Healthy Food for Kids at School

The Institute of Medicine has issued new guidelines for the kinds of food American kids will be offered at school.

Lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods.
None can be more than 200 calories per serving.
Foods have to be low in fat, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, and have no added caffeine.

In the UK, the School Food Trust emphasizes the same. Here are a few notes from a newsletter Stephen brought hom from his primary school where he eats lunch every day.

Sausages and chicken nuggets are completely organic and free from artificial additives.
Fish fingers are made from whole cod fillet.
Fresh fruit, yoghurt and cheese and biscuits are available daily as an alternative to dessert. (Stephen often eats these instead of “dessert.”)

Most interestingly, they’ve removed sandwiches from the menu! When Stephen first started school, he would tell me he ate a chicken sandwich for lunch every single gosh darned day. Then suddenly, he began telling me that he ate macaroni, fish cake, cold pasta, baked potato, and all sorts of other stuff he normally would never try. Whoopee! The main reason I like having him eat lunch at school is to get him to try different things and FINALLY he was doing it! Could the cooks have read my mind?

Not really. They had a very sensible reason for getting rid of the big pyramids of sandwiches they used to serve in the cafeteria.

In order to meet the nutritional requirements, the school meal must offer at least one third of a child’s recommended daily intake of energy and nutrients. A sandwich simply does not meet this specification and this is the reason we have stopped offering them. We have tried to make sure that the menu offers a good selection of popular foods, so that no one will miss the sandwiches.

Good on them! So what’s on the menu tomorrow?

Meal One - Organic and Additive Free Poultry Sausages
Meal Two - Fish Tart
Meal Three (V) - Vegetable Chilli in Taco Shells
Carbohydrate - Mashed Potatoes
Vegetables - Fresh Broccoli Florets, Sweetcorn
Dessert - Carrot Cake with Custard

I loooove carrot cake and custard!! But I don’t really desire returning to school.

What kinds of lunches do your kids eat at school?

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2007-04-26 23:28:44

Healthy Food for Kids at School…

The Institute of Medicine has issued new guidelines for the kinds of food American kids will be offered at school. What do your kids eat for lunch?…

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Comment by Kate

2007-04-27 05:36:01

That’s interesting.

The highest praise my 4 year-old can give a meal is “Ooooh! Just like at kindergarten.”

Actual lessons in the difference between healthy and unhealthy food, though, have just made him obsessed with the unhealthy, but oh so sweet or salty treats he seldom gets.

Comment by Snowy

2007-04-27 05:38:10

The food at Raph’s primary school is good basic french fare, bought and cooked by Brigitte, who also serves the kids, and looks after them until the teacher comes back from her lunch break. Typically;
Entree, salade de carottes rapé
Plat de jour, Poulet, pates
Fromage ou yaourt
Fruit.
(grated carrots, chicken and pasta, yoghurt or cheese, fresh fruit)
Once at college it becomes evil plastic packed cooked/chill rubbish though.

Comment by Rosie

2007-04-27 06:57:06

MUMMY - it doesn’t get evil plastic packed! Well not at Lapigue, Marouzeau, Valadon or Renoir — all of those places had great food, nothing like school dinners in the UK or the US. It wasn’t as home-grown as Ars, but it was real food and it was always healthy, we only got chips once or twice a month, pizza less than that, hardly any fried foods, always fresh fruit, “laitage” of yoghurt and/or cheese, plenty of vegetables… I really miss school dinners and 7 years of boarding school makes me a good judge!

Comment by Kerri

2007-04-27 14:54:04

heh. Fish Tart. Sounds like a Pop Tart gone bad. Not that my kids know what a Pop Tart is…

Comment by mdmhvonpa

2007-04-27 16:53:52

Not to be … weird and all … but why not offer the children vitamins as part of the meal? Just a thought. My kids get a vitamin with dinner every night.

Comment by Cottontimer

2007-04-27 17:49:57

Kate: Funny. Stephen still prefers the food I prepare for him but I want him to accept other dishes as well. School lunches seem to be doing the trick.

Snowy: No matter the type of food, seeing it written in French makes it all so fancee.

Rosie: lol I’m glad the news you bear is good. Can you imagine if you decided to confess and tell your mummy what kinds of vile stuff you were REALLY eating? (I know you’re more likely to skip meals so don’t do that either!)

Kerri: We considered introducing Stephen to Pop Tarts this time back but decided not to take ourselves into that bit of hell.

mdmhvonpa: Stephen gets a daily vitamin as well. Is that weird? /me looks around furtively

Comment by Deb L Subscribed to comments via email

2007-04-27 19:15:25

My son said he loads up on as much fruit and vegetables as he can get away with, because it’s never enough food. Usually it will be *a* burrito, or *a* wrap sandwich, etc. plus being allowed to serve yourself fruit and vegetable. A small milk (half pint size cartons). Sometimes some sort of potato or dessert.

I realize there are kids who don’t know how to eat healthy, and kids who are overweight, but geez. My son is tall, and likely to reach at least 6′ before he’s done growing. He’s lanky, and very active. He needs more than a sandwich and some raw veggies.

It’s not like they give them enough time to actually eat more than that, even if it were available. Which is one of my biggest rants about school, next to lack of recess.