Does your school serve chocolate milk? - Page 4

[sapphire_chan]

Back in the day, my elementary school in a poor neighborhood had an actual kitchen where they cooked on site. not anymore....

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

At the elementary and high schools here the meals are prepared daily both breakfast and lunch most of it is made on site. The head cafateria lady is a trained certified nutritionist.

For breakfast they always have cereal usually 3 choices of what kind plus each day they have another choice. For example chicken biscuit or wheat toast with jelly, Bacon, eggs wheat toast, muffin or yogurt etc

For lunch Hamburger/cheeseburger, backed fries, vegi baked beans, choice of fruit, Ham & cheese or turkey & cheese hoagie, whole grain pizza or corn dog, steamed corn, garden salad, fresh veggies etc. Not served as a choice every day but each day varies with the main dish.

That is actually better than 95% of the kids eat at home including my own so I have ho problem with how they do things here.

[Jenifer76]

I have no issue with chocolate milk. I don't think chocolate milk is the difference between a healthy kid and an unhealthy kid. There's a lot more going on (nutrition wise) and its root is probably at home, not at school.

Chocolate milk is the only milk my DS will drink at home or school. He doesn't often get the lunch at school but when he does he has an account. However, he is not allowed to willy nilly choose what he wants -- one main, one side and one drink is all their allowed. No desserts. Snacks are parent provided -- and he chooses not to bring a snack to school. Those that do bring a snack or told not to send sugary snacks.

[bobandjess99]

Originally Posted by mommy2maya

It's milk, not koolaid or draino. And I would honestly urge you to check out the cafeteria at your local school. Honestly, I think you have a very outdated view of what is being served in schools these days. At our school, on a normal day, they have a freshly made lunch that is 99% fresh, whole foods, including baked chicken, fresh veggies daily, whole raw fruit daily, hormone free milk. It might not be gourmet organic food cooked by famous chefs, but it is FAR from 'poisonous non-foods'

uh..okay. Honestly, I think you are the one who has an unrealistic view of what a school lunch consists of. I'm not saying that to be snarky, but really....What you are describing is not an average school lunch at all. I am aware that some areas, and some school districts, are serving food that is much healthier than a standard school lunch. (and that's awesome!) It sounds like you are lucky enough to live in an area that is doing that. But most kids don't get anywhere near that kind of school lunch. Most kids are getting pieces of processed chicken drenched in hydrogenated oils+breading, white roll with margarine!, syrupy canned fruits, KETCHUP, along with their dead (pastuerized) milk product as a drink. And it's all pre-packaged stuff, for the most part, nothing is fresh..heck, in our town, the elem schools dont even have a kitchen, the food is cooked (and by cooked, i mostly mean heated up) at the high schools and then DRIVEN around town to the middle and elem schools, where it is then served, barely warm.
also, it isn't necesarily WHAT the items are, but the fact they are crap versions of the item. for example, my family had "chicken nuggets" tonight. Pastured chicken, cut into pieces, dipped into organic honey mixed with mustard, fresh blueberries, strawberries and pineapple, and real, raw milk.
By having the "same" meal in essentially the fast-food version, you introduce trans fats, unhealthy oils, extra sugar from canned fruits, HFCS and hydrogenated oils, artificial colors and preservatives from a commercial "honey mustard" dip, etc.
And that crap fast food version is what they serve in all he schools I've ever been associated with.

[JessicaS]

Here is the lunch menu for our district.

http://www.kckps.org/menus/

[TiredX2]

Originally Posted by abimommy

Here is the lunch menu for our district.

http://www.kckps.org/menus/

Cool. Here is ours for comparisson (you have to click an individual school, but I think they are comparable across the district):

http://www.lwsd.org/Parents/Breakfas...s/default.aspx

[sunnmama]

Our district nutrition standards include 4 fruits/veggies daily, minimum 1 serving of whole grain daily, min 1 fresh fruit/veggie daily, and food prep limited to baking, roasting, broiling, boiling and steaming.

They also have a policy of offering, not serving, to limit waste. I like that, too.

[Jenifer76]

This is ours: Lunch

[mommy2maya]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

uh..okay. Honestly, I think you are the one who has an unrealistic view of what a school lunch consists of. I'm not saying that to be snarky, but really....What you are describing is not an average school lunch at all. I am aware that some areas, and some school districts, are serving food that is much healthier than a standard school lunch. (and that's awesome!) It sounds like you are lucky enough to live in an area that is doing that. But most kids don't get anywhere near that kind of school lunch. Most kids are getting pieces of processed chicken drenched in hydrogenated oils+breading, white roll with margarine!, syrupy canned fruits, KETCHUP, along with their dead (pastuerized) milk product as a drink. And it's all pre-packaged stuff, for the most part, nothing is fresh..heck, in our town, the elem schools dont even have a kitchen, the food is cooked (and by cooked, i mostly mean heated up) at the high schools and then DRIVEN around town to the middle and elem schools, where it is then served, barely warm.
also, it isn't necesarily WHAT the items are, but the fact they are crap versions of the item. for example, my family had "chicken nuggets" tonight. Pastured chicken, cut into pieces, dipped into organic honey mixed with mustard, fresh blueberries, strawberries and pineapple, and real, raw milk.
By having the "same" meal in essentially the fast-food version, you introduce trans fats, unhealthy oils, extra sugar from canned fruits, HFCS and hydrogenated oils, artificial colors and preservatives from a commercial "honey mustard" dip, etc.
And that crap fast food version is what they serve in all he schools I've ever been associated with.

Honestly, I don't think you realize that there are NATIONAL standards that list WHAT can and can not be offered. I doubt that anywhere but the most elite, $$$$$$ private school would offer the meal that you made for your family. There are strict adherents as far as fat content, calorie content, carb content, veggie offerings, etc. We are no longer in the clinton years, Ketchup is not a veggie. So, while the offerings may not be the ideal organic diet that some eschew as the only possible healthy option, while all other options are poison, they are options that fit into usda standards for the specific age groups, with strict portion sizes.

[Linda on the move]

Our district has only one elementary and only one middle school (and no high school) so the parents have a lot of control. We have a "healthy child" policy and lunch always includes both a fruit and a vegetable. The have dessert one day per week, and they don't have dessert at lunch if the school week includes class parties (so no dessert the week of valentines day, for example).

100% juice is served at breakfast, and the lunch options for drinks are milk, chocolate milk, water. One a month they have "breakfast for lunch" with french toast and such and the kids get OJ with lunch that day, and it's a big deal. No soda or juice drinks are allowed at all. The vending machines have only water bottles.

The middle school kids have more lunch options than the elementary. The food is pretty normal food that most kids will eat, but with an eye to nutrition. Today, for example, is pizza on whole wheat crust, tossed salad, and applesauce. The elemetary kids have the option of a turkey sandwhich on whole wheat bread any day that they don't like the entree. The middle school kids have several options, including a chef salad.

There's nothing wrong with chololate milk. Many fitness experts recommend it has a snack after exercise.

I think our school has found the happy medium.

[inkslinger]

Our school does offer chocolate milk with lunch, but it doesn't bother me. I make my daughter's lunch most days. I let her pick one day a week to eat school lunch and that works for us. Even for the kids that eat at school every day, I don't think a bag of chocolate milk every day at lunch is a big deal.

[TiredX2]

What reading the school menus brings home to me is really how many OPTIONS there are for school lunch.

At my kids school they have something like 4 (?) choices for the main dish daily. DP kids them that he had two options for hot lunch as a kid--- eat or not.

[WC_hapamama]

Originally Posted by mommy2maya

So do away with the real problem- the debit card system. Then it can't be abused.

The debit card/pin pad system keeps the students who are participating in the free/reduced price lunch program anonymous, so they're not suck in a separate line or using punch cards, which schools participating in the program can't do anymore.

That said, in the school district my kids go to school in, the lunch accounts can only be used for buying lunches, not buying snacks or a la carte, without parent approval beforehand.

I'm a lunch room supervisor at one of the elementary school, and there are quite a few kids that won't drink the milk at all, be it chocolate or white. The kids are required to take a carton of milk, whether they want it or not (or they're required to take an extra piece of fruit), and generally anywhere from 10-20 cartons of milk (mostly chocolate) end up left on a cart in the cafeteria after lunch is over.

The chocolate milk served in our district is fat free, as opposed to the regular milk which is low fat.

[SunshineJ]

Originally Posted by WC_hapamama

The debit card/pin pad system keeps the students who are participating in the free/reduced price lunch program anonymous, so they're not suck in a separate line or using punch cards, which schools participating in the program can't do anymore.

Yeah I do like the reason behind the card/pin system. I remember kids being made fun of for being "poor" when I was in school, and the cards were a pretty obvious indicator. Since we are now poor as well, I'd hate my kids to have to deal with that. OTOH I have to wonder WHY some districts feel it's necessary to have options like chips, cookies, etc. available to anything below high school. In our elementary the kids have 4 options for lunch. 1. You may bring a cold lunch. 2. You may buy the hot lunch complete with the entree being served. 3. You may buy the hot lunch and substitute a salad for the entree. 4. You may buy a hot lunch and substitute the sandwich of the week for the entree. Other than that, your only options to select are what type of milk. My best suggestion personally would be keep the cards/pins but minimize the options.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by WC_hapamama

the lunch accounts can only be used for buying lunches, not buying snacks or a la carte, without parent approval beforehand.

In elementary school here, there aren't usually any a la carte options. Once a week there is the option of ice cream and it must be paid for in cash. In middle school (starts in 6th here) there are more options.

The lunch accounts work GREAT here. We can add money to them on-line, no child ever forgets his/her money, we aren't fiddling with exact change everday, etc. It's super easy.

[aprons_and_acorns]

I think part of the problem is funding. Most schools have to make money selling school lunch items because the subsidies for free and reduced lunches only go so far. They have to make up the difference by selling lunches and sometimes extra a la carte items at full price. Otherwise they don't have enough money to operate. So they feel they have to resort to offering whatever kids will pay to eat. Nachoes with cheese dip, for better or for worse, is something that can get the non-free and reduced lunch crowd to buy lunch. Baked chicken and green beans, not so much. The same goes for a la carte items like cookies, pudding, giant pretzels, etc. Most kids don't bring money to school to buy carrot sticks and apples.

I used to work as the kitchen manager at a small private school, and this is what I could gather from working with the federal school lunch program and networking with other school kitchen managers. Most of them had a good handle on nutrition but they weren't able to apply it to their jobs very well because of budgets, lack of facilities, etc. It's a complex issue and I think getting parents involved is a great thing. There were days I would absolutely cringe looking at our menu, and I was in charge of it! I started incorporating more natural and home-cooked lunches, which went over really well, but it also brought the price up (more $ for fresh food and more paid work-hours to prepare it) and eventually our budget was upside down and I was out of a job. The school ended up contracting with a company to send over individual trays of pre-made lunches.

[Qbear'smama]

At DD's school, they have 3 or 4 different caterering companies offering different things on different days of the week and pizza Fridays. Very confusing (each company has its own ordering system and form ) and can be expensive per meal. We opt for a hot lunch on Mondays, pizza Fridays and I make lunch the other 3 days. Parents pre-order the milk for the kids, either chocolate, white, or a combo of both (I think it's white 3 days choc 2 days) and DD likes white. I like being able to opt in on certain days and for the Monday meal, I preorder from 3 healthy choices. If I had to deal with unhealthy meals at DD's school, I would probably opt out and make lunches, if I could.

[number572]

Originally Posted by mommy2maya

We are no longer in the clinton years, Ketchup is not a veggie.

maybe read more. this is not accurate.

[mommy2maya]

Originally Posted by number572

maybe read more. this is not accurate.

please show me somewhere that it EVER was listed as a vegetable serving. It was tabled, but as far as I can see, never was listed as a vegetable even then.

oh and the ketchup comment was TOTALLY facetious, not to imply ketchup as a veggie. Oh and in my silliness got my president wrong. Apparently it was in the Reagan administration that they tried to get passed ketchup to count as a veggie instead of condiment.

[VisionaryMom]

DS is in preschool @ a private school. They offer only regular milk.

The public school here, where DS likely will go next year, looks from the menus and other parents I've spoken to as if it has pretty crappy lunches. I doubt DS will take his lunch very often if at all. I'm thinking of allowing it 1-2 times per month.

I'm okay with chocolate milk as I know that single serving a day won't affect his overall diet. What kills me, though, are that they serve broccoli slathered in butter or those horrid little cubes of "mixed veggies." Gag.