KELLY: SNAP and School Lunch

Since Tuesday, Max (our 11 year old, 6th grade son) has been forced to eat school lunch. He feels like he’s won the lottery.

Our thinking was that if we were on SNAP assistance, he would qualify for free and reduced lunch. He’s happy because, as much as possible, we are a tried and true home lunch family. So, aside from his happiness and delight (“This challenge is a snap!”), it gives me an opportunity to look at lunch nutrition in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Today Max has a choice between,

Beef Nacho Grande

Refried Beans & Cheese

Turkey Salami on a Kaiser

Italian Capo Wrap

Taco Salad

They also get to choose one(?) side of:

Grapes

Shredded Lettuce and Tomatoes

Craisins

Tortilla Chips

Not too bad at first glance. Nothing we haven’t seen at any number of restaurants around town, it even looks a bit … healthy. Surely, nothing we haven’t fed our kids now and again. That’s when I explore the nutritional content. For brevity, I won’t list the breakdowns on all the options, so I’ll just guess at what he chose today. If I know my son, he chose the Turkey Combo Sandwich on Kaiser, a side of Tortilla Chips, with Chocolate Milk – it’s a lottery windfall, after all.

Calories: Total Fat: Saturated Fat: Trans Fat: Cholesterol: Sodium: Carbohydrates:

Turkey Sandwich: 321.250 Kcal 15.635g 7g .009g 54.972mg 1,203.467mg 28.091 g

Tortilla Chips: 150.000 Kcal 7.000 g 1.000 g 0g 0mg 105.000 mg 18 g

Chocolate Milk: 129.999 Kcal 0 g 0 g 0 g 4.001 mg 125.001 mg 13 g

It wasn’t till I hit these totals (especially the sodium) that it made me wonder how it might compare to a McDonald’s meal. Here’s how it compares to a Happy Meal: Cheeseburger, Small Fries and 250ml Chocolate Milk (and I’m just doing the totals, instead of individual breakdowns):

Calories: Total Fat: Saturated Fat: Trans Fat: Cholesterol: Sodium: Carbohydrates:

For lunch Max will have consumed: 600 Kcal 22 g 8.477 g .009 g 59 mg 1,433 mg 59 g

McDonalds Happy Meal 700 Kcal 25 g 8g 0.5g 50mg 1,120 mg 92 g

Hmm. I’m just not sure how to respond to that. Do you?

We have millions of children going to school hungry who are accessing free and reduced lunches (and breakfast). So, just what are we saying to these kids? That we care enough to underwrite their lunches, but only with this “high-quality” food?

There’s a lot more I could say, but too much for this one post. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. If you’re interested, here are a number of sites that provide actionable steps to ensure that our kids can be healthy:

You can review the new Child Nutrition Bill up for signing at the end of the year:

http://www.schoolnutrition.org/uploadedFiles/School_Nutrition/16_LegislativeAction/HR%205504.pdf?n=6104

You can sign Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution petition: http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

You can watch Feeding America’s call to congress to help hungry kids in the US:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=qd2t5tb6iwQ

I know that some fabulous Mom’s (and Dad’s) are working hard at Max’s old elementary school (Dowling Urban Environmental) to see if we can look at school lunch in a different way. Want to figure out if there are ways to affect change at your school? Check out the LunchBox: http://www.thelunchbox.org/

Max’s "lottery" will run out next week. Then it’s back to home lunch and green, leafy things. Think we'll hear about it?