Day 9

On today's menu:

Southwest Casserole (offered) OR

Super Nachos (not offered) OR

Chef Salad w/ Crackers (offered)

Pinto Beans

Frozen Fruit Slush (not offered)

*Variety of Fresh Fruit (plums, oranges, apples)

Not on the menu and offered: fruit cocktail mixed with peach halves (looked like the left over canned fruit from the other lunches this week.

I of course chose the Southwest casserole. This is a new item for our elementary school. (Two new menu items in a week!) This is my observation: macaroni noodles, with canned tomatoes, with some kind of cream of something soup, a can of corn (ahh, there's the southwest part of this casserole) with other things added in (i.e. celery), all poured into a pot and heated. Kind of bland, but not bad tasting. Lots of sodium!!! Which one would think, would increase the flavor . . .

The beans had a really nice flavor, but seemed odd to be with this meal. I guess it goes with the southwestern flair of the casserole. Salad was the same as the other days and the orange was very tasty.

Looking around the cafeteria, I saw that at least half of the trays had chef salads again. I spoke with a 1st grade teacher to find out how the salads were working for her class. She told me that she was surprised at how many of her students take the salad. When counting today, of those that had the school lunch, more than half had the salad.

I don't think we can believe the mantra of "but they won't eat the healthy food options" anymore!! The kids are choosing the fresh healthy option more often than anyone expected.

That's all there is today folks.

Day 8

On Today's menu:

Chef Salad w/ Crackers (offered) OR
*WG Cheese Pizza (not offered) OR
Turkey and Vegetables on Rice (offered)
Scalloped Peaches
Seasoned Broccoli
*Fresh Garden Salad w/Light Dressing
*Variety of Fresh Fruit

I thought for sure we'd have the pizza. It's always pizza on Tuesdays. Some kids only bring their lunch on Tuesdays so they don't have to have the pizza. I was looking forward to trying the chef salad. I will only have the chef salad when we have a repeat on the menu.

I'm thrilled however that the food today did not look like fast food. In my eyes this is a huge improvement. I'm sad however, that the new entrees are heavily processed.

I chose the Turkey and vegetables with rice. It smelled really good when I came into the cafeteria. Today was the first day our school had ever had this entree. I didn't stay in the cafe today, however before I left I looked around at the lunches and I'd say about half of the trays had chef salads on them.

The Turkey and vegetable had a nice flavor. The rice was white and tasteless. I would have preferred brown rice. The side salad was iceberg lettuce with some carrot and purple cabbage in it. We had the same ranch as always -- I don't think it is "light dressing". I prefer the regular dressing, so this was a good thing. (The light dressings tends to have more sugar to make up for the loss of the fat) Broccoli was fine. Seemed to have less stems and more flowers today. Always a good thing!

All in all a good meal, with the exception of the reactions I've had to something in the last two meals. I am in the midst of getting ingredient lists.

That's it for today. I have eight more days left.

Day 7

On the menu for Feb. 12:

Sack Lunch

Turkey and Cheese SW (I don't know what SW means. Sandwich?) OR

Chef Salad w/ Crackers OR

Corn Dog (not served)

Carrot Sticks w/ Ranch

Choice of Fresh Fruit

Chilled Peaches (I don't believe this was served as an option)

Super Food: Bananas Taste Testing

Let's start with the sandwich. It was served on what looked to be white bread. I've been told that all the white bread served is really whole grain bread. There is no way to tell unless we get to see the packaging. I specifically asked if there was a whole wheat choice and was told no. The meat was highly processed "turkey". And the cheese tasted like American cheese.

Today’s American cheese is generally no longer made from a blend of all-natural cheeses, but instead is manufactured from a set of ingredients^[1] such as milk, whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate, and salt. When substitutes are used it does not meet the legal definition of cheese in many jurisdictions, and must be labeled as "cheese product" or similar. -- Wikipedia

Everything else on the tray was as expected. Except for the bite of banana. Today was "Super Food Taste Testing” Day. And banana was the taste test. It wasn’t an exotic banana or a plantain; just a plain old banana. Something the kids get often and are familiar with.

Remember that kid I mentioned earlier this week that doesn’t eat his lunch? Well, today I watched him eat the white bread from the sandwich and after much discussion he decided to eat the banana.

No school on Monday, so I won’t be posting again until Tuesday. Today, I leave you with a parting snap shot of the end lunch. Have a great weekend.

Day 6

On today's menu:

*Chicken Nuggets (not offered!!) OR

Sliced Turkey and Gravy (offered) OR

Chef Salad w/ Crackers (offered)

Seasoned Green Beans

*WG Dinner Roll

*Mashed Potatoes (with brown gravy)

Apple Crisp

*Variety of Fresh Fruit (apple, plum, orange, Clementine)

I delightfully chose the Turkey and gravy for lunch today! I really can't tell you how excited I am to see this. It actually looked like a real meal and not something from a fast food joint.

As for the kids, about half took a salad and half took the turkey. Some that I talked with said it was the first time they remembered this being offered. I do remember that our school had a taste test earlier in the year and I think this was one of the foods tested.

The turkey tasted good, but I'm not a fan of the gravy. I think I might have liked it served on the side rather than mixed with the turkey.

It was a completely different gravy on the potatoes. It was fine. I can't really remember what it tasted like.

With the roll, I put the turkey/gravy on top and made a few mini sandwiches. I saw one of the students doing it so I tried it. Certainly made the roll more palatable. The rolls taste good, they are just a bit dry.

Green beans: good.

Clementine: great!! I was looking forward to the Clementine. The other choice for fruit was not obviously fruit. It was clearly a dessert and had more crisp than fruit. You can see it on the right in the top picture. A teacher I sat with said it was pretty good.

Another short post. Friday's post will not go up until Saturday. It's been a busy week. I've been surprised how much time eating in the cafe and posting about it has added to my already busy schedule. But I'm happy to do it! Very happy to do it.

Day 5

On the menu:

Enchilada Pie (not offered) OR

Chef Salad w/ Crackers (offered) OR

Frito Chili Pie (offered)

Seasoned Corn

Frozen Fruit Slush (not offered)

Baked Fries

Variety of Fresh Fruit (bananas, apples, Clementines)

Not on the menu and offered: fruit cocktail or mixed fruit (not sure what the district calls it)

I'm having technical difficulties tonight and will not be posting pictures. Argh!

I also attempted to post a reply to the comments from yesterday and it disappeared. I will give it another shot tomorrow.

Edited to add pictures!

11:23 seems to be the time my daughter's class gets to the cafeteria. I stood at the back of the line. The kids were done throwing their trays away, lined up and on their way out the door by 11:36. So the kids that were right in front of me had VERY little time to eat.

I chose the Frito Chili Pie. As far as Frito Chili pie goes, not bad. Corn chips and chili. A small container of cheese (maybe 1 tablespoon?) and salsa was offered. I took them both and put them on the pie.

Corn was fine, although I couldn't tell it was "seasoned". The baked fries were, I thought, better than the tots. They at least had some flavor. And a little crispy. Crispy fries are good in my book. Oh and I found the ketchup! That helped! Though I know that the ketchup added more sugar to the meal.

I didn't get a choice on fruit today. Before I knew it one of the line workers put the canned fruit on my tray. I ate a little, but it felt and tasted like it was in lite syrup.

My observations: The kids like Frito chili pie. I didn't see as many chef salads on the trays today. One student said, "well, I've had the chef salad for two days in a row". I saw on two kid's trays that you could get the chili on the side. One of them chose not to take the chips at all. The other one put the cheese on her chips and didn't eat the chili (she basically had Frito's and cheese for lunch).

So, explain to me how corn chips, corn, baked fries (potato) and sweetened fruit is nutritionally balanced? Oh, I know the district has the whole week to make the meals "nutritionally" balanced . . . but how can this be acceptable? Especially if this is the only meal these kids get today?

It's short tonight. I should have more time to devote to this blog tomorrow. See you then!

Day 4

The menu today:

*WG Pepperoni Pizza (offered) OR

Turkey and Noodles (not offered) OR

Chef Salad w/ Crackers

Broccoli

WG Hot Roll (not offered)

Seasoned Broccoli

*Fresh Garden Salad

Peaches and Apricots

*Variety of Fresh Fruit (apple, tangerine, nectarine)

The sign says Balanced Choices -- 1st time I've seen one of these!

The dreaded pizza day. Before this day arrived, I was warned. I was encouraged to pick something else on the menu. Anything else. "Just don't eat the pizza!"

To be true to my personal investigation of what exactly is being fed to the children in the OKCPS district, I daringly chose the Pepperoni Pizza. It's been more than an hour since I ate and I'm still paying for it.

The pizza had a metallic taste to it. The texture and overall looks reminded me of the frozen pizza's we used to get in college . . . Tony's Frozen pizza or something like that. You know, the basic cardboard with some cheese like food sprinkled with unidentifiable meats bits on top that cost next to nothing (but was a step up from Ramen Noodles). Basically the same, just a different shape. Of the kids that chose pizza, a lot of them scraped the toppings off in order to eat the bready part.

There were a lot of chef salads on trays today. With their side of fresh garden salad.

Broccoli tasted good. I'm not sure what it was seasoned with, if anything. It was full of stem pieces, which I personally don't mind, but I am aware that most kids do not like the stem parts. It would go over better if it were mostly broccoli flowers and less stems.

Fruit choice: tangerine. It was delicious!! My only complaint was how cold it was. My teeth hurt biting into the pieces. I would like to have had time to let my fruit come to room temp.

I only mention the temp because the kids don't have time for the fruit to warm up and they are not allowed to take any part of their lunch from the cafeteria. If they didn't eat, they have to throw it away. Today I watched one child try to hurry up and eat the rest of his pizza while walking to the trash can. Walking and eating.

After eating, I stepped into the teacher's lounge. One of the teachers who is on duty during breakfast said I should have had the breakfast pizza instead of the lunch pizza. "It tastes a lot better." What?? Kids that get both of their meals at school had pizza for breakfast AND lunch?? Hopefully most of those kids chose the chef salad for lunch.

This makes me think that at some point I might want to see what they are eating for breakfast for an entire month.

Another tidbit I learned today. Some schools give the meals to their teachers at no cost. Our elementary school charges everyone. I wonder how some schools can do this, but others do not?

I've had teacher friends at other schools telling me they are not getting the same lunch choices we are at our elementary school. This is confusing to me. I thought all elementary schools had to abide by the same lunch menu (within the options above).

Yesterday I received: "Again at my OKC school cafeteria, we had a different meal. BBQ ground turkey or a hamburger, with french fries and sliced strawberries. " I didn't know that BBQ ground turkey was on the menu? And at yet another school: "we had the wannbee bbq turkey sandwich . . .and fries and peas. . and a cup of applesauce. . ."

It would seem that there are two different menus floating around. I pulled my menu directly from the OKCPS Child Nutrition Service website.

What is being served at your elementary school?

Day 3

On today's menu:

Chicken Tenders (was offered) OR

*Hamburger or Cheeseburger on Whole Grain Bun (these surprisingly were not offered) OR

Chef Salad w/ Crackers

*Baked Tater Tots

Variety of Fresh Fruit (which included: apple, orange or nectarine)

Mixed Vegetables

*Baked Apple

An asterisk(*) denotes components of Balanced Choices meals that meet strict nutrient parameters for calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, fiber, sodium, and other key nutrients. All Balanced Choices meals include a choice of 1% or less milk.

The lunch line looked pretty good again. This time about four chef salads were on display and as you can see only one tray of fresh fruit.

So far in the adventure, this was the worst day.

The chicken tenders were anything but tender. They were stiff with grainy breading on them. I remembered to pick up some ranch for dip. I mistakenly picked up BBQ sauce thinking it was ketchup. It didn't matter. Neither were able to entice me to eat all of the chicken. I am shocked that I now prefer the chicken rings from last week which were at least soft like you'd expect chicken to be.

The tater tots looked good and like tater tots. Nevertheless, if you had blind folded me and put one in my mouth, I would not have been able to identify it by taste. They were flavorless.

Nectarine was my fruit choice today. It looked so juicy delicious. I saved it for last; my reward for eating the lunch. One bite and my love affair was over.

It was frozen and tasteless and discolored.
Very disappointing.

The highlight of the lunch for me today was the mixed vegetables. Still had on oily taste to them, but was not over cooked.


I've included a picture of another lunch tray with a chef salad. On closer examination, it really looks good. It was colorful, with tomatoes, purple cabbage and some darker green leaves of lettuce (not sure if it was still iceberg or not). I forgot to ask what kind of meat was on it, but probably ham.

I found it interesting that I felt like I was cheating today. I didn't take the milk, but instead took an iced tea. I didn't eat in the cafeteria, but rather went to the teachers lounge. I also had to really give myself a "pep" talk to go back up to the school to have the lunch.

I also want to report that after today's lunch I was still hungry. And remained hungry. I wonder if this was caused because I didn't drink a milk. Maybe that's the reason for the big push for kids getting milk, not only for the vitamins and minerals, but purely for the calorie count.

That's it for today. Join me again tomorrow.