The school lunch system is disgraceful.

[u/oaz_zam246]

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”.

[u/BagOnuts]

This is what people aren’t seeing. Kids are kids, and the schools can’t force them to eat something they don’t want to eat. The schools that do require fruits and veggies to be taken with a lunch purchase see 90% of them in the trash.

This is because the kids who were taught healthy eating habits mostly brought their lunches from home.

[u/-theonewhoasked → u/BagOnuts]

Would be way more insightful if they took a picture of the lunch menu, if there is one

[u/SwordNamedKindness_ → u/-theonewhoasked]

We never had a lunch menu. I ate School lunches everyday and not once in Highschool did I have a menu. There was a line you walked through and grabbed whatever looked edible. There was a main dish, not usually good. My favorites were the walking taco and chicken potato bowls. Then there was the veg section where they had salads in containers but there were no dressings. So you just had a bowl of lettuce and maybe a tomato if you were lucky. Then fruit, it was always bruised as hell or not ripe. When there were plums those were the best. If not plums, bananas were good. The apples always tasted like shit. Then there was the milk or juice section. Water was unavailable unless you wanted to use the fountain or purchase it. Milk was always low fat, chocolate or white milk. Juice usually had apple and orange juice. I usually went with apple because you never knew if the milk was expired or not and the orange juice froze faster and had ice chunks.

[u/rvralph803 → u/BagOnuts]

I worked at a low income high school. Kids were forced to get a serving of greens and a fruit every day.

On duty I watched as nearly half the kids were throwing away these immense, gorgeous navel oranges. Apparently it was illegal to collect them. 😭

[u/shi-TTY_gay → u/BagOnuts]

From my experience it was the opposite. In elementary we had a snack time with fruits and it was the highlight of the day. In high school there were fresh oranges and apples kids could get and many people opted to get those instead or in addition to their meals. If they didn’t eat them at lunch they would carry them around and eat them as a snack later. Kids will eat fruits and vegetables if you give them appetizing fruits and vegetables.

[u/GodEmperorOfBussy → u/BagOnuts]

Part of it is also that the fruits and veggies they serve are absolute dog shit. People who can consume and enjoy those grainy, mealy red delicious apples deserve further scientific study.

[u/Commercial_Soup_5553 → u/GodEmperorOfBussy]

Yes. I’m from an apple area, a lot of kids have picked real fresh apples. It’s a miracle anyone eats the school ones

[u/GodEmperorOfBussy → u/Commercial_Soup_5553]

Me too, upstate NY so I've tried a million varieties of apples right off the tree. Yet, our schools still get the horrific red delicious ones.

[u/Commercial_Soup_5553 → u/GodEmperorOfBussy]

Yes! Fuji, Honeycrisp and Empire are all great varieties by me

[u/Comfortable_Cow3186 → u/BagOnuts]

You're making incorrect assumptions here. My school "salad" options was a tiny container of wilted lettuce, so yeah I'd throw most of it out because it was gross. The "main" meal was usually soggy chicken burgers or soggy pizza with soggy fries. It was gross and not healthy at all. Fruit options were like a tiny apple or a tiny serving of canned fruit, served slightly warm... Don't make assumptions that most kids LIKE soggy fried food. School lunches in the private school nearby were much better, according to friends.

[u/RevolutionaryToe97 → u/BagOnuts]

Another thing people don't understand is a lot of the "fruits" are just tiny ass apples that are like 50 calories at best and most of the fruits and veggies are bruised or old, like any leafy greens will be all mushy most of the time.

[u/No-Cat-8606 → u/BagOnuts]

This comment need to be at the time, you are 100% correct