school lunch menu and PCRM
Posted by susan.brackett on Oct 16, 2007 · Member since Jun 2007 · 198 posts
PCRM lists my child's school district as offering a veg*n option everyday and rates it good.
The link below is her lunch menu and I don't agree.
Who do you agree with?
I assume they're saying veg*n options are offered daily because of the salad bar. Although if that's the reasoning, why don't they just offer the same meat meal everyday? The meateaters aren't required to eat the same thing everyday. School lunches are better than when I was in school (no salad bar, for sure), but they're still inadequate and unhealthy for the most part.
Adding--I just noticed that it looks as if all of the salads have either cheese, turkey, or yogurt :( . Oddly, they also offer jalapenos frequently (seems weird as most kids don't like hot peppers). It's also ironic that they like to throw in stuff like brown rice to make otherwise unhealthy, meaty food seem healthier.
I can see this as maybe being better than most because of the offered salad bar daily. Still not great by any means but at least there are options.
Hotpockets and uncrusables? are you kidding me? :o
wow the variety is unbelievable.
I have to say, it seems like a bigger selection than I ever had in highschool (a whoppin 2 years ago)...but it still all looks utterly disgusting. Wouldn't that amount of cheese do something horrible to your digestive tract?
Bento box it!
ooo dried cranberries. It seems like a vegan salad with those ingredients would inclue lettuce + one vegetable (carrot or zucchini...) and something extra, like rasins or nuts or something. eh. that doesnt compare much to what the other kids get! Plus, usually salad dressing has some sort of milk in it, I bet the itallian dressing has parmasean in it.
Maybe your child could take in a small tupperware thing of salad toppings like sunflower seeds and other veggies.
Wow, I think it an amazing variety! I realize that it looks like the salad bar is the only choice for veg*ns but stil.....!
No matter what year this is, besides college I guess, I NEVER had a choice at all. When I went to school there was only one choice and no salad bar. Unless you brought your lunch you got really gross cheese pizza, really gross spaghetti or burgers on Friday. If you were veg you could eat the really really gross canned corn or peas but that was it.
I would have LOVED to at least had the option of a salad bar like that. Wow things have changed! And I graduated high school in 88, which I guess is a long time ago in the grand scheme of things but it doesn't seem like that long ago.
My first thought was "where's the vegan option?" Kids can't live on salad alone. I noticed the veggie burger option ... but, who knows what the veggies burger has in it.
Still, compared to my grade school and high school ... that is a nice variety those kids are getting. My grade school served is a tiny side of vegetables (in some buttery sauce) with a huge heaping thing of fries, chili dogs, and milk. Sometimes the chili dog was replaced with salsbury steak or mac and cheese. But, that was pretty much it.
High school we DID have a salad bar ... but, all it was was a few pieces of lettuce. They'd serve pasta for lunch one day, and the next day it would be a "pasta sandwhich" at the salad bar. ;D
Fortunately, I always packed my lunch via a fake note from my doctor that I had to eat different foods. (We weren't allowed to bring our own lunch without a doctor's note for some reason.)
Wow...that school certainly likes teriyaki. I sure didn't see any vegan options besides the salad bar. And really...what kid is going to like to eat that everyday while surrounded by everyone else eating crap. Kids don't like to stick out. Maybe you could make her/him a homemade lunch that is similar to what the school serves.
While I would not consider the items listed on the menu a worthy lunch for a vegan elementary or high school kid, comparatively speaking its not horrific. They do offer something (cheese) veggie most days as well as the salad bar. Why even on Tuesday of Week 2, they have Bean & Cheese burrito, PB&J Uncrustable and the salad bar! If the kids are L/O then its somewhat acceptable.
Compared to what I recall of elementary school & Jr High lunches this menu is pretty good. In High School our campus was open and we could walk down the hill to stores & fast food. Many days my lunches were PB M&M's or French fries dipped in soft serve. It wasn't until the end of senior year that I had a car and could go pick up veggie Lo Mien. And I wasn't even L/O Veg then.
Send a lunch. First off, its going to taste better, secondly, its going to be things they like, healthier, more variety and constantly changing with the season. Vegan Lunch Box archives rule! Go check things out there. Even if your child is older than Shmoo it would still work. Heck I wanted to have 99% of those lunch boxes for myself at work! haha
I'm really surprised that the PCRM thought that was good. Neal Barnard is one of my heroes, and he is so anti-animal products; I just can't believe he'd endorse such a non-vegan friendly menu!
Yup, it's better than many school lunch programs (in terms of variety and vegetarian options at least), but it's not a GOOD LUNCH. Most options are not healthful or vegan. Pack a lunch.
And maybe write to the PCRM and find out why they're going all wimpy!
Kids can't live on salad alone.
EXACTLY!!! Why does everyone think that all you have to do is offer salad to the veg*ns and they are taken care of? >:( My daughter's school does the same thing. Salad or veggie burger and since they are considered "ala carte" items they cost more than school lunch. According to my daughter, the veggie burgers are the most expensive ala carte items the cafeteria offers and they don't always have them. This is why I coughed up the $$ on that Bento box and she takes her lunch almost everyday.
My school has no vegan options that I can think of... except salad but the dressing definitely isn't
The vending machines u might get by with juice or potato chips but I think they are cheesey chips... they used to have chocolate silk but "not enough people bought it"
the rating to be more precise: The school district (in So Cal) got an A- from PCRM. :o
They cited things the school district really doesn't do in their "report card"..grow food in gardens...non-milk based drink offering...veg entree every day. They have improved the offerings and think they are doing well....Before the food was really scary...canned fruit cocktail, half frozen fries w/ smiley faces cut into them, chocolate milk and a white castle style burger was a common offering (It was worse then when I was in school).
Maybe I am really hard on them, because the school district she was in before was in a veg*n friendly community. They had real veg options in her school and all community events also offered vegan items (it was Arcata. CA- a veg paradise).
She rarely eats the school lunch. One day I even had to go over to the school and take her a PB and pickle sandwich when she forgot to take a lunch.
When all is said and done A-....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO D+ or C-.
It sounds like you guys would rate it about the same...am I right?
half frozen fries w/ smiley faces cut into them,
Ugh. The school where I work serves these on Fridays with the pepperoni pizza... they're called "potato smileys."
When I first started working, I said to a colleague..."potato smileys? really? GROSS!?" She said "obviously, you don't have children." I silently thought, "no, but when I do, they will be as dumbfounded as I am when they learn about "potato smileys.""
Wow. C- because there is an option of some veg sort, but still pretty pathetic overall. It is A LOT more options than I ever saw throughout highschool (2 meat entree options, overcooked, drowned in butter veggies and no salad bar), but it still looks pretty gross and unhealthyfor even the omni kids. (Doubt the kids even know it though! ::)) And I agree, a sorry attempt at a salad bar and tons of cheese doesn't make a healthy choice for veg*ns. >:(
youd think theyd even offer a baked potato, chickpeas or something more substantial.
i guess its a long way from my days of eating, literally, a huge choc chip cookie for lunch.
but why do parents have to accept just the bare minimum? i really think it has to do w/ whole change in mindset. when thinking of large scale vegan food, its like.......*duh* :-\