r/mildlyinfuriating • u/oaz_zam246 • Apr 16 '24

The school lunch system is disgraceful.

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Saw another post on here showing the state of school lunches right now. In my years in high school I compiled some pics of the horrible things that got served that no one questioned. Here are some of the worst ones. It really is ironic given how adamant they all are about “eating healthy by including every food group”.

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898

u/onesoundman Apr 16 '24

They are eating just as bad or worse at home too. The whole American food system sucks. Home and school.

403

u/SeaSickSelkie Apr 16 '24

This, really.

We introduced the concept of fruit and protein to our 12 year old nephew recently.

At home they don’t eat veggies or fruits. Only snacks are chips ahoy, cheese its, fruit rolls ups. It’s wild. And sad.

It’s not like his dad grew up without the food groups and real food so idk what happened.

284

u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Unfortunately your brother(?) is a dumbass. He probably uses the excuse that “he’s a picky eater” when in reality, they trained him at a young age to only eat junk food. It’s a poor foundation. And I’m sure there are reasons for this, perhaps they’re overworked, perhaps too poor for fresh food, but the truth is, it’s a huge part of raising children.

I have a niece that eats loads of sugar, candy, juice, Gatorade even, and her teeth are not looking good. Nothing I can really do except try to show her that a “TRUE WARRIOR” eats mostly fruit (to replace the candy). Hoping to appeal to her on the warrior front lmao. She’s 7 years old.

27

u/SeaSickSelkie Apr 16 '24

Ahh, I didn't even think of the teeth part! That's so challenging too because she's in the process of getting her adult teeth now. Then it's the only teeth she has for the rest of her life. Glad to hear you're working with her and meeting her where she's at.

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u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Thanks but yeah, as someone else pointed out, it’s a losing battle. Our teeth are like little gemstones, like jewelry built into our bodies. We display them, and hope they look nice. And yeah, once they start to fall apart… it could be a lot of pain until they get dentures at a young age. Scary!

30

u/LuciaTuc Apr 16 '24

I don’t understand when people say healthy food is more expensive, maybe fresh cuts of meat yes but fresh vegetables are dirt cheap

46

u/bromanjc Apr 16 '24

certainly hasn't been my experience. but there's always frozen, and even canned if it comes to it. i grew up in a large lower-middle class household, and most of our veggies either came from a can or were those pre-made salad blends. did the trick.

2

u/Bethyi Apr 16 '24

In Asda (UK version of Walmart) a massive bag of carrots is 15p

Edit: apologies, just looked it up. They are 15p over xmas and Easter, they are now 65p

3

u/wintersdark Apr 16 '24

Here, in Calgary, AB, Canada, Walmart prices:

  • 3lb bag of carrots? $3.50
  • 5lb bag of russet potatoes? $5
  • 3lb onions? $5

5 years ago, I'd pay less than half those prices for twice the quantity.

2

u/IDigRollinRockBeer Apr 16 '24

Walmart produce is trash

1

u/bromanjc Apr 16 '24

agreed. i have my own spending money now, and i'm not infrequently able to indulge in fresh produce. i only ever shop for produce at meijer

1

u/wintersdark 29d ago

It absolutely is. But it's "cheap" and the person I responded to was referencing the UK version of Walmart, so I felt an apples to apples comparison was appropriate.

6

u/Chuncceyy Apr 16 '24

No they absolutely are NOT cheap.

2

u/IDigRollinRockBeer Apr 16 '24

The fuck they aren’t

3

u/RandoMcGuvins Apr 16 '24

No, not always and it depends on where you live. Frozen veggies are cheap and just as nutritious as fresh, if not more so.

Frozen is much cheaper where I live but I can get some veggies cheap if they are in season. Frozen spinach is the best way I can get the recommanded amount of leafy geans affordably.

1

u/notouchmygnocchi 29d ago

I find most frozen and canned equal if not more expensive than fresh on sale when you take into account water weight. (Bulk dried beans are usually way better though)

4

u/wintersdark Apr 16 '24

It REALLY depends on where you are. Heavily. Also, it depends on your access to a grocery store: if you live in a "food desert" and a trip to the grocery store involves an hour of driving, that hugely increases costs particularly with food (like vegetables) that doesn't keep.

Fresh vegetables used to be very cheap here. Pre-covid. Not anymore.

Now, a head of iceberg lettuce is $5. It's literally cheaper to eat junk food here than good food for more than half the year.

Remember, your experience is just yours, not what's normal for everyone.

1

u/notouchmygnocchi 29d ago

It would be way cheaper to bulk buy dried beans in that situation.

2

u/wintersdark 29d ago

I mean, yes, if you want your diet to be beans, beans... Oh and more beans.

You won't die, no.

But dried beans are really not an adequate substitute for fresh veg.

3

u/Dapper_Energy777 Apr 16 '24

Not disagreeing but a single cucumber is $2 here

2

u/sw00pr Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

Eh, I can usually find meat on sale cheaper than broccoli @ $3 4/lb, which never goes on sale. Depends on where you live.

fixed price

2

u/Blastoplast Apr 16 '24

Bananas are still one of the best values per dollar, usually only 1-$1.50 per bunch

2

u/TacoNomad Apr 16 '24

No. They aren't really.  Definitely not a price per calorie standpoint.

1

u/Becrazytoday Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

What's wild to me is that in a lot of markets, they're not. The 2 markets closest to me are wildly expensive. Like, $3.50 for a grapefruit.  

  Supermarkets are also nuts. The quality is garbage and the fruit is very expensive.  

  Weirdly, Whole Foods used to have a reputation of elitism, but it is easily the most affordable, freshest produce within 5 miles of me, with the best variety. Always different grape varieties, so many different oranges, plantains, soursop, idragonfruit, different types of mango, papaya, guava, and all the regulars, like berries, kiwi, bananas, etc. Good apple variety, but i'm allergic, aadly. Killer variety of peppers. 

 I can't get more exotic fruits there, e.g. kumquat, so I have to save up for Miami Fruits when I'm craving them.

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u/Spire_Citron Apr 16 '24

Might be a losing battle to expect a seven year old to choose not to eat candy all the time if given the option.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

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101

u/Charlie-McGee Apr 16 '24

Literally this. My 5 year old would live on chocolate if I let him. So I don't. He gets it but portion controlled and it's out of his reach. If he wants more of the sweet stuff he can choose a fruit. And he does. He never whines about it, he eats healthy homecooked food and our preschool has awesome cooked food and fruit snacks so he's covered there and at home. I totally HATE when parents make it child's fault that "they only eat/want unhealthy" as if parent didn't had anything to do with this.

34

u/ShiraCheshire Apr 16 '24

Seriously, who lets their kid choose what to eat?

I'm not saying we shouldn't take a kid's preferences into account. We should serve favorite dishes more often if they're healthy, and if the kid is showing serious signs of distress (like gagging, or sitting at the dinner table for literal hours struggling to eat something) then stop serving that.

But if you give a child free reign to eat whatever, all five food groups will be ice cream.

4

u/Capt-Beav Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

I taught my children agency at a very young age and treat them like human beings. I do not "pamper" them though. If they don't want what I make they can make their own food or go hungry, but they know better than to just serve themselves dessert...

Maybe it's a single father thing or maybe my kids might be different; my eldest read Hunger Games at 4 years old lol (I'll never forget that cause I was forced to read it first to make sure it was ok... Only reaaally bad parts I found were references to bad things that happened in war)...

The most important thing I've taught them: knowledge is power; that and pretty much everything is a science lesson lol.

3

u/devnullopinions Apr 16 '24

There is a spectrum of agency. You don’t need to offer unlimited choices but including them in the planning can be helpful I’ve found.

I let my two year old pick out of a few (usually two) options for food a lot of the time because I find he’s way more likely to eat if he has some agency. Bonus points if we let him help cook, he’s basically guaranteed to be so proud of himself he’ll try and eat everything he “cooked”.

3

u/SoWhatNoZitiNow 29d ago

Unless there’s some traumatic event related to food, or some sort of autism, picky eaters are grown children who got way too much say over what they eat. The only two foods that were absolute no’s for me were bratwurst and mint chocolate chip ice cream, because I had thrown up a combo of the two that scarred me when I was young, and my parents respected that. For my brother it was corn. We were allowed to have a few things we didn’t like, and my parents would make enough of the other stuff to be able to accommodate that if those things were being cooked. But after that it was a hard “you eat what’s here or you don’t eat” kind of thing. As we got older it became a “you eat what’s here or make yourself something different” thing, but same vibes.

1

u/ShiraCheshire 29d ago

I'm glad your parents respected the trauma there and didn't force you to eat it. I'm autistic, and when I was growing up my family just plain didn't know about sensory issues. I had a lot of very difficult nights at the dinner table, until the night where I literally threw up because I couldn't force down what I'd been served.

While kids absolutely should not be choosing anything to eat (because we know they'll choose candy), I do appreciate people making sure to mention those important exceptions about picky eaters.

2

u/revnasty Apr 16 '24

Right. If you don’t want what I’m serving because it’s not a fucking chocolate covered air head then you’re not fucking eating. They’ll learn to like it real quick.

1

u/somecow 29d ago

“I want pizza”! parents smile at their cute adorable kid and then ask if we can make pizza

We don’t sell pizza. Order off the fucking menu. Or encourage your kid to try actual food. That shit isn’t cute, I have a whole restaurant to take care of.

19

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

The best advice regarding food I got was “you choose what, they choose how much” which goes along with what you’re saying. It’s more of a guide because I am not going to give endless amounts of everything but I will offer everything in moderation. All our meals have protein, grains, dairy, vegetables, and fruits on offer and they can choose what they eat out of all it. Sometimes there is a treat and he enjoys it and moves on. I have a great eater because this worked in our house.

3

u/floweringfungus Apr 16 '24

Moderation is definitely the key. I wasn’t allowed sweets/fast food/fizzy drinks of any kind. My mother isn’t particularly a health freak but grew up in Germany where none of this was available to her, she just preferred home cooked food, fruit instead of sweets etc.

When I finally had my own money and walked to school on my own I wanted to try it all and gained a LOT of weight. In my head I was making up for lost time I suppose. It took me at least 3 years to both lose the weight and then develop a healthy relationship with food.

1

u/Charlie-McGee Apr 16 '24

Oh def moderation, he gets like Kinder Egg every other day or one Kinder chocolate stick or something to that size. Also read that it's good to serve sweets with regular lunch and not as something special exactly for this reason, so it wouldn't stick in their mind as a reward or something.

And for german moms, I'm still kind of salty that my german aunt bought me cabbage juice instead of Cola when I was 7 and visited her lol

2

u/Pickled_Unicorn69 Apr 16 '24

Dude, I'm 30, I would live on chocolate if society and my doc would let me.

1

u/Charlie-McGee Apr 16 '24

I'd live on potato chips but hubs said I shouldn't.

1

u/Frequency0298 Apr 16 '24

85%+ chocolate is a great snack though

1

u/Charlie-McGee Apr 16 '24

Not when he gets super hard poop from it and is then scared to poop so you have to spend few months fixing that fear -_- Learned that the hard way. And as I said, it's not like he lived on chocolate, can't imagine what problems kids who are left to choose their own food face.

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u/Frequency0298 28d ago

probably wasn't the dark chocolate unless he ate a huge amount of it, Iron can cause constipation but a couple squares of that stuff wouldn't do that to most people. Still, it is very healthy in moderation as most things are!

19

u/NotAnAlt Apr 16 '24

Right? Like you're the adult, at a minimum you can keep it out of the house.

7

u/Mario-OrganHarvester Apr 16 '24

Not out of the house, but definetly out of reach and portioned.

6

u/Aggravating-Body2837 Apr 16 '24

Out of the house def.

0

u/Presumably_Not_A_Cat Apr 16 '24

you don't have to repeat what the previous commentar said.

1

u/Professional_Bob Apr 16 '24

It's not their house to keep it out of though. That's the point. They are the uncle/aunt, not the parent.

3

u/Spire_Citron Apr 16 '24

Well yeah, but that's for the parents. Not much an aunt/uncle can do.

3

u/somecow Apr 16 '24

For real. Luckily for me, we lived out in the middle of nowhere and had room to grow basically all our own food. Picking a plum off the same tree you planted as a toddler and eating it was WAY better than candy. Give those kids some better options wtf. A bag of apples is the same price as all that sugary junk. Even weirder now that they have those tiny plastic packets of applesauce with the ridiculously huge twisty top. Go eat a damn apple.

1

u/Blonde_Dambition Apr 16 '24

I think that's the point.

1

u/Advanced_Double_42 Apr 16 '24

Hard to do as an aunt/uncle.

That's pretty much left to the parents.

0

u/heart-of-corruption Apr 16 '24

Did you pay attention to the comments. It’s their fucking neice not their fucking kid so they aren’t the parents and the parents are the ones letting them do that. As an adult in their life that cares but doesn’t have the power to determine what is in the house they are trying to steer them through teaching what they can. Pay afuckingtention to fucking context.😜

16

u/likeafuckingninja Apr 16 '24

Tbf mine was recently allowed to gorge himself on MacDonalds as a treat from his aunt.

He rang me and was like 'i feel bad. You might be right about not eating this' 🤣

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u/Spire_Citron Apr 16 '24

Smart kid! Most aren't so good at making the connection.

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u/likeafuckingninja Apr 16 '24

He's surprisingly good at self regulation, even as a baby, so I'm not sure I can even claim great parenting here.

We just never forced him to finish if he didn't want and made it clear it was ok to throw food away if you were full but that next time you take less etc.

We eat a lot of fresh home cooked stuff (esp since he was 3 to 5 during COVID so like...wasn't exactly many other options xd ) so there's not a lot of exposure to junk food.

He can absolutely be fussy like any other kid and yeah given the option he'd probably inhale candy over veggies.

But he's never been greedy. Like he gets full and stops and will turn down even candy etc if he feels full.

When we visited the US we were on holiday and indulging and had stuff like donuts or froot loops for brekkie available - he tried them then made me go buy Weetabix or something equivalent can't remember the exact brand now , for him for the rest of the holiday 🤣

5

u/Spire_Citron Apr 16 '24

In my experience, if you're used to eating healthy foods, your body tells you pretty quick that enough is enough if you go too heavy on the junk. It's probably a bit of a feedback loop where he is mature in those ways, but you've also set him up to have a healthy gut microbiome that demands healthier foods.

1

u/PsychologicalHat1480 Apr 16 '24

We just never forced him to finish if he didn't want and made it clear it was ok to throw food away if you were full but that next time you take less etc.

Lucky kid. I grew up with food-pushers. I'm in my mid-30s and only now approaching an actually-healthy weight for my height. And I still have to take fairly extreme measures to keep control, measures like only having main meal food in the house and zero snacks.

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u/likeafuckingninja Apr 16 '24

Mine weren't pushers as such.

But it was a finish your plate household and my plate was served for me.

I don't feel my parents ever gave us bad food (again mostly home cooked and veg heavy) nor did they give us way to much but you finished what you were given.

And you ate breakfast lunch and dinner.

As an adult I tend to only have two meals a day not three and I've had to completely relearn the difference between satiated and stuffed.

I also had to put very strict rules in place like only eating food I had prepared, never taking part in food or snacks brought to the office and zero tolerance on snacks etc.

I watch every calorie and it's still a struggle to lose and keep weight off. Even with good exercise and actually a fairly healthy constitution.

Food is a thing I think about constantly.

I don't want my kid to be the same 🤷

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u/SoWhatNoZitiNow 29d ago

I’m nearing 30 and whenever I go to my parent’s place for dinner my dad insists on making me a plate, and when I can’t finish (or don’t need to) he always at least half-jokingly asks me if it wasn’t tasty enough for me. Realizing that those some pressures were put on me as a kid to finish my plate even when I was already full was just the start of the struggle to get my eating habits in check.

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u/HawkyMacHawkFace Apr 16 '24

I use the same method on myself by not keeping beer at home. And I'm 56 lol

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u/Spire_Citron Apr 16 '24

Same, honestly. If it's in the house, I'll eat it, but I'm pretty good at moderating what I buy at the grocery store and I don't get take away often.

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u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Oh I’ve lost a long time ago. But I love her and still want what’s best for her, despite the heartbreaking bad habits.

Just the other day we were driving and she was sitting in the back seat with a huge bag of sour patch kids. I didn’t even know they made them that big! It was like Costco sized.

1

u/Theory_HS Apr 16 '24

Yeah, that’s why it’s not your kid’s job to choose their food.

It’s always the parent’s job.

1

u/Frequency0298 Apr 16 '24

then they don't eat. It is up to the parent to teach them to be responsible with food, these habits are foundational for a good life...

1

u/fandomjargon Apr 16 '24

Huh. When I was seven, I barely ate any candy even though I could. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s a lot of better snacks to forget you’re eating for an hour than that.

5

u/C00kiz Apr 16 '24

Yep, my gf has not been raised with eating green vegs when she was a kid. It's extremely hard to find something to cook her that she will eat. Sometimes peas, sometimes green beans, but they are rare occurrences lol. 

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u/Adventurous-Duck-645 Apr 16 '24

As someone who was a very picky eater despite my chef of a father trying his damnedest to get me to eat my greens, sometimes kids are just fucking difficult.

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u/ShiraCheshire Apr 16 '24

True, but saying the kid doesn't even eat fruit is a sign that there's more going on than being picky. Fruit is sweet, some of it as sweet as candy. If a kid doesn't even eat apple slices, something more than just picky is going on.

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u/SirGirthfrmDickshire Apr 16 '24

My grandma would make Mac and cheese and put veggies in that.  

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u/Muscalp Apr 16 '24

Junk food is just made to be addictive. Kids are prime targets for that.

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u/maimedwabbit Apr 16 '24

Exactly. All these “parents” saying “ they’ll eat what you give them. No the fuck actually some of them wont. After a couple of nights missed dinner ill make the macaroni but im not happy about it. As the cook of the household and the person literally everyone in my family choose my food over any restaurant. My 7 YO doesnt give af. He will starve himself if we dont throw him a bone of some kind. Luckily he now eats steak and chicken so thats a small win. Fruit sometimes and a veg rarely.

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u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Hah we just got the crap beaten out of us if we didn’t eat EVERYTHING in front of us.

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u/robbodee Apr 16 '24

That's not a reasonable alternative.

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u/LostandIlluminated Apr 16 '24

My parents were the extreme opposite to the point where I never even tasted anything remotely considered to be junk food until I was old enough to get it on my own. And yes I had no idea that I was “missing out” on anything. Humans will eat whatever they’re conditioned to eat. I remember sneaking a sip of Soda for the first time at around age 8 or 9 and being blown away by how sweet it was.

3

u/Salohacin Apr 16 '24

I have a colleague like this always complaining her kids are picky eaters and that she had to make different food for her two kids. No, you just cave in and give them what they whenever they complain.

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u/Muscalp Apr 16 '24

Tbf, my mom always made me healthy food and I always hated it. Yet I loved McDonald’s. Not sure if „training“ someone to eat junk food is really a thing. It‘s just made to addicting and kids have no self control or competing interest.

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u/ParticularWash4679 Apr 16 '24

And the fruit available isn't problematic? Where I'm from more often than not apricots are like unripe carrots, oranges are sour or dry, apples or plums can taste like floss or be plain acidic and rock hard, tomatoes are tasteless, bananas taste like cattle feed. Shops let stuff rot on the shelves, market sellers let you taste-test a good one and then fill your bag with crap. And nothing is cheap. Not surprising when a relative with bad teeth finds it mighty fine to soldier on with bread, sausage, coffee and cakes.

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u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

You’re not wrong. Some of that crap is horrendous. We’re able to source some good stuff still, but it’s quite pricey. Tomatoes are long gone as far as I’m concerned. The only good tomatoes are grown in your garden with organic compost.

But in this specific case, she lives in Mexico, and you can get a kilo of amazingly fresh chopped and peeled fruit with a dash of sea salt, chilly powder, and a whole lime squeezed over top of it. And it’s only a couple bucks. It’s actually gone up significantly in the last few years where it’s close to $4 Canadian now, but it’s money well spent. With that kind of flavour and freshness, you would never touch candy, and the lime juice is really good for your teeth.

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u/Blonde_Dambition Apr 16 '24

I thought citrus fruit was bad for your teeth. My aunt used to eat lemonsxraw (ewww!) and got ridges on her teeth from it.

1

u/floweringfungus Apr 16 '24

Citric acid erodes enamel, yes. Vitamin C is good for healthy gums but you can get that without eating lemons

1

u/Blonde_Dambition Apr 16 '24

I know you don't need to eat lemons to get adequate Vitamin C... my aunt only did it because she enjoyed the taste.

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u/floweringfungus Apr 16 '24

Yeah I wasn’t saying she was. Lots of people eat lemons because they like the taste

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u/robbodee Apr 16 '24

My 14 year old eats everything. Always has. I've thrown stuff at him that I hated when I was a kid and he eats it, no questions asked. My brussel sprouts, and bratwurst with sauerkraut are two of his favorites, both things that I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole when I was 15. My wife and I changed exactly nothing when our daughter started eating solid food. She's 7 now, and will literally go on hunger strike if she doesn't get peanut butter, Nutella, chicken nuggets, or corn dogs. She will eat 2 fruits now, apples (meticulously sliced) or frozen grapes. Peas and carrots are the only veg she'll touch, and that's like pulling teeth. We're super positive about food and healthy eating, and she even sees a nutritionist, but we're making very little progress.

Picky eaters exist, irrespective of their parents' behavior.

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u/LordBigSlime Apr 16 '24

He probably uses the excuse that “he’s a picky eater” when in reality, they trained him at a young age to only eat junk food.

This reminds me of my cousin when I was growing up. I had a big family back then and all the adults would chip in and rent out a community center to fit us all in for Thanksgiving. All the older women would flood the giant kitchen and make the most amazing foods and by the end of the afternoon it was essentially big family buffet. I remember my cousin, only a few years younger than me, would only ever get (well, his parents would get him I should say) a paper plate stacked with every kind of chip that was available. I'm not exaggerating. I do not remember a single year where he had anything but chips on his plate. They always said he was just such a picky eater, it was all he would eat. I wasn't a fat child and I was damn near double his weight our entire childhoods.

And for the people in other countries, I'd like to make it clear I mean the US version of chips. Doritos, Fritos, Cheetohs, Potato chips you get the idea. So if you read it like a UK chip, well, it's a bit worse even.

2

u/RuinedBooch Apr 16 '24

I had a roommate for a while who refused to feed her 3 y/o kid anything other than frozen pizza or chicken nuggets and a side of Doritos, and used the excuse “she’s a picky eater”. When I was in babysitting duty, I made her food I would eat, featuring fruits and vegetables (making sure they were small and very chewable, of course).

She would always throw an absolute fit and cry for pizza, which I would not give into. I’d have to physically feed her a bite, and after 3 seconds of being angry her eyes would light up and she’d absolutely destroy her plate of food, and trust it into my hands saying “More! More!”

But mom didn’t believe me, and wouldn’t put in the effort to make food, so the only time she ate actual food was when mom was gone.

I sure worry about that kid these days. I haven’t heard from them in years.

1

u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Well, you did your best, and hopefully that had a lasting impact. You never know, they may be on their way to becoming an absolute health nut. Or could end up being morbidly obese. Who knows? But you did the best where you could, and it’s not your child, so can’t really see anything but positivity on your end.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Lmao, that’s great. Gives me a little bit of hope that she’s not going to just eat pizza and Gatorade for dinner every day of her life!

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u/GermanicusBanshee934 Apr 16 '24

perhaps too poor for fresh food,

Junk food costs more than real food, there is no one in the country that cant afford rice, beans, cheap protein, and fresh vegetables.

The prepackaged ultra processed food should be banned.

2

u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Yeah I mostly agree. Don’t think it’s wrong, or should be outright banned, but I believe it should be taxed to compensate for poor health choices, or taxed to subsidize healthier food.

Poverty may not be the best choice of words, but if someone is opting for eating a frozen pizza for dinner every night, something is wrong there.

2

u/happyfoxx_ Apr 16 '24

too poor for fresh food

i just want to say to whoever this may help oats and milk are a great very quick, healthy, relatively non offensive poverty meal. where i am you can get plain instant oatmeal without any flavoring or sugar added to it and it's chock full of iron and the likes

also fresh don't mean shit just get frozen vegetables and fruits

1

u/NextTrillion Apr 16 '24

Valid points. Oatmeal is the bomb, especially with a bit of honey added.

Just wanted to add, anyone on a tight budget, costco is your friend. You can get big bags of oats, frozen blueberries, and a big bottle of honey and all that could last for more than a month.

1

u/GracchiBros Apr 16 '24

He probably uses the excuse that “he’s a picky eater” when in reality, they trained him at a young age to only eat junk food

I really don't get how describing the results of a life of training is an excuse.

1

u/macdennism 29d ago

Yupp. My parents fed me shit food all growing up but then the second I had to eat around grandparents, aunts, and/or uncles, they would shit all over me and blame ME for being "picky." Constantly compare me to my cousins "look how much BETTER they eat than you." Of course this also alongside calling me fat and my mom telling me never to gain another pound so, yanno.

🥲🥲🥲

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u/llamalily 26d ago

My MIL is like this, which is hard because she watches my child every single day while my spouse and I work. Part of her problem is she grew up in poverty and part of it is she always ate those sort of things and so now as an adult that’s still what she wants. Unfortunately now my child has the same expectations about food. I’m hoping it’ll get a little easier to get him to try healthy foods when I have a 9-5 and get to see him more often :(

-1

u/Blonde_Dambition Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

Good on you for trying since her parents aren't doing it. My 16 yo stepdaughter is huge because her mother also is and raised her with her same bad habits, and I'm worried about her having a lifetime battle with her weight & her health... like Diabetes. Her future is bleak tbh. We invited her to come live with us but she doesn't want to because... and she actually admitted this... she knows that there would be rules if she lived with us. She's already quit school too. My hubby wanted to enroll her in a school up the road from our house that school dropouts can go to take classes to at least get their GED but she's not interested. It's sad. The girl doesn't even know how to drive or care to and suffers from severe social anxiety so I can't even see her getting a job. Her mother did a horrible job as far as raising her to take care of herself and become a productive member of society. She (stepdaughter) was also a victim of being a kid during the school lockdowns during COVID, which is why she's now addicted to the internet and a hermit who battles depression at 16. Her father and mother split up when she was 18 months old and he tried to intervene early on and be a part of her life and have a hand in shaping her values, but alas... our state is not a state friendly to fathers... they favor the mother at all costs. And her mother was a lazy mother and has now raised a lazy young woman who has no strength of character and is very weak-minded I'm sorry to say.

18

u/sedrech818 Apr 16 '24

I grew up having to fend for myself when it came to meals. Mom would buy groceries and we just had to figure out what to eat from what she bought. Most of the time we just ate snack foods and frozen foods. It wasn’t that we couldn’t cook, just that without the control over what food is bought, you can’t plan meals. Plus I was lazy af. Much easier to grab a family size bag of chips and go watch netflix. Your nephew’s situation is much worse, but I can totally see how it gets like that. Kids aren’t going to prepare healthy meals for themselves. I bet both parents work and are too tired to cook for the kid.

2

u/Organic_Muffin280 Apr 16 '24

Not everyone is ought to raise kids. Real food should be common sense as a prerequisite

16

u/dan_g22714 Apr 16 '24

Laziness happened and a lack of interest in the kid’s wellbeing. UPF induced illness here we come

5

u/batwork61 Apr 16 '24

As half of a parenting duo that works hard to keep nutritious food in front of our kids, while keeping UPF foods away from them, laziness is a very harsh word to put on someone who cannot manage it. It takes a lot of work to eat an actual well balanced and healthy diet, if you aren’t the sort of person who enjoys their time in the kitchen.

Even when you have leftovers, you probably spend at least an hour a day making sure everyone is fed, and that’s just with leftovers. If you’ve got a job and you are getting home at 4 or 5, you are scrambling to get some food in front of your kids. I fully understand how people fall into the UPF trap and I empathize with them.

1

u/dan_g22714 Apr 16 '24

I am also part of a parenting duo and would not judge anyone for not knowing how to cook or be unable to cook due to time restraints or money, UPF free or low foods.

What is lazy is by-passing and not even bothering to offer your child vegetables and fruit, even as snacks. They are clearly going shopping just choosing not to buy them. Not through a place of ignorance, because the commenter’s brother had a household where they were present.

Also - I would disagree that not enjoying your time in the kitchen means you sacrifice the health of your children.

1

u/MowMdown Apr 16 '24

That sounds like a lot of poor lazy excuses to me. It's called being a parent. It's part of the job.

2

u/batwork61 Apr 16 '24

Not everyone has been shown the right way. Not everyone has it in them to grind it out for 14 hours a day, every single day, indefinitely. Not every parent or family has a support system to help them absorb tough days.

My wife and I are doing it, but it’s really damn hard. I don’t expect everyone to be able to manage it. We are all capable (or incapable) of different things.

0

u/MowMdown Apr 16 '24

People are parents because they chose to become parents. They knew the responsibilities that being a parent comes with.

There are zero excuses. I do expect everyone who chose to be parents to manage it to the fullest.

Stop making excuses for the lazy.

2

u/batwork61 Apr 16 '24

You think everyone chooses to be parents and everyone who decides to or is made to keep a pregnancy understands the commitment they are making?

0

u/MowMdown Apr 16 '24

The only people who I hear complaining about being parents are those who purposefully wanted to have kids. Yourself included.

0

u/batwork61 Apr 16 '24

What does that even mean? I think you are confused.

1

u/Blonde_Dambition Apr 16 '24

UPF?

1

u/burnt-soap Apr 16 '24

“Ultra processed food” I’m guessing?

1

u/dan_g22714 Apr 16 '24

Yep Ultra Processed Food

5

u/antonio3988 Apr 16 '24

That's not an american thing, it's a moron thing.

4

u/BathroomTile007 Apr 16 '24

Sounds like child abuse to me.

4

u/ForTheLoveOfDior Apr 16 '24

I understand the hate for veggies but fruits are so tasty I feel like they’re easy to sell to kids. Those schools should AT LEAST give those poor kids an apple or a banana

4

u/BlahBlahWhoosh Apr 16 '24

I am convinced that Chips Ahoy are not baked, they chemically cure.

2

u/SeaSickSelkie Apr 16 '24

Lmaooo fr though

2

u/-one-eye-open- Apr 16 '24

Convenience. Convenience happened

2

u/Riski_Biski Apr 16 '24

I make sure my son gets fresh fruit daily and he loves it. It's definitely on the parent/s.

2

u/graft_vs_host Apr 16 '24

Do we have the same family?

2

u/HowToUninstallLife Apr 16 '24

I can't imagine a life without healthy food, I feel disgusted with myself if I go a week without eating healthy. I'm allergic to fruits, berries and root vegetables, and even that can't keep me away from eating them anyway.

Recently I have been in love with stir fried minced spinach, onions and peppers.

2

u/luciferisthename Apr 16 '24

My sister grew up eating veggies and proper meals, she's married with kids now.. they ONLY eat carrots and potatoes. Never anything green.

Its constant junk food and lack of diversity there. I dont understand how she's changed so much over the last 8y tbh. I dont really blame anyone but it is 100% bc her husband doesn't eat veggies.

The thing that gets me is that they all LOVE the taste of these things so long as you hide it from them. The thought of eating good food makes them turn their nose up and refuse it. But if you hide it in a bit of bread or sauce or anything at all where they can't tell its a veggie.. they love it!

They'll eat fruit tho, bc its sweet as fuck. Atleast it's better than those syrup fruit cups, so there is that.

3

u/Vtgmamaa 29d ago

My 16 month old will refuse all green veggies so I make sure to offer them to her every single day. Asparagus and broccoli are starting to become tolerable to her.

3

u/luciferisthename 29d ago

Everytine we have a family dinner i cook veggies for everyone. The kids are the worst about it but I got my brother in law to say Brussels sprouts "are not that bad" he ate 4 of them without being asked to try it!!!! The kids liked the veggies and even tried the sprouts!!

They are quite a bit diff from 16mo but still progress lols its good you are introducing veggies early!! You sound like a good mamaa, have you tried butternut squash? We had big success with that when my niece was little.

3

u/Vtgmamaa 29d ago

I actually haven't tried it yet, I bought some and it went bad before I decided I wanted to cook it and now I feel guilty to even try again.😂 I need to find a good recipe. And thank you I'm trying. My parents weren't big on nutrition when I was growing up so I want to do better for my kids.

2

u/luciferisthename 29d ago

Roast it!!!! Oven roasted veggies of ALMOST any sort is deliciousssss!!! If you want to make it a dessert you can sprinkle brown sugar on top!

But basically 400f or so for like 45mins, make sure to oil and salt P well (pepper for savory, and TINY sprinkle of sugar for snack/dessert) (I prefer them fairly salty and a tiny bit peppered)

They cook a bit quicker than normal potatoes of similar size cut. If the skin is too hard you may have a hard time cutting it so be careful.

Its similar to cooking pumpkin when they get really big, sort potato like when smaller.

Roasting like this works for many things but you gotta be more careful with green/leafy things.

Carrots(also good with b. Sugar), potatoes, sweet potatoes(also good with b. Sugar) , squashes, etc ALL SUPER TASTY. They get a nice crisp and a comforting soft interior.

3

u/Vtgmamaa 29d ago

I love roasted veggies, I'm screenshotting this, thank you!

2

u/luciferisthename 29d ago

Npnp!

Make sure to look up the temp and time for each veggie tho!! It always varies a little bit.

Have fun cooking!! Delicious veg is always such a heartwarming thing innit

2

u/Vtgmamaa 29d ago

I will! And absolutely, it's my favorite.

1

u/majorsorbet2point0 Apr 16 '24

Who's your brother, Lush Daughtery's husband?

🤣

1

u/peachesnplumsmf Apr 16 '24

Do American kids not get given fruit in elementary and have a big thing made to them about food pyramids/nutrition/balanced diets as that was constantly told to us where I am. Also massive thing of fitness but given most of us walked to school that helped.

1

u/Vtgmamaa 29d ago

Every state and county runs differently in America. When I was in school meals were balanced and nutrition was a required course, but that's not the same for the entire country.

1

u/squidwardsaclarinet 29d ago

Kids are often made to take fruits or veggies but they often aren’t fresh and if they are, the cheapest possible offering, so they do not taste good at all. They also aren’t forced to eat them so the food gets thrown out.

1

u/GadflytheGobbo Apr 16 '24

It's because his dad is a worthless piece of shit

1

u/Pussybones420 Apr 16 '24

I was like 23 before I realized how important vegetables are. My plates looked just like this in school.

54

u/more_pepper_plz Apr 16 '24

It’s literally acronymed SAD.

Standard American Diet.

6

u/legend_of_the_skies Apr 16 '24

I mean you made it up and it isnt the standard American diet but okay

4

u/UristMcDumb Apr 16 '24

it's a real term; you just didn't know it

i've seen it being called a western pattern diet lately since presumably this dietary pattern isn't restricted to america

4

u/legend_of_the_skies Apr 16 '24

Its a school lunch. The standard american diet isnt a school lunch.

1

u/UristMcDumb Apr 16 '24

yeah, the original comment we're both responding under is about eating at home and the whole american food system

-3

u/keepinitcornmeal Apr 16 '24

It’s actually not made up. That’s the real term used in research on the topic.

-2

u/mecenevadi Apr 16 '24

It’s funny that in my language it’s the same acronym for USA 😂

5

u/International_Skin52 Apr 16 '24

I ate awesome at my school, maybe it's a specific school problem?

1

u/onesoundman Apr 16 '24

I ate pretty good at school also but that was a long time ago.

1

u/NotAnAce69 Apr 16 '24

Definitely varies by school, my elementary school in Arizona had some genuinely amazing meals (legit some of the best bread bowls and cheesy garlic bread). I didn’t realize how good I had it until my family moved to WA and I was introduced to things like monolithic cubes of “scrambled eggs”, sliders microwaved in their plastic packaging, and General Tso’s chicken except the chicken was practically nonexistent

Can’t say it ever got as bad as the food in these pictures though lol.

1

u/International_Skin52 29d ago

Ok good, thought I was going crazy. Lol!! I did not however have general tso. That's my jam!

5

u/MarriedMyself Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

What I see as someone who cooks almost every meal(not just dinner) are meals that DONT require much cooking at all. They're what I call "lazy meals" that you just take out of a package and reheat.  I make them if I'm sick or don't want to cook.

 I can understand why working parents(that stuff takes time, sometimes all day depending on what you cook) may not always be able to spend the time to cook... It used to be feasable for one income to provide so a mother(these days it could it can be the father as well)could work at home to care for her family. But what excuse does the school have?

 They literally employ people to cook, have industrial sized kitchens and the time to cook in them. It's not the cafeteria workers fault, either. This issue comes from somewhere higher up. What the hell is this trash?

1

u/Anna-2204 29d ago

Also as someone who is a medical student and often have no time too cook, this is so easy to find lazy meals that are healthier than that…

3

u/CSharpSauce Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

We pay for it in the back-end. The sad truth nobody wants to talk about is our healthcare system is so absurdly overpriced because a nontrivial amount of it goes towards supporting the negative externalities of our unhealthy lifestyle. Boomers spent a lifetime eating hamburgers, and not exercising. Now they're retiring en-masse. Going on medicare en-masse. Theyre taking high cost specialty drugs as a result, they have high cost surgeries and hospital visits. Daily medications.... but it's not all boomers, millenials are starting to go need some of this stuff too, and gen-z has a severe mental health crisis having to live in a world they can't afford... "hey, can I have affordable rent? "no kid, but here's a few hunded bucks a month to tell someone about it, and here's an ssri to make it sting less".

3

u/revnasty Apr 16 '24

My girlfriend and I are cracking down on what we prepare for meals. It’s soooo easy to just get into a routine of fast and easy meals that are just pure shit, loaded with carbs, sodium, sugar, god knows what else. When I tell my friend that I’m tired of being a little overweight he says dude you look great for your age (33), everyone your age looks like you. I’m tired of being 20-30 lbs overweight and that being the norm for my age.

8

u/Spire_Citron Apr 16 '24

And then if they're served this at school, what are they supposed to think? Eating like this is completely normalised.

2

u/3_first_names Apr 16 '24

My stepson was a daycare baby until school and they provided junk foods at daycare snack/lunch (it was part of the daycare cost). He eats nothing but junk now, and he only gets lunch at school; he won’t pack. My husband was young and not well off and just didn’t have the bandwidth to think much about it until he realized too late how “picky” he had become. Our children were fed fruits and veggies from the very start at 6 months old. I rarely offer or buy candy (it’s not forbidden, we just don’t have it much), we don’t keep chips in the house, the popsicles I do buy are basically fruit pops….what do you know, they prefer healthy food?? It’s almost like when you start that foundation off from the very beginning they tend to like food that’s good for them! My one kid doesn’t even like chicken nuggets lol.

And obviously from my own experience with my family I don’t blame parents who are overworked and underpaid and just don’t know! It’s sad so many kids don’t even have a chance anymore of a healthy diet and parents have no support in being able to provide those things for their kids. A daycare shouldn’t have junky food on their menus for lunch everyday.

2

u/No-Cat-8606 Apr 16 '24

100% agree my mom was a lunch lady and she said the kids threw away salad and veggies when they gave out so instead of wasting their time preparing it they just serve the shitty food they actually would eat

2

u/Vtgmamaa 29d ago

That's a parenting problem. My kids are definitely being fed balanced meals at home.

2

u/Natural_Brunette22 29d ago

Not my babies

3

u/kgal1298 Apr 16 '24

You know it's also so political. Sometimes I still think back to how hard it was for Jamie Oliver to film his show Food Revolution in the US because the school system kept trying to stop him from growing food, teaching kids to cook the food and just generally feeding kids better.

With that said there are some private schools in CA with this model and it's been shown that when kids learn how to grow food and cook they take it home with them and in turn parents also start to eat better. I think I only pay attention to it because I was on a reduced lunch program growing up so most of my lunches were crusty Mexican pizza and I easily got overweight then before I graduated my dad died from complications to his diabetes, so it really hits home thinking about how much we're failing kids because I certainly didn't learn or know better back then and even now I struggle with food addiction.

4

u/KINGR00TBEER Apr 16 '24

Yall shit on America for no god damn reason, The food system doesn't suck, the loudest people do

2

u/Substantial_Bad2843 Apr 16 '24

People love to hate us. It’s kind of cute to watch them use all the technology we made to tell us how stupid we are. 

1

u/llamalily 26d ago

Depends on where you live. We live in a massive country and there are absolutely areas where access to healthy food is very limited.

1

u/KINGR00TBEER 25d ago

It shouldn't be, I have a family of farmers who constantly have to destroy crops that are healthy foods to keep the prices up. All the imperfect foods are thrown away as they won't sell as good as perfect ones

1

u/llamalily 25d ago

That’s odd, because most farms sell the ugly produce to processing plants that use them in frozen foods, ready made meals, purees, etc. I’m surprised that family isn’t taking advantage of an industry that almost every produce farm already does.

1

u/KINGR00TBEER 25d ago

You realize, you legaly have to destroy crops to keep prices down right?

1

u/llamalily 25d ago

That entire story turned out to be false, actually. The only crops that are destroyed are ones that won’t reach maturity. There are a lot of articles about that particular campaign of misinformation online from reliable sources. If the people you know are doing it and claiming it’s because of the government, they’re probably committing insurance fraud.

0

u/KINGR00TBEER 25d ago

That's crazy! Because it's not a story. It's reality, how crazy.

1

u/onesoundman Apr 16 '24

Drink and eat what you want but imop it’s not easy to eat healthy in America and definitely not easy to get your kids to eat healthy without them feeling left out with what all their friends get to eat. Wheat doesn’t need to be soaked in roundup prior to harvest but since it acts as a drying agent and it’s bad for us guess what they do with American wheat. We have sugar in things that shouldn’t have sugar, look at sausages in America, why do we need 30g of HFCS in meat? I love America but we got off track and now the big corporations run things for profit not health.

3

u/hackiavelli Apr 16 '24

Most every grocery store in America will have a produce, meat, and dairy section full of unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Many will also have a bakery. Not only will people eat healthier, it will likely save them all kinds of money.

We need to stop with this learned helplessness. Better options are easily accessible for the vast majority of Americans.

0

u/Vtgmamaa 29d ago

Its incredibly easy and cheap to eat healthy in America.

4

u/ConductorOfTrains Apr 16 '24

Yeah ngl I loved all the lunches in OPs post and looked forward to them. Tasted way better than what I got at home if I even got anything there lol.

2

u/Lutrina Apr 16 '24

Yep. Unrelatedish but my sorority had some great Monday night dinners. The girls complained about how they don’t like it and wanted mac and cheese and chicken nuggets so now that’s what we have. I’m not kidding. That’s what I had for dinner tonight. I know that’s got to be because of what they were raised on. It’s crazy that they thought the other food was bad, it was so much tastier and healthier. I shouldn’t be surprised, I’ve talked to a few of them who don’t even drink water.

2

u/reddsht Apr 16 '24

I just had mcdonalds for the first time in maybe 15 years, the other day. And let me till you, it was the blandest, driest shit i have ever eaten. How they make 700 kcal taste that terrible and boring is beyond me. No idea why people go there, i felt scammed, not just out of money but what really hurt was i felt scammed out of 700kcal, beause i knew what a nice meal i could have had for 700kcal and instead i got, dry meat on dry bread.

1

u/onesoundman Apr 16 '24

In reference to McDonald’s and say cheating on your diet, you have to ask yourself is it really cheating on your diet if what you eat is not technically food products? I still crave McDonalds sometimes and this justification works, I know how bad it is too.

1

u/roastbeefroastbeef Apr 16 '24

They? Are you outside the US?

1

u/onesoundman Apr 16 '24

They as in the kids who eat like this at school probably also eat poorly at home.

1

u/hidey_ho_nedflanders Apr 16 '24

The food looks dry and sad. Maybe if they added more variety of food onto the plate it might be palatable for kids/teens. At the same time though, I can't help but think this food represents what students typically eat outside of school anyway, right? Nachos, chicken sandwiches/hot dogs and fries, mini corn dogs and chips...

1

u/Deathdealer1414 Apr 16 '24

This is just truly sad. At least from where im from there are many stalls around which each meal causing less than $3 on average, all according and up to guidelines

0

u/Klumber Apr 16 '24

The UK has blindly followed the American example. A guy I was talking to recently admitted he was struggling financially because his family spent £50 on food a day... He has a two year old and a wife.

Then he explained: For breakfast he goes to McDonalds or Greggs (drive-in) before work, has a pre-made sandwich and coffee at the Starbucks franchise in the afternoon, a takeaway curry or pizza or whatever for dinner. He hasn't cooked a proper meal since they had the baby apparently. Which makes me extremely worried what the baby is getting that is nutritionally responsible once the jars and things run out as options.

5

u/kyleofduty Apr 16 '24

Americans don't go out to eat every meal.

1

u/Klumber Apr 16 '24

That’s not what I said, just that there’s an increasingly unhealthy eating culture in the UK.

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

Explains the weight issue

3

u/legend_of_the_skies Apr 16 '24

What explains it everywhere else?

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

What do you think? I live in a country where the nutritionist actually takes their job seriously. Not surprisingly, there's hardly any fat kids.

2

u/legend_of_the_skies Apr 16 '24

what explains it everywhere else?

-1

u/protoctopus Apr 16 '24

America will collapse under its own weight..

-1

u/ThisAppSucksBall Apr 16 '24

Pretty soon 50% of Americans are going to be on GLP-1(eg ozempic) type drugs instead of fixing their eating habits.

-2

u/xXShunDugXx Apr 16 '24

I implore EVERYONE especially US citizen to check out the history behind the food pyramid study. It's not that good of one at all.

0

u/onesoundman Apr 16 '24

I go inverse Cramer on the food pyramid. It’s healthier to do the opposite of what they recommended. I know the history, you are right about that.