Since I began high school, Pleasant Valley’s lunch menu has remained the same. The weekly menu typically consists of some type of meat, pasta and pizza. The sides are usually a mixture of half frozen fruits and vegetables or sugary icees.
While I would not consider most of the food appetizing, I can’t say I hate it all. I enjoy the occasional chicken mashed potato bowl or baked potato. Those meals, however, are not consistently available. The only lunches available every day are sandwiches, wraps, salads, hummus and chips and uncrustable sandwiches.
Though the daily entrees rotate, I have noticed a huge increase in spicy chicken and pizza. There is simply not enough variety on the menu. My taste buds have expired the taste of spicy chicken; I’ve been eating it for four years, after all.
When I do make the choice to purchase one of the entrees that change every day, I find myself waiting 20 minutes for the kitchen staff to cook more. By the time D lunch rolls around, there is always a shortage of the popular entree.
The men and women working in PV’s kitchen say that the amount of food they make is based on how many kids purchased the food in previous lunches. “We are doing our best to provide good food for everyone, but it is hard to guess what a kid will want for lunch,” said kitchen staff member, Sharyl Stein.
Sometimes D lunch students do not even get food until halfway through their lunch, because they chose to wait for the food they were expecting to be served. Additionally, there are never any remaining sides. By the time half of the students are through the line, the sides are sparse or picked through.
I also struggle to find healthy options. The school focuses so much on student health and safe snack menus, but they still feed us pizza and carb infested meals nearly every day.
“I feel like it’s very unhealthy to be eating the same thing every day that has no nutritional value. Sometimes the chicken doesn’t even taste like chicken because it’s been frozen so long,” said senior Briggett Tribbett. It is nearly impossible for a student to eat healthy and get enough to eat.
Small changes have been made to the menu to make foods whole grain or gluten free, but this does not do much to improve the nutritional value of the food served. There is only so much you can do to make pizza healthy.
“Our goal is to feed every kid, and that means providing a large variety of foods that apply to a variety of kids. Some kids would not eat if they were forced to eat healthy every day,” added Stein. For students who can’t afford to bring their lunch or eat free/reduced lunch, overall health is affected greatly by the menu.
Yes, I know the sandwich and salad bars are always open and there is always fresh fruit, but you can’t expect a student to eat the same meal every day. The fruit is often bruised or not ripe and the vegetables are simply bland. If the school would invest in a good ranch or some salt and pepper, maybe students would be more opt to eat their vegetables.
Student athletes need certain nutrients to prepare them for after school workouts or meets. This means students need protein and good carbohydrates. A vast majority of the food the school provides is loaded with fat or starch. How are student athletes expect to perform to their best ability when they are not eating properly?
I understand that most students can pack their lunch and avoid school lunch altogether, but some students simply don’t have the time or materials to do so. School lunch is expected to provide students with the energy they need to prosper in school, but PV has really been missing the mark.
