Tuesday, September 25th, & LUNCH PRICE POLL RESULTS!

     What's for lunch Tuesday, September the 25th? Salami hoagie with broccoli salad.

     Here is a breakdown of what I ate for lunch on Tuesday the 25th.

• 1 salami hoagie with cheese
• 1/2 cup cut watermelon
• 1/2 cup apricots
• 1 can tomato juice-----------30 calories
• 1/2 cup broccoli salad
• 1/2 pint 1% low-fat milk-----100 calories
• Miracle Whip----------------15 calories

     On any day that I don't want or like what is served for the hot entree at school, I can get a sandwich.  I probably eat a sandwich two or three times a week, just because I know what I am getting and know what to expect with it.  In the last couple of weeks, there have been many cucumber, broccoli, and cauliflower salads, all of which are very good.  They almost taste like my grandma made them!  This particular salad had cut broccoli, diced onions, crumbled bacon, white raisins and some sort of mayo based sauce.  I will probably be getting this quite often, when it is available.

     The results from the poll, Lunch Price, which asked the question, "How much does a lunch in your or your child's school cost?" are in!!  With a total of 68 votes over 7 days, here are the results.  

$ 3.25 and above	5 (7%)
$ 2.75 - $ 3.25	9 (13%)
$ 2.25 - $ 2.75	39 (57%)
$ 1.75 - $ 2.25	10 (14%)
Free - $ 1.75	5 (7%)

     The price with the biggest number of respondents was $2.25 - $2.75, with 39 votes.  Free to $1.75 and $3.25 and above have the same number of votes, 5.  Do you have a suggestion for the next poll on The School Lunches Suck! Blog? If so, email me or comment below with your idea!! 
     If you are aware of what the High Plains Journal is, Trent Loos wrote an article in his column, The fight against the path to starvation, and he mentioned the blog in it!! How cool!!

-----Thanks to the many readers, The School Lunches Suck! Blog now has over 12,500 page views!! Thanks to you for your support!!  Don't forget to check back often for more posts from The School Lunches Suck! Blog, and to 'share' the blog on Facebook with friends and family!!!

Thursday, August 30th.

     What's for lunch Thursday, August 30th? Tacos with tater tots.

Here is a breakdown of what I ate for lunch on Thursday the 30th.  

• 1/2 cup strawberries
• 1/2 cup grapes
• 1/2 pint 1% low-fat milk......100 calories
• 1 cup assorted veggies
• 1 taco bowl
• 1/2 cup taco meat
• 1 ounce cheese
• 1 packet sour cream.........25 calories

     Tacos are one meal that not very many students complain about, I mean, who doesn't like tacos?  We have the choice of 2 soft shells, 2 hard shells, or one bowl.  Tacos are usually served with tater tots, but instead I opted for green peppers and sliced tomatoes.  Last year, I distinctly remember being pretty full on taco day, but this year, after my lunch I wondered why I didn't seem as full. 

     In years past, we were allowed to help ourselves to the cheese, sour cream, and other delicious toppings one puts on a taco.  This year, the cheese was portioned out, and sour cream handed to you when you paid for your meal.  You could still put your choice of vegetables on top, but it just wasn't the same.  It took me only about 10 minutes to eat, leaving me quite a bit of time to talk to my friends at my lunch table.  

     By the time I was leaving school to go to work, at 3:00, I really wondered if I had eaten lunch at all.  I got to work, and thankfully someone brought muffins to share that day.  I disappeared to the break room to eat one, and when I got off work at 6:15, I still wondered if I had eaten lunch.  To me, the portion sizes are just ridiculous.  Oh, and I almost forgot to remind you.  Lunch prices at BHS have increased $.10 from last year, making a 'USDA approved lunch' now $2.50.  And, in order for students receiving free and reduced lunch to get the discounted price, they must follow the new standards. 

     

     Below, I have links to a couple of interesting reads from the Beatrice Daily Sun regarding the new school lunches.

School lunch gets a makeover

http://beatricedailysun.com/news/local/education/school-lunch-gets-a-makeover/article_57cdb241-729a-5c92-8c3e-af91a1129b1b.html

BPS fees, lunch prices to increase

http://beatricedailysun.com/news/local/bps-fees-lunch-prices-to-increase/article_da90287b-e7e1-5b95-85da-8cc8013dc82e.html

-----Recently, one of my readers suggested that I call someone from the University of Nebraska in the football program, and ask them what kind of diet the football players for the Huskers are on.  It will be quite interesting to compare their diet to that of a high school football player, so watch out in the coming weeks for a post!!!  As always, don't forget to share The School Lunches Suck! Blog with your friends on Facebook, and check back often for updates!!-----

Monday, August 27th.

     What's for lunch on Monday, August 27th? Spaghetti with meat sauce and a bread stick.

Here is a breakdown of what I ate today.

• Spaghetti with meat sauce
• 1 bread stick
• 1/2 pint white milk
• 3 strawberries
• 2 orange wedges
• 3/4 cup mixed veggies
• 5 slices pickled beets

     Total Vegetables: ~ 2 cups

     Total Fruits: ~1 cup

     

     Today's lunch was a common meal served in cafeterias across the country. Everyone is used to the familiar glob of noodles covered in a somewhat watery spaghetti sauce.  The noodles and the bread stick were both whole wheat, which fulfills the USDA requirement that half of all grains must be whole.  As with my meal last week, about an hour later I was hungry again.  I really started to feel bad for the football players sitting across the cafeteria from me, as they have practice after school.  I wanted to know just exactly what a person like a football player needs, so I did a little research.  

     I know that the USDA has a handy little website called choosemyplate.gov, formerly known as mypyramid.gov.  There, there is a tool that anyone can use, called Daily Food Plan.  The Daily Food Plan breaks down how much of a certain food group a person should eat in any given day. Here, you can select your age, height, weight, gender, and level of physical activity.  

     I decided to use a 17 year old male, weighing 210 lbs. and standing 6 feet tall., with more than 60 minutes of activity a day.  To me, this represents the average football player. The results from the Daily Food Plan were not surprising to me in the least.  

• 3,200 calories a day
• 10 ounces of grain a day, at least 5 ounces whole grain
• 4 cups of vegetables a day
• 2.5 cups of fruit
• 3 cups of dairy
• 7 ounces of protein

With our new school lunches, we knock out a portion of each suggested daily consumption.  

• 850 calories
• 2 ounces of grain
• 1 cup of vegetables
• 1 cup of fruit
• 1 cup of dairy
• 2 ounces protein

     With the limit of calories for a 9-12th grade lunch set at 850, many of those 17-year-old football players or other athletes are simply not getting enough energy from his or her lunch to preform their best at practice.  With only 26.5 percent of daily caloric intake coming from lunch, where is the energy athletes need for practice coming from?  I will interview a couple student-athletes in my school in the next coming weeks to find out.  

Here is the link to the Daily Food Plan from the USDA.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/myplate/index.aspx

Here is the link from the USDA comparing current school lunch regulations and the previous regulations.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/comparison.pdf

Until next time, stay full!

     

It's not their fault!

     Before I really get into writing about the lunch schools now serve, I want to make one thing absolutely clear to everyone who reads the blog.

The lunches schools now offer are not the fault of those who serve and prepare the meals.  

     Cafeteria workers are very hard working people; many who truly love their job.  I have the utmost respect for the people who make and serve my meal at school, as my own grandma is a 'lunch lady'.  It was not their decision to change the food they provide, it was the government's.  The people who prepare the food I eat at school day in and day out are only doing what they are told to do.  They did not decide that as a Senior in high school I can have only 10-12 ounces of meat a week.  They did not decide that I am allowed to eat only 10-12 ounces of grain products a week during lunch.  It was the government's.  It simply is not their fault.  

     The several women who work in my school's cafeteria are some of the most caring, friendly people I know.  Everyday, I say 'hi' to them as I fill up my tray, always receiving a reply back, along with a 'how is your day going?'  Many know me by name, and one in particular even remembers my birthday.  With this blog, I only seek to show people exactly what is served for lunch in America's schools, not to put-down and complain to the food service workers in my school, all of whom I greatly appreciate.  

     Make sure to watch this week for posts on what I ate for lunch, and sometime soon a spotlight from another student at Beatrice High School - their thought on lunch!