Tasty spork!

I was up at 5 so I could be at school at 7 to prepare lunch for 200 mouths with my students. It was a lot of fun, went even smoother than last year, and people seemed to enjoy the food. And the students seemed to get a kick out of it.

Kids don't start showing up to school until 8, and first period is at 9 (though two of my fiercest and most loyal students met me at 7am to get the turkeys in the oven!) From 8 to 9 there is a cooler in the caf with bags in it -- free school breakfast. It was hard to not to notice that maybe only 1 or 2 students availed themselves of this really nice service. So I investigated, and ate one.

The picture above is the contents of the breakfast bag. A half pint of 1% milk, a quarter cup of fruit punch, a little container of dry cereal, a "bagel burst" and a little packet with spork and napkin. I think the cereal and the spork were tied for most-appetizing.

• 1% milk: Diet milk is nasty no matter how "used to it" you are. Whole milk, yes, has more fat. Big deal. Drink less of it. Fact is kids ain't drinking the diet milk.
• Fruit punch: Too sweet, despite being "100% juice" -- it's from concentrate, so the sugars are concentrated. Might as well be soda, but soda that has the distinct flavor of the inside of an aluminum can.
• Cereal: Kinda like cheesy poofs, minus the cheese. Actually pleasantly mildly sweet, slight corny flavor. I wouldn't buy this, but I'd eat it.
• "Bagel Burst": I took a bite of this small round baked good, chewed twice, ran to the garbage can and spit it out. In theory, this is supposed to be a small cinnamon bagel round with cream cheese injected in the middle. In realty, it is a dry crumbly stale little brick that feels like rough sand in the mouth, with too-tart white mush in the middle. Absolutely inedible. And notably, the packaging had no ingredient list -- must have 20 chemicals to keep it "fresh" for months in storage.
• Spork & napkin: brought back memories of school food pre-high school. I remember quite enjoying the hot lunches in the 70s, a nice alternative to the boring pb&j sandwiches my mom would pack. Even back then, they had cheaped-out on the food, going from production kitchens to reheating stations.

Anyway, no wonder no one eats that crap -- it's an insult to the students, a loud message that says that money and bottom line are more important than a healthy breakfast for the kids.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, pot luck dinner with B's family. I'm making Grandma Birdie's Chiffon Pumpkin Pie, cinnamon ice cream and a chocolate pecan pie. I am going to take a break over this holiday, and will continue reporting my eating next Monday. Happy Thanksgiving, all 3 of my readers!

BREAKFAST: 5:30am, iced green tea, chocolate covered coffee beans


AM SNACKING: 7am-noon, a school lunch, a glass of ginger ale, little bites of turkey, stuffing, string beans, a glass of iced tea, a glass of fruit punch, a few squares of brownies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:45pm, a small plate of turkey, mac n cheese, Cesar salad, string beans, candied yams, a few brownies, a few too many cups of iced sweet tea, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, basil fried rice, curry puffs, Thai salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5