School Breakfasts (and lunches)

And I don't know why everyone's going on about the cost and the
requirement of kitchens etc. when every college probably has a canteen
and they're probably not serving junk either.

No but it costs 3 times as much (if not more) to eat there and every
single student pays. In the public elem. schools not every kids pays
and even full price it is something like $1.50. Everyone goes to public
school and only those that can figure out how to pay for it go to
college. College meal programs are not, by and large, funded at public
expense like public school meals are.

NL wrote:
Banty schrieb:
In article ehrebeniuk-CE9A39.21252930072008@news, Chookie says...
snip
I hadn't read about the superdonuts et al at the time I wrote that.
Our breakfasts involve cereal and toast (occasionally egg dishes or
something on weekends), and my 7yo can still make a reasonable mess
with that. A donut and a juice box makes more sense.


Whoa - morning blood glucose spike oh joy.

Yeah, that's what I thought, too. I think the problem with school
lunches (probably more so in the states than here in germany) is that
it's going to be fastfood/junkfood. Yes, I consider Donuts to be
junkfood or a treat, something we may have for afternoon tea (is that
the right term? We call it "Kaffeetrinken" in our family, it's around
mid afternoon, we have cake/muffins/something else sweet or maybe a
sandwich if we don't want something sweet and either coffee or tea or
whatever else we want to drink).

What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would be a
sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce and a
slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly jam/marmalade
for those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of water (you have
fountains, right? We don't in germany.)



What is wrong with peanut butter? Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat
would not be considered a healthy sandwich?


If they want to serve a hot lunch I'd personally prefer to see
something like pasta with meatballs, no frenchfries and fried meat,
some fruit salad or chopped up fresh fruit and/or yogurt...

I don't see anything wrong with occasionally eating fastfood/junkfood,
but I think our kids get enough junk at home as it is.

And I don't know why everyone's going on about the cost and the
requirement of kitchens etc. when every college probably has a canteen
and they're probably not serving junk either.

When I was at university I ate at the canteen a lot. Of course some
food was horrible but most food was good enough for the price I
payed. We didn't eat fried everything every day, we had frenchfries
maybe once a week (you could tell by the superlong queue) but we had
a fair amount of pasta and boiled potatoes.
We had a choice of
- regular meal
cheap meal with two sides one meat, like schnitzel and fries and
salad/soup, or pasta with salad. You could ask for vegetarian which
meant the meat was left out and you got more sides (very funny because
you usually ended up with a huge amount of food because there wasn't
that much meat on the plate anyway)
- pick your own meal
like a buffet, you picked what you wanted and then payed at the end
of the buffet.
- "eintopf" (one pot meals, not the actual translation of stew)
everything that could be served in a soup bowl. Risotto, stew,
"dampfnudeln" (it's a sweet dish consisting of a boiled/steamed ball
of dough, like a sweet roll possibly filled with plum jam, served
with some sort of sauce, usually chocolate or vanilla), "milchreis"
(milkrice? rice cooked in milk, like oatmeal I guess, served with
canned fruitsalad, raisins or just sugar and cinnamon.

The "eintopf" was the cheapest meal you could get and I don't think I
was ever able to eat the whole pot, but then I wasn't usually able to
east the vegetarian version of their regular meal because they piled
on the sides! I think the ladies working those food lines thought
every vegetarian would starve if not fed double the amount the
carnivores got *lol*

Yeah, that turned into a bit of a short story. Sorry.

cu
nicole

Banty wrote:
In article , NL says...
[snip]
What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would be a
sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce and a
slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly jam/marmalade for
those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of water (you have
fountains, right? We don't in germany.)

Why not peanut butter?

It probably comes into the same mental slot as nutella, which is a
chocolate and hazelnut spread (and very tasty). But it's not a
breakfast food, unlike jam or marmite.

At our house, breakfast for both of us is oatmeal with milk, and a few ounces of
cheese for me.

A sandwich for breakfast would probably be considered very weird and be
rejected, but a bowl of granola with milk would be decent. A little cold
sausage or cheese would be great. Anything protien other than milk would
probably not fly, though.
[snip]

A bacon buttie is a sandwich and also definately breakfast food - two or
so rashers of bacon in white bread.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

Banty schrieb:
In article , NL says...
What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would be a
sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce and a
slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly jam/marmalade for
those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of water (you have
fountains, right? We don't in germany.)

Why not peanut butter?

Ok, I love peanutbutter, but I don't think it's healthy, it's very
fatty, usually has sugar and salt added in not insignificant amounts and
there are better things you can feed kids first thing in the morning
than that sticky gooey stuff ;-)
Honestly, I think I'm very biased being german. I think growing up
without peanutbutter means I consider it junk because I only ever ate it
in moderation anyway... It's hard to explain, but I still think it's not
the healthiest/best thing to eat. A cheese sandwich would be better.


All that said: In germany we get a break in the morning at around 9 or
10 for "2nd breakfast" the kids bring their own food and usually it's a
sandwich with either lunchmeat or cheese or possibly jam. Our school is
a member of the "Healthy school club" thingo (I don't know how to
properly translate it, basically they've banned sweets and snackfood
like chips and similar, there's more it's not just food but exercise and
all sorts of stuff, but I'll focus on food here.)

At our house, breakfast for both of us is oatmeal with milk, and a few ounces of
cheese for me.

A sandwich for breakfast would probably be considered very weird and be
rejected, but a bowl of granola with milk would be decent. A little cold
sausage or cheese would be great. Anything protien other than milk would
probably not fly, though.

Sam has oatmeal with cocoa and a glass of diluted juice, I have muesli
that I nuke because I like it mushy and also a glass of diluted juice...
Sometimes he wants cereal like Cocoapuffs which I fork out on occasion.
But he takes a sandwich to school. On special request and if it's not
too warm outside I pack oatmeal (dry with cocoa mixed in) and a small
bottle of milk.

If they want to serve a hot lunch I'd personally prefer to see something
like pasta with meatballs, no frenchfries and fried meat, some fruit
salad or chopped up fresh fruit and/or yogurt...

Said fruit salad would probably be canned and packed in corn syrup - not great.
Chopped up - very labor intensive. Spaghetti and meatballs is a mainstay
already for school lunches.

Ok, being queen of kitchen gadgets: there are apple corers that slice
the apples into wedges at the same time, you just push down, takes 5
seconds. Grapes, peaches can be served washed, bananas don't even need
to be washed.

I don't see anything wrong with occasionally eating fastfood/junkfood,
but I think our kids get enough junk at home as it is.

And I don't know why everyone's going on about the cost and the
requirement of kitchens etc. when every college probably has a canteen
and they're probably not serving junk either.

Everyone's going on about the cost because the cost of putting on a lunch and
the facilities for it is scrutinized by the public that directly finances USian
schools. Directly by property taxes (a good portion of the budget) VOTED ON
every year by the residents of the school district! So this sort of thing gets
streamlined, with much of the populace (esp. non-parents and empty nesters)
whining "why can't they just pack a lunch I'm being taxed out of my house and
home just to feed the kiddies luxury foods" or something like that.

Well, you can cook cheap and healthy at the same time. It means less
meat and more vegetables, but I'm on a super tight budget and cooking
from scratch is still cheaper than buying frozen and reheating. I know,
cooks earn more than can openers, but I still don't think it'll make a
huge difference.

When I was at university I ate at the canteen a lot. Of course some food
was horrible but most food was good enough for the price I payed. We
didn't eat fried everything every day, we had frenchfries maybe once a
week (you could tell by the superlong queue) but we had a fair amount of
pasta and boiled potatoes.

I gained weight at the university dorm cafeterias - one big problem was the long
line - once I was done with whatever they served, all that was left were the
vending machines. I lost the weight only when I went to an off-campus
apartment.

I gained when I was pregnant... both times *lol* and I'm still working
to loose what I gained with Sara while the weight dropped off me like a
stone with Sam. Can't be the additional 7 years, right?

snip long list of foods
I think I'll be moving to Germany and going to college soon...

*lol* let me know so we can meet up ;-)

Yeah, that turned into a bit of a short story. Sorry.

No, it was interesting.

Thank you.

Banty

Stephanie schrieb:
NL wrote:

What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would be a
sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce and a
slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly jam/marmalade
for those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of water (you have
fountains, right? We don't in germany.)

What is wrong with peanut butter? Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat
would not be considered a healthy sandwich?

Peanut butter is very fatty and has sugar and salt added as far as i
know, so no, I don't think it's healthy.

cu
nicole

In article , NL says...

Banty schrieb:
In article , NL says...
What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would be a
sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce and a
slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly jam/marmalade for
those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of water (you have
fountains, right? We don't in germany.)

Why not peanut butter?

Ok, I love peanutbutter, but I don't think it's healthy, it's very
fatty, usually has sugar and salt added in not insignificant amounts and
there are better things you can feed kids first thing in the morning
than that sticky gooey stuff ;-)
Honestly, I think I'm very biased being german. I think growing up
without peanutbutter means I consider it junk because I only ever ate it
in moderation anyway... It's hard to explain, but I still think it's not
the healthiest/best thing to eat. A cheese sandwich would be better.


Cheese sandwiches are more rare here. And constipating.


All that said: In germany we get a break in the morning at around 9 or
10 for "2nd breakfast" the kids bring their own food and usually it's a
sandwich with either lunchmeat or cheese or possibly jam. Our school is
a member of the "Healthy school club" thingo (I don't know how to
properly translate it, basically they've banned sweets and snackfood
like chips and similar, there's more it's not just food but exercise and
all sorts of stuff, but I'll focus on food here.)

At our house, breakfast for both of us is oatmeal with milk, and a few ounces of
cheese for me.

A sandwich for breakfast would probably be considered very weird and be
rejected, but a bowl of granola with milk would be decent. A little cold
sausage or cheese would be great. Anything protien other than milk would
probably not fly, though.

Sam has oatmeal with cocoa and a glass of diluted juice, I have muesli
that I nuke because I like it mushy and also a glass of diluted juice...
Sometimes he wants cereal like Cocoapuffs which I fork out on occasion.
But he takes a sandwich to school. On special request and if it's not
too warm outside I pack oatmeal (dry with cocoa mixed in) and a small
bottle of milk.

If they want to serve a hot lunch I'd personally prefer to see something
like pasta with meatballs, no frenchfries and fried meat, some fruit
salad or chopped up fresh fruit and/or yogurt...

Said fruit salad would probably be canned and packed in corn syrup - not great.
Chopped up - very labor intensive. Spaghetti and meatballs is a mainstay
already for school lunches.

Ok, being queen of kitchen gadgets: there are apple corers that slice
the apples into wedges at the same time, you just push down, takes 5
seconds. Grapes, peaches can be served washed, bananas don't even need
to be washed.

I don't see anything wrong with occasionally eating fastfood/junkfood,
but I think our kids get enough junk at home as it is.

And I don't know why everyone's going on about the cost and the
requirement of kitchens etc. when every college probably has a canteen
and they're probably not serving junk either.

Everyone's going on about the cost because the cost of putting on a lunch and
the facilities for it is scrutinized by the public that directly finances USian
schools. Directly by property taxes (a good portion of the budget) VOTED ON
every year by the residents of the school district! So this sort of thing gets
streamlined, with much of the populace (esp. non-parents and empty nesters)
whining "why can't they just pack a lunch I'm being taxed out of my house and
home just to feed the kiddies luxury foods" or something like that.

Well, you can cook cheap and healthy at the same time. It means less
meat and more vegetables, but I'm on a super tight budget and cooking
from scratch is still cheaper than buying frozen and reheating. I know,
cooks earn more than can openers, but I still don't think it'll make a
huge difference.

Its cheaper for you (as it would be in most households) but only because you're
not really costing in your own labor, and the rent and maintenance of your
preparation space.

It's kind like the homeschooling discussion. If you forget the overhead and
labor (which one only can if one would be doing it anyway and the space is there
anyway), it "looks" cheap. But its not in a way any business or overall social
model would need to look at it.

Banty

NL wrote:
Banty schrieb:
In article , NL says...
What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would
be a sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce
and a slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly
jam/marmalade for those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of
water (you have fountains, right? We don't in germany.)

Why not peanut butter?

Ok, I love peanutbutter, but I don't think it's healthy, it's very
fatty, usually has sugar and salt added in not insignificant amounts
and there are better things you can feed kids first thing in the
morning than that sticky gooey stuff ;-)


Peatnut butter is like avocado in that it is considered a "good" fat. People
do need fat in their diet. Not necessarily potato chip fat! You can buy or
very easily make peanut butter without added sugar and salt. Soy nut butter
is pretty good too. But I am with you, not for breakfast.

Honestly, I think I'm very biased being german. I think growing up
without peanutbutter means I consider it junk because I only ever ate
it in moderation anyway... It's hard to explain, but I still think
it's not the healthiest/best thing to eat. A cheese sandwich would be
better.


Dairy fat is actually considered to be one of the "bad" fats. And who would
want to eat non-fat cheddar cheese?!? Ew. (I live in Vermont USA. Cheddar
cheese state.)

Growing up habits are a HUGE part of so many people's diet. That is part of
the reason we try to moderate what I consider the really awful stuff.


All that said: In germany we get a break in the morning at around 9 or
10 for "2nd breakfast" the kids bring their own food and usually it's
a sandwich with either lunchmeat or cheese or possibly jam. Our
school is a member of the "Healthy school club" thingo (I don't know
how to properly translate it, basically they've banned sweets and
snackfood like chips and similar, there's more it's not just food but
exercise and all sorts of stuff, but I'll focus on food here.)

At our house, breakfast for both of us is oatmeal with milk, and a
few ounces of cheese for me.

A sandwich for breakfast would probably be considered very weird and
be rejected, but a bowl of granola with milk would be decent. A
little cold sausage or cheese would be great. Anything protien
other than milk would probably not fly, though.

Sam has oatmeal with cocoa and a glass of diluted juice, I have muesli
that I nuke because I like it mushy and also a glass of diluted
juice... Sometimes he wants cereal like Cocoapuffs which I fork out
on occasion. But he takes a sandwich to school. On special request
and if it's not too warm outside I pack oatmeal (dry with cocoa mixed
in) and a small bottle of milk.

If they want to serve a hot lunch I'd personally prefer to see
something like pasta with meatballs, no frenchfries and fried meat,
some fruit salad or chopped up fresh fruit and/or yogurt...

Said fruit salad would probably be canned and packed in corn syrup -
not great. Chopped up - very labor intensive. Spaghetti and
meatballs is a mainstay already for school lunches.

Ok, being queen of kitchen gadgets: there are apple corers that slice
the apples into wedges at the same time, you just push down, takes 5
seconds. Grapes, peaches can be served washed, bananas don't even need
to be washed.


OMG! Apples. We have this thingy that peels and cores in one spiral motion!
Love it.


I don't see anything wrong with occasionally eating
fastfood/junkfood, but I think our kids get enough junk at home as
it is. And I don't know why everyone's going on about the cost and the
requirement of kitchens etc. when every college probably has a
canteen and they're probably not serving junk either.

Everyone's going on about the cost because the cost of putting on a
lunch and the facilities for it is scrutinized by the public that
directly finances USian schools. Directly by property taxes (a good
portion of the budget) VOTED ON every year by the residents of the
school district! So this sort of thing gets streamlined, with much
of the populace (esp. non-parents and empty nesters) whining "why
can't they just pack a lunch I'm being taxed out of my house and
home just to feed the kiddies luxury foods" or something like that.

Well, you can cook cheap and healthy at the same time. It means less
meat and more vegetables, but I'm on a super tight budget and cooking
from scratch is still cheaper than buying frozen and reheating. I
know, cooks earn more than can openers, but I still don't think it'll
make a huge difference.

When I was at university I ate at the canteen a lot. Of course some
food was horrible but most food was good enough for the price I
payed. We didn't eat fried everything every day, we had frenchfries
maybe once a week (you could tell by the superlong queue) but we
had a fair amount of pasta and boiled potatoes.

I gained weight at the university dorm cafeterias - one big problem
was the long line - once I was done with whatever they served, all
that was left were the vending machines. I lost the weight only
when I went to an off-campus apartment.

I gained when I was pregnant... both times *lol* and I'm still working
to loose what I gained with Sara while the weight dropped off me like
a stone with Sam. Can't be the additional 7 years, right?

snip long list of foods
I think I'll be moving to Germany and going to college soon...

*lol* let me know so we can meet up ;-)

Yeah, that turned into a bit of a short story. Sorry.

No, it was interesting.

Thank you.

Banty

NL wrote:
Stephanie schrieb:
NL wrote:

What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would
be a sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce
and a slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly
jam/marmalade for those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of
water (you have fountains, right? We don't in germany.)

What is wrong with peanut butter? Peanut butter and banana on whole
wheat would not be considered a healthy sandwich?

Peanut butter is very fatty and has sugar and salt added as far as i
know, so no, I don't think it's healthy.

cu
nicole

Good fat per my favorite nutricion guy. Like avocado. But you don't have to
get it with added sugar and salt.

NL wrote:
Banty schrieb:
In article , NL says...
What I would consider an appropriate school breakfast/lunch would be a
sandwich with lunchmeat and/or cheese. Maybe a leaf of lettuce and a
slice of tomato. No peanutbutter, no nutella, possibly jam/marmalade for
those who don't eat meat/dairy. And a drink of water (you have
fountains, right? We don't in germany.)

When I was in school our use of the water fountains was restricted. We
weren't allowed to stop and have a drink on the way in from the
playground for instance. Nor were we allowed to carry bottled water
or any food or drink with us. We also do have some areas where the
water in fountains is contaminated with lead or bacteria so that it is
not safe to drink.

Why not peanut butter?

Ok, I love peanutbutter, but I don't think it's healthy, it's very
fatty, usually has sugar and salt added in not insignificant amounts and
there are better things you can feed kids first thing in the morning
than that sticky gooey stuff ;-)
Honestly, I think I'm very biased being german. I think growing up
without peanutbutter means I consider it junk because I only ever ate it
in moderation anyway... It's hard to explain, but I still think it's not
the healthiest/best thing to eat. A cheese sandwich would be better.

Peanut butter had veggie based protein. My dh ate pb&j sandwiches for
lunch for YEARS - all though school. It's all he would eat. He
still eats it, although now on whole grain bread. One of my dds would
only eat the pb without the j. He has never eaten much cheese - does
not particularly like it and is now lactose intolerant.

My dd#1 lived in England for several years, and she said that the
English could not get their heads around stuff like pumpkin pie which
is basically a custard with milk and eggs and the pumpkin which is a
very nice yellow/orange vegetable (at least the way we make it) and
some spices. The more conservative ones wouldn't even try it. But
while it does have some sugar in it, it's really not a bad dessert.

A sandwich for breakfast would probably be considered very weird and be
rejected, but a bowl of granola with milk would be decent. A little cold
sausage or cheese would be great. Anything protien other than milk would
probably not fly, though.

Haven't you ever had bacon, egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches? Very
very bad for you, but a sandwich with lots of protein and lots of
calories.

Sam has oatmeal with cocoa and a glass of diluted juice, I have muesli
that I nuke because I like it mushy and also a glass of diluted juice...
Sometimes he wants cereal like Cocoapuffs which I fork out on occasion.
But he takes a sandwich to school. On special request and if it's not
too warm outside I pack oatmeal (dry with cocoa mixed in) and a small
bottle of milk.

My mother always taught me that chocolate milk was evil, and I should
not drink it. Also, in the days when I was in school, regular milk
was whole milk, and chocolate milk was skim milk which was considered
not as good for children.

If they want to serve a hot lunch I'd personally prefer to see something
like pasta with meatballs, no frenchfries and fried meat, some fruit
salad or chopped up fresh fruit and/or yogurt...

Said fruit salad would probably be canned and packed in corn syrup - not great.
Chopped up - very labor intensive. Spaghetti and meatballs is a mainstay
already for school lunches.

Ok, being queen of kitchen gadgets: there are apple corers that slice
the apples into wedges at the same time, you just push down, takes 5
seconds. Grapes, peaches can be served washed, bananas don't even need
to be washed.

It makes a BIG BIG different if you core 5 apples and if you core 100
apples. Five apples in five seconds each - pretty easy. Not 100
apples. Also of course unless you treat them with lemon juice, they
turn brown and don't look appealing.

I don't see anything wrong with occasionally eating fastfood/junkfood,
but I think our kids get enough junk at home as it is.

It isn't our business what they get at home. We can't correct the
nutritional blind spots of the parents.

Banty schrieb:
In article , NL says...

Honestly, I think I'm very biased being german. I think growing up
without peanutbutter means I consider it junk because I only ever ate it
in moderation anyway... It's hard to explain, but I still think it's not
the healthiest/best thing to eat. A cheese sandwich would be better.


Cheese sandwiches are more rare here. And constipating.

I _knew_ my lactose intolerance would be a good thing in some instances ;-)

snip
Well, you can cook cheap and healthy at the same time. It means less
meat and more vegetables, but I'm on a super tight budget and cooking
from scratch is still cheaper than buying frozen and reheating. I know,
cooks earn more than can openers, but I still don't think it'll make a
huge difference.

Its cheaper for you (as it would be in most households) but only because you're
not really costing in your own labor, and the rent and maintenance of your
preparation space.

I know what you mean, but how do the universities manage it? I payed
(back in the day) about 2DM (roughly 1¤) for a meal, that's *cough*years
ago, so let's just say it would be about $3. For a meal that fed an
adult and generated leftovers! I know it was subsidized, I think they
got half the meal prices from... I'm actually not sure if it was the
state the city or some sub organization on campus (Studentenwerk, they
own some/most of the dorms and either run or subcontract out the
cafeterias. I'm not sure if part of their profits from other areas went
into the cafeteria or if they got money from the state. Sorry.)
Anyway, let's say an adult meal costs $5 and a kid sized meal would be
about half the size but since you still spend the time putting it on
plates, etc. I'd say $3 per cooked hot meal would be a good total price,
then we need to figure out how much gets subsidized, but I don't think
we'll be able to feed the kids on less than $2 per cooked hot meal, does
that sound right?

It's kind like the homeschooling discussion. If you forget the overhead and
labor (which one only can if one would be doing it anyway and the space is there
anyway), it "looks" cheap. But its not in a way any business or overall social
model would need to look at it.

Ok, I kind of don't get what you're trying to say here, but that's
probably because I have absolutely minimal info about how homeschooling
works.

cu
nicole