Has School Food Gotten Much Worse in recent years?

[CenSin 3,248]

I remember those school days when we had ravioli, hot pockets (the distinctive aroma of cumin which I remember fondly), pasta shells, and spaghetti with meatballs. By the time I was in high school, the meals were tolerably variable, but it was noticeably more like something served at a fast food restaurant. Fries and burgers was a staple meal; thus, if you didn't want anything else or you were last to go get lunch, you got fries and a burger. The only decent meal was breakfast which retained some diversity. Often now, the food is so crappy that it's thrown away instead of being eaten. I've written a comment on a Yahoo! News article that sparked a few dozen replies; many agreeing that throwing away school food was wasteful, but nobody ever said school food was any good.

 

So, I ask: what are your perceptions of school food, and has it gotten perceptibly worse when you were in school?

Edited August 26, 2012 by CenSin

[Shortline Bus 1,121]

School food always sucked since i was in the system going back to late 1970's.

[DJ MC 1,207]

I went to a classroom that served lunch instead of the cafeteria during my high school year. The cafeteria would get so crowded I don't even want to be there. The food was sometimes very cold or looked as if it hasn't been cooked well at all. The classroom were I got lunch was much better with the food actually being hot and there was often long lines there. Plus they served other things that the cafeteria did not serve, so we had much more variety. In my opinion though I think it varies between schools when it comes to lunches.

Edited August 26, 2012 by DJ MC

[CenSin 3,248]

Speaking of crowded cafeterias, this reminds me of Japan and Korea where the students themselves set up and clean the cafeterias. The cafeterias in NYC—I don't know about anywhere else—are atrocious even in the top schools. Imagine the laws permitted schools to turn students into free labor (maybe they already do) and make them pay for a portion of their meals; the cafeterias would be shimmering and maybe the money saved in addition to the extra money could go to better food.

[YankeesPwnMets 530]

Its just processed, frozen crap. Even the fruits are mush.

 

Funny how you want kids to eat healthy when the only fruits they serve are warm, bruised and disgusting. The veggies are just soggy pieces of shit that you shouldn't even feed to your dog.

 

Better off to send your kid with something you made yourself.

[B35 via Church 9,405]

School food always sucked since i was in the system going back to late 1970's.

 

Beat me to it.

 

I remember we would sneak out for lunch... there was this pizzeria over there on CI av/Neptune we went to.... either that, or a chinese food store along neptune, right before you hit CI av.....

[Turbo19 2,509]

Considering I am attending public school, and have for the last 13 years, I can honestly say that I have never eaten any lunch at school. Partly because my famiy and I didn't want to recieve any handouts, but because I seriously considered that crap inedible. I recall back the first day of school back in '00, they were offering free breakfast to all students, and my young mind told myself it can't be bad. I wouldn't be exaggerating by saying I felt nauseous the entire day.

 

I made my lunch everyday through elementary school. In middle school, I would occasionally buy something from the on site vendors or a machine, but that got expensive, so rarely I brought something from home or bought something off campus. On the extremely rare occasion, I bought breakfast and lunch from a fast food restaurant.

 

Now in high school, I buy stuff from the local carniceria (meat market), or Circle K OR AM-PM convinence stores. However I find that to be expensive and unhealthy, so I took to taking my own drinks I purchased in bulk, and omitting lunch on most day. Significantly more economical.

[checkmatechamp13 2,269]

IMO, the food isn't completely disgusting, but it's just kind of bland. I mean, the NYC school system has over a million students, and something like 75% receive free/reduced lunch, so they just get the stuff by the truckload and serve it out.

 

Me personally, I used to eat it back in elementary school and part of middle school, but then I just skipped lunch. Now, I just hang out in the library (I wish we had that option back in middle school) and eat at home. I still eat breakfast there, though, since the food is a little more flavorful (that, and I usually take some of those little cereal boxes and snack on them later in the day).

 

There's a deli right next to my school and the line is like a mile long. I don't see why they all go there when they could walk a couple of blocks in the other direction and get something more reasonably-priced.

 

Speaking of crowded cafeterias, this reminds me of Japan and Korea where the students themselves set up and clean the cafeterias. The cafeterias in NYC—I don't know about anywhere else—are atrocious even in the top schools. Imagine the laws permitted schools to turn students into free labor (maybe they already do) and make them pay for a portion of their meals; the cafeterias would be shimmering and maybe the money saved in addition to the extra money could go to better food.

 

 

Eh, I wouldn't say the cafeterias are atrocious. Yeah, you may occasionally see a tray of food on the floor, but they aren't too bad IMO.

[NYCtrainfan01 586]

When I was in school, I rarely ever ate school food.... I'd rather wait to after I leave school for the day to get something to eat.... The school foods were absolutely horrid... Every now and then, I might get something from the vending machines... If the damn machine even worked that is... In my HS, The vending machine hardly ever worked.... If it did, most of the time, the machine ate my money....

 

I cannot stand school food.... I can control my hunger pretty well so I never really cared for lunch in school.... Because of that, my friends asked me to get on line to get them extra food... (Which I hated by the way) I rarely ever did them the favor... I wondered why they would eat the food there....

 

Folks in my HS would sneak out to the bodega near the school just to get something to eat.... I wouldn't do it though... I just didn't feel like it... The DOE really needs to improve school lunches....

[Amtrak7 427]

School lunch is terrible...its a market for the food that's of too poor condition for retail. At my high school, the quality has gotten worse lately. I eat it only out of necessity, if I can avoid it I will.

 

What's the undiscounted lunch price for NYC high school students? I have to pay $2.70 this year...

[NewFlyer 230 1,101]

yep it has I remember back in elementary school the lunch was some what a little better but when I got to middle and High school its gotten worst. I rather eat those sandwiches they serve in summer camps.

[B35 via Church 9,405]

How much do they charge for school lunch now? I remember it being a dollar if you didn't have a lunch ticket....

 

Certain kids used to go hard in the paint for some school lunch in Grady...

There was this kid I knew that never ate school lunch, but would sell lunch tickets for a dollar - he made a killin doin that too....

[CenSin 3,248]

I feel weird for at least liking some of the things they served. When/where'd you guys go to school anyway?

[FamousNYLover 557]

In Japan, we do not have cafeteria in schools, however some colleges/universities has food center or cafeteria.

http://deens-japan.com/archives/17.html

http://web-japan.org...a/stepin02.html

Our lunch are prepared and delivered by regional delivery center.

 

Students in each grades are responsible to bring lunch to their classrooms as lunch duty, so they have Lunch Uniform to wear.

 

When they get to place where lunch is being delivered, two students (in my Umekita Machi Elementary School), two students make sure our nails are cut. If not, they will cut your nails.

Then we bring their lunch to classroom.

 

Meanwhile students in classroom prepare their table 4 by 4 to form square and put our materials on front tables.

Then students will line up to get their lunch to eat.

 

These videos will show you.

Edited August 27, 2012 by FamousNYLover

[checkmatechamp13 2,269]

What's the undiscounted lunch price for NYC high school students? I have to pay $2.70 this year...

 

 

Damn, that high? I thought school lunch was a federal program and they charge the same rate to all students.

 

How much do they charge for school lunch now? I remember it being a dollar if you didn't have a lunch ticket....

 

Certain kids used to go hard in the paint for some school lunch in Grady...

There was this kid I knew that never ate school lunch, but would sell lunch tickets for a dollar - he made a killin doin that too....

 

 

The regular price is $1.50, reduced-price is $0.25, and free lunch is obviously free.

 

And yeah, my dad said that would go on a lot back when he was in school. Now they have a system where you load money to an account and then you enter a PIN and you can buy the food at whatever rate you qualify for. (I think you can buy snacks with it too, but they charge full-price to everybody) Before then, they had orange cards that said your name and whether you qualified for free or reduced-price lunch.

[FamousNYLover 557]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckde7uU0asw&feature=player_embedded#!

Skip to 4:00, where lunch is prepared at School Lunch Delivery Center.

Even thought it's Japanese, it might be little difficult to understand Japanese, but with picture you could understand how Japanese school lunch is being prepare.

 

Also, some students like to bring their own lunch.

[Turbo19 2,509]

Damn, that high? I thought school lunch was a federal program and they charge the same rate to all students.

 

 

 

The regular price is $1.50, reduced-price is $0.25, and free lunch is obviously free.

 

And yeah, my dad said that would go on a lot back when he was in school. Now they have a system where you load money to an account and then you enter a PIN and you can buy the food at whatever rate you qualify for. (I think you can buy snacks with it too, but they charge full-price to everybody) Before then, they had orange cards that said your name and whether you qualified for free or reduced-price lunch.

 

 

Here the regular is $1.75, and reduced is $1.25

[FamousNYLover 557]

I enjoy my lunch time at P. S. 151, Simon Baruch and High School for Environmental Studies.

My mom had signed up lunch form, so I was mostly free with lunch ticket.

When I was in Simon Baruch Middle school, I had Japanese paraprofessional lady named Ms. China (CHI-NA), but some calls her Ms. China.

I was special and I got two chocolate milk sometimes with my lunch.

[B35 via Church 9,405]

Damn, that high? I thought school lunch was a federal program and they charge the same rate to all students.

 

That's what I thought....

 

I mean, I knew that it was parental/guardian income-based if a child got the lunch tickets or not, but apparently it's now income based on how much each student's gotta pay also....

 

 

 

The regular price is $1.50, reduced-price is $0.25, and free lunch is obviously free.

 

And yeah, my dad said that would go on a lot back when he was in school. Now they have a system where you load money to an account and then you enter a PIN and you can buy the food at whatever rate you qualify for. (I think you can buy snacks with it too, but they charge full-price to everybody) Before then, they had orange cards that said your name and whether you qualified for free or reduced-price lunch.

 

 

25 cents less (meaning, 1.25) or literally 25 cents for the reduced price lunch ??

 

....and entering PIN#'s & depositing money into an account for school lunch.... lol....

[Joel Up Front 792]

When I was in my senior year of HS my school had implemented the same program. Another senior called it "putting lunch on the AMEX..."

Edited August 28, 2012 by Joel Up Front

[BM5 via Woodhaven 5,155]

Current lunch (sh*t) in school sucks, period. One of my cousin's friends bough lunch meals for half a year, and he owed $150 dollars. And those slogans for school food SMH's me. School food, feed your mind. Get outta her, more like feed your @$$.

[Den 104]

School food is the same exact processed preservative loaded crap that they serve in prisons and institutions. Its low grade institutional food. I think they still serve it in the military aw well.

[checkmatechamp13 2,269]

25 cents less (meaning, 1.25) or literally 25 cents for the reduced price lunch ??

 

 

Nope. 25 cents for the reduced-price lunch. (In other words, $1.25 a week, $5 a month, $50 a year)

 

Out of curiosity, I looked up the income guidelines to see what they were everywhere else. It said that the guidelines are the same everywhere except for Alaska & Hawaii (there, the cutoff is a little higher). So if the guidelines are the same, you'd think the price would be the same. I guess they charge a lower price for NYC students to compensate for the higher cost of living here.

[VWM 404]

Currently being in school, most our lunches are complete and total bullcrap. The only edible meal is nacho grande (nachos, taco meat, lettuce, cheese). But I do remember in elementary school food was delivered by Aramark and that was loads of bullshit...

 

We also have a "cold lunch" boars head sandwich bar I enjoy... Most healthy thing there is smh and all the veggies are mushy sh*t instead of crunchy like they should be

 

$2.20 is overpriced for this pure horsesh*t.

Edited August 29, 2012 by VWM

[SoSpectacular 574]

Beat me to it.

 

I remember we would sneak out for lunch... there was this pizzeria over there on CI av/Neptune we went to.... either that, or a chinese food store along neptune, right before you hit CI av.....

 

I was fortunate enough to have lunch as my last period back in my junior year of high school. Off to McDonald's or home I went! LOL