Schools Nutrition Activism

[VisionaryMom]

A few weeks ago, our city's newspaper ran an article about the school lunches & a move to get better options. Apparently there was a small group working loosely on it, but they've stalled. Has anyone had any luck as a parent working on this issue?

When we got DS' lunch menu yesterday, I almost fell over. It's terrible! I read the menu to him, and the only thing all month, he wanted to eat there was pizza once he understood it was all or nothing. (When they were having corn dogs w/ baby carrots, he said he'd eat the baby carrots but not the corn dog. )

Anyway, I know old habits die hard & all that, but I also know that schools *have* altered what they serve. We live in a notoriously unhealthy state, and seeing what they're serving for lunch brings that home for me. I'm just not sure where to start.

[lauren]

The whole "localvore" movement has really taken off here on a regional level, so I'm not at all concerned about the quality anymore. It's almost become much more 'hip' to serve great food that is locally grown. I'm grateful for this.

[Linda on the move]

our former public elementary had a healthy kid policy and the lunches were pretty good. But our school was it's own little k-8 district, so it was easy for the parents to have a lot of say. the changes happened before we were there, but I know that they did it through the PTO.

[peaceful_mama]

our school has a lot of typical kid entrees--corn dog, hot dog, breaded chicken items, pizza, pizza pockets...I kind of understand that they have to make the lunches appeal to the mainstream crowd of kids and make it cheap.

BUT...what they *have* done is gone to all frozen and steamed or fresh veggies (no more canned--lower sodium and better nutrient content too)

all either fresh fruits or if they do use canned it is juice, not syrup. (yeah but they've got to use what they're given to keep it cheap)

They do have a *lot* of fresh fruits and vegetables especially considering the only ones I remember when I was a kid was the occasional apple or orange.

Oh and they've gone to whole-wheat pasta and at least half whole-wheat breads. (yeah, I know but it's better than it *was* all white bread. And again I'm understanding that they've got to do this cheap and appeal to most kids...and I'd say *most* probably eat either the "tastes like white" or white bread.)

[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by peaceful_mama

our school has a lot of typical kid entrees--corn dog, hot dog, breaded chicken items, pizza, pizza pockets...I kind of understand that they have to make the lunches appeal to the mainstream crowd of kids and make it cheap.

I know, but I grew up mainstream. We didn't eat that stuff. That's what my mother calls "fair food," and you can eat it very rarely. I don't think it's something most people eat everyday, though maybe I'm sadly mistaken.

Originally Posted by peaceful_mama

BUT...what they *have* done is gone to all frozen and steamed or fresh veggies (no more canned--lower sodium and better nutrient content too)

all either fresh fruits or if they do use canned it is juice, not syrup. (yeah but they've got to use what they're given to keep it cheap)

We have some great orchards that are willing to help out. The biggest obstacle, according to the nutrition services director, is to have the facility/time/people to process fresh veggies & fruits. That's where I think help can come. They say it's just so easy to do jar spaghetti sauce and that they can't justify making it from fresh veggies. Plus storage is a problem for some items.

Originally Posted by peaceful_mama

Oh and they've gone to whole-wheat pasta and at least half whole-wheat breads. (yeah, I know but it's better than it *was* all white bread. And again I'm understanding that they've got to do this cheap and appeal to most kids...and I'd say *most* probably eat either the "tastes like white" or white bread.)

We're pretty low-grain, but I'd be happy with this move. They have lots and lots of French fries and garlic bread. The weekly entree rotation seems to be chicken hip dippers (don't know what those are), corn dogs, pizza, spaghetti, and pizza pockets (I'm assuming hot pocket-type things.)