Red Beets & School Lunch Policy

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 30
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    I do not like salads as a main dish because there is nothing to them. They are not unhealthy, but neither are they healthy. They are a distraction from more substantial food.



    At my high school we had pizza on Friday, but we had three lines: main dish, hamburger, sandwich & snack. There were hardly any real options for healthy food there. The best you could really do was a tuna sandwich (on whole wheat) with a side of steamed carrots or broccoli.



    Past that the sandwiches were all slathered in mayonnaise and right next to those were salty chips and sugar/fat-bomb candy bars.



    You get tired of tuna & broccoli and the only changes of pace were unhealthy. God that food sucked.



    I think coke machines in schools should either (1) be removed or (2) allow only sugarless beverages.
  • Reply 22 of 30
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Carol, since you're all gung-ho about getting salad ingredients, try also picking up some gorgonzola and pears. Sometimes my mom makes her salads with those and although it sounds weird, they actually go together really well. Just make sure you don't overdo it on the gorgonzola.



    And I sure do want my mom to teach me some cooking! I'm not great with the intuitive aspect of it... I basically have to have a recipe laid out in front of me to get anywhere. But hopefully I can change that at least a little sometime this summer. I'll be living in an apartment over summer so I'll have to cook for myself. I have to get some good recipes that involve lots of vegetables but are still delicious. In my household, we've always emphasized having lots of veggies but making them good. Otherwise you get into a situation where the kids only want to eat pizza, burgers, etc. And I think that's a big problem with school lunches - if they were actually able to serve good food that had lots of vegetables in it, kids might actually go for it, but when you have to serve lunch to hundreds of kids over a two-hour period, it's just not possible to make good vegetables. They all end up being totally dead by the time anyone eats them. As a result, the kids hate the vegetables and take pizza instead, then refuse to eat vegetables at home (even if their parents cook them properly).
  • Reply 23 of 30
    fangornfangorn Posts: 323member
    It's been a long (long) time but I remember school lunches. Not that I ever bought them unless the cafeteria was serving hamburgers or pizza.



    My mom, being prudent with my father's money, always packed me a lunch:



    a sandwich, but sometimes a thermos of ravioli

    a sandwich bag full of chips (I preferred Doritos),

    fruit (apple or orange),

    a piece of beef jerky,

    and a desert (twinky, ding dong, etc.)



    Believe it or not, I am not 300 pounds. (I'm not even overweight.) I had to literally _beg_ my mother to pack me _just_ a sandwich and chips when I got older.



    About the time I was in high school, my school developed "alternate" lunch choices, including a "snack bar"--hamburgers, nachos, etc.--and installed vending machines. I knew lots of people who had a bag of Fritos and a coke for lunch. Not to sound like a jerk, but it's now wonder their grades were so bad. Junk food isn't exactly ideal for sustaining good mental clarity, if you know what I mean.
  • Reply 24 of 30
    jubelumjubelum Posts: 4,490member
    Beets of the world unite! Maybe beets conspired to start the Cold War?
  • Reply 25 of 30
    carol acarol a Posts: 1,043member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Chinney

    There are no real commies left anymore



    You don't think the Chinese are communists?
  • Reply 26 of 30
    carol acarol a Posts: 1,043member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Fangorn

    It's been a long (long) time but I remember school lunches. Not that I ever bought them unless the cafeteria was serving hamburgers or pizza.



    My mom, being prudent with my father's money, always packed me a lunch:



    a sandwich, but sometimes a thermos of ravioli

    a sandwich bag full of chips (I preferred Doritos),

    fruit (apple or orange),

    a piece of beef jerky,

    and a desert (twinky, ding dong, etc.)



    Believe it or not, I am not 300 pounds. (I'm not even overweight.) I had to literally _beg_ my mother to pack me _just_ a sandwich and chips when I got older.



    About the time I was in high school, my school developed "alternate" lunch choices, including a "snack bar"--hamburgers, nachos, etc.--and installed vending machines. I knew lots of people who had a bag of Fritos and a coke for lunch. Not to sound like a jerk, but it's now wonder their grades were so bad. Junk food isn't exactly ideal for sustaining good mental clarity, if you know what I mean.




    When I was in kindergarden and 1st grade, my mom made my lunch. I remember opening it and the fragrance of 'banana' would burst forth....and sometimes the fragrance of (eek!) baloney! Banana and baloney are quite pungent together.
  • Reply 27 of 30
    chinneychinney Posts: 1,019member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Carol A

    You don't think the Chinese are communists?



    No. Not really. In the economic field they have extensively adopted a market economy and in the poltical field they are mostly just totalitarian now.



    And I hardly know of any Chinese Ska or Reggae groups.
  • Reply 28 of 30
    messiahtoshmessiahtosh Posts: 1,754member
    BTW, Carol A: I am the picture of health. I dont think you were insinuating that just because I have choice, that I decide to eat crap. I dont even ever buy the offered lunches.



    If anyone knows anything about health it is me, considering I lost 60 lbs from a regimented diet and exercise program. 220 to 158 is a pretty remarkable thing to be able to do, especially in a healthy way.



    I just think that the whole problem with eating badly in schools stems from (yet again) a lack of information about what food will DO to you. I think obesity is a problem, but wasting food is probably as bad. Both ultimately claim lives.
  • Reply 29 of 30
    carol acarol a Posts: 1,043member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Messiahtosh

    BTW, Carol A: I am the picture of health. I dont think you were insinuating that just because I have choice, that I decide to eat crap. I dont even ever buy the offered lunches.



    If anyone knows anything about health it is me, considering I lost 60 lbs from a regimented diet and exercise program. 220 to 158 is a pretty remarkable thing to be able to do, especially in a healthy way.



    I just think that the whole problem with eating badly in schools stems from (yet again) a lack of information about what food will DO to you. I think obesity is a problem, but wasting food is probably as bad. Both ultimately claim lives.




    I wasn't insinuating anything, Messiahtosh. Honest.



    I think that's great about losing 60 pounds. Fantastic, even.



    I have 130 students at present, and all are pretty trim - even with the pizza and fries. They are growing fast, and many tower over me. So I guess they convert the pizza and fries pretty successfully. And I think our 'fries' might actually be baked, as opposed to being fried, but I could be wrong about that.



    About the beets - we often have red beets in the US, but I think in Russia their beets are more purple. My college Russian teacher had our class over for dinner during our senior year, and the borscht she served was deep purple, as I recall. Just a different variety of beets, I guess. Beets are so dark - they must be quite nutritious.
  • Reply 30 of 30
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    The best school lunch at my high school was served only a few times a year. It was basically a mixture of turkey and gravy with mashed potatoes on the side and usually something else. We affectionally called it "slop." Most guys would order double or triple slop lunches for only a few bucks. And you'd get killed if you wasted any of your mashed potatoes.



    Man, I miss those days.
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