There were times in my childhood when my parents were broke. Not homeless broke, but definitely hurting broke. Occasionally, my dad would get laid off and we would have to make due with what he received from unemployment and my mom's meager secretary pay to get by. During those times I qualified and received free hot lunches from my public school. When times got really tough, those lunches were the best and most complete meal of my day. I'm lucky Aramark wasn't in charge of the school lunch program back in the seventies. If they had, I think I would have been better off scavenging food from garbage cans.
My niece celebrated her 8th birthday yesterday. As a special treat I ate lunch with her in the school cafeteria along with her class. Can I tell you? Second grade is a magical time. All the kids were adorable. The lunch, however, was nasty. Have you noticed nearly every week there seems to be another epidemic of barfing kids that consumed District 150 lunches? No big mystery as to why. Just look at the menu.
The entree: Breadsticks with Marinara Sauce. That's it. The breadsticks were stale and the marina sauce wasn't even red. There was also some canned fruit, unrecognizable in origin. I took a taste of this "fruit" as the children looked on, all shouting a chorus of, "EEEEEWWWW!!!" It tasted like rust. The best and most nutritious part of the lunch was the chocolate milk.
I was gulping Pepto for the rest of the day.
I took a menu and was shocked to see some other meals planned for the month. February 8th: Soft Pretzel w/"Cheese" Sauce. February 9th: Waffles with margarine and syrup for lunch. February 22: French Toast Sticks - no mention of syrup, for lunch.
These lunches cost a $1.50. Aramark can't provide much and still make a profit. However, profit was not the objective when the school lunch program was created. It was created to make sure that kids got at least one healthy, square meal a day. These lunches don't qualify. For the most part, the kids who received hot lunch drank the milk and dumped the rest. Kids also had the option of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they made themselves at a station set up in the corner of the cafeteria. To say this practice is unsanitary would be an understatement. I don't want to even think about how many e-coli germs were on the peanut butter jar. Does Aramark really believe kids thoroughly wash their hands after using the bathroom?
District 150 should dump Aramark. If need be, the District should raise the price of meals in order to provide something edible. I would be hard pressed to provide a healthy sack lunch that only cost $1.50 to make. Kids who qualify can still get free lunch.
When I was a kid there were some hot lunch offerings I actually looked forward to. Pizza. Ravoli. Pigs in a blanket. (The blanket -bread- was homemade. The whole school smelled like bread baking.) I always dreaded turkey with gravy and haystacks, although I never felt sick after consuming them.
If you have a kid in District 150 and have the ability, send them to school with a sack lunch. Trust me. I feel really bad for kids who only have Aramark meals to look forward to everyday.
Most dogs in this country eat better. Much better.
6 comments:
The buildings are not eating up the money, the endless list of consultants and the fat administrative salaries are what is killing 150, bite the bullett and fire 50% of all admins and get rid of all consultants now. Go back to k thru 8 and use some of the money to reinstate a decent lunch program. And since we are not so desperate now for every last penny lets toss all the vending machines.
Oh, C.J., you should see what qualifies for breakfast. Pop Tarts. Our beloved government categorizes Pop Tarts as a "treat food" meaning you can't use WIC funds to buy them. They are fine for underprivledged kids however- as are donuts and cinnamon buns. A dozen eggs costs a lot less than Pop Tarts. I really feel for the teachers who have to deal with not only all the challenges that come teaching children who come from socio-economically disadvantaged homes, but also have to deal with kids who start their day wired and hyped up with a huge dose of gov't sponsored sugar flowing through their veins.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Every parent should have luinch with their kid at school at least once per year. Not all on the same day, either.
This is absolutely appalling. I thought the food was pretty bad at District 150 when I was student there, but I never, ever, saw anything as bad as what they're serving now. We had a hot sandwich every day, usually something they called a "school boy" which was basically loose meat on a bun. On Fridays the sandwich was fish filet.
If District 150 can't afford to give those kids decent food, then they need to unload some of the administrative deadwood. Aramark must go!
I met a friend at Starbucks...I'm not a big fan of SB, but whatever. We were behind a group of high school students ordering a bunch of coffee drinks that were costing $4-5 each. Now if we\our kids can afford $5 for a single coffee drink, one would think we\our kids could afford to pay more than $1.50 for a decent lunch. Ok, before the uproar begins, I realize not every district 150 kid is lined up, or can afford to line up at the local coffee shop and order a grande toffee caramel mocha with soy milk, non dairy whipped topping and extra chocolate sprinkles. But what I am getting at is how much do we spend going out to eat for a meal? How much does meal cost you to prepare at home? Figure in your time...like you had to pay yourself by the hour to prepare, cook and clean up. I have access to some of the best food prices and blessed with some culinary talent. If I paid myself $7.50 hour, there is no way I could prepare something (the term I read quite frequently) "decent" for a selling price of $1.50. But we think nothing of dropping $8 + tax\tip at Applebees. What could you get there for $1.50? Nothing.
Believe me, I'm not sticking up for Aramark. But Aramark, me, you, Emeril, the prison system (their food COST is a $1.45 per meal) is not going to be able to provide much for a $1.50 selling cost & at very worse, break even.
I don't have kids, so maybe I don't have room to speak, but I think the issue is $1.50. I could put a decent meal together & make a reasonable profit at a $3.00 per meal charge. No, I don't want a job cooking for District 150 (well, unless I'm gonna get paid $175,000 a year like the top end administrators). But one has to decide: do you want cheap & pathetic or more costly & reasonable?
Chef Kevin, Totally agree with you. A sack lunch consisting of a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich, an apple, and 8 oz. of milk costs more than $1.50 to make. I saw a lot of kids who brought "lunchables" which are nutritionally crap (the sodium, Jeeeze!) speaking and far more expensive than $1.50.
I think they should drop Aramark and provide more expensive, but better lunches. The feds chip in for lunches for poor students. Also, if lunches cost more but were tasty, the district could conceivably make a profit and use proceeds to provide meals for economically disadvantage kids.
Is part of the problem the cost of employees? Did District 150 cafeteria employees become employees of Aramark for lesser wages? I can't remember... will try to look that up tomorrow. The District may have contracted out because of the cost of benefits and pay, more than the cost of providing a decent product.
Post a Comment