Boulder School Kids Reject Healthier Lunches

After spending hundreds of thousands to revamp their in-school lunches, the Boulder Valley School District may be learning the hard way that kids will be kids.

A recent AP story reports that hot lunches in Boulder schools now avoid processed food in favor of fresh fruits and whole grains. The result?

Hot lunch sales are up among middle- and high-school students. But among the elementary school set, who make up the largest percentage of hot lunch customers, hot lunch sales are down.

According to the Daily Camera, a nutrition consultant hired last year to revamp the school menus.

Boulder Valley launched its overhaul last year by hiring Cooper's consulting firm, Lunch Lessons LLC, to review the district's food options... Children get pesticide-free milk from Colorado dairy farms, whole-grain breads, fresh Mexican food once a week and all-natural pizza. The eventual goal is to move entirely to scratch cooking at all the district's schools.

Comments

[bouldermom]

05:40 PM on 12/10/2009

Also, in response to a comment, sales are up at middle school/high school because they removed a la carte. Kids have to buy a whole lunch (whose prices are more expensive than last year) to get any food. The stories don' t report that prices went up so the drop in elementary school is larger than indicated.

[bouldermom]

05:37 PM on 12/10/2009

The food is somewhat healthier (though it is heavily organic, which might be a good thing though it's never been shown to be healthier than non organic). My son eats reasonably healthily at home and we don't rely on mac and cheese and hotdogs and similar food and he likes different types like Thai, Indian, Mexican and other nationalities..So, I know it isn't just a matter of not being 'kid food'. From what he has said and what other kids have said, the food is simply bad. It is bland with no extras like salsa, onions... Spices of any sort are used minimally if at all. Some of the menus sound good in theory (and he tried a lot of it) but the recipes need to be changed if the kids are to eat it. Food that is good for you doesn't have to taste bad!!

[1differentdrummer]

06:13 AM on 11/15/2009

What do Mom and Dad let them eat?

[FirstGenRandR]

11:45 AM on 11/13/2009

"Boulder School Kids Reject Healthier Lunches in Shocking Move"

Where is the shocking part of this story? And if sales are up with middle- and high-school students, how does that translate into rejection?

Another misleading HP headline.

[USA2Sense]

11:04 AM on 11/13/2009

Betcha if they grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- it would be a hit....

[shthar]

03:29 AM on 11/13/2009

Ketchup on a hot dog?

And huntz at that?

I wouldn't be eating there either.

[CostaMolta]

07:22 PM on 11/13/2009

I used to go to school there. Boulder's lunch menu/plan sounds good to me. next time try some strawberry jam on da hot-dog. yumm!

[clearwaterclearmind]

12:09 AM on 11/13/2009

well let's see. kids are inundated every day by advertisements during their favorite manic cartoons (whose characters often endorse the crap) with messages screaming that processed chemicals are the best thing ever and your'e a loser if you don't eat them. i can't imagine why they'd pick processed crap over real food.