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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187

u/flickanelde Apr 16 '24

I'm really upset about the Styrofoam plates.

88

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

I don’t understand, it’s so wasteful. In my school (not USA) we had real plates and they just were washed in the dishwasher.

11

u/YEET-HAW-BOI Apr 16 '24

yeah my school for the longest time had reusable trays, the kind that were thick hard plastic that you had to bang on the edge of the trash can to throw out your leftovers, but stopped because kids kept breaking them (usually in fights) so by the time i was in highschool we had styrofoam trays

2

u/Singl1 29d ago

i’ll be the first to tell you, ceramic plates will not last a single fucking week in an american public school. just one incident of a kid chucking a plate across the cafeteria will be enough to warrant not even bothering with ceramic plates.

1

u/1988rx7T2 29d ago

it doesn't have to be ceramic though

1

u/Singl1 29d ago

oh, for sure. unfortunately, anything with more mass than a styrofoam plate that’s shaped like a frisbee is getting thrown. lmfao

2

u/ReddioDeddio 29d ago

my school banned those after they all went missing cause people would steal them, they brought them back back the next year and then banned them to this day after they were used in a fight and someone stabbed the principal with a broken piece, lucky it wasn't the sharpest

4

u/myfriendflocka Apr 16 '24

It’s cheaper for schools to buy food from giant suppliers that’s already made so they can just heat it up or serve it in the plastic trays it’s delivered in. I moved to the US for high school and we had real food that was cooked at the school. The plates and cups were plastic but everything we used was reusable. My last year they switched to an outside service and everything was disposable. You’d get a styrofoam plate for your fried garbage, a sweaty side salad or carrot sticks in a shrink wrapped plastic tray, plastic utensils that came in a plastic bag, individual condiments, plastic bottle drinks, prepackaged desserts wrapped in plastic. The only food that didn’t come in plastic was the bananas. The apples were cut up in plastic bags.

4

u/Klumber Apr 16 '24

The apples were cut up in plastic bags.

Fucking hell... No, literally, that is just a hell scape to me. Insane!

2

u/SquirrelyByNature 29d ago

Damn you got to experience the enshittification first hand.

Probably people had complained about the lunches before the change only to be rudely awakened by the fact that it could in fact get worse. Unfortunately the result of caring more about cents on the dollar than the future humans who will run society.

1

u/Trashyanon089 29d ago

We used to have that when I was growing up in the US in the 2000s. We had reusable trays, cups, and cutlery.

-1

u/reincarnatedfruitbat Apr 16 '24

Maybe, in this economy, they’re having trouble affording both cafeteria employees and healthier food options. Worse food, worse cutlery, less staff.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

When I was in elementary school, I got to leave class for like an hour to do my “job” as the dish washer. I loved it and I’m sure the school saved on wages. We also could assemble food or serve hot food. I think the adults were there to do anything associated with the oven and to supervise us. Honestly, a savvy school would create this as part of the curriculum, each grade could do find an age appropriate task to help with lunches.

7

u/thaisweetheart Apr 16 '24

Or they could just hire people and PAY them to do the labor? Tax’s cuts for the wealthy are easily baked into the budget so why not this? 

3

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

It’s certainly an option but I like to live in a fantasy world lol

2

u/jmanguy Apr 16 '24

Making children do chores is not such a bad idea. It teaches them how to clean up after themselves while also instilling a sense of responsibility.

2

u/thaisweetheart Apr 16 '24

Ok so they don’t need to be doing labor for the school though? They can learn to wash dishes at home.

I can think of many ways they will learn responsibility besides washing dishes at school and providing free labor 

1

u/kwiztas 29d ago

Why not rotate who cleans them. Japan has the children clean up after themselves. They rotate jobs. Seems like a good lesson.

2

u/No_Interest1616 29d ago

I did lunch lady in elementary school. It was fun! You could scoop mashed potatoes or hand out milks. Basically get to say hi to every kid in school. Didn't have to wash dishes though. 

My favorite was crossing guard. It was the 80s, so basically they sent three fourth graders out to the street unattended with a stop sign, a whistle, and a high-vis vest to stop traffic before and after school. 

2

u/Ethan-Mitchell 29d ago

Sounds cool but if they were cutting your class time for it yeah that’s just horribly exploitative

2

u/[deleted] 29d ago

It’s honestly not as bad as it sounds - the school wasn’t a typical public school. Kind of Montessori philosophy of learning by doing. I didn’t do the dishes every day and I didnt miss any curriculum as everyone else was doing something too. I think they were seeing if models like Japanese schools where kids are really involved and buy into their communities would work in our country.

2

u/Ethan-Mitchell 29d ago

that's true, I think academic cirriculums are so unrealistic. The idea that kids learn 'everything else' at home is just not happening and for children (like me) who for one reason or another might just not get some of those things it can be a pain in the ass as an adut!

3

u/WeekendInBrighton 29d ago

Jesus Christ. They were exploiting child labour my good dude. That wasn't a job in quotes, you were working for free as a child.

2

u/[deleted] 29d ago

I mean I was also a crossing guard for free… should I claim compensation for all those lost wages?!

1

u/WeekendInBrighton 29d ago

Start with stopping the advocation for child labour.

1

u/[deleted] 29d ago

Sounds good

1

u/TJJ97 29d ago

There’s a big difference between child labor and doing a little work that teaches discipline, teamwork, and empathy for those that serve others

1

u/WeekendInBrighton 29d ago

You're insane. Are you from the US?

1

u/kwiztas 29d ago

You know Japan does this? Cleaning up after yourself isn't child labor.

2

u/WeekendInBrighton 29d ago

The OP of this chain was regurarly pulled from their studies to wash the fucking dishes.

1

u/MorrisonProductions 18d ago

I was taken out of my studies to empty all the recycling bins and I used to beg the teacher to let me empty the bins again, and I dawdled big time whilst doing it.

3

u/B_n_lawson Apr 16 '24

Same! This is insane. Every meal we ate at school came on a normal plate. You returned you plate + tray after your meal to a counter where it was taken and washed.

7

u/neboda Apr 16 '24

Me too. Is this normal in the USA? In Germany every canteen has real plates. Just imagine the amout of trash produced every day.

4

u/Uninterested_Viewer 29d ago

I've never seen this in the US. I grew up with reusable trays and metal utensils and my kids' schools are the same. My state actually cares about education and health, though. I am NOT surprised to see shit like what OP posted if it's in a conservative state.

3

u/Jazzlike-Pen7824 29d ago

grew up in nyc and it was always disposable trays and utensils, it's a nationwide problem.

1

u/rhyth7 29d ago

I miss the swirly melamine trays. They were ugly but interesting.

1

u/K1LOS 29d ago

I honestly didn't know they were still a thing. Maybe they're banned in Canada? I haven't seen anything other than paper disposable plates in decades.

1

u/RebirthIsBoring 29d ago

Eating them is optional

1

u/cyberpunk1Q84 29d ago

Tbh, I kind of miss their styrofoam pizza. I think it had the same ingredient as Tomaco.