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Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches Annotated Bibliography

Samantha Hellings
James Madison University

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

Introduction:
Obesity is becoming a bigger problem in younger generations today in the United States. With
the help of Michelle Obamas Lets Move campaign, she has been encouraging children to go
outside, be active, and eat healthy. However, is this enough? Can more be done through school
lunch programs to get kids headed down the path to healthy eating? I remember when I was in
my school district; the hot lunches were not so hot. My fellow classmates would throw their
hotdogs on the ground and they would bounce back up. The so called blocks of cheese would
jiggle like Jell-O. I expected the lunches would get better as I moved to the high school, but they
didnt. The soups always looked unpleasing and smelled bad while the cheese on the nachos
would harden as soon as the lunch ladies placed it on your chips. Experiencing the world of the
gross school lunches made me want to do something about it. This topic is important to me
because I want to help solve this problem. More children are obese today and serving healthy
school lunches would be a first step in getting them to lead a healthier lifestyle. If there was a
healthier and cheap way to serve children lunch, why not do it?

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

Beardsley, E. (Writer). (2008, July 2). Chef proves school lunch can be healthy, cheap [Radio
broadcast]. In Morning Edition. Salon de Provence: Eleanor Beardsley.
In Eleanor Beardsleys interview (2008, July 2), she reports that it is in fact possible to
serve healthy, and cheap school lunches to students. She asks a series of questions of a French
high school Chef Dominque Valadier who has implemented a healthy lunch program. He states
that every day he goes to the market to pick up fresh food for the meal he will cook for the
students that day. He tells Beardsley the type of healthy meals he cooks for the children and they
love them.
The audience for this interview is school staff and parents. Beardsley shows that it is
possible to provide a $3 healthy meal that consists of squash casserole and homemade hummus
that students love. Beardsley gives helpful tips that Chef Valadier suggested to be more cost
efficient such as, saving money by getting maximum use out of every ingredient. He never
throws anything away. In one corner of the kitchen he is boiling down fish heads, flesh and
bones from yesterdays salmon, to make a tasty bouillon for todays mussels (Beardsley,2008,
July 2, para.10). Beardsleys interview with Chef Valadier is not only reliable but also relevant.
She talks to a school that is already going through this change of nutritious meals and so far, it
has been a positive outcome.
I believe this interview is very beneficial to my argument. It shows a clear example of a
school being able to provide cheap and healthy school lunches to students. Eleanor Beardsley
also provides examples of healthy meal choices that I can use for my project to help persuade my
readers. After reading the interview, I have a stronger position on my topic. If other countries are

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

able to provide meals that are healthy and suit the average income, then it should not be hard for
the United States to make the same change.
Better lunches: Michelle Obama's heart- healthy campaign pays off. (2012). Retrieved October
24, 2015.
In this article, Better lunches: Michelle Obamas heart- healthy campaign pays off, the
author describes Michelle Obamas plan to prevent childhood obesity. The article describes what
Michelle wants to happen in order to provide a better life for younger generations. Her plan
outlines a program of exercise and healthy eating.
The author explains how Michelle Obama believes that children should have a daily
serving of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The author also talks about some rising concerns
with Michelles plan. One of the current concerns is that the students do not like the taste of the
healthy food. An additional concern is the cost of the new menu. The article states, even though
nutrition isnt cheap, its worth it. The childhood obesity rate is an alarming 17 percent, which
will only lead to diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol (2012,
October 10, para. 6). The author provides statistics to back up their claim. In addition, this article
is current and relevant. Michelle Obama has been promoting this campaign for years now and it
is slowly coming into effect.
Information about Michelle Obamas campaign benefits my project because its a
nationwide program backed by the Presidents wife. Her campaign has brought the issue of
healthy school lunches to the public. Eventually schools will have to change their menu to meet
Mrs. Obamas requirements. Reading this gives me another perspective on the topic. Instead of
providing examples of schools or statistics as to why healthy lunches are better, this article

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

describes a nationwide initiative, supported by the White House, which is currently being
implemented to help America be healthier.

Bruske, E. (2011). Improving school lunch program is complicated. Greenhaven Press. Retrieved
October 24, 2015.
In his article Improving School Lunch Programs Is Complicated, Bruske (2011) states
that providing healthy lunches in school is costly and the foods are not fresh. Bruske visited his
daughters school to see how well they were doing with the new changes in the school lunch
program. To his surprise, he found out that the chefs were using foods that had been either frozen
or precooked. In addition, the school was still serving unhealthy drinks. Lastly, Bruske provides
facts and statistics to show that serving healthy food to students is not beneficial in terms of cost.
All and all, Bruskes intentions are to convince the readers that healthy might not always mean
fresh and it might not mean cost efficient.
Ed Bruske is a creditable author on this subject. He is a former reporter for the
Washington Post. He now works as a personal chef, publishes essays on a variety of food topics,
and writes blogs (Bruske, 2011, para.1). He is also creditable because he provides facts to back
up his claims. Bruske supports his argument that it is too costly to provide healthy lunches,
Bruske states, federal payments-including $2.68 for each fully reimbursable lunch-total around
$12 billion annually and feed roughly 30 million children every day. That covers about half the
cost of food service (Bruske, 2011, para. 23). This shows that the author does not state his
opinion unless he uses evidence to back it up. In addition, this article was published in 2011 so
the topic is current and relevant.

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

Having this opposing viewpoint can really help me in my project. By providing some of
the negative aspects of this issue, I can use counterarguments to show that in reality healthy
lunches are the best option for public schools. Reading Bruskes perspective on healthy school
lunches has caused me to be a little more open minded. Having this information enables me to do
research to counter his claims, which will help strengthen my argument.

McCreless, P. (2015). Study shows improvement in school meal nutrition over 14

years. Anninston Star. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
In his article, Study shows improvement in school meal nutrition over 14 years,
McCreless (2015) claims that in the long run, healthy school meals have benefited the United
States. He explains that doubling the fruits and vegetables in the school lunches have helped
reduced the obesity in younger generations. He also states that eating greens benefits childrens
performance in school. Lastly, McCreless provides an alternate solution to students who cannot
afford the school lunches. He states all of these claims providing facts and statistics to back
himself up.
Patrick McCreless provides an unbiased and current article on the benefits of healthy
school lunches. If children continue to eat more nutritious meals, they will get a good source of
nutrition each day to properly perform in school. They can lose concentration because of low
energy levels (McCreless, 2015, September 2, para.1). In addition, he addresses a solution to a
common issue with healthy school lunches, money. McCreless understands that some families
are unable pay the difference in meal plans. He describes the Community Eligibility Provision
Fund, a program for schools that predominately serve low-income children, and it helps offer

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

them more nutrition each day. The system will receive full funding for the program from another
two years (McCreless, 2015, September 2, para.1). This fund provides low-income families free
school lunches for their children. McCreless shows and explains why it is beneficial as a nation
to switch school lunches to healthier ones. He provides facts to back up his points to convince
the reader.
The ideas Patrick McCreless mentions in his article gave me a new perspective on my
topic. He explains the physical and mental benefits of children who eat healthy food. What
makes this article strong is the solution to the cost of healthy meals. This can go along with the
other solutions I have researched to change the main concerns about the healthy school menu.
This article has shown me a new perspective on the long and short-term effects of healthy meals.

Reid, K. (2012). Schools cooking up healthy, cheap ideas. Newspaper Source Plus.
doi:2W63589031542
In his article, Schools cooking up healthy, cheap ideas, Reid (2012) reports on a school
that changed their meal plan to a healthier one. He informs the reader that switching meal plans
is beneficial for the school districts. He provides examples of changes the school district made
and how they feel about it. Imbedded in the article are some examples of lunch dishes that
children like and are very healthy. Reid addresses the cost associated with a healthy lunch
program and how they have expectations in the future for the change in the lunch menu.
The intended audience is school districts and parents of school-aged children. Reid is
trying to convince readers that schools should change their lunch menu. He provides facts
supporting his conclusion. One example is that schools make recipes such as penne salad with

Healthy and Cheap School Lunches

tuna and capers. However, many districts would not pay for capers so they alter the recipes. An
important piece of information he discusses is the cost of this change. He say thats the, cost on
the whole is less of an issue. The United States Department of Agriculture is starting to move
toward subsidizing fresh foods. And cafeteria worker can be trained to cook (Reid, 2012, para.
24). He addresses a current issue in society today and informs the reader there is no need to
worry about the cost.
Keith Reids article provides information pertinent to my thesis. He provides examples
from specific schools that have changed their school menu. I could use this example to show
people that many schools have switched their menu and it is benefiting them. This is similar to
the other articles but this provides additional supporting documentation.