When I was a kid, I hated buying lunches at school. They were never particularly tasty, you had to waste valuable socializing time waiting in the lunch line and I liked the attention I got for being the kid who brought "weird" combinations to school (like yogurt and granola).
However, I know that for some of my classmates, those lunches that I turned my nose up at were the best thing they had to eat all day. In recent years, many school districts have worked hard at making their lunch offerings increasingly delicious and healthy, to the point where they probably would have tempted a snot like me. Now, with rising food costs, school cafeterias are having to find ways to cut back in order to keep serving up healthy meals, especially since government subsidies for school meals aren't covering the costs.
Some districts are cutting staff in order to make ends meet and others are foregoing pricey items like the ever-popular baby carrots and replacing fresh veggies with frozen. This July, the Congressional committee that determines the federal reimbursement rate to school lunch programs will meet to decide the amount that schools will get for the following year. Schools are hoping that they take rising prices into account and give them the 12% to 15% bump they need to maintain their level of service and nutrition.
[via CNN]
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