Breakfast is a little sugar-heavy with a Coffee Cake, but the High School Breakfast I picked up did include Celery, a Banana, and Fruit Juice, too.
But Lunch was the star of these High School Meals. I'm always down for Mac & Cheese if it's done right and a Grilled Chicken Breast is extra points in any food exam!
For this new Food Series I gave myself the assignment to find out what High School kids are being fed during Covid-19. We here in Los Angeles care about the nutrition needs of young people.
I'll be sharing a different Breakfast and Lunch meal every few days. I think you'll be as surprised as I am of the good, the bad, and the ugly...oh boy.
Click on any photo to see larger.
These meals are Grab & Go from my local High School. I'm sure regular school cafeteria fare is different (better?) than the ones I am getting carryout at the drive-thru lane. You can click here to see the first meal I had at my neighborhood Grab & Go.
The GIF above is a drive-thru Susan Miller Dorsey High School's Grab & Go.
There seem to be plenty of meal bags laid out on the tables and once I asked if they ever run out and the attendant replied emphatically "Never!"
Breakfast: Coffee Cake, Carrots, Juice, Banana, and Milk (always Milk.)
It is a square of classic Coffee Cake. Sweet but not too much so. Cinnamon and brown sugar are the main flavors. I've had them with a crumbly top, not so this one - it's just a sweet soft top with a cake interior.
It's a tasty Coffee Cake and it would go well with my morning cup of joe. As for ingredients most bread and muffins or cakes seem to have whole wheat flour now.
Crunchy Carrots are a nice way to start the day.
I'm surprised Bananas are not more often offered, it's usually an Apple and Orange.
And Orange Medley Juice and Lowfat Milk are always included.
Lunch: Mac & Cheese with Chicken Breast and Frozen Veggies.
This is the most filling meal of the week. I separate the chicken meat from the mac and cheese.
The breast meat is still moist. It was a fillet of breast, not a processed loaf thank god. Even though there are char marks on the outside, it tasted poach or baked, not grilled. There is no smokey flavor you think would come with those char marks...false advertising?
I'm not complaining really, it's a nice size, a plump and moist piece of chicken breast. But I find white meat boring compared to dark, just my preference.
The Mac & Cheese is of the stovetop variety, meaning it is a creamy cheese sauce heated with cooked macaroni. This is a better version than Kraft box Mac & Cheese. The cheese sauce was more cheddar, maybe even white cheddar. I liked that it was more intense than I expected.
My girlfriend Linda liked it a lot. She thought they used wheat pasta (there's no ingredients list on the package) and the cheese sauce was scrumptious. In a perfect world I do like my Mac & Cheese baked with a crusty cheese layer on top, then creamy underneath.
This Mac & Cheese with Chicken Breast is a tasty meal, by far the best all week.
A cardboard bowl of Veggies accompanied the main meal. A medley of corn, carrot and green peas.
They are of the fresh frozen variety as opposed to canned veggies. And cooked tender but not to mushiness. There is little seasoning that I can detect, unlike over-salty canned veggies.
I easily microwaved the Veggies. I liked the mix and you get a good amount, too.
This Meal Day was the most satisfying all week and the balance of protein, carbs, and veggies was just right.
For reviews or info about the purveyors of these food items you can check out Fooducate, just enter a product food name and see what pops up about it: https://www.fooducate.com/
And you can learn about Los Angeles Unified School District's Cafe LA (which supplies a lot of the packaged food) here: https://achieve.lausd.net/cafela
And do check back in a few days for more of my latest food series High School Meals.
Be safe & keep your distance!
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