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.....

Wednesday 5/5: Macho Nacho

The menu reads as follows: Crisp Tortilla Rounds, Meat&Cheese, Cilantro Brown Rice, Lettuce&Tomato, Fruit Cocktail

What they got: Crisp tortilla rounds, _____&_____, cilantro brown rice, lettuce&tomato and fruit cocktail.

Again we have the 'mystery' meat and it's accompanied by the neon cheese product. I really detest this cheese stuff. According to NutritionData.com it has some 'goodness'. The good: This food is a good source of Calcium, and a very good source of Phosphorus. The bad: This food is very high in Saturated Fat and Sodium. Mmmmm, strong healthy bones to carry the extra weight maybe?

I am happy that the kids were actually eating their brown rice and even happier to finally see an inclusion of whole grains into the menu, even if it is only included here and there.

I am noticing thought that our menu contains a lot of meat, in fact everyday has some form of a processed meat product. I wonder how the district would react to a day of meatless lunches? New York school district does Meatless Monday.

Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Our goal is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.

I think it would be a great addition in our district too! Definite food for thought.

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 3/23: 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.