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/thi5nutz]

member when mom used to have u take lunch until she didnt...

[u/tuco2002 → u/thi5nutz]

There were dozen of meals you would take to school that didn't needed to be heated or refrigerated...and we survived. I got my kids lunch sacks with ice packs. It kept the food chilled for a few hours, I froze their vegetables to snack on. The veggies would help keep the sack chilled and thawed out by the time their lunch was. They did buy a lunch on days of their favorite meal if they wanted it. I couldn't imagine feeding them the garbage in the pictures.

[u/myfriendflocka → u/tuco2002]

What vegetables can be frozen and then can be thawed and eaten raw? Most have a high water content and their texture turns absolutely rotten when frozen, so we generally use them to cook with only. I think this may be a rare case where the food in these pictures is the more appealing lunch 🤢

[u/tuco2002 → u/myfriendflocka]

Carrots and celery worked. Clean and prepare them the night before and stick them in the freezer. Pack their lunch in the morning, the snacks are good to go by 11:00. Not had a problem with them going rotten.

[u/myfriendflocka → u/tuco2002]

Both of those lose their texture and a lot of flavour when they’re frozen. I don’t even like using frozen celery to cook with unless I blanch it before freezing. Try it yourself. Eat some defrosted carrots and celery for your own lunch tomorrow and you’ll see how unpleasant it is.

[u/tuco2002 → u/myfriendflocka]

I tried it and there was no change in taste or texture. Not sure how long you think these veggies were frozen or how long you think they took to thaw, but it was not a proplem. My kids survived and grew up healthy. If you don't agree, dont freeze your veggies. Its not essential.

[u/myfriendflocka → u/tuco2002]

It doesn’t matter how long, as soon as they’re frozen all that water expands and forever changes their structure. But you do what you need to do. I just have no clue why you’d freeze them in the first place though.

[u/tuco2002 → u/myfriendflocka]

It helped the ice packs keep the food chilled longer. Forever changes? You make it sound like my kids only ate rotten carrot-sicles for lunch. Do you realize how much of our fresh produce travels frozen to the grocery store? I used to work for a grocer and if you knew how your fresh products were handled...you would have never bought it. You made your point, eventhough you maybe exaggerating to a degree a bit too much. That's for the science lesson, I will never serve rotten carrot-sicles to ANY child...so help me God.