School Lunch Tuesday 6/1: Chicken Tenders

The menu reads as follows: Chicken Tenders, Tater Tots, Seasoned Veggie, Wheat Bread, Banana

What they got: Chicken tenders, tater tots, mixed veggie, wheat bread, a pear and lowfat milk

Another processed chicken meal. This is just a chicken nugget in the shape of a tender. I'm happy to see some vegetables and a fresh fruit on the tray. I must tell you that as much as it pains me to say this, the kids really love chicken tenders/nuggets. And while laden with fat and sodium, balancing the meal out with fruit and vegetables is an absolute must. Only problem here is that the kids will just eat the chicken and leave the rest, so there goes any 'balancing' one may have attempted.

Recently, Consumer Reports rated 14 supermarket brands of refrigerated and frozen chicken nuggets — including two chicken-like nuggets made from soy and what they found was that they all came with high sodium and fat content and were low (not poor) on nutritional value. Surprise!

They also warned consumers not to be mislead by the "All Natural" or "Organic" labeling.  My advice is to always read the nutritional facts and ingredients on the back to see if this is what you are looking for.

I came across an article done by MSNBC: The 20 worst kids' foods in America. They dissect and rate the worst meals ranging from pb&j to chinese food and then recommend what your kid could eat instead. Worth a read for sure.

My favorite was the classic grilled cheese sandwich, which won worst kids' sandwich and here is why:

Au Bon Pain Kids' Grilled Cheese
670 calories
41 g fat (25 g saturated)
1,060 mg sodium

You wouldn't even consider feeding your child this if they called it by its real name: an oil sandwich with cheese. So soaked is this sandwich that you'd need to eat 25 strips of cooked bacon to equal the amount of saturated fat found between the two slices. Wait until you get home — in about 5 minutes you can make a pretty mean 300-calorie grilled cheese sandwich.

Eat this instead!
Kids' Macaroni and Cheese
250 calories
14 g fat (9 g saturated)
690 mg sodium

 Wow! Who would have thought.....

Tuesday 5/18: Chicken Nuggets

The menu reads as follows: Chicken Nuggets, Tater Tots, Seasoned Veggie, Wheat Bread, Banana

What they got: Chicken nuggets, tater tots, seasoned mixed veg, wheat bread, an orange and milk

The kids had lunch a little earlier today so I got there when they had already dished up all the food. Picture the above lunch with a few more chicken nuggets.

It surprised me that the kids did not eat their tater-tots. What doesn't surprise me though, is that 98% of them did not eat their wheat bread either. I'm going to assume that Chartwells serves the wheat bread so that they can meet USDA regulation, but for heaven-sakes- how many times do you just grab a piece of dry bread and eat it?  Are the kids supposed to dip it in the ketchup? Are they supposed to slap a chicken nugget on there and call it a sandwich? Either way the bread is landing up in the trash, along side the vegetables and polystyrene trays. To satisfy my interest I tasted the vegetables. They were tasty, a little to onion-ny for me, but at least they were not canned!  I tried to encourage the kids to try the green-beans or even the corn but to no avail.

Speaking of polystyrene plates- I noticed this time that they had the recycling triangle and a #6 on the back. This type of plastic is not easy to recycle and many recycling plants do not even accept it. I looked online to see if Hoboken does accept it as part of their curbside recycling program and found out from the contracted waste management company, that yes they do! Good news indeed! Now the only problem is to get the schools to participate!

Tuesday 4/13: Visit to Wallace and Hoboken High

I arrived at Wallace school at 11am on Tuesday morning as arranged with the food service director. He immediately informed me that word from the school district was that I was NOT allowed to photograph the food. He could not tell me the reasoning as to the districts decision. Later on while at the high school the food service director was called away to a phone call. He then informed me the of the districts reasoning citing legal policies in place regarding the photographing of children. Okay, I am parent and  I can understand not wanting my child photographed, however, they are fully aware that I am not taking pictures of the children but of the food. That evening I attended and Board of Ed meeting where I approached the the school district representative regarding the camera story.  He told me that I did not tell them that it was my intention to take pictures, even though upon my arrival the first thing I was told was, "NO pictures!" Mmmmmm. So they DID know! When I asked the school district representative if he had seen this blog and what my pictures entailed his response was: "This is not all about you!" I'm actually laughing now but at that time I felt quite offended- as if I'm enjoying not having a free moment in my life. Seriously, was that necessary?? Anyway, I'm hoping for 'do-over' and will let you know exactly when that happens.

In the mean time here are few observations:

WALLACE ELEMENTARY: On the menu: Chicken Tenders, white rice, creamy coleslaw, fresh orange, dipping sauce

• That day they served an additional vegetable: Broccoli :) 
• They have a small deli bar with cold cuts and assorted cheeses. 
• The kids have an option to eat the following everyday : Hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken patty burger, fries and assorted pizzas.
• According the NJ state law the lunch ladies may only serve to the kids what they themselves ask for! Really?
• They serve chocolate milk, strawberry milk, 1%milk and juice everyday. I'm just wondering whatever happened to drinking water. 
• Everything served was processed except for the fruit in the basket and the broccoli.
• The freezer in the basement was as large as most peoples' apartments
• They prepare 500 school lunches daily with 1 cook and 7 additional prep staff. 

HOBOKEN HIGH: CHICKEN PARM: Breaded Chicken Cutlet, mozzarella cheese and homemade sauce over pasta. Served with roasted italian vegetable, fresh veg and a dinner roll.

• In addition to the above menu they also serve pizza daily
• Full deli bar on offer daily with everything from tuna salad to pickles
• They only serve about 120 lunches daily. This means that the other 400 students are leaving campus to eat out. I wonder how we could get them to eat at school?

Finally, Chartwells has linked all the menus to the Hoboken School districts website.  Click here to access the menus. 

After reading the High schools menu and seeing the food I'm little more hopeful about the food being served. The thing that bothers me is that the the satellite school students are the ones that are really being fed poorly. They are served processed commodity foods on a daily bases with no fresh vegetables- ever! 

I will carry this post on when I'm finally able to take pictures of the food and post it. Please note Hoboken School District: Pictures of the food! I have no interest in photographing the kids!!

After visiting Wallace and the High School I dashed off my daughters school to check up on what they were eating:

The menu read as follows: Chicken tenders, white rice, creamy coleslaw, fresh orange, dipping sauce

What they got: Chicken tenders, white rice, creamy coleslaw, fresh orange, ketchup

I arrived well into their lunch break and so had to photograph a half eaten lunch, so please picture more rice on the plate. That's it. Can't say anymore on this than whats already been said.

Tuesday 3/30: Chicken Nuggets

The menu reads as follows: Chicken Nuggets, Mashed Potato, Seasoned Veggie, Wheat Bread, Banana

What they got: Chicken nuggets, mashed potato, seasoned veggie, wheat bread and a banana.

Consistency. The lunch provided was as promised. I am very happy that they (Chartwells) are sticking to the menu, which makes me wonder when exactly they fell off the wagon to begin with!

Back to the lunch at hand. I have to say that I've eaten chicken nuggets and will probably eat them again sometime however, after seeing Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution I'll definitely think twice. As a test, JO made chicken nuggets from scratch for the kids. The object was to show them what they are really made of and as repulsive as it was they still insisted on eating them! In the words of my 5 y.o "Yuck! That's dizzgustin!"

If you and your kids haven't already seen it, you must check it. Be warned though- its gross!

Jamie Oliver shows kids what's in a chicken nugget 

It is apparent that these meals are not made from quality ingredients, the kids are eating only what appeals to them and this case the nuggets drenched in Red Gold ketchup.

This particular brand comes in a giant can. I managed to get a shot of the ingredients on this one and I definitely don't want my kid eating the ketchup at school.
Here are the ingredients as listed on the can: Tomato concentrate, high fructose corn syrup, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, onion powder, spice, natural flavors.

My main concern here is again the presence of HFCS AND corn syrup. Yes, yes, it's a controversial issue, the jury is still out on hfcs but when something attracts this much negative attention and medical studies, I usually just try to stay away, regardless of what the outcome may be. Besides, I like the idea of eating just plain old sugar versus a processed corn-based sweetener. I think I need a Nutritionist to weigh in on this though. Stay tuned.

The rest of meal was not that great. The medley of vegetables obviously came from can and honestly are not appealing-  a waste as was the mash potato. I watched them as one after the other, they threw away the food. Gone. Wasted.

How do we manage waste?  Well, give them fresh raw veggies, sprinkled with a little encouragement and I bet they would eat it! But basically its cheaper to just buy cheap food and have it thrown away. Crazy.

Things are hopeful though. Right now a bill is passing through Congress that would require national nutrition standards for foods sold in schools to improve and also expand the number of low-income students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. The bill, named The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, also would provide funding to encourage schools to buy food from local farms and increase the amount of money schools receive per meal served. Today The New York Times put out a piece called "A TV Show and Congress Tackle School Lunches"  , and while all the national attention is awesome we as parents  also have to let our local school districts know that the food they are serving our children is unacceptable! So I urge you to write to our local Board of Ed members as well as Interim Superintendent Carter to pay attention to this issue and tell us how we are going to work together to offer better lunches for our kids!

Tuesday 3/23: Chicken Nuggets

Menu reads as follows: Chicken nuggets, mashed potato, seasoned veggie, wheat bread, fresh orange.

What they got: Chicken nuggets, powdered mash, canned carrots, wheat bread and syrupy fruit

Wow! Its looks way better than many of last weeks meals and this time no scary stuff on the nuggets. In fact they were almost 'crispy' and nicely browned. The powdered mash, which coincidentally  is the same color white as the styrofoam plate, was less appealing and much of it landed up in the trash as did everything except for the nuggets. Not one fresh vegetable or fruit was served. I have to question the Farm to School program that Chartwells claims to participate in.

Syrupy fruit does not count as a fruit in my household, its more like a dessert, and canned carrots simply lack texture and taste plus are usually  high in sodium and sugar. If only we could have a look-see on the label!  While I'm okay with this meal on some level I still feel very disappointed in how unhealthy it really is. Every bit of it is processed with additives, fillers and preservatives...I like to call them the silent killers.
Yesterday Princeton University came out with a study that concluded high-fructose corn syrup does in fact prompt more weight gain therefore linking this stuff to rising obesity rates. I call it stuff because once it looked like corn and now its sweet and syrupy. I cannot make that connection. If I had my way I would ban it completely, but I think for now  asking  the schools to not serve it to our children is a good start.

I dont have official numbers but from what I've heard at least 1/3 - 1/2 of our school district qualifies for free/reduced lunch, that is over 1000 kids everyday being fed breakfast and lunch. (I will reach out to admin for official numbers.)  If this is what they are eating daily I'm afraid that they are not getting a head-start in any way.  In fact, the odds are steeped up high against them.