TOTALLY GEEKED!

Bonny22Pye · Guru

Pork Or Nothing!

Southern_Belle · Nothing's Impossible

What if someone just doesn't like pork?

Bonny22Pye · Guru

Southern_Belle wrote:
What if someone just doesn't like pork?

Don't eat that lunch then?

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

This is not new. Growing up we only had one option for lunch. You either ate it, did without or brought something from home.

I would have zero problem with that now.

JPT · Senior Member

Sheesh, don't parents pack kids' lunches anymore?

JPT · Senior Member

I just remembered, in our school, they had the "hot lunch" option, and if not, then peanut butter/jelly or tuna sandwiches.

Ohfour · Hooker

lilyofcourse wrote:
This is not new. Growing up we only had one option for lunch. You either ate it, did without or brought something from home.

I would have zero problem with that now.

Yep. Until High School, we had one lunch. You got what you were served, on a tray, with a carton of milk.

Bonny22Pye · Guru

Ohfour wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
This is not new. Growing up we only had one option for lunch. You either ate it, did without or brought something from home.

I would have zero problem with that now.
Yep. Until High School, we had one lunch. You got what you were served, on a tray, with a carton of milk.

I want to say it wasn't until around high school that you could get a Kosher mean upon request.

Hot lunches at school were always kind of gross and I never bought them unless as a last resort or unless it was pizza day.

Tignanello · My dog name is, Sasha!

We had a cafeteria with options, but we paid cash. Or brought from home.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

The only choice was white or chocolate milk. On the rare occasion we got strawberry.

We could get skim milk too.

That's all the choices we got.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

It's weird but we didn't even have a lunch program until I got into high school. In elementary and junior high you had to bring your own lunch. There was no lunch program. In high school we had two options. The regular line and the salad bar line. And no, the salad bar wasn't really healthy.

Momala · Great cook-happy wife-superb fisherman

I remember with great longing the Manhattan Clam Chowder served at my high school. I wish I could duplicate it. Our school had 2 protein choices, 4 veggie choices, 1 dessert, and milk.

The French Mayor has a good idea - one choice, or bring your own. Didn't we have a thread a while ago about a parent who was chastised because the lunch she packed for her child didn't meet the nutrition standards set by the school?

Bonny22Pye · Guru

Momala wrote:
I remember with great longing the Manhattan Clam Chowder served at my high school. I wish I could duplicate it. Our school had 2 protein choices, 4 veggie choices, 1 dessert, and milk.

The French Mayor has a good idea - one choice, or bring your own. Didn't we have a thread a while ago about a parent who was chastised because the lunch she packed for her child didn't meet the nutrition standards set by the school?

Yeah it was missing a grain so they gave the kid some Ritz crackers. I think the kid brought in leftover stew with potatoes for lunch.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Our school had one option plus a soup/salad bar. The soup was made from leftovers.

DD's high school had one option. No salad bar.

I don't see what the big deal is. It's a money saving effort if nothing else. Pack a lunch if it's not what you prefer.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Yeah that's another thing I don't like. Keep your nose out of the kids' lunchbox.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Our school always had 3 options - the daily entree, pizza, or a hamburger. I ate pizza almost every day. I miss that pizza.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

I think it would be easy enough to offer a cheap alternative that is the same everyday - like a cheese sandwich. So, you have the changing entree plus that one unchanging option.

When our school system was looking for ways to save money, they invited suggestions. Mine was that they stop providing SEVEN lunch choices each day in the high schools. It's not a flippin' restaurant. They didn't listen.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Lawyerlady wrote:
I think it would be easy enough to offer a cheap alternative that is the same everyday - like a cheese sandwich. So, you have the changing entree plus that one unchanging option.

When our school system was looking for ways to save money, they invited suggestions. Mine was that they stop providing SEVEN lunch choices each day in the high schools. It's not a flippin' restaurant. They didn't listen.

Thats how I feel too. I think they cut down on the waste by selling things on multiple days until it runs out. But yeah, the kids shouldn't have that many options. Retail analysts say that the more options people have, the less they purchase.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Lawyerlady wrote:
Our school always had 3 options - the daily entree, pizza, or a hamburger. I ate pizza almost every day. I miss that pizza.

I loved our square cardboard pizza. Michelle Obama be damned.

Our high school offers five lines, a soup line where you can get your choice of things like soup or chili or stuff like that with crackers or cornbread, and a salad line. But there are also five local restaurants that sell their products in the school. Pizza Hut, Subway, a local fried chicken place, a burger place, and one other.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

The only religious observance in school lunches was fish on Friday.

Why do they have to have so many options? I don't understand it.

High school we had a hot line, a sandwich line and a salad/potato bar that alternated daily.

Some times if you got a sandwich, burger, turkey, whatever, you could get some lettuce or tomato from the salad bar. It really depended who was working them.

FNW · Guru

lilyofcourse wrote:
This is not new. Growing up we only had one option for lunch. You either ate it, did without or brought something from home.

I would have zero problem with that now.

Yep. Now they offer all these choices for the kids. Ugh.

Vette · Owl drink to that!

When I was in high school my mom was really poor, I usually ended up eating dried top ramen every day. I was soooo jealous of the kids who got hot lunch.

Bonny22Pye · Guru

VetteGirl wrote:
When I was in high school my mom was really poor, I usually ended up eating dried top ramen every day. I was soooo jealous of the kids who got hot lunch.

You probably qualified for free lunch.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

We only had one option or a salad. I generally liked school lunch.

Awww Vette, they didn't have lunch programs at your school? Now you would get a hot lunch every day if you were in school.

Southern_Belle · Nothing's Impossible

We usually used our lunch money for other things.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Southern_Belle wrote:
We usually used our lunch money for other things.

So did we Junior & Senior years once we could drive (skip school).

FNW · Guru

I never bought lunch. We couldn't afford it. When I reached Jr. High I was given a little change that I occasionally used to buy french fries or potato chips to supplement what mom packed for me. High school I brought first two years then I got a job and a car in my Jr. year so I would either go home, to friends' houses, or either Nogales or Jack-in-the-Box.

Southern_Belle · Nothing's Impossible

Once I hit high school I earned my own money. I've been working some type of job since I was 14.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

I worked too but my mom still gave us lunch money. My money went to gas for my car & cool clothes. My parents supplied the basics but if I wanted $75 designer jeans I had to pay for them myself.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

When I was in high school we paid the cashier at the end of the line. But it's different now. Cafeteria's don't accept money. To do away with the whole stigma of free and reduced lunches every kid is given a card at the beginning of the year. When the cafeteria people swipe the card it reads whether they are on free, reduced, or full pay lunch. If you have to pay you have to open an account online or send a check to the office where they deposit it into your child's account. The card subtracts it out of there. The only money kids would have to spend is the money parents gave them for vending machine treats. My point is, when I was growing up your parents handed you the cash for lunch and you could do what you wanted with it. Now they don't give you cash so you can't get away with that.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
When I was in high school we paid the cashier at the end of the line. But it's different now. Cafeteria's don't accept money. To do away with the whole stigma of free and reduced lunches every kid is given a card at the beginning of the year. When the cafeteria people swipe the card it reads whether they are on free, reduced, or full pay lunch. If you have to pay you have to open an account online or send a check to the office where they deposit it into your child's account. The card subtracts it out of there. The only money kids would have to spend is the money parents gave them for vending machine treats. My point is, when I was growing up your parents handed you the cash for lunch and you could do what you wanted with it. Now they don't give you cash so you can't get away with that.

I COULD give DD11 cash for lunch, they would take it. But I normally load her account with $20 at a time with a check. The check shows I've paid - they have made mistakes before.

Of course, DD11 usually only eats school lunch about 5 times a month.

Mellow Momma · Sniff...sniff, sniff. Yay! A Bum!

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
When I was in high school we paid the cashier at the end of the line. But it's different now. Cafeteria's don't accept money. To do away with the whole stigma of free and reduced lunches every kid is given a card at the beginning of the year. When the cafeteria people swipe the card it reads whether they are on free, reduced, or full pay lunch. If you have to pay you have to open an account online or send a check to the office where they deposit it into your child's account. The card subtracts it out of there. The only money kids would have to spend is the money parents gave them for vending machine treats. My point is, when I was growing up your parents handed you the cash for lunch and you could do what you wanted with it. Now they don't give you cash so you can't get away with that.

I scrimped and ate the bare minimum at lunch so I could save the money and use it for other things ! Then I came home starving. Poor kids can't do that now.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Mellow Momma wrote:
Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
When I was in high school we paid the cashier at the end of the line. But it's different now. Cafeteria's don't accept money. To do away with the whole stigma of free and reduced lunches every kid is given a card at the beginning of the year. When the cafeteria people swipe the card it reads whether they are on free, reduced, or full pay lunch. If you have to pay you have to open an account online or send a check to the office where they deposit it into your child's account. The card subtracts it out of there. The only money kids would have to spend is the money parents gave them for vending machine treats. My point is, when I was growing up your parents handed you the cash for lunch and you could do what you wanted with it. Now they don't give you cash so you can't get away with that.
I scrimped and ate the bare minimum at lunch so I could save the money and use it for other things ! Then I came home starving. Poor kids can't do that now.

HERE the schools don't take cash. I'm sure some schools still do. We have a high percentage of kids on free lunch and they went this route to cut down on embarrassment. So yeah, kids HERE can't do it.

FNW · Guru

Boys' school doesn't take cash either. I sign up for mylunchmoney.com and fill their accounts. I have it set up where when the balance goes below 20.00, it automatically puts $25.00 back in. I did have it set up to re-fill when it gets below 10.00, but for some reason, when their account reached $15.00, the lunch lady would put a sticky note on their shirt saying their account was low.