It is completely my bias but to me this is the result of cronyism. A couple corporations make an enormous amount of money off shit food sold to schools. The problem is that it is way cheaper to buy prepared food and have a few people warm it than having cooks at each school.
The issue I think is way more fundamental - look at general US portions everywhere - at home, restaurants, school. Those ain't normal sizes for any human being to eat sustainably. How much physical effort is paired with that, also how the dinner looks like (cue - it should be lightest meal in both size and content of whole day). Kids eat what they see parents eating and whats available home. Can't expect kids of obese parent(s) to have some healthy habits. And so on
I don't get it, are the corporations making a shit ton of money or is it cheaper for the school? If both of these things are true, then it's a win-win.
I don't think it's necessarily about pre-packaged or not, just the type of food. If anything, having it outsourced would make change a lot easier. No need to install a kitchen and hire cooks, just call up the giant corporations, tell them you want apple slices instead of Takis. They would almost certainly accommodate very quickly, because you know, they're making a shit ton of money. Or others would jump in
Unfortunately I think a lot of this is demand driven. It's like the few pieces of rotting fruit in a bodega. They don't stock them because kids don't want to eat them. So I imagine supply side won't do as much as you think. But it still might be worth it because it might be better for the kids to be a little hungrier than stuffing their face with poison and they might eventually come around.
It's a win for the corporation, but a loss for the children and the healthcare system. They're selling unhealthy food that causes diseases at a good profit margin.
> They would almost certainly accommodate very quickly, because you know, they're making a shit ton of money
No they wouldn't. They'd tell you apple slices will raise the price by 50 cents per student per day (or whatever) and then you're back to the school budget issue.
The US system has for decades managed agricultural subsidies to ensure massive amounts of corn and soybeans are grown and sold at low prices to food processors and as livestock feed. The outcome is that your high-fructose corn syrup drink, white bread bun made with high fructose corn syrup and hamburger from a cow that got 80% of its lifetime calories from corn is very cheap, but many fruits, vegetables and nuts are expensive. (With occasional carve-outs for things like almonds being cheaper than they should be due to water management in California, but that's a separate issue).
But there has been a big push to make school lunches universal in the US. Compared to what I had growing up, what my kid receives is pretty mixed. On one hand, so much more is pre-cooked and pre-packaged. On the other hand, there is much more focus on "natural" ingredients and less "snacky" kids foods like pizza or nuggets.
Ironically, now packing a homemade lunch is a luxury.
Same as I growing up and we were quite poor for the US.
Did you qualify and decide not to use the program?
1 - Free lunch at 130% of poverty line, which for a family of four is ~$42k USD in 2025. Reduced at 185%, or $59k in 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/13/2025-03...
I'm not claiming it's an overwhelming amount of work, and if we just packed sandwiches it would be easier, but it's easily 30 minutes a day of food prep and cleaning lunch boxes.
My middle schooler can't eat whole apples because of trauma to one of his front teeth. The fruit with school lunch every single day is a whole apple, and he isn't allowed to bring a knife to school to cut it.
But then I started to do research and there are children out there who are literally starving because their parents suck. So if school food can save more kids than it kills it's probably a good thing. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
Yes, we used to pack breakfast, but healthy lunch has always been provided.
Your comment brought back my memory of watching this CBS mini-documentary comparing school lunches in France vs USA from years ago. Enjoy!
My public school had a kitchen ... that it used to heat up pre-packaged deep fried chicken and pizza from Sysco. Sometimes we would get some withered celery on the plate as well.
https://www.lodi.k12.wi.us/our-families/food-service
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1742572951/lodik12wi...
My mom works there and she says they are making a lot of the stuff themselves, like the casseroles and bakes, chili and soup, tacos, pizza, etc.
Glean what you can from these images on the site I guess too?
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image...
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image...
[Waits patiently for NYC or LA residents to pipe up and show who's really BIG!]
So while the number of kids being served healthier from scratch cooked food might be low, the total number or percentage of schools might be a lot higher.
I realize that it's more important to consider the percentage of kids than the percentage of schools, but my initial comment was just a simple take on this as in there are probably a lot of schools that still cook their food.
https://www.taher.com/services/k-12-lunch/
Our enthusiasm for food translates directly into a better experience for K-12 lunch students: meals made with fresh, high-quality ingredients. Dishes prepared from scratch. Menus and display cooking sessions inspired by our Chef Council’s world travels. Plenty of healthy options, supplemented by nutrition information and education.
In other words, we want your students to eat the best food possible, now and for life.
CLASSIC CAFE STATION "The cycle-menu entrée choices are made from scratch daily, offering a minimum of two selections every day. This station is available for students to choose from on a daily basis."
PIZZA AND PANINI STATION "A daily Panini or pizza choice. Taher’s Signature Pizza starts with a specially formulated crust. After smothering it with our zesty, old-world recopy pizza sauce and fresh mozzarella, we finish it off with a variety of toppings."
FRESHWICH® "Deli Sandwich Station offering made-to-order fresh deli sandwiches and wraps, on choice of bread, served with all pickles, peppers, sauces, condiments, or simply tacos, burritos, wraps, ets."
HOT SANDWICH & INTERNATIONAL GRILL "Presenting burritos, tacos, wraps, burgers, chicken, fish, and other popular items."
GRAB-N-GO "Our A la Carte offerings will include healthier food, snacks and beverages selections, including our exciting and delicious line of Grab-n-Go products; made fresh, they are also available for students on the run Items offered include freshly-made salads, sandwiches, wraps, and homemade soups."
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE BAR "An accompaniment to every meal. This station utilizes self-service and offers students a selection of fresh and canned fruits, and fresh vegetables."
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think — did you share this just to show handmade food, or is it also healthy food?
1 April seemed a good start, "Oven Fried Chicken Leg", but then I searched for what it meant. It's chicken in breadcrumbs rolled in oil! Are the potatoes and cucumber slices the vegetables that accompany it?
The following day has "Orange Chicken", so chicken covered in a sugary sauce.
"Pork Carnitas Tacos" sounds good. But then "Churro"?!
"Philly Flatbread" — essentially pizza, which is an option every day anyway.
Followed by "Chicken Nachos with cheese sauce" (10 April), "Popcorn Chicken Bowl" (22nd), etc.
Full credit to them if they're preparing it all from scratch, and most of it I'd be pleased to try if I visit the USA, but it's a lot of fried or high-fat food to be serving every day at school.
--
Here's the menu for many schools in Copenhagen: https://eat.kk.dk/ugens-menu (or https://eat-kk-dk.translate.goog/ugens-menu?_x_tr_sl=da&_x_t... )
The obvious difference is there's no daily pizza/hot dogs/burger options, but looking at each week I suspect they're limited to one fried dish per week or two fried sides.
It seems the food is partially prepared in a large kitchen, and then sent to the schools for "final preparation" and serving.
("Pork and roe deer meatloaf", "pheasant stew with bacon", "sushi bowl with baked salmon", they have better food than my work canteen.)
The food is one of many aspects where it's hard to tell the difference between a US school and prison.
Hint for anyone running a small commercial kitchen and considering buying ingredients from Sysco: unless something has changed in the last 20 years or so (I doubt it), they will completely screw you over if you don’t negotiate pricing effectively. If a service like Instacart undercuts your commercial prices, you’re doing it wrong.
Well, plenty of schools in the US used to cook food from scratch! They even had awesome cookbooks provided by the US government![1] (btw, it includes the recipe for that bomb-ass school pizza they used to have in the 80s and 90s! Credit to Max Miller from Tasting History for tracking it down.) That started getting privatized in the late 90s. Now they mostly just heat up things.
America has highly developed industrial food manufacturing and supply lines and a public willing to accept it. Just different values about how food is made, priced, and brought to market.
Tomatoes (cans or buckets of sauce) used for frozen pizza are very cheap in bulk food service level packaging.
"The story is so convoluted that it defied simple explanation at the time. Even today, the episode can be plausibly presented (depending on the political leanings of the presenter) as either a simple bureaucratic screwup or an unsuccessful effort by the right to pursue its agenda at the expense of the nation’s kids."
in either case, ketchup was not actually ever classified as a vegetable in approved legislation:
"When the proposed new rules were released for comment in September 1981, food activists went ballistic. Democratic politicians staged photo ops where they feasted on skimpy-looking meals that conformed to the new standards. The mortified administration withdrew the proposal and the USDA official in charge of the program was transferred, a move widely interpreted as a firing."
MBAs chipping away at load-bearing structures out of sheer human cupidity.
The USDA sets our basic dietary standards, and sets the standards for school meals. The primary purpose of standards for school meals is to ensure agriculture has a market for its products and a secondary purpose of feeding children. The USDA also runs SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, which provides a market for agricultural products as a primary purpose and a secondary purpose of feeding families.
If the primary purpose of these things was health, they would come out of the department of Health and Human Services, possibly from its Food and Drug Agency.