked in – the only bread he will eat), 10 tater tots, (which I cook in my skillet and send in a thermos container), organic yogurt (without corn syrup), two fresh cucumbers (skins on), organic apple slices (although it is hard to find good apples right now and I sometimes have to substitute a fruit cup), fresh, organic milk from our local dairy (again, stored in a thermos) and a ding dong (because you need to feed the happy inside a kid, just like you feed their bodies.)
I am a firm believer that children don't do as well in school if they aren't fed well. We do every thing we can to ensure he has a great diet, with lots of fresh fruits and veggies. He rarely comes home hungry (although I have been accused of trying to starve him when he starts a growth spurt – they always seem to hit at about 10:30 in the morning on a school day. I double his lunch during those times.)
I also want to point out that he is incredibly active and loves nothing better than being able to run and play. It frustrates him a lot that his friends would rather sit and play video games than to play dodge-ball. I think that the lack of good nutrition, especially in school lunch, contributes to that lack of energy and desire.
I remember the mystery meat days from elementary school. I dreaded salisbury steak day. Yuck!
I can't stand salisbury steak…not at restaurants and certainly not in a school lunch. It's just a glorified hamburger without a bun. School lunch meat is always the worst.
And that fruit cup? I was one of those strange children that didn't like fruit cups because I thought they were too syrup-y. I'd rather just eat a pear than eat a pear sitting in sugary liquid.
The funny thing is, I thought school lunches when I was a kid were horrible, but now I'm looking at those and I'm thinking they've gotten even worse.
You don't need to be a vegetarian, just eat pastured grass-fed meats after this project! SO Much better and good for you and the land and the animals.
This is my first time to your blog. Keep up the great work – I love it! I guess my future children will be packing their own lunches so they aren't exposed to that swill.
Didn't you say in your Lunchables post that you passed on the turkey because you're a vegetarian? Which is it??
Anonymous above- The Lunchables post was a guest blogger……..
Keep up the good work!
What a disgrace to true "Salisbury steak"– which was another one of those foods lovingly crafted by the REAL cooks who served us yummy meals back in those halcyon days of the early to mid-60's. My mother used to make it, too: real round steak, pounded with this cool, medieval-looking torture device, then braised in a good sauce made from real tomatoes, till tender.
I've been reading your blog from the first month. Hang in there! You're a braver woman than I am, Gunga Din. 😉
>>Tracey's Life said… It upsets me so that some children have no other choice than to either eat it or go hungry.
Kids to not have to go hungry. However, it takes effort on their parents' part. Parents simply need to take the time to pack their kids' lunches. And I'm not talking about a can of soda and a Lunchables package. I mean, take the time to pack some grapes, make chicken salad or tuna salad, pack some Triscuits with a few slices of summer sausage and some cheese pieces. I like making that fruit ambrosia or homemade jello jigglers packed in a small tupperware container. How about a sandwich wrap with cheese, lunchmeat, sprouts, lettuce, etc? Pack your child something simple like pretzel sticks with a small amount of peanut butter in a ziploc baggie to dip them into. This isn't rocket science.