L.A. Unified Bans Flavored Milk

[Scout26]

  If anyone asks, I am Bill from Cedar Rapids, and this is my first convention here in Seattle. 

Yeah, we've already got a Chris from Cedar Rapids......

[MillCreek]

I'd be interested in a performance comparison between outsourced lunches and in-house programs, like Millcreek described.  Any info on that MC?

Australia has high consumer prices.

I don't know about that, because I don't know what metrics are used to measure performance in a school lunch program; probably cost per meal or something like that.  But from what my ex used to say, the two ways Sodexho said they could save money was in food cost and salaries/benefits.  They could get somewhat better costs on some of the food (everyone gets the commodities for free or low-cost) because they had national purchasing power, which was better than a single district. 

But the real issue was salary and benefits.  The school personnel would be terminated from the school position, with the seniority, union wage and benefit package, and invited to apply for the same position as a Sodexho employee.  Most of the employees would be scheduled for a small enough amount of hours so as to not qualify for benefits, and the Sodexho wages were generally less than the unionized school position wages.  The management personnel would generally have equal or better benefit and wage packages than when they worked for the school.  But as my ex said, something like 75% of her employees worked only four hours a day: the classic lunch lady would come in and help set up, serve and clean up from lunch.  They primarily did the job to get out of the house and because they liked kids, not really to earn money.  It was the cooks, drivers and managers who worked full-time.

[richyoung]

I'm lucky if I get a meal for under $15 of any kind unless it's fast food (that's around $10).

School lunches make money for schools and cost less than commercia meals!?  That's unpossible; government is inefficient

They get free or subsidized food from the Dept. Of Agriculture.   Giant cans of vegtables, cheese, etc.   The cost of the subsidies and such for this program is not figured into the "$3" figure bandied about.....

[Jamisjockey]

They get free or subsidized food from the Dept. Of Agriculture.   Giant cans of vegtables, cheese, etc.   The cost of the subsidies and such for this program is not figured into the "$3" figure bandied about.....

Well, I kind of figured it in.  When I say that a school lunch costs about $3, I'm talking about what the kids pay for it in the lunch line. 
But when I said that we're subsidizing the $3 cost of a school lunch, directly and indirectly, the giant cans and stuff that are bought at a discount or provided to the districts for "free" are still paid for by the taxpayer class. 
The eater class then gets what really amounts to a much more expensive meal for free.
And lets say you're in the taxpayer class, you make good money, and you have several kids that go to public school. They buy the lunch at $3.  I, however, pay taxes into the same school system (and state and federal taxes), and have less or even no children attending the school. By default, I am subsidizing your lifestyle choice of having several kids and them attending public school. 

No, if we calculated the actual cost of a school lunch, I'd bet its much more like $10.  Administration, regulation, inspections, staffing, free lunch programs, etc etc.  By the way, at my kids school, I think a lunch is like $2.75 right now.

[roo_ster]

I'd be interested in a performance comparison between outsourced lunches and in-house programs, like Millcreek described.  Any info on that MC?

Australia has high consumer prices.

Not sure about the public school (other than it is outsourced), but I know a bit about my kids' private school, since I am on the BoT.

Price per meal, without any sort of subsidy from anyone or anywhere, is $5.  Food is prepared off-site and brought in in serving containers/trays, set up, spooned out, and then cleaned up.  (If you have ever been in the military and had hot chow delivered to the range or out & about, it is similar to that.)  One van with a couple employees on-site during lunch for a small school like ours.  Parents get sent home a sheet with menu selections.  Depending on the contractor, it can be a week or month ahead of time.

Yeah, in olden times, the school made lunch on-site, but it became a distraction.  Main thing was the ratcheting regulations imposed on a kitchen for public food service.

Many kids' parents still brown-bag it (we do this for our kids).

[roo_ster]

Mind sharing your thoughts?  I'm curious.  I tend to stay away from housing projects for obvious reasons, and wouldn't mind learning more.  Could start a new thread if it's off topic.

Maybe I ought to.  Lots of lessons learned and some juicy stories.

[brimic]

$10-15 meals? And for kids?

I bet my lunch on a working day is under $2- a peanut butter sandwich, a bag of microwave popcorn (bought in bulk from costco), carrots or apple, and some water- and those are the days I'm taking leftovers to work.
Kids get the same thing as I do in their lunches (well no microwave popcorn) for school.
We won't let them eat any of the hot lunch garbage- is high in fat and salt, they stuff I ate as a kid for hot lunch was infinately better, even if bland tasting.

Not surprisingly, they are healthy, fit,and don't have any sort of attention/personality disorders.

I'm not really big on subsidizing someone else's crotch spawn either- if they aren't invested in their kid's future, I don't want to be either. Between my wife and I we probably put in at least 90-100 hours on any given week, and still find time to take kids to sports, cook them meals, make them lunches, and help them with their homework.

[Jamisjockey]

$10-15 meals? And for kids?

I bet my lunch on a working day is under $2- a peanut butter sandwich, a bag of microwave popcorn (bought in bulk from costco), carrots or apple, and some water- and those are the days I'm taking leftovers to work.
Kids get the same thing as I do in their lunches (well no microwave popcorn) for school.
We won't let them eat any of the hot lunch garbage- is high in fat and salt, they stuff I ate as a kid for hot lunch was infinately better, even if bland tasting.

Not surprisingly, they are healthy, fit,and don't have any sort of attention/personality disorders.

I'm not really big on subsidizing someone else's crotch spawn either- if they aren't invested in their kid's future, I don't want to be either. Between my wife and I we probably put in at least 90-100 hours on any given week, and still find time to take kids to sports, cook them meals, make them lunches, and help them with their homework.

I pack my kids lunches and am very careful what they eat.  #1 is ADHD. Can't blame that on the schools. 

Lunch is typically a sandwich, junk-ish snack (cheese stick or tube yogurt), a fruit, a veggie (celery or carrots normally) and a bottled water or 50% capri sun.  They still have snack time which is usually some gold fish or another fruit.  I'd bet I average under $3 per kid per day on lunches.  Not any real savings over the school lunches, but I don't trust the school to feed my children nutritious meals.

[KD5NRH]

there is still a pretty good segment of the educated scientific community that  believes milk is good for you even if it does have fat,

Ooh, yeah, four percent if it's pretty darn good quality.  IOW, 145 grams of fat per GALLON.  18 grams per pint, or about three eggs' worth.  (and one ~45 minute bike ride to burn it off completely)

Realistically, the higher butterfat loads are worth more for other things, (.25% difference in butterfat makes a huge difference in how much cheese you can get from 60 tons of milk, for example) so what you get from Borden is likely pretty darn close to the 3.25% minimum content for whole milk.

[longeyes]

First they came for the chocolate milk...