Mad and frustrated at a stupid ad on TV! (RANT!!!)

[DancesWithWolves]

ok i also have to say this....my cousin lives in a big city (green bay) and we were talking about our favoite foods and hers was cheese sticks and pizza and mine are mashed potatoes and gravy and asparagus and she didn't even know what asparagus was!!!!!!!!! and she didn't know that potatoes grew under the ground!!! it makes me so mad cuz it seems as though city ppl know nothing at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PineappleMama]

School lunch wise... our Cafe Ladies don't have any say at all on the menu. The calendar menu that comes out every month is made by the district, they do all the buying (with count info from the cafe managers) and that's that.

Our income is low enough that ours could have discounted breakfast and lunch, 0.30 and 0.40 respectively. But what they serve... yeesh if any care to take a peek at our district's info... http://www.aisd.net/departments/cafeteria/ see how it compares with yours as I'm curious. And that's after the newest legislation banning fried things and what not. It would be a LOT cheaper if we just let ours eat there, but it's awful for them so I spend the money to make sure they have a good breakfast at home, a box lunch at school, and a healthy dinner at home. Seems pricey some days, but compared to the additional doctor and dentist visits it's a steal...

Down here we have regs on treats too... like for class parties? There has to be a Minimum Nutritional Value... sounds like a good plan, but it basically means that Skittles are out but chocolate is okay (has milk in it)... gummy bears are out, but store bought cupcakes with a pound of icing are okay (made from 'wheat' flour)

On several occassions we've tried to get parents to send juice for the parties, and they argue and whine and send in Hawaiian Punch instead... Sure it's got vitamin C, but it's also got enough sugar to send a kid to the moon... and I know I'm not the only one who can't have Red Dye (makes me hurl) so it chaps me to see parents do that. If your kid was allergic to peanuts would you be okay with the treat being PB cookies? NO, of course not... so don't do it to others...

Meh, sorry if that's off topic... it's sort of related... it's not just big companies that are pushing this 'don't worry about eating right, just take a pill" attitude... it's freakin' everywhere... even districts where they hire nutritionists still come down to the bottom line... oy, the whole thing's a mess.

 

[Prettiest Frog]

Quote:
Not being hungry one day or not wanting to eat the often overcooked and cold burgers served in a lunch cafeteria doesn't violate any moral values and principles, and if a teacher or administrator saw fit to punish my son in any way, especially denying him food on a different day, because he didn't want to eat all his lunch they'd be wetting their pants by the time I was done. As long as my son is not malnourished, the only people who get a say in what my kid does or doesn't eat are my husband and myself.

 

[mandieg4]

I don't make separate meals, but I do try to include something that I know each child will eat, even if it is just bread. The rule at our house is you don't have to eat it, but it does have to go on your plate. I am amazed at how often a food that they say they don't like will eventually get eaten just because it is on their plate. Maybe not the first or second time it is offered, but eventually. If they don't like it I will ask them to try it, but I never force them to take a bite. My oldest has thrown up at the table too many times for me to force the issue.

 

[Godsgrl]

Quote:
Meals and food in general is one area where I am really lenient. I mean I am not going to make separate meals for everyone, but you're welcome to make a sandwich and skip the lasagna I made. I have battled an eating disorder my entire life due to how I was treated as a child around food. I constantly heard:

you eat too slow
you're cutting your meat wrong
you're biting your food wrong

everything I did was wrong. So we are pretty relaxed around food here. My kids are happy and healthy, and usually most of them like what I made. Speaking of that, what's for dinner tonight?

 

[smith2]

I am also a public school teacher, and many days I, yes me, eat PB&J because our food in the cafeteria is totally gross!!

I'm not sure I would feed that stuff to my chickens. It is not the cooks fault. Some federal bureaucrat says white bread is bad and then serve poptarts loaded in sugar for breakfast? It is supposed to be low fat, low sugar, and the kids won't eat it. I wouldn't either. Half the time you can't even tell what the meats really are. Go figure.

At my house the food is cooked with fore thought and a mind to differing likes, and then if you don't want it, you can get the PB & J. None of my foremothers that I know of, cooked anything different for different people. You ate what was cooked or did without (or PB&J). We all have weight problems so we must have eaten it or too much PB&J.

 

[WriterofWords]

Wow,, that took a lot of reading to catch up on! I really do enjoy seeing the variety of habits and rules. I do want to clarify a couple of things because of what I read.
1. I'm not talking about my child lol, it was on tv.
2. There is a difference between letting your child choose which veggie to have with dinner, or making two different ones for two different kids, or having them refuse it eat it Letting a child help plan the menu is a good thing, that way they really can't say no.
3. I'm not saying you should be forcing anyone to eat something specific, I'm saying the idea of cooking so many different meals at a time because your child won't eat what is given to them is just silly. Yep, silly.
4. Food allergies have to be worked around, so do texture issues, some are very sensitive to certain things and certain textures, but that is not an excuse not to eat your dinner because I really doubt very many parents will purposely serve their child food they know they are allergic to.
5. "I don't like it without trying it and I don't have to eat it if I don't want to" doesn't cut it. Especially if your child is one of those who hears someone else say they don't like something and right away they don't like it either. I had to stop my dad from doing that when Steven was younger. He hated beets so when they were at my house and we were eating, not them, us, and he started looking at the beets and making yucky faces about them to Steven I told him he'd better stop it or he'd be eating them and smiling about it and telling Steven how much he loved them! I refuse to let someone try and influence my son because they don't like something.

On the school lunches, today we had McRib style yucky fake meat, baked french fries, and the cafeteria manager took the yucky canned peaches and made a delicious peach cobbler out of them! She's very creative, does what she can, and that's all she can do.

 

[19hhbelgian]

That's why I have a sign in the kitchen... "Dinner choices: 1) Take it 2) Leave it"

 

[babylady4]

Great that she made the cobbler, but I think that defeats the purpose of getting the sugar content knocked down. Frozen fresh peaches would have been my personal choice to use, then you would not have had to make the cobbler in the first place.

If the individuals who are hired can actually cook meals in sizes for institutions, then they should be allowed to do so. I would GLADLY pay extra for GOOD food for lunch than pay for the slop that is fed to the kids. ANYBODY can defrost and put stuff in the oven; it takes skill to be a cook. If you don't want to fire the kitchen staff then give them a choice, get trained and come back or find employment elsewhere. I have been involved with the school lunch at my children's school; to me it is a waste of money to provide the kitchen with top notch equipment that nobody has a clue how to use. It is proven that kids who eat healthier have less behavior issues and are able to pay attention more in class. To me it is a win-win situation; the kids get healthy food and the teachers have less disruptions in class so more material is taught.

 

[LizFM]

Quote:
The problem is when the food allergy/sensitivity is not so easy to pinpoint. I have come to believe that there are many, many more low-level food allergy/sensitivity issues that are un and under diagnosed.

I mean it's one thing if you eat something and your throat swells up or you break out in hives or you throw up *immediately*. Then, at least, people will believe you!

I never did like milk as a kid because it made me cough and 'produce phlegm.' I am I guess moderately lactose intolerant. Not wanting to drink milk as a kid in the 60's did not get you a whole lot of sympathy from ANY adults. They just think you are whining.

It's another if you just have a low level "I don't feel very good" reaction long after the fact. If it's something you eat every day you just think you're not very healthy or something. Or, if you are a kid, that you're faking.

It took FOREVER for my MIL to get diagnosed with a food allergy to wheat. She had symptoms for years. She feels a hundred times better now. But how would you ever know you were allergic to something you ate every day of your life?

My main problem as a kid was just that my mom is a terrible cook. Her "recipe" for vegetable beef soup is just to fry chunks of beef and dump in a can of mixed vegetables and cook it for hours with no added seasoning. (I HATE Veg-All

) In fact, she doesn't really season anything she cooks...my husband says he's never met anyone who could cook food with so little flavor.

I never had problems like that at grandma's house...mostly because grandma gardened and canned her own stuff. And she didn't fight with me over stuff I just didn't like (beets

)

But I think the Real, Overall problem we have as a society, is that, thanks to so few people growing their own food, and what passes for vegetables (fresh or canned) in the grocery store, we've raised at least 2 if not 3-4 generations of people who think vegetables don't taste good because The stuff you buy in the store is not grown for TASTE, but for Looks and Longevity!