Amy Kalafa's Lunch Wars: A Hard Look at Ourselves

So true. TIme is so limited but I am such a busy body when it comes to my kids that I can just picture myself sniffing around my kids' school cafeteria.

labuenavida this is exactly how I was feeling when I started this book. When I actually looked at what our district was doing I was kind of blown away. I thought for sure if there was a district that would struggle in this area it would be one in the inner city. That isn't the case! This book made me think and it made me do my homework :)

lifeasaSAHM Amen! This isn't the time to say it but the government simply needs to allocate more budget share to this and other school issues. Our kids shouldn't be making up the funding shortfalls buying cokes out of vending machines. Asking them to is a crime!

alicewgold I agree with packing your own lunch if you're worried if you can afford to do so. The thing about school lunches is that they exist to ensure underprivileged kids get healthy food at least once a day during the school year. You're making a big assumption that everyone can afford to pack a lunch for 30 cents a meal or whatever it is that the reduced lunches are. Some kids get free lunches.

I used to look at everything that way, too -- does it makes sense for ME and MY FAMILY, but the whole world isn't you and your family.

Rita Arens

I think it's an interesting point to say that people should just pack their lunches if they don't like what the schools are providing. I used to teach at an inner-city school where some of the kids ate two meals a day at school. Some of these kids probably were lucky if they had dinner at home, let alone nutritious food for school lunches.

Also, what about the children whose parents don't have the information and/or knowledge about proper nutrition?

I think it's complicated, because I don't think it's necessarily cost efficient to worry about every single thing in the book. For example, she talks about needing to drink organic milk but nothing ultra-pasteurized. Maybe it's where I live, but all of the organic milk in my grocery stores is ultra-pasteurized. I DO think there are some serious problems with the lunch programs, particularly the money issues involved with vending machines, a la carte items, etc.

tiaras-and-trucks I agree re: doing everything in the book. While school gardens are a nice idea, I've seen them tried and abandoned because they were too labor-intensive. I know from trying to keep fifteen tomato and pepper plants alive this summer that you have to be out there every day watering, not just a few times a week like the book suggests. Honestly, if you just eliminated the junk food a la carte and mixed in a salad bar, it would be a huge improvement in the schools I've seen.

Rita Arenstiaras-and-trucks

I appreciate what you both have to say. Glad I didn't totally shock you with my take. I've only read 150 pages of the book so far, but right now I am not that impressed. I think sometimes people just get their own little pet stuff and try to push everyone else into agreeing. Our schools have been feeding kids just fine for over 100 years. Schools are not at fault for the obesity in our kids. I resented when the government mandated that we couldn't have cupcakes at school. I mean chill out people. Cupcakes 30 times a year aren't going to kill your kids.

I see what you are saying about the people who even lack the nutritional know-how and I am all for teaching them, but really, do people not know? They know. How can you get through public school without knowing? They just choose to ignore it.

And a lot of this stuff that I've read in the book isn't proof enough that anything is wrong with what is being fed to the kids.

I don't personally agree with the idea that the schools were responsible to feed the kids in the first place.

Before we know it they are going to be saying let's let all the kids stay until 5 pm so that they can get a good dinner too.

alicewgold I personally find it depressing that you are not at all concerned with children who might not get any other omeals except for what the school provides. This idea of "not my family, not my concern" is the kind of ideals that make me scared for this country. Something could happen to your family and one day your children could have to eat the school lunch because you don't have the funds to pack their lunch. Then you might feel differently.

Jannabee I am not unconcerned about the people who are starving, I just don't know if government run programs are the right answer. It's more of a political thing for me than a school thing.

alicewgold I used to spend money out of my pocket to feed kids when I taught in public schools. I say tax away. Taxes to feed kids decent meals (no one is suggesting all organic, just not all tater tots and "chicken" nuggets) will be a lot cheaper in the long run than the money it costs to deal with the health problems this brings on. Did you read the statistic about how nearly 30% of 17-24 year olds are too fat to join the military? How is that not a government concern?

As for how people get through public school without knowing what's healthy--hello! that's the whole frickin' point of the book. She's saying the schools need to teach that including modeling it. Because right now the schools aren't doing that.

alicewgoldtiaras-and-trucks Unfortunately, you can still get through public school without knowing how to read. I just wrote about it on my personal blog. I hear what you are saying -- and I think it's fine to agree to disagree on whether or not schools should have to provide a nutritious lunch. I say they should since the kids are legally required to be there through what -- 8th grade? What are the truancy laws these days?

alicewgold Yikes.

My family packs because my son has food issues -- and we can afford it. However, a HUGE number of children in our district are eligible for free and/or reduced lunches because of their parents' income. Their school lunch is really "what they get" in terms of a balanced meal every day. And we're not even the poorest school district when you consider that we're at the tippy-top of Appalachia.

Yes, nutrition is important in our schools. No, not everyone can afford to pack a lunch. Those people also aren't the ones serving up healthy meals every night. To say that this isn't a problem and this is drivel is to ignore the large portions of the country that are going hungry every night.

JennaHatfield I used to live in a school district where the majority of kids were on free lunch. I also am privvy to how much money they get in food stamps...which is staggering. A lot of the parents sell their food stamps to other people so they can buy drugs. I lived in Appalachia...knoxvilleTN. I think that we have an inherent problem in this country that keeps getting worse...let the government take care of everyone. Many of these people would change if they weren't living on the dole.

Of course I don't want any kids to starve. Of course I don't want them to go hungry. I just think that the better approach may be in the small community or in the churches. And I don't know if I agree with the stringent nutrition guidelines of the hippies.

alicewgold Staggering???? I challenge you to live on a food stamp budget for a month, I really do. "A lot of parents" sell food stamps for drugs. Yeah? Do you have more than "drivel" to back up THAT claim? What exactly is "a lot" and where do you find this statistic?

Ditto your disagreement with the "stringent nutritional guidelines of the hippies." Now THERE's a well-researched, thoughtful position.

I think the problem with this is that given the option, people don't step up and provide what is needed in their communities. It's nice to think that it would work that way, but it doesn't. alicewgold

sassymonkey That's when it helps to have a couple of go-to, shockingly-easy options in the fridge/pantry. Grilled cheese sandwiches and a can of tomato soup, for example. Almost no effort, that. And still comforting and not totally healthy. And still better for you than take-out. (But I totally hear you on this situation...)

Genie Gratto Oh we have those. And that's what we did last week when reached that point of "OMG I just can't DO IT TONIGHT." ;-)

Everyone is talking about grilled cheese this week. It's making me laugh.

sassymonkey Now that we're back to meal planning after not being able to this summer (due to so much travel), I feel so much saner. And healthier. The chili mac that I made for dinner the other night with lean ground beef, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chiles, some spices, kidney beans and whole wheat pasta was incredibly healthy and took less than 25 minutes to prepare, 15 of which involved letting the covered dish simmer. I finished cleaning then and set the table with the boys.

HOWEVER, if you would have told me that five years ago, before I started planning meals, I would have thought you were lying -- that there was no way to provide a tasty, healthy meal in 25 minutes. I was wrong. It took me awhile to embrace meal planning and even longer than that to recognize a recipe as do-able or not on any given weeknight. Now that I know what I know, I try to help others -- but it's hard to get into the practice.

JennaHatfield Heh. You were wrong. Honestly it's rare that a meal takes us longer than 25-30 minutes to prepare. When it does it's usually because it's hanging out in the oven or crockpot or simmering on the stove. A good example is last night's chicken pot pie. Leftover veg and chicken win a homemade sauce dumped into pan and topped with biscuit dough that took all together took about 10 minutes to assemble. It's really not hard, just some days it feels like it.

Our schedule hasn't been normal but it also hasn't been summer crazy. Mid-October to mid-November is a different story. I am tired just thinking about it.

JennaHatfield I do so much better when I map out my meal plan. Nothing is worse than looking at my husband and asking him what he wants for dinner and mentally going through what I need to thaw out to make it happen...at 4:00pm! Long live the meal plan!