Title: The Problem with Your Child's School Lunch and What To Do About It | Parents
Headings: The Problem with Your Child's School Lunch
The Problem with Your Child's School Lunch
Is your child's cafeteria failing to provide healthy, nutritious food?
Meals Gone Bad -- and Good
Lunch Lessons
Paying the Tab
Moms Make a Move
Don't Just Get Angry ... Do Something
Be Realistic
Say No to Junk
Say Yes to Tastings
Get Kids Growing
Recess Before Lunch
Go to the Cafeteria
Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign
Learn How to Improve School Lunches

Content: Paying the Tab
It's unfair to place all the blame on the schools, especially in these budget-strapped times where lunch programs are under pressure to break even. As Mrs. Obama told a national meeting of school-nutrition professionals back in the spring: " If you asked the average person to do what you do every day, and that is to prepare a meal for hundreds of hungry kids for just $2.68 a child -- with only $1 to $1.25 of that money going to the food itself -- they would look at you like you were crazy. That's sad, but that's less than what many folks spend on a cup of coffee in the morning." When districts do want to make changes, even what seem like small tweaks start to add up; switching to 100 percent whole-wheat bread (which contains more protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals than white bread) costs Seattle Public Schools an extra $20,000 each year. Both Dr. Nestle and Dr. Poppendieck recommend making school lunches free to all students. Doing so, they argue, will allow schools to put money spent on administering the current tiered system into improving the actual meals. With less pressure to lure paying students into the lunch line, food-service departments could concentrate on healthier foods. But many of those sweeping changes aren't in the cards yet.