The future of our health

[united4Peace]

reading some of the links...think Ill go and make some gingersnap cookies, lemon loaf and some rhubarb crisp...(which my family eats in moderation...not all at once)

 

[united4Peace]

For those who qualify for free or reduced lunch, it's actually a lot cheaper to get the school lunch. Can't make a home made lunch for 40 cents and you certainly can't make one for free.

Free or reduced lunch?
Here those on welfare go to the foodbank and still make their children's lunches...food at the school costs soo much...$5-$6 for a school lunch...we are in the high middle class branch and cant afford that! Many of our children's friends are in the poverty and they cannot afford tht either...hence the reason most parents pack a lunch from home

 

[Conservativation]

I agree that school lunches are bad. It's actually a perfect illustration of why we need LESS federal government and not more though. School lunches are the way they are because of federal guidelines and requirements. If that were handled on a state or local level, schools would be free to do what they want in terms of providing more nutritious choices.

Food Revolution has shown that the overall cost of producing school lunches with fresh and unprocessed ingredients is only slightly higher but with many schools receiving free food from the government, until it changes at the federal level, it won't change at the local level.

Exactly, and a bunch of bureaucrats watching videos of kids lunch trays is stupid! We dont need to see the tray of food on video, the kids are flippin fat. Nuff said. Now make some decent food and move on. Next....

 

[JaneFW]

reading some of the links...think Ill go and make some gingersnap cookies, lemon loaf and some rhubarb crisp...(which my family eats in moderation...not all at once)

Oooooh rhubarb. I love rhubarb. You got recipes?

 

[JaneFW]

Exactly, and a bunch of bureaucrats watching videos of kids lunch trays is stupid! We dont need to see the tray of food on video, the kids are flippin fat. Nuff said. Now make some decent food and move on. Next....

So, why isn't that happening? Why isn't it improving?

 

[Conservativation]

So, why isn't that happening? Why isn't it improving?

Isnt it obvious?

Take the few million spent in San Antonio (federal money)....now apply that stupid thinking to all aspects of education, including school lunches.....add the cost up, divide by the number of students.....the amount saved if wasted crap like that was canceled could hire a sue chef for each kid and they could buy fresh food and cook it table side.

 

[united4Peace]

Oooooh rhubarb. I love rhubarb. You got recipes?

I do indeed...well okay its a phone number (my mommies) bwwhahaha

A friend made Rhubarb juice...10 cups rubarb, 1 cup sugar and then you can eat the rhubarb on icecream (rather than throwing it away) and add half a glass of sprite to the juice so that it has a zingy taste

 

[JaneFW]

I like Food Revolution but if he's going to be effective on a widespread basis he needs to think bigger, a LOT bigger as in taking on the federal guidelines that govern school lunch programs. That's where the real problem lies because the guidelines and requirements are driven as much by food production lobbyists as they are by nutritional science. He's shown that it can be done fresh/non-processed for only slightly more money,and that the kids will eat it, but in a school setting only slightly more money often isn't possible.

Well, it worked in England. It actually forced change in the school system, but I don't live there anymore and I'm too lazy to find out whether it was a long lasting change. Hmm, apparently not because the Tory government is stupid and doesn't care about working class kids.

The problem is that you don't just have to change the schools - you have to change the parents. I dont know if it was here or there were parents were coming to the school gate and handing over McDonalds meals to their "poor kids" who were being "forced" to eat healthy food. Oh my goodness. That's when I want to give up on human beings.

I had forgotten - it's all coming back to me now - that when he had the kids in WV in the classroom, he was showing them veggies, and some of them didn't even know what a potato was or a tomato. Very, very scary.

 

[chaz345]

Free or reduced lunch?
Here those on welfare go to the foodbank and still make their children's lunches...food at the school costs soo much...$5-$6 for a school lunch...we are in the high middle class branch and cant afford that! Many of our children's friends are in the poverty and they cannot afford tht either...hence the reason most parents pack a lunch from home

The full price school lunch here in the US rarely exceeds about $2.50 and the free and reduced is a federal program that kicks in at income levels FAR above those for welfare and food stamps.

 

[JaneFW]

I don't know about subsidised lunch but my middle son can't get anything under $3.00, and that's just the meal. A drink is another $1.

 

[FaithPrevails]

Free or reduced lunch?
Here those on welfare go to the foodbank and still make their children's lunches...food at the school costs soo much...$5-$6 for a school lunch...we are in the high middle class branch and cant afford that! Many of our children's friends are in the poverty and they cannot afford tht either...hence the reason most parents pack a lunch from home

Yikes. Maybe we should take on those kinds of prices for school lunches and motivate more parents to pack lunches.

School lunch where I am costs $1.70. My kiddos buy lunch once a week or less. I have a pre-paid account for them, but it has restrictions, so they can't buy desserts - like ice cream - unless I give them cash for those items. They weren't thrilled about that, but I told them they didn't need access to ice cream every day, regardless of buying or taking their lunches. Oh how they doth protest.

 

[dallasapple]

Beans..and greens.and rice...are cheap..and they are a heck of a lot better for anyone than globs of refined white flower and oozes of processed cheese..

And heck..how about WATER for a drink?

And Im sorry ..if people dont have more than ".40 cents to feed there kids lunch?They better not be eating ANYTHING themselves for lunch that cost more than .40 cents..I frankly dont beleive thats the case for the majority ...

I know there are people that due to circumstances they have no control over have a very very rough time..and possibly dont have enough money to afford to feed thier children properly.but I think thats the exception not the rule..

A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread(no jelly) and a banana and some carrot slices with a glass of WATER is not expensive..its nutritious and balanced.

Dallas

 

[chaz345]

Well, it worked in England. It actually forced change in the school system, but I don't live there anymore and I'm too lazy to find out whether it was a long lasting change. Hmm, apparently not because the Tory government is stupid and doesn't care about working class kids.

The problem is that you don't just have to change the schools - you have to change the parents. I dont know if it was here or there were parents were coming to the school gate and handing over McDonalds meals to their "poor kids" who were being "forced" to eat healthy food. Oh my goodness. That's when I want to give up on human beings.

I had forgotten - it's all coming back to me now - that when he had the kids in WV in the classroom, he was showing them veggies, and some of them didn't even know what a potato was or a tomato. Very, very scary.

The thing is that with England you are talking about a population that is approximately 1/3 the size of Texas alone. Much easier to make changes happen at a national level with a population that is that much smaller.

Yes of course parents need to be involved too. Breaking them out of the processed convenience food mentality is needed also. But as relates to making changes in the schools, which is where a lot of his effort seems to be focused, the problem is as much the federal regulations as it is willingness by the individual schools.

 

[JaneFW]

Yikes. Maybe we should take on those kinds of prices for school lunches and motivate more parents to pack lunches.

School lunch where I am costs $1.70. My kiddos buy lunch once a week or less. I have a pre-paid account for them, but it has restrictions, so they can't buy desserts - like ice cream - unless I give them cash for those items. They weren't thrilled about that, but I told them they didn't need access to ice cream every day, regardless of buying or taking their lunches. Oh how they doth protest.

Yes, I went through that scenario too. When we first moved here, the older two boys went to the same elementary school for a year, and I would be writing checks and writing checks, and then I actually called the cafetaria to find out where this money was going, only to find out that they had been buying cookies .. ice-cream .. I was pretty mad.

The middle child is the only one getting school lunches right now, and I have direct debit through a company called My Lunch Money and I can log in and see that he had an entree and a drink, or a breakfast, or whatever. He gets in trouble if he messes with it and eats or drinks something he shouldn't have!

 

[JaneFW]

One moment of cultural shock that I don't think anyone but me really noticed - Jamie Oliver is told that American school kids aren't allowed to use knives. His jaw dropped, and I cracked up laughing. When I married my h, and a little while into our marriage, I couldn't understand why the eldest boy (then 7 or 8) didn't know how to use a knife to eat with, only to find out that school kids weren't given (eating) knives and his dad cut all his food up for him. Has this in any prevented knife crime in the US because it still blows my mind! (You are given both a fork AND a knife to eat with in first grade in British schools.)

 

[FaithPrevails]

Yes, I went through that scenario too. When we first moved here, the older two boys went to the same elementary school for a year, and I would be writing checks and writing checks, and then I actually called the cafetaria to find out where this money was going, only to find out that they had been buying cookies .. ice-cream .. I was pretty mad.

The middle child is the only one getting school lunches right now, and I have direct debit through a company called My Lunch Money and I can log in and see that he had an entree and a drink, or a breakfast, or whatever. He gets in trouble if he messes with it and eats or drinks something he shouldn't have!

I have the same kind of account and I can view their purchase history and bust them accordingly. I finally just set it up as a "meal" account for each of them instead of a "general" account, so I didn't have to micro-manage their choices so much.

My kids aren't really that crazy about school bought lunches and will often not buy at all on a given week. They will buy pizza or occasionally a mac n cheese plate. But, they're pretty keen on the lunches I pack and seem to prefer those, which is just fine with me.

 

[Conservativation]

Given a knife! Labour clearly hates kids....what with putting such risk in place

 

[FaithPrevails]

One moment of cultural shock that I don't think anyone but me really noticed - Jamie Oliver is told that American school kids aren't allowed to use knives. His jaw dropped, and I cracked up laughing. When I married my h, and a little while into our marriage, I couldn't understand why the eldest boy (then 7 or 8) didn't know how to use a knife to eat with, only to find out that school kids weren't given (eating) knives and his dad cut all his food up for him. Has this in any prevented knife crime in the US because it still blows my mind! (You are given both a fork AND a knife to eat with in first grade in British schools.)

Our kids don't even get forks, they get sporks. Definitely no knives, though. They get in trouble just for making a gun shape with their hands - I can't imagine how red/blue/purple an administrators face would turn at the idea of actually "arming" them with a knife! *gasp*

Both of my kiddos know how to use a knife. They also have placemats showing them the proper table setting and my younger son loves to set everything in exactly the right places. lol

 

[dallasapple]

School lunches here are a little over 2 $ ..thats elementary thouhg..Im sure they are more in 10 th grade I'll have to ask my son if he knows ..we pack his lunch..but I would be sure .what we pack may cost a little more..but not much..

Today he got peanut butter(no sugar added) and honey..on whole wheat..with an apple and bottled water..(my problem with this one now even though hes a boy ..he wont eat very much..I think he has food control issues beleive it or not..he was tortured when he was younger because he was very chubby)...

Hey Niffer see what I mean?I feel like a BIG fat failure too..My sons were overweight and got tortured..and I KNOW my ignorance to food(even though I cooked healthy and NOt healthy if that makes sense)..and their fathers INSISTANCE of taking them to eat fast food at least every weekend is my fault..

Dallas

 

[chaz345]

Beans..and greens.and rice...are cheap..and they are a heck of a lot better for anyone than globs of refined white flower and oozes of processed cheese..

And heck..how about WATER for a drink?

And Im sorry ..if people dont have more than ".40 cents to feed there kids lunch?They better not be eating ANYTHING themselves for lunch that cost more than .40 cents..I frankly dont beleive thats the case for the majority ...

I know there are people that due to circumstances they have no control over have a very very rough time..and possibly dont have enough money to afford to feed thier children properly.but I think thats the exception not the rule..

A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread(no jelly) and a banana and some carrot slices with a glass of WATER is not expensive..its nutritious and balanced.

Dallas

40 cents is just what our district charges for those who qualify for reduced lunch. But to be honest, I doubt that what I have for lunch nearly every day costs much more than that. Ramen with a couple ounces of whatever the meat in last night's dinner was and a piece of dried fruit, usually pineapple.

Oh and haven't you heard, peanut butter is practically banned in some schools now a days because of hysteria over peanut allergies.